Chapter 22 #2
They walked a little further. The sun was shining brightly overhead, casting a slight winter warmth through the bare branches of the beech trees and dappling the path when the beeches were interspersed by the conifers and pines that also grew in the wood.
The heady scent of pine balsam gave the air a festive feel, and Thea breathed deeply.
She’d never tire of that scent. It was tied to so many memories of her childhood: long, lazy afternoons with her friends, tucked out of the way of the enquiring eyes of well-meaning adults, walks with Lorelai, both with, and later without, Barney, Lorelai’s rotund chocolate Labrador, and, casting her mind back even further to the hazy days of early childhood, spending time in the woods when her parents had been alive.
Often, they’d take a break from their work at the observatory to stretch their legs, and that scent was a reminder of times lost and long past.
‘Penny for them?’ Nick teased, as Thea realised she’d gone silent.
‘Sorry. I was just thinking that I don’t get out here nearly enough any more. Sometimes I forget how much I need just to reconnect with nature, and how lucky I am to have all this on the doorstep.’
‘I can’t ever imagine living anywhere else,’ Nick said. Thea noticed that he looked slightly embarrassed as he admitted that. ‘That probably makes me sound like a boring old fart.’
‘Not at all,’ Thea protested. ‘You’re loyal to your roots. It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about you…’ It was her turn to look embarrassed, and, searching for something to comment on to move the conversation on, she instead took another gulp of her coffee.
If Nick read anything into her turn of phrase, he didn’t show it.
Thea was relieved. Things had been a bit odd between them since the incident with Tally and the mistletoe, and she couldn’t get that hug they’d shared on Thursday night out of her mind.
It was stupid, really; they had a friendly shorthand, but it seemed as though she’d been struggling to interpret it lately.
She was probably just tired and stressed, but it really did feel as though one minute they were behaving like the friends they’d once been, and the next, she didn’t know what to say or how to behave around him.
‘Thea, Nick!’ A voice called to them from up to their left, and as Thea turned at the familiar tones, she felt a maddening combination of relief and frustration.
There, standing on the bank above the path were Tristan and Charlotte, and gambolling down the incline towards them was Comet, Charlotte’s adorable cocker spaniel.
‘Oh, hi you two,’ Thea called up to them, before leaning down to ruffle Comet’s ears. ‘What brings you out this way?’
‘Gran offered us Sunday lunch,’ Tristan said as he made his way down the bank.
‘And we said we’d come over early so I could get her Christmas decorations down from the attic.
You know how much she hates asking us to do things, but I didn’t want her getting up a ladder with no one else in the house. ’
‘I’d have been more than happy to do that,’ Thea replied.
She felt guilty that the only time she’d seen Lorelai that week was that brief chat at the late-night shopping evening.
She usually popped in a couple of times a week, but she’d been so caught up at work, doing both jobs, that she hadn’t had the chance.
‘It’s fine, sis.’ Tristan, who was dressed in green wellies and scruffy jeans, as well as a thick woolly jumper, smiled. ‘We were going to drop in on you later, anyway, just to see if there’s anything you thought we should buy for Christmas dinner.’
‘Not that I can think of, but I’ll let you know,’ Thea replied.
‘So, what brings you two out here, all alone?’ Tristan’s enquiring gaze shifted from Nick to Thea. ‘Don’t tell me this is finally a first date? After all these years?’
‘Don’t be daft, mate!’ Nick interjected. ‘Your sister’s got much better taste than that.’
Thea shook her head. ‘I could do a lot worse, as we all well know!’ As she explained that Cora and Dylan had thrown them out of the house so they could decorate the tree and surprise her with it, Tristan’s expression softened.
‘That’s so cool. They’re great together when they’re not squabbling, aren’t they?’
Thea nodded. ‘They really are.’
There was a pause, and Charlotte, who’d slithered down the bank in Tristan’s wake, cleared her throat. ‘We should probably be getting back to Lorelai’s, Tris, she’ll be wondering where we are.’
‘Yeah, you’re right,’ Tristan replied. He gave Thea a parting grin. ‘I’ll swing by later before we head back, just in case you can think of anything we’ll need on Christmas Day.’
‘Sure. See you later.’
As Tristan and Charlotte headed in the opposite direction, back to Nightshade Cottage, Nick looked thoughtfully after them.
‘I still can’t believe that your twin brother fell head over heels for someone after all these years.
I could have sworn he’d have been a sad bachelor like me for the rest of his days! ’
‘Neither of you is sad,’ Thea protested. ‘You’ll find someone, Nick, just like Tris has, and when you do, you’ll be as happy as he is, I know it.’
Nick didn’t reply. The silence stretched between them as the mellifluous carolling of a blackbird harmonised with a robin just above their heads in the branches of a sleeping beech tree.
He took a step towards her, but just as he did, the rather less harmonious trill of Thea’s phone broke the mood.
Whipping it out of her jacket pocket, she read the screen and swiped immediately.
‘Hello? Oh, great, yes, darling, we’ll head back and see. In a bit. Bye.’
Putting her phone away, she looked at Nick again.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘What were you saying?’
‘Never mind.’ He gave her a slightly crooked smile. ‘Was that Cora?’
‘Yup. Tree’s all ready for the ceremonial placing of the retro plastic angel!’
‘You’d better get back to it, then. Wouldn’t want to keep the angel from her rightful place.’
As they walked back towards the house, Thea yet again wondered if she was reading things wrong.
Nick, who’d always been so open with her, was giving her some very confusing signals lately.
The problem was, if she didn’t start working out what he meant soon, she was going to run the very real risk of making a complete idiot of herself and perhaps losing his friendship in the process.
Soon, they were at the front door again. Thea paused. ‘Would you like another coffee?’
‘No thanks, I’m good.’ Nick passed her his cup.
‘I promised I’d look in on Mum and Dad before lunch and see if there was anything they needed doing.
Dad’s still moaning like hell about his back, and although Mum’s hip’s on the mend, she’ll break it again if she doesn’t rest, so I’m going to go and mediate for a bit. ’
‘Sounds like fun!’ Thea quipped weakly. Damn. There’s that pause again.
‘Well, I’ll see you at work on Thursday, if not before,’ she said, eventually.
‘See you.’ Nick leaned towards her, and Thea felt her knees going wobbly. The feeling of his hand on her forearm, warm even through the layers of her coat, sent a dizzying tingle up to her shoulder. As his lips gently brushed her cheek, she closed her eyes in reflexive pleasure.
‘See you,’ she replied, wishing she was brave enough to turn her head a little to the right.
But it would appear that neither she, nor he, had the confidence to make that chaste kiss of friendship into something more.
Not just yet, anyway. As she let herself into the house, her hands were still a little shaky.