‘I’ll put my fleece back on.’ She picked it up from the chair, where Blake had put it when she’d arrived. They had both swapped their formal funeral clothes for jeans and, weirdly, the navy-blue boyfriend-cardigan she was wearing was very like the one he had on.
He led the way from the quirkily designed kitchen that had been built to fit the circular shape of the mill, and took her up the two flights of narrow stairs.
Outside, the late afternoon light was fading and wispy strