CHAPTER 20
“This is daft,” Maxie said, twisted around in the passenger seat of her Peugeot as she spoke to Scarlett. Devon was driving, glancing up into the rearview mirror. “Why not tell him the truth at work or something? Save some petrol.”
“Because—” Scarlett started.
“You’ve not a romantic bone in your entire body. You know that, Maxie?” Devon cut it. “It’s a shame, really. Most things like this go straight over your head.”
Scarlett snapped her mouth shut, amused by Devon’s tone.
“I beg your pardon? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that. You’re all business, all the time. You’ve no use for romantic gestures, like flowers or poetry or any of it.”
Maxie shrugged. “It’s all a lot of unnecessary nonsense, isn’t it?”
“Not to most people. In fact, expressing oneself in regards to love is actually a pretty big deal. For thousands of years, people have painted canvases, written songs, built buildings, all in the name of love, and many times, it’s what most is remembered about them.
” He paused, lifting his hand dramatically. “To be in love is to be alive.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Maxie said, rolling her eyes.
“I don’t love him,” Scarlett said quickly. “It’s… I wanted to do something special, I guess.”
“A noble endeavor, Scarlett, and one I’m sure he’ll appreciate,” Devon said.
“Is that why you’re wearing my wellies with that dress?” Maxie asked. “There’s not a cloud in the sky, you know. You look a bit ridiculous.”
Scarlett gazed up out the window as the car rocked gently back and forth. It was true. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun was shining, making it one of those rare warm autumn days, although there was still a good amount of wind.
She glanced down at the pink-and-coffee-colored floral dress covering her lap.
The dress reached to beneath her thighs when she was standing up, and Maxie’s bright yellow wellies, which were a size too big, came up her knees.
It was a very charming dress, with cap sleeves and a bit of frill on the hem, but the effect was somewhat lacking thanks to the loud footwear.
Scarlett wondered if perhaps it was a little too cold for such an outfit, but she was eager to make herself resemble the image of their imaginary date.
Still, she wanted Theo to know in an instant who she was.
Heat flashed along the back of her neck as she remembered their date conversation. She swallowed. “I wore them so that he would easily recognize me.”
“Well, I think it’s charming,” Devon said. “It’s nice to do something special every once in a while.”
Maxie gave her a speculative look before turning back to Devon. “What are you going on about? Is this about the sunflowers?”
“Of course it’s about the sunflowers.”
“I’m sorry I asked you to throw them out, but I’m allergic, Devon! I said as much on our first date.”
“You said you were allergic to big yellow daisies.”
“Which are sunflowers!”
Poor Devon. He was very much a romantic sort of soul, but Maxie was not. As the car veered off the main road, down a curving one that cut through a wooded area, Scarlett wondered if the couple were aware of how well matched they really were.
It was easy to see their compatibility from an outside perspective.
While Devon lamented Maxie’s lack of love for blaringly obvious romantic gestures, he often did things that Maxie found romantic.
Like how he always offered to drive, knowing Maxie hated driving on the highways.
Or how he always woke up early on the nights he stayed over so that he could bring her a cup of coffee in bed.
And Maxie reciprocated by letting him control the stereo whenever they drove together, or picking up his favorite Mexican food, even though she hated cilantro.
It was their own little love language, and while they continued to bicker about inconsequential things, like sunflowers, Scarlett turned back to look out the window to try to settle the growing fear that she was making a mistake.
Was surprising Theo like this the best idea? She didn’t know, and she was trying to block out all sorts of worst-case scenarios that kept playing in her head. But as they drove up a crested hill, Lyme Hall came into view, and Scarlett’s mouth dropped open.
A massive, rectangular house, larger than any single-family home Scarlett had ever seen, rose over the edge of the hill.
It was jaw-droppingly beautiful. The estate, made of gray ashlar sandstone, was three stories tall, with fifteen bays across and a protruding gateway, completely symmetrical, on either side.
Scarlett knew this country was full of castles and grand estates, but she had never actually seen any. And if there were other buildings half as beautiful as this, she might have to stay here after all, if only to see more.
Devon drove along the half-circle driveway and parked in front of the main entrance.
“Damn,” Scarlett breathed as she stared at the building. “Was this really someone’s house?”
“Once upon a time,” Devon said.
“Okay, so what you’re going to want to do is walk around the edge of the house, over there,” Maxie said, pointing to the right.
“The garden will be on your right, but you’re going to go around the reflecting pond on the left.
There are three benches that overlook the water.
Pass those, walk along the path, and that will put you right where you want to be.
Here’s the map.” She handed Scarlett an old map that she had kept from a trip to Lyme Hall with her cousins.
“It’s all marked out. Call me if you need us to come back to get you. ”
“How come you’re so familiar with this place?” Devon asked.
“My mom used to bring us up here to hike almost every weekend growing up,” Maxie said, turning to Scarlett. She winked. “Text me if you don’t need a ride.”
“Okay. Will do,” Scarlett said, taking a deep breath before opening the back door. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” they both called out as she slammed the door.
Taking a deep breath when the crunching of stone sounded behind her as the car drove away, Scarlett headed down the right path. The house was gigantic and impressive, and she couldn’t help but feel a little unworthy being next to something so old and beautiful.
“Garden to the left, pond to the right,” she murmured to herself as she walked the path behind the house. A colorful and sculpted garden appeared beneath her on one side, and a massive pond opened up to her left. “Oh, wow.”
It was more like a lake than a pond, but everything was a little grander here.
She counted the benches to the pump house—one, two, three—then walked along the twisting path that cut through a wooded area that jutted out away from the water.
Following the walkway, she felt her insides begin to buzz and tighten, like she was on the edge of a cliff.
