Chapter 15
He was still watching! Was there anything better than that?!
Milly waved like a lunatic. Then, turning reluctantly away from Murray, she practically skipped through the City Gates back into Crumbleton.
She’d kissed him. She hadn’t been able to stop herself!
Goodness only knew what he thought of her after that… but if his dazed smile was anything to go by, and the fact that he’d watched her as she’d walked away…
It had to be a good sign, right?!
‘Apart from the fact you still don’t have his phone number—idiot!’ she muttered, coming to an abrupt halt. She’d got so lost in the moment that it hadn’t even crossed her mind. They hadn’t arranged to see each other again either… and there was no way she’d be braving that boat trip again.
‘Damnit!’
Milly loitered on the cobbles for a long moment, wondering what on earth she should do. She could just leave it up to fate and hope they’d bump into each other again. Maybe Murray would turn up at the shop…?
Well, one thing was for sure – she couldn’t turn around and run back to the wharf to beg for his phone number… could she?
Nope. She had some pride.
Didn’t she?
‘Yes you do!’ muttered Milly, forcing herself to carry on up the hill.
It had ended up being an unexpectedly lovely afternoon… almost romantic, in fact… if you didn’t count Murray’s head injury, of course! But in reality, were they any further forward than they’d been before her magical mystery tour of the marshes?
Milly – you’re officially overthinking things!
‘At least I know he’s okay,’ she sighed.
And she knew what his lips felt like on hers…and how beautiful he looked when he was wearing nothing more than a towel. Milly’s daydreams were definitely in for an upgrade. That was the problem, though - daydreams were no longer going to cut it when it came to Murray Eddington. She liked him. She more than liked him. She wanted this to go somewhere!
Milly yanked her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. She’d completely lost track of the day after Murray had invited her to nap next to him in his bed. Going by the fact that the sun had been practically kissing the horizon as he’d rowed her back across the marshes, she could only imagine that it was getting pretty late.
The phone screen sprang to life in her hand. Sure enough, it was long past closing time for the shop. Well – at least that meant she didn’t have to hot-foot it to the top of the hill. Jo would have cashed up and locked up ages ago.
‘Right then,’ she muttered. ‘Time to call Caroline!’
Her friend had made her promise to call the minute she got back into town to let her know what was really going on with Murray. That wasn’t the reason Milly wanted to talk to her, though. Right now, she craved Caroline’s particular brand of no-nonsense advice. With any luck, it might help her get her head back on straight – and figure out what she should do next.
Glancing around to make sure there was no one on the high street who might be inclined to eavesdrop, Milly pulled up Caroline’s number.
‘What happened?’ said her friend the moment she picked up, completely dispensing with any of the usual greetings. ‘You’ve been ages! Is he alive? Does he have all his teeth? Did you get to feel his bump?’
Milly let out a spluttering laugh. ‘No, I did not get to feel his bump!’
‘But something happened!’ crowed Caroline.
‘I didn’t say that!’ said Milly.
‘You didn’t have to,’ said Caroline.
Milly was sure she just heard her friend’s eyes roll.
‘Why don’t you come up to the office?’ said Caroline.
‘You’re still at work?’ said Milly in surprise.
‘Kind of,’ said Caroline. ‘But I have wine!’
‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’
Three minutes and forty-five seconds later, Milly was thundering up the wooden staircase towards Caroline’s little office at the Crumbleton Times and Echo.
‘Wow, where’s the fire?’ laughed Caroline, as Milly burst in.
‘You said you had wine!’ said Milly with a grin.
Caroline had her feet propped up on her desk. She was busy clicking away with her computer mouse in one hand and nursing a half-drunk glass of wine in the other.
‘I do have wine… but I’ll deny it all if you blabber!’ said Caroline with a naughty smile.
‘As if I would,’ said Milly. ‘Besides, I can be bribed.’
