Chapter Fifteen
Laurel
Being driven around with the top down was really fun. The wind whipped around her, but not so much that it was uncomfortable, and not so much that her hair became ridiculous.
‘Tell me about your friends. What should I expect?’ she asked, thankful for this time for a briefing.
Nate’s eyes crinkled as he smiled.
‘Jess will gush, she loves people. She’ll ask you ten thousand questions. Paul will have eyes only for his girlfriend, Angeline. It’s the first time we’re meeting her.’ Nate glanced at her. ‘Owen is friendly, and, well, you know Alex.’
Was that a bit of distaste showing in the way Nate pinched his mouth?
‘And Lucia?’
‘Lucia is…’ he hesitated. ‘She’s Lucia. She’s the star of the show,’ he said wearily. ‘We’ll have a good time though.’
‘Yeah, it’s going to be so nice not being in Lower Houghton. You were right. I do need to get away once in a while.’ Laurel relaxed back against the headrest. ‘Thanks for bringing me with you.’
‘No worries,’ Nate said, shooting her a smile. ‘Just to warn you…’
Laurel groaned. How much more was he going to warn her about?
‘Benji, Jess and Owen’s boy, is a bundle of energy. Also, Jess and Owen are absolutely loaded.’
‘Loaded?’
‘Do you remember Owen from uni?’
She shook her head. She only remembered him, Alex and Lucia. The rest of them were just vague blobs.
‘Well, Owen was working as a junior in a financial advisor’s office. A new client came in with an idea, and Owen got in on the ground floor with it. Made millions.’
Laurel’s eyebrows shot up her forehead.
‘Millions?’ Good lord.
‘Well, two or three, but that’s still a plural. It was right place, right time,’ Nate said.
That was more than she would ever see in her life, probably more than her entire family would see in their entire lifetimes, all put together. ‘Jess did alright as well. She works as an executive producer on some kind of daytime TV program.’
‘Christ.’
Laurel was suddenly extremely aware of her very nice, but decidedly high street, dress she and Rebecca had painstakingly chosen last night. She fretted over her hair in the little mirror in the sun visor. The roads were getting smaller now. They were nearly there.
Nate glanced at her. ‘Don’t worry. They’re just normal people.’
Mmm hmm. Normal people who have millions of pounds.
‘I’ve got a bottle of wine in my handbag. It was only a tenner. Can you stop so I can get them something better?’
‘Laurel, no.’ Nate was firm. ‘Stop stressing.’
She looked at his profile as he drove and blew out a breath.
‘Okay fine, but remember, I’m just a farm girl.’
‘Laurel Fletcher, you are so much more than “just a farm girl”,’ he said, eyes fixed firmly on the road.
Laurel felt that blush creep across her chest, and she looked at her hand clasped tightly in her lap, unable to stop a little smile spreading over her lips. She looked at him.
Nate indicated left and turned into the driveway marked ‘Fairy Hollow Farm’. Laurel’s face crumpled with laughter.
‘It’s a farm? You’ve brought me to a farm?’
‘Okay, okay, I get it,’ he said, the car rumbling slowly down the gravelled drive. The house hadn’t come into view yet. ‘But they only bought the farmhouse and an acre or two. They’ve got some sheep, a couple of cows and a couple of ponies for Benji. He’s eight and wants to be a farmer when he grows up.’
‘Must be nice to have the money to be able to indulge him,’ she said wistfully, thinking what she would do with millions of pounds and how many holidays she could send Jack, Rebecca and the kids on. Hell, she’d buy them a holiday home with a pool somewhere hot, by the sea. She’d buy them two, three.
‘It’s not about money though, is it? It’s about giving kids a stable and loving home,’ he said, bristling a little.
‘Yes, you’re right, it’s exactly that.’
He pulled the car to a stop next to a battered VW Polo, some kind of dusty four-by-four and a family sedan. ‘Paul’s already here, that’s his Polo,’ Nate said. ‘Alex isn’t here yet, and I don’t know how Lucia is supposed to be getting here.’
He grinned at her. ‘Come on.’
Laurel stepped out of the car and looked at the farmhouse. Huge didn’t cover it. It was obviously renovated and extended, sympathetic to the original structure and the pond in the front garden area was well kept and luscious. She sidled her way around the side of the car, eyes taking in as much of the smallholding as she could. She’d like to see the animals, see what it was like to be a non-commercial farmer, just doing it for fun.
Nate lugged her hastily packed case out of the boot and set it down next to his own on the gravel. She extended the handle, but Nate took it off her.
‘I’ll take it,’ he said, strolling across the driveway.
She trailed after him. ‘This is huge, Nate. Look at it!’
‘I’ve been here before, Laurel.’
