Chapter 37
‘Mum, there’s someone here to see you,’ Hannah called from the house.
Tess had been mooching about in the garden, picking some runner beans which they would eat with supper tonight, and watering her flower pots with the old-fashioned watering can.
She had a hose, of course, with all the attachments, but there was something pleasing and therapeutic about using the vintage galvanised metal receptacle to tend to her plants and herbs.
It was still far too hot to do anything strenuous so mainly she had been enjoying the fruits of all her hard work, and soaking up the sunshine. She hadn’t heard the front door go.
‘Hang on. I’m just coming.’ She peeled off her gardening gloves and threw them in the wicker basket that housed all her gardening tools, wiping her hands together.
‘Who is it, darling? Oh…’
Tess stopped as she entered the house, unable to hide her surprise at seeing Rob standing in the hallway. She wasn’t sure if it was the heat or something else that set off her palpitations.
‘Hey, this is a lovely surprise. I can see you’ve met my daughter, Hannah.’
‘Yes, I hope this is not a bad time,’ he said, looking between the pair of them.
‘Not at all, come through. Are you stopping for a drink?’
‘Well, if that’s okay. I don’t want to intrude at all.’
‘Don’t worry on my account,’ said Hannah.
‘I’m going out to meet a friend so I’ll leave you two to it.
It’s okay to take the car, isn’t it? I’ll be back for dinner.
’ There was a glint in her eye as she flashed a smile at her mum.
She picked up her bag, throwing it over her shoulder, and headed for the door.
‘See you later, Mum. Nice meeting you, Rob.’
They waited until they heard the front door slam shut.
‘Ah, so I can see it’s all change around here,’ said Rob with a grin. ‘Were you expecting Hannah back so soon?’
‘No.’ Tess appreciated the fact that Rob had obviously listened and remembered when Hannah was supposed to be returning home.
‘It’s a long story, but basically, she fell out with her boyfriend and so made an early return.
It was a surprise because she hadn’t told me she was coming back.
I found her on the doorstep in the early hours of the morning: the best surprise ever.
It’s lovely to have her home again, though.
We’ve been doing lots of catching up. Beer, or tea/coffee? ’
‘A beer would be great, thanks.’
Tess went across to the fridge, pulled out a chilled bottle and handed it to Rob. She poured herself a glass of elderflower cordial.
‘So, how are you? I’ve been thinking about you…’ there was a moment’s beat where her gaze snagged on his ‘…wondering how the new job is going and how you’ve settled into the new place?’
‘Yeah, it’s been great. It’s good to have something to focus on, something positive.
The job suits me perfectly for now. It’s practical, outdoorsy, I don’t have to think too much so it’s everything I was looking for really, and the people seem great too.
It’s good to be in my own place as well, although that’s not to say that I don’t miss the sanctuary of my beautiful garden room,’ he said with a smile.
‘There is definitely something about that space that is healing to the soul.’
‘I know, I’ve been spending some time out there, sitting and watching the world go by; it’s a really good spot to sit and think.’ Especially recently, when she had had plenty to think about. ‘Hannah has been using it too. I need to be careful though or else she might hijack it as her own.’
‘I’m sure you wouldn’t really mind that.’
Tess shook her head. ‘It was funny, but in the days after you left, Barney would go running out to the annexe and wait to be let in. I had to open it up and show him that it was empty, that you weren’t inside, ready and waiting to take him out for a walk.
Honestly, it was quite heartbreaking, actually. ’
‘Ah Barney, you’ve been missing me, boy.’ He spoke directly to the dog, who had made his feelings patently clear by curling up on the floor next to Rob. ‘I’ve missed you too. I’ll tell you what, maybe we can organise one of our walks with your mum soon?’
‘Only if I’m allowed to come too,’ said Tess with a smile.
‘I was hoping you might say that,’ said Rob, his gaze catching on hers.
‘Look, should we go and sit in the garden?’
They wandered outside with their drinks and sat on the cushioned seats at the table on the patio and while Tess was extremely happy to see Rob, she sensed there was something he needed to say. She cast him a glance, inviting him to speak.
‘Sorry I’ve not been in touch.’
‘It’s fine,’ she said breezily, as though she hadn’t given it a second thought.
‘That’s not to say I haven’t been thinking of you both,’ he said, casting a glance down at Barney. ‘I realised I’ve not had a chance to thank you properly for putting me up all those weeks so I wondered if I could take you out to dinner sometime.’
‘Oh, Rob, that’s very kind, but you don’t need to do that.’ She felt her breath catch.
‘I’d like to, though, but only if you wanted to.’ He turned to hold up a hand to her. ‘No pressure. Although… there was something I wanted to tell you.’
‘Sure,’ she said, intrigued now.
‘Well, the thing is, I’ve missed Barney, I’ve missed the annexe and I’ve missed this delightful garden.
I’ve missed walking down the lane and being amongst the beautiful countryside around here, but most of all, I’ve missed you, Tess.
’ He paused, gauging her reaction, but she simply nodded, showing her understanding.
‘I’ve missed seeing your face, hearing your laughter and our long conversations that went off on complete tangents.
The things we talked about! From that first moment we met, I was able to open up to you in a way that I haven’t always been able to.
I don’t know if that was because I thought I’d never see you again after that day outside the café when you inflicted personal injury on me. ’
She smiled, recalling that day. ‘It wasn’t deliberate, although there was no getting away from me after that. I was like a crazed stalker tracking you down. It surprises me even now because I’d never done anything like that before.’
‘Well, I for one am very glad that you did. Anyway, I hope that what I said about missing you isn’t too much. I don’t want to completely freak you out.’
‘No.’ She shook her head, taking hold of his hand. ‘My turn. There’s something I need to tell you.’
Rob nodded.