‘Thought that might be the case,’ said Caroline, her feet hitting the deck as she sprang out of her chair to grab a second glass from the bookshelf behind her desk.
‘Cheers!’ said Milly, accepting the vat of red wine.
‘Yeah, cheers!’ said Caroline, watching her closely as she reached across the desk and clinked her glass against Milly’s. ‘Here’s to whatever put that twinkle in your eye.’
‘What?!’ said Milly, blinking hard as though that might help. ‘I don’t have a twinkle, I don’t even know what a twinkle is!’
‘Uh-huh?’ muttered Caroline, taking a disbelieving sip.
‘Fine,’ said Milly. ‘Fine. It’s true. I’m twinkling.’
‘I knew it!’ said Caroline, giving a celebratory fist pump. ‘Tell me everything!’
‘First things first,’ said Milly, narrowing her eyes. ‘Are you still writing that article about Murray’s accident?’
‘Well…’ said Caroline, ‘that all depends on what you’re about to tell me.’
‘Then I’m not telling you anything,’ said Milly blandly. She could really do with offloading, but she wasn’t going to risk it if there was a chance the rest of Crumbleton would be reading about it in the paper on Friday!
‘Unclench, Mills!’ chuckled Caroline. ‘I was joking.’
‘Oh,’ said Milly.
‘Yeah,’ said Caroline rolling her eyes. ‘Anyway – the answer’s no. I’m not running the story.’
‘You’re not?’ said Milly, trying not to look too pleased.
Caroline shook her head. ‘Nah – I’d just got off the phone with the photographer when you called. She definitely didn’t get a shot of it… and not a single one of those idiots with mobile phones managed to catch it either!’
‘Shame,’ said Milly lightly.
‘Plus, your man hasn’t called me back either,’ said Caroline with a little huff.
‘Not my man!’ said Milly quickly.
‘Uh-huh?’ said Caroline again, raising her eyebrows curiously.
‘So… the article’s definitely been axed?’ said Milly, trying to buy herself a couple more seconds to get her thoughts together.
‘Yeah. It’s a bit of a shame. Stuart from Bendall’s has already themed his special offers for next week – hard hats, non-slip gloves and shin pads at half price!’
Milly let out a chuckle. ‘Poor Stuart.’
‘I’m sure he’ll get over it,’ said Caroline. ‘Anyway, I’m pretty sure the Dolphin and Anchor will be glad it’s not running – I don’t think they’ve been enjoying the unexpected publicity as it is. Apparently, they’ve had to start throwing people out of their carpark. According to my sources, they were there looking for teeth?!’
‘Yeah. Jo went down there on her lunch break,’ said Milly.
‘Hey – Mills?’ said Caroline, narrowing her eyes.
‘Yeah?’ said Milly, bracing herself.
‘What on Earth are you wearing?’ said Caroline.
Milly glanced down at Murray’s oversized man-shorts, and his soft cotton tee shirt peeping out from the V-neck of her jumper… and smiled.
‘And what’s that smile?!’ demanded Caroline, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.
‘What smile?’ said Milly – rather pointlessly considering she was grinning so widely that she was at risk of pulling one of her cheek muscles. ‘And the clothes are a long story,’ she added.
‘I’ve got time,’ said Caroline with a little shrug. ‘But – first things first – is Murray okay?’
‘Yeah,’ said Milly, feeling her smile stretch wider still. She probably looked like a love-sick teenager by this point.
‘Urgh, wait! If you’re going to be all cute about it…’ said Caroline. Holding up her hand for Milly to stop talking, she reached for the bottle of wine and topped off her own glass before doing the same to Milly’s. Then she took a deep swig. ‘Okay – I’m ready.’
‘He’s fine,’ said Milly.
‘All teeth accounted for?’ said Caroline.
‘Yep. And no blood,’ said Milly. ‘He’s not been back from hospital for long, though. Sounds like he got a pretty nasty bump on the head – and I bet there was a bit of concussion. But, other than being a bit all over the place because he’d forgotten to eat… he seemed to be okay.’