She grabbed his arm, and he stopped and faced her.
‘Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here? I mean, I don’t really fit in with,’ she gestured around, ‘all this.’
‘Laurel, don’t be ridiculous. You’ll be absolutely fine,’ he put his hand on her arm reassuringly, and she relaxed a little. ‘We’re here to have a good time, so stop overthinking everything, okay?’
‘Okay, but if I give you the signal, you have to come and rescue me.’
He looked confused. ‘What signal?’
She nudged him lightly on the shoulder. ‘Oh, for god’s sake, Nate. You’ll know okay?’
‘Alright,’ he laughed. ‘Seriously, stop stressing. We’re here to have fun.’
Laurel took a breath. He looked so handsome, but this was not a date, regardless of whether he called her beautiful or not. Certainly not an overnight date. NOT A DATE.
Nate
He kind of got why she was worried, but she seriously had absolutely nothing to stress out about. She was beautiful, accomplished and his friends were just normal people.
‘Nate! I thought I heard a car,’ Jess called, gravel crunching under her little feet as she hurried over to them. ‘And you must be Laurel. I haven’t heard anything about you!’ She threw her arms around Laurel in a hug.
‘Oh,’ Laurel exclaimed, surprised but returned the hug. ‘Hello.’
‘Did you get here okay?’ Jess asked, sparing a cursory smile for Nate as she linked her arm with Laurel and led her away from the car.
‘Yeah, nice to see you too, Jess,’ Nate grumbled, grabbing both cases.
Laurel looked over her shoulder at him with a worried smile, but he just waved her on. Jess would look after her.
‘Nate, you’re in the room you were in before, drop the bags off and we’ll be in the garden,’ Jess called.
‘And Laurel?’
‘Yes, Laurel too!’
Fine. Jess would have sorted something out. He’d made it clear in his email that Laurel was coming as a friend, and that they weren’t together.
Nate headed through the front door and up the stairs to his guest room, dragging the two cases behind him. The house was large but homey, toy trains scattered in the hallway. He needed to dump these and have a beer. He pushed open the door to his guest room and groaned.
Jess had not sorted anything out. The king size bed stood proud in the middle of the room. No separate bed, no blow-up bed. Not even a blanket so he could sleep on the chaise lounge by the far wall. Jess obviously hadn’t got the message that they were just friends. Or she had, and she didn’t care. Owen would sort it, and he would be having words with Jess.
Nate was ambushed as soon as he stepped into the hallway.
‘Oof,’ he gasped, as a plastic sword hit him across the back. ‘Who was that?’ he growled.
Benji stood behind him, blue mask across his eyes, swords at the ready.
‘I’m Leonardo, and I’ve been waiting for you, Splinter.’
Nate’s face dropped in dismay.
‘Splinter? I always liked Donny. Can I be Donatello? Daddy can be Splinter.’
‘Okay, Uncle Nate. I’ll get the stick and the mask.’ Benji ran off to his room and reappeared with the mask which Nate dutifully tied around his head.
‘Mum said you’ve brought a girl. Can she be April?’
‘You’ll have to ask her, Leo.’ Nate ruffled the boy’s hair. ‘Now, let’s go get Splinter.’
They stealthily descended the stairs through the house and hid behind the kitchen island. The bifold doors were open, meaning that the entire back of the house faced out into the garden.
Nate adored this house, not just because how Jess had made the indoors flow seamlessly into the outdoors and the kitchen large enough to house an entire family, but because it was thoroughly lived in. Sometimes, people with loads of money had homes where you were afraid to touch anything and nothing was out; no clutter, no nick-nacks, nothing to indicate that actual people lived here.
Not Jess and Owen. There were family photos, trinkets and memories of places they’d visited, books stacked haphazardly, Benji’s toys dotted around. It was a happy home.
They edged their way into the back garden, hiding (not incredibly successfully) behind shrubs and bushes, creeping up on Owen. He was at the barbeque with Paul, both of them considering the best way to light the coals. Paul kept throwing glances over to the ladies sat on the garden sofa, a glass of rosé in each of their hands.
Laurel looked happy, she was smiling with Jess as the brown-haired woman, Angeline he presumed, told them some story about Paul on their dig.
‘Ready?’ He looked at Benji, who nodded excitedly, adjusting his grip on his sword. ‘Okay, one, two, three!’
They exploded from behind the shrubs with a yell, and Nate picked up Benji under one arm and ran him the ten steps to a surprised Owen and Paul, shouting incoherently.
‘Ha, we’ve got you now, Splinter,’ Benji shouted, aiming a precise blow to Owen’s arse as Nate put him down.
Owen clutched his bum and fell to the grass, groaning.
