‘One candle it is.’
They were still looking at each other. James still had that smile going and Cassie was fairly sure that the shape of her lips mirrored his.
‘What do you…’ he began, and then there was a beeping. A loud and persistent beeping. Cassie blinked. What was that?
It was her timer.
‘Timer,’ she said.
‘Timer,’ repeated James, still smiling.
‘Is there something in the oven?’
‘Oh. Right. Yes. Yes, there is.’ He turned round and their arms brushed. The zing! Cassie felt it right to her stomach. No wonder Dina was so besotted. Honestly, Cassie’s heart was beatingsofast. Terrible. Dina was her closest friend.
James reached for oven gloves and went to the oven to take something out. Two trays, with an eight-shaped bake and a zero-shaped one.
‘What is that?’ Cassie asked.
‘Shortbread.’
‘Wow. Honestly. You’re like some kind of bakinggod.’ No. Not good. Shereallysounded like she was coming onto him and, in light of what had just happened – and she had no idea what it had been, but, God, it had felt strangely erotic – she should just leave the kitchen, now. ‘Great to see you,’ she said primly, like she was leaving a coffee morning or something, ‘and I’ll no doubt bump into you at the party. I should get going now. Animals to see. Dresses to change into.’ Cringe, cringe,cringe. Why was she talking like that?
‘Yes, great. I’ll see you later.’
Cassie wondered all the way up the garden whether he was watching her as she walked. She was going to twist an ankle if she carried on walking like this, but it was really hard to move normally when you were wondering whether or not someone was looking at your bum and whether it looked okay in these trousers.
The good news was that while she’d been in the kitchen with him she’d completely forgotten about the IVF.
She wassopleased to see the animals. Chickens were like little people; they had definite personalities, as even James had spotted. As did the alpacas, obviously. Donna, Maisie and Fred ambled over to her and she hugged them all in turn.
‘I missed you so much,’ she told them. Theydefinitelyrecognised her. Fred was nuzzling into her. So gorgeous. ‘Howyoudoing?’ she asked him. Maybe she’d be better off doing her next cycle of IVF in Boston after all. Then she’d be home if and when it all went wrong. She could get drunk with Dina and hug the animals. It probably wouldn’t be that hard to sort a Boston trip at short notice.
Donna came back over towards her and Cassie put her arms round her neck again. ‘So, Donna,’ Cassie said. ‘I just had a very weird moment in the kitchen with James.’ God, she couldn’t believe she’d just said that out loud, even to an alpaca. She still didn’t even know whether she liked him as a person and, more importantly, if anyone should be having any kind of moment with him, it was Dina. Donna lifted her head and looked at Cassie, unblinking. Yeah, Donna was right. Best to ignore what had just happened.
Seventeen
James
James lowered himself into the kayak and pushed away from the beach. It would be much better to be out here on the water when Cassie came back past the house so that they didn’t have to speak again.
What the hell had happened just then?
Cassie was absolutely not his type. She wrote ridiculously lengthy notes and she used emojis. She adored her bright colours, apparently clothing-wise as well as with her décor and garden. She kept animals. She was friends witheverybody. She clearly had a stable family background, very different from his. She’dchosento live on this island on the edge of the world. She read a lot.
He paddled harder.
She did make him laugh out loud and she did have an excellent line in sarcasm. She was kind and he was pretty sure she’d be very loyal. She had a gorgeous Scottish accent. She was beautiful. When she’d turned up at the kitchen window looking both flight-weary and very cute, in a canary yellow – very Cassie – waist-length top, he’d just wanted to talk to her.
Andthenwhat? He paddled even harder.
First, he’d indirectly mentioned Leonie to her. He never did that. Second, when they’d been standing next to the cake, and he’d been breathing in her fruity, flowery scent, looking at her expressive face and her somewhat bonkers hair, all he’d been thinking about was how much he’d like to pull her into his arms, wind his fingers into her hair, kiss her until she was breathless. What waswrongwith him? He didn’t want to kiss the woman he’d swapped houses with and was now kind of friends with. Far too complicated.
Anyway, he’d literally been saved by a bell and now his head was clear.
He continued to paddle furiously around the headland and towards Cassie’s perfect wild beach. Frustrating woman.
After about an hour, muscles satisfyingly stretched, he made his way back. He needed to check on the caterers and Laura, sort the cake out and get changed. Cassie should be long gone by now.
