‘Sounds good to me.’ He took the stick when she handed it to him.
‘I usually hold it high up in the air and drop it but you don’t have to, I only do that because my nephew always insists I do it and it’s a hard habit to break.’
‘So kids love this game?’ he questioned, his eyebrows lifting.
‘Kids and adults alike,’ she smiled before warning, ‘Watch out for cars when you run across.’
Nate put Branston on the lead. ‘He’ll run with me otherwise.’
‘Give me your torch and I’ll wait with Branston over the other side.’
Just like that, as though they weren’t strangers.
Nate waited for them both to cross, then he leaned over and as the moonlight cast its glow across the surface of the stream below, adding to the light given by the streetlamp, he dropped the stick, saw it hit the water and begin to travel beneath the bridge.
Looking both ways in case any cars were coming, he legged it across to the other side and sure enough, as he leaned over and the girl shone the torch down below, the stick, moments later, made its way out.
‘Yay!’ she cheered, probably the way she cheered for her nephew.
But he appreciated it. ‘My first game of Poohsticks at thirty-eight, eh?’
‘Better late than never,’ she shrugged. ‘I’m Morgan, by the way.’
‘Nate.’ He held out a hand for her to shake after she handed him the torch. ‘It’s very nice to meet you, Morgan.’
‘Likewise.’
When he checked his watch, he realised it looked a little rude. And he didn’t actually want to leave. ‘I’m conscious of the time because I’m visiting my dad. He wasn’t home when we arrived, but he should be now, or at least soon enough.’
‘Your dad lives here?’ She seemed to realise something. ‘I thought you looked familiar. I think we may have gone to the same high school. I was a couple of years behind you from memory.’
‘Are you sure? I think I’d have remembered you.’ He really could do with a filter sometimes rather than making it obvious he thought she was attractive.
‘I didn’t hang around the village once I was done with school. I went to university, got a job and didn’t come back all that often.’
‘That makes two of us.’ She was smiling again and he liked that. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘I can’t believe you grew up here but never knew how to play Poohsticks.’
‘Me neither, although the woods were more my domain than the stream.’
‘Snowdrop Woods are pretty impressive in whatever season.’ She was fussing Branston but flipped back to the start of their conversation. ‘Who’s your dad?’
Branston had already fallen for her and was sitting beside this woman as though he didn’t want to be taken away. ‘Trevor. He doesn’t live too far from here.’
‘I know Trevor,’ she beamed. ‘I’ve just been with him for dinner, as it happens.’
‘Ah, the legendary dinners. I should’ve known. I’m a bit earlier than he was expecting me.’
‘Your dad has been going to the dinners for years. He’s lovely. And he’s been really supportive lately, particularly at the funeral.’
‘Ah, you went to Elaina’s funeral too. Dad told me all about it. Sad. But it sounds like most of the village were there; she must’ve been popular.’
She nodded. ‘It wasn’t ever the way I’d have described Mum before I came back here, but now I’ve realised how many friends she had, what a part of the village she was. I guess I didn’t always see it when I was younger.’
Shit. He’d put his foot right in it, not realising it wasn’t just any funeral; it was her mother’s. ‘Me and my big mouth. I apologise and I really am sorry for your loss.’
‘Thank you.’ She barely met his gaze, preferring to focus her attentions on Branston.