‘Leo! Donny! I can’t believe you’ve caught me,’ he said, ‘but I won’t let you get me next time.’
He grabbed Benji and dragged him down to the ground, tickling him relentlessly.
There were amused laughs from behind him, and he lifted his hand to Laurel, a grin plastered on his face. Owen was a good father and he adored Benji. That much was evident. Paul was laughing and pulled a can of beer from the cooler at his feet to give to Nate.
‘Thanks, man,’ he said, hugging him with one arm. ‘Good to see you.’
‘You too, how you doing? Good drive?’ Paul’s smile was wide and genuine, his rich brown skin glowing from time spent in the French sun.
Nate nodded. ‘Yeah good. You get here okay?’
‘Yeah, we got here last week,’ Benji shrieked as he got away from Owen, running towards Jess. ‘Been staying at my parents. Got here last night.’
‘Where are Alex and Lucia?’ Nate asked, wanting to be prepared.
Owen stood and clapped Nate on the shoulder.
‘Hey man, Alex is running late, obviously, and I don’t know about Lucia. She’s a rule unto herself.’
‘Need some help with that?’ Nate indicated the barbeque and the pile of coals stacked haphazardly in the middle.
Owen handed him the firelighters and the matches wordlessly. ‘I cannot take you seriously with that mask on.’
‘Uh, I prefer it if you address me as Donny, or Donatello,’ he said. ‘Either way, once this is lit, I want to meet Angeline, Paul.’
‘And we both want to meet your girl.’ Owen grinned. ‘Although I’m not sure we’ll get much of a look in. Jess has been beside herself since you emailed.’
Nate glared at his friend. ‘Look, I’m going to say this once. Laurel and I are not together. She needed a break, so I brought her here. As a friend. We’re friends. That’s it.’
‘Okay, okay! Sorry, man!’ Paul held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘She’s attractive though.’
‘I know what she looks like, thank you,’ he snapped, glaring at his friend.
Paul and Owen exchanged knowing looks and crowed with laughter.
‘I think it’s time I got some new friends, you bastards,’ he grumbled. ‘Actually, while we’re at it, do you have another room for her?’
Owen just grinned. ‘Nah, sorry, all rooms are taken.’
‘Really? All of them?’ he gestured behind him to the massive farmhouse.
‘Yep,’ Owen took a swig of his beer.
Paul sniggered behind his hand, earning another glare from Nate.
‘An airbed? A blanket? Anything.’
Owen clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry man. I’ll make sure you’re sorted.’
Nate nodded and shuffled the coals around in the barbeque, trying to make it so they were in a little pile and pushed a few firelighters in. Yeah, he was sure Owen would make sure he was ‘sorted’. Mmm hmm.
He looked over to check on Laurel. Benji was demonstrating some of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles moves to Laurel (rapt), Angeline (confused) and Jess (indulgent). He smiled.
Laurel
Benji was just the cutest. He was tall and gangly for his age, with Jess’ dark hair and Owen’s full lips, and he was the most amazing Leonardo Laurel had ever seen.
‘I’m going to be a ninja, Laurel,’ he said, for the third time.
‘Benji, darling, why don’t you have some TV time for a bit?’ Jess suggested, and his eyes lit up. ‘You’ve got thirty minutes, okay?’
He scampered off, leaving one of his plastic swords lying in the grass.
‘He’s adorable,’ Angeline said.
She was exotic in that pale and interesting way, with light brown hair that fell most of the way down her back, milky skin and clear blue eyes. The way she looked at Paul as well, Laurel could tell that they were absolutely smitten with each other.
Laurel glanced over at Nate at the barbeque and laughed out loud, pointing at him when Jess and Angeline both looked at her quizzically. The other two women burst out laughing as well, and all three men looked at them before heading over.
‘What’s so funny?’ Owen asked, perching on the arm of Jess’ rattan chair. Her garden furniture was a beautiful dark grey woven set, with cushions covered in green and pink mandalas. It was like they were in an incredibly beautiful Grecian story.
Paul kissed Angeline full on the mouth, like he couldn’t let his lips be away from hers for any longer. Nate sat next to Laurel on the low sofa, and she burst out laughing again.
‘What?’ He frowned at her.
‘I just—’ She tried to catch her breath. ‘I cannot take you seriously with that mask on.’
The purple mask was little more than a piece of fabric with eye holes cut into it, tied around his face, but him wearing it and chatting away normally to Owen and Paul was the most hilarious thing.
Nate touched his face, seemingly surprised that he was actually still one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He smiled sheepishly and tugged it off over his head.
‘When a kid hands you a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mask, you put it on.’ He shrugged.
She laughed. ‘Your hair, it’s all…’
Nate smoothed it down, extremely badly.