Milly stopped talking and took a sip of her wine. Caroline just sat there, watching her.
‘What?’ said Milly after several long seconds.
‘Is that it?’ said Caroline, looking disappointed. ‘You said it was a long story. That wasn’t even worth cracking out the emergency office wine!’
‘To be fair,’ said Milly, ‘you had that open before I even called.’
‘Damn… you weren’t meant to remember that bit!’ laughed Caroline. ‘But seriously… what’s with you? The smiling… the twinkles…? I know something else must have happened. According to Jo, you’ve been gone all afternoon.’
‘Ooh, she’s soooo fired,’ muttered Milly.
‘And you haven’t told me why you’re wearing those!’ Caroline continued, pointing at Murray’s shorts.
‘I happen to like them,’ said Milly mildly.
‘And I happen to know they’re not yours,’ countered Caroline. ‘Come on, out with it!’
Milly took a deep breath. ‘Off the record?!’
‘Of course,’ tutted Caroline. ‘As if you have to ask!’
‘Well then,’ said Milly, ‘it’s like this…’
She had to hand it to Caroline – she made an excellent audience. She groaned and cheered and gasped in all the right places… and she even let out a little sigh when Milly told her about the kiss.
‘So – you did get to feel his bump!’ said Caroline with a teasing grin. ‘I knew it!’
‘Get your mind out of the gutter, Car!’ huffed Milly. ‘It was all very sweet, and lovely, and innocent.’
‘Oh yeah – super innocent!’ said Caroline, rolling her eyes. ‘Tell me that bit about you ogling him in a towel again.’
Milly smirked, but after a couple of seconds, it slid right off her face.
‘What?’ said Caroline. ‘Did reality not quite live up to eighteen months of fantasising?’
‘It’s not that. It more than lived up to it!’ she sighed. ‘It’s just… I don’t have his phone number.’
‘You’re kidding me,’ said Caroline. ‘You spent a whole afternoon with the guy… you slept with him—’
‘Next to him!’ Milly cut in.
‘Same difference,’ shrugged Caroline.
‘Really not!’ insisted Milly.
‘Whatever. You slept on his boat… and now you’re telling me you have no way of contacting him?’
‘Pretty much,’ said Milly, feeling a bit sheepish. ‘I was caught up in the moment.’
‘Uh-huh?’ said Caroline. ‘Did you at least arrange to see him again?’
Milly gave her head a tiny shake. ‘Nope.’
‘Dumbass,’ said Caroline affectionately.
‘I know,’ said Milly.
‘Well – I’ve got his number,’ said Caroline with a little shrug.
‘You do?’ said Milly, her eyes going wide as she did her best to resist making grabby hands across the desk.
‘Of course,’ said Caroline. ‘I got it from the Dolphin and Anchor earlier so that I could call him about the article.’
‘Can I…?’ said Milly.
‘Nope,’ said Caroline, smiling at her benignly. ‘I can’t go giving out contact information for my sources willy-nilly, Milly! Imagine if that got out. I’m a professional, after all.’ She grinned and then took a theatrical sip of wine.
‘But—’ started Milly.
‘Of course, I could call him for you,’ she said. ‘Maybe give him your phone number?’
Milly stared at her for a long moment. ‘Won’t that make me look a bit… desperate?’
‘Aren’t you a bit desperate?’ said Caroline.
‘Oi!’ squeaked Milly.
‘About him, I mean,’ said Caroline. ‘Not in general.’
‘I don’t know, Car,’ said Milly. ‘It could backfire…’
‘What, like getting stuck in the middle of Crumbleton marshes and having to get rescued?’ said Caroline. ‘That kind of backfiring, you mean?’
Milly cocked her head. ‘Okay – fair point. I’m sold. Do it!’
‘Ooh, fun!’ said Caroline, grabbing a post-it note from the wall and pulling the phone towards her.