It was silly, to be so tense about meeting someone she already knew, but it was like being on the verge of something she couldn’t comprehend.
The path opened back up, and she saw several massive oak trees towering over the south side of the pond.
It was a lovely sight, the massive, ancient home, set behind a body of water, framed by trees whose leaves were changing colors, from green to gold.
The canopy above was blocking out the sun as a soft wind blew.
Scarlett shivered, once again unsure that she had worn the proper attire.
It was too late to change now, she told herself as she headed straight for the center of the trees, thinking that she’d have enough time to get herself situated.
But as she walked, she saw a body move to the left, out from in front of an old tree.
Her footsteps slowed as she noted his height. It was a man with curly hair bouncing gently in the breeze.
It was Theo.
Scarlett froze suddenly as her heart skipped a beat. He was here, and he was early, she thought as her hands began to shake. Quickly, she brought them together, intertwining her fingers so they would stop trembling.
His back was to her as he leaned his shoulder against the tree, staring out over the water. She hadn’t expected to be this anxious, but her nerves were hard to control, and wasn’t that the way of things?
Staring at him for a moment, she saw that he was wearing jeans and a black sweater, with a white dress shirt peeking out at the collar.
She was wondering why he wasn’t wearing a jacket when he must have sensed her staring.
His back visibly tensed beneath the fabric of his sweater, and he cocked his head to the right before turning around slowly.
Scarlett’s breath caught in her chest as her stomach dropped.
The moment his gray-blue eyes settled on her, she felt utterly exposed.
He smiled, but then his face stilled. Oh God.
What if he didn’t want this? What if he wasn’t happy about the fact that she was his anonymous sexting buddy, or he thought she had lied to, him or—
“Scarlett?” he said after a moment, taking several steps toward her. “What are you doing here?”
“I…” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “Oh God. I, um, have something to tell you.”
“What?” he asked, almost amused. She didn’t speak, and he tilted his head, confused. “Well, are you going tell me, or…”
But then it happened. The realization of what her being there meant dawned on his face, and his eyes widened.
He frowned, seeming unwilling to believe it, and a hot wave of regret threatened to swallow Scarlett whole.
He didn’t want this. It was obvious by the look on his face that he felt betrayed by this.
She lifted her hand to her neck and grabbed her number 9 charm. “Theo, I…”
“Are you…” he started at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, Scarlett decided to just come out with it. “Airport Hen?” she said, her voice shaking. “Yes. And you’re Mr. Wrong Number.”
A gutted-sounding exhale escaped him, and she was sure she had ruined everything somehow. She should have told him over text message or called him, but it was too late for that.
He didn’t speak for a long time, and she waited, silent, unsure what to say now that he knew the truth.
It was like he was stunned into silence, and the longer he watched her, the more time Scarlett had to second-guess every decision she had made.
Soon, she couldn’t take it anymore, and she tried to fill it in with uncomfortable chatter.
“I’m so sorry about this, Theo. I know it’s probably a lot to take in. It was a lot when I figured it out.”
“You knew?” he asked, he voice slightly raspy. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, and Scarlett bit the inside of her cheek. God, she loved when he fixed his glasses. “When did you know?”
“After we… I mean, the morning I woke up at your apartment,” she said.
“Five days? You’ve known for five whole days, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Well, I was about to, but then the news about the accident distracted me, and it was sort of an all-hands-on deck situation, and I didn’t know where to bring it up.
You know, my job was in question, and I didn’t know if I was going to end up staying here or not, and we got into that argument, sort of—I’m sorry for saying those things, by the way. It’s just… I thought, well…”
She felt inadequate. This had gone so perfectly in her mind, leading up to this moment, and now she was bumbling it.
“I thought meeting you here, after we talked about it, um…” Her face heated the longer he didn’t speak, and her throat became dry. “Say something. Please.”
But he didn’t. Instead, he only stared, and Scarlett’s entire body began to shake. This had been a terrible idea. She should have told him the minute she figured it out, the moment she knew. Now he was upset, or possibly even angry, and—
Theo’s hand was behind her head, and his mouth was on hers, and before she even realized what was going on, he was kissing her. She melted against him, her heart shifting from misery to rejoicing as he held her against him.
His mouth moved away from hers. “I thought… You said in that first text that you worked for a Gerkin Properties.”
“Maxie does. My roommate. She was trying to get me a car to pick me up from the airport.”
“Maxie? I met her, right?” he asked. Scarlett nodded.
“You know, I even looked them up, but couldn’t find out anything.
When I saw you at the movies, I considered it, but then you said you were there to meet friends, so I didn’t think much about it after that,” he said, his breath uneven.
“I mean, the chances that you were Airport Hen had to have been astronomical.”
She breathed, relieved. “I know.”
“And you knew the morning after we slept together? How?”
“I sent Mr. Wrong Number a text, and your phone buzzed. Then I did it again, and it buzzed again, and I looked down and Airport Hen showed up on your screen.”
He chuckled. “How is this even possible?”
“Actually, I have a theory about that. I was emailed a list of phone numbers before I even left Portland, but I never added any of them to my phone. I think when I went to type in the number for the car service, my phone automatically finished with your number.”
He pulled back slightly. “That’s wild. You know that, don’t you?
” he asked. “I mean, what are the chances of that? And then I wanted it to be you.” He paused, and Scarlett’s heart felt like it was about to burst. “So much so that eventually I didn’t even want to meet Airport Hen because I knew I was going to be disappointed, because she wasn’t you. ”
“I felt the same way,” she said, curling against him. “So, what do we do now?”
“Now, Scarlett Simmons, I think I should take you out on date.”
She smiled. “Yes, please.”
He kissed her again, and Scarlett wrapped her arms around his neck, stunned to be having a moment like this, in a place like this. She was finally home.