Chapter 4 #2
‘In that case, you’d better watch out. Whenever someone moves into Nightingale Square, love soon follows!’
‘Not for me,’ I insisted. ‘I’ve got more than enough on my plate without adding romance to the mix.’
‘Perhaps you’re right,’ she said. ‘But then, since when have our hearts ever waited for the right moment for us to fall in love?’
‘That’s a conversation for another day,’ I told her as my tummy rumbled. ‘Right now, I need to go and have some lunch.’
‘All right,’ she said. ‘But remember what I said. Anytime you want to chat, come and find me.’
‘I will,’ I told her. ‘Thank you, Freya.’
I set off back towards the gate thinking what a coincidence it was to find someone so lovely who had experienced practically the same situation as I now found myself in.
Freya might have moved to the square with a job, but she knew the complications of moving from rural living to city dwelling and it felt good to know there was a kindred spirit I could call on should I need to.
However, where her pronouncement about love was concerned, she was entirely on the wrong track because it wasn’t going to find me here.
Having spent my life watching my mum, Flighty Faye, flit from one casual relationship to another and personally negotiating the resultant messy aftermath, love was something I took very seriously indeed.
It was all or nothing for me and it hadn’t been anything for quite some time.
Not since a three-year relationship with farmer, Reuben, had come to an end.
We’d cited our lack of leisure time as the final deciding factor in calling it, (we both worked long hours and lived some distance apart) but it had been an amicable ending and we’d wished each other well.
Whatever Freya thought, I certainly wasn’t in the right headspace to go looking for love now.
A few months down the line perhaps, once I’d settled on my next steps and made some decisions about what I was going to do with my life.
But for now, I was ringfencing my heart and no matter who I met in the square, they wouldn’t be falling for me or I for them.
I wasn’t even certain that I’d be staying in the area long-term so that didn’t bode well for my Big Love rule, did it?
With my head down and my heart dismissing all thoughts of romance, I walked quickly back to the garden gate. I hoped there was something to eat at the house. I hadn’t thought to check before I left.
I was so preoccupied with my empty belly that I didn’t notice the rapid approach of footsteps on the gravel until the last second and when I looked up, I found my path blocked by a tall, wide, furious-looking man with bright blue eyes, scruffy dark blond hair and even scruffier stubble.
Had I not zoned back in, I would have walked right into him.
‘Can I help you?’ he demanded and I took a step back.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ I swallowed. ‘Though you could give me a bit of space.’
He realised then just how close he was and how intimidating his sudden appearance must have been and he also took a step away.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked crossly. ‘This is private property. How did you get in?’
Clearly not everyone in the vicinity was friendly. I shifted my gaze to fully meet his and felt his blue eyes fix fast on my green ones. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and his expression softened, but only a little and just for a moment.
‘I am aware this is private property,’ I told him, while thinking he was the first person I’d ever met who had truly cerulean-coloured eyes. I’d read about them in romance novels but never come face to face with a pair. ‘And I got in using the key code Kate gave me.’
‘Oh,’ he said, his eyes still on mine. ‘Right.’
‘You wouldn’t happen to be her partner Luke, would you?’
‘No,’ he said and shook his head. ‘No, I’m not Luke.’
I hadn’t really thought he could be because he wasn’t anything like the match I had imagined for lovely Kate at all.
When he didn’t then offer me a name, I decided I wasn’t going to tell him who I was either.
I’d intimated that I had permission to be in the garden, and he’d have to be satisfied with that.
‘Well, thank goodness for that,’ I huffed. ‘Now if you wouldn’t mind getting out of my way, I’m expected at home.’
He had no choice but to move aside when I took a quick step towards him again and I stomped back over to the square feeling furious that my visit had been tainted by the rudeness of a stranger.
I knocked on the front door – just in case the cats were on the loose – and when Rafe answered, the expression on my face quickly banished the smile on his.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked as I shrugged off my cardigan and eased off my plimsolls without bothering to undo the laces. ‘You’ve been gone ages, so I thought you were having a good time.’
I took a moment to compose myself.
‘I was,’ I told him and conjured up a smile. ‘The garden is stunning. And I met Freya, the head gardener, too. She was lovely and we soon realised we have quite a lot in common.’
I didn’t mention Mr Blue Eyes coming along at the last minute and throwing a spanner in the otherwise happy works. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him though, even though I was trying to recall the details of the dragon sculptures and the scent of the many roses.
‘Well, that’s great,’ Rafe said as we headed to the kitchen and the source of the delicious smell of bread. ‘Though it doesn’t explain the frown you walked in wearing.’
‘Sorry, I guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind.’
Rafe looked concerned. ‘That’s no good,’ he tutted, as he opened the oven door to retrieve the delicious looking sourdough baguette he’d warmed through. ‘The whole point of you being here is to ensure that you haven’t got anything on your mind.’
‘I was only worried that we hadn’t got anything in to eat,’ I blagged. ‘And that I’d faint from hunger before I’d worked out where the shops were.’
‘Oh well,’ he grinned, as he added the warm bread to a platter already loaded with fresh olives, cheese, tomatoes and charcuterie and carried it to the table with a flourish. ‘I found the shops earlier, so that’s that problem solved.’
‘Indeed, it is,’ I agreed and joined him at the table.