‘No, it’s not—’
He attempted to smooth the other side down, frowning.
‘Oh, for god’s sake,’ she said, exasperated, and reached up to flatten a stray lock of hair that he’d missed.
Laurel did not miss the meaningful look that passed between Jess and Owen, and fought to keep a blush down. Did Nate’s friends think they were together? Was she being too obvious? She should have kept her hands to herself and let him look stupid. She didn’t want to put Nate in an awkward situation, and certainly didn’t want his friends to see something between them that wasn’t there. He had made it perfectly clear that she was there as his friend, and that was that.
She shuffled away from him, putting a little space between them, and straightened the skirt of her dress over her legs. Jess was wearing a pair of cut off denim shorts with a white lacy top and whilst Laurel could tell they weren’t Primark, they were certainly not designer. In fact, nothing about Jess or Owen, or their house, was pretentious, they were just normal people with a lot of money. The barbeque was a battered old thing that had seen better days, and the house was big but homely.
They’d obviously spent money on Benji, making sure he had the best they could afford – the house was filled with toys, and they had bought him a farm for crying out loud, but who wouldn’t? If Laurel had money, and a child, then she’d spend every penny making sure that child was happy. There was a hint of spoiled-ness about the boy, but surely, wasn’t every only child that little bit spoiled? They didn’t get hand-me-downs, they didn’t have to share, and all their parents’ attention was on them. Although, it must be lonely to grow up without any siblings.
Yeah, she’d spent a lot of her childhood mothering Robin, but they’d had some really good times. Days spent swimming in the lake and picnics with Jack, until he got too old and started helping on the farm. Pirates, cowboys, spacemen. Whatever Robin wanted. As much as she moaned about her brothers, she loved them, and she loved their childhood.
‘You alright?’ Nate asked quietly, snapping her back to the present. Owen telling some ridiculously convoluted story that was only funny to the four of them who had been at uni together.
‘Yeah, good.’ She nodded.
‘You want another?’ he indicated her nearly empty wine glass.
‘Yes, Owen, grab another bottle, would you?’ Jess said, elbowing Owen off the arm of her chair.
‘Whatever your command, my love.’ He bowed away from her. ‘Guys? Another beer?’
‘I’ll help,’ Nate said, leaving Laurel on the sofa. Paul reluctantly followed.
Jess watched her friends head into the house.
‘He’s completely smitten,’ she said.
Laurel grinned at Angeline. ‘He is, and you two are so cute together.’
‘No, I meant Nate.’
Laurel spluttered on her wine. ‘Uh, no, no, I don’t think so. We’re friends.’
‘I’ve known Nate a long time, and he doesn’t bring just anyone to meet us.’ Jess smiled.
‘I don’t, we’re not,’ Laurel took a breath. ‘I needed a break, and Nate suggested I come here. Seriously, we’re just friends.’
‘Okay,’ Jess said, knowingly.
What could she say to that? Jess wouldn’t believe her anyway.
They were quiet for a moment, and Laurel fiddled with the stem of her empty wine glass. Eventually, Angeline broke the awkward silence.
‘Paul told me about who would be here today. Are you expecting Alex and Lucia, is it?’
Jess nodded, draining the dregs of her wine. ‘Yeah, both of them are always late. Alex because he’s a lazy shit, and Lucia because she floats through life being beautiful and successful.’
Laurel and Angeline shared a look. Weren’t Jess and Lucia supposed to be friends?
‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Jess said. ‘I adore Lucia. I do, but she is always late. She’ll be the first to admit it.’
‘The only thing I remember about Lucia from uni is that her and Nate were this golden couple,’ Laurel said. Okay, she was prying a little.
‘I don’t remember you from then,’ Jess said, tilting her head and frowning.
‘No, I’m a couple of years younger.’ Laurel coughed, a little embarrassed.
‘Yeah, well they were, but after uni it wasn’t the same. Uni’s like this surreal bubble, and university relationships don’t last after university unless you both want the same things, both change to accommodate the real world,’ Jess said, with surprising insight.
Laurel gazed at her. She was right. University was a surreal, kind of out-of-body experience. You live with random people, don’t have the pressures of the real world, have somewhere to go home to, are still a dependent, really.
Her friendship with Rebecca had survived, but there was no one else she kept in touch with from uni. People frittered away, finding new lives, new friends. It was nice that this little group had kept in touch, and she guessed it was Jess who was the driving force behind that.
The men returned with the drinks and they slipped into easy conversation.
It all became a little less easy about half an hour later when a soft, feminine voice floated to them, followed by a douche-y male voice.
‘Hola, hola! We’re here!’
‘Get the party started!’
As if summoned, Lucia appeared, followed by Alex.