‘I’ve missed you too; we both have, haven’t we, Barney? When I didn’t hear from you, I wondered if I’d imagined the closeness we shared? It upset me to think that we might lose contact, that I might not see you again.’
‘You didn’t imagine it at all. I wanted to give us both some time and space, mainly so that I could make sense of my own feelings. I wasn’t sure…’ Rob faltered and dropped his head to one side as if considering whether to go on.
‘You weren’t sure about what?’ Tess said, clasping his hand now, looking at him intently.
‘I wasn’t sure if you were seeing someone. I didn’t want to stand in the way of that if there was someone new on the scene.’
‘Why would you think that? Oh… I remember now.’ It came flooding back to her.
The night she’d gone out with Nico. They’d stood in the driveway after their date and he’d clasped her in an intimate embrace.
She thought she might have seen Rob moving around inside the annexe and she’d certainly noticed the light turning off.
He must have seen them together and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
‘No, I’m not seeing anyone. I went on a date with a colleague of my husband’s, so it was probably doomed to failure from the start. He’s a nice guy, has everything going for him, but I quickly realised there was something wrong with him.’
Rob flinched and broke into a smile. ‘Poor guy! What on earth was wrong with him?’
‘I’m kidding. He’s lovely, and we’ve agreed to stay friends, but honestly…’ She paused, wondering whether to go on.
Rob nodded, encouraging her to finish her sentence.
‘He wasn’t you. I spent the whole time when I was with him wishing it was you there instead. I decided there and then that dating wasn’t for me. I didn’t even know then if you felt the same way about me, though.’
‘Oh, yep. Definitely. I fell for you early on, but I tried to keep some emotional distance. Failed miserably, of course.’ He gave a wry laugh.
‘After everything I’d been through, I couldn’t trust my feelings.
I wasn’t sure if my closeness to you was simply my immense gratitude for everything that you’d done for me.
I also didn’t want to put you in a difficult position when I was still effectively living under your roof.
I told myself that once I’d moved away, I’d get a better handle on my feelings, I’d be able to gain a different perspective, but really it only confirmed to me what I’d known all along: that I had developed feelings for you. ’
Tess gulped, feeling vindicated. Rob was articulating her own feelings exactly.
He went on. ‘I tried to tell myself that it wouldn’t work, that someone as lovely as you would never want to be with someone like me, someone with a dubious past and an uncertain future. Although things are looking a lot more positive now.’
‘Of course they are, and I’m really pleased for you, Rob, but you know, you shouldn’t put yourself down.
You’ve got a job, a home, your own head of hair.
And I’ve always loved that whole bad-boy vibe,’ she said, teasing him.
‘Honestly, I’m surprised I’m not fighting off a whole swathe of women in front of me. ’
‘It’s all right, they’re forming an orderly queue round at my place. Cheers for that, though,’ he said, running a hand through his thick hair, laughing, looking down at their hands intertwined as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
In truth, she could have recited a whole long list of Rob’s admirable traits: his kindness, his thoughtfulness, his practicality, his artistic ability and his dark good looks too, but she would save those for another day.
It would be interesting to see how their relationship might develop now that they’d admitted they had feelings for each other.
‘So you’re off dating, but I’m hoping you might make an exception in my case?’
‘Well, I think it would be churlish not to,’ she said with a coy smile, feeling a delightful sense of anticipation.
Despite her head telling her that she didn’t need a man in her life, that it was far too soon to embark on a new relationship and she had plenty of other things to keep her occupied, her heart was telling her how much she liked Rob and how she wanted to explore getting to know him better.
‘Would you like to go out somewhere for dinner or perhaps you’d like to come round to mine? I would love to cook for you if you fancied it. I make a mean lamb curry.’
‘Do you? I love a curry, and it would be great to see your new place too.’
‘Sorted then,’ he said, with a lazy smile that lit up his entire face. His gaze ran over her features, and he lifted a finger to trace the contours of her face as though consigning it to memory. ‘Does that mean I can finally do something that I’ve been wanting to do for weeks now?’
His head moved closer, an electricity fizzing between them, his mouth hovering over hers until she nodded.
‘I really wish you would.’
Tess felt his lips upon hers, and her eyes closed involuntarily as she lapped up the sensation of being held in his arms, of being cheek to cheek, inhaling his familiar, musky scent that sparked sensations all through her body.
It felt wholly unfamiliar and exciting, but in the same way, entirely natural too.
Their mouths parted, and Rob ran a hand through her hair, massaging her scalp.
With the warmth of the summer’s afternoon wrapped around them, Tess gave into the moment, enjoying every single delicious sensation, content in Rob’s embrace, thinking she could happily remain there all afternoon, until she heard a familiar sound come from the side of the house.
‘Cooee, it’s only me!’
Rob and Tess pulled away from each other reluctantly and Rob frowned, his lip curling in an expression of frustration.
‘Ah… the lovely Dilly, we might have known, eh? To be resumed,’ he said with a smile, running a fingertip along Tess’s lip. She inhaled a sigh and looked across at her neighbour, who had stopped in her tracks as she took in the scene in front of her.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Dilly, obviously noticing the pair of them sat very closely together, maybe even the red blotches of desire creeping up Tess’s neck, the couple’s limbs touching.
‘I didn’t realise.’ Slowly, understanding dawned on Dilly’s features.
‘Oh my goodness! Is it true? Are you two actually a thing now then?’
Tess laughed, not entirely sure if that was the case, but suspecting that by the end of the day, the rest of Dilly’s address book might believe it to be true so she simply smiled, reflecting on that possibility.
She didn’t need to answer because Rob beat her to it. ‘We don’t know, Dilly. We’re just figuring that out for ourselves, but I’m hopeful we might be,’ he said with a smile, laying a hand on Tess’s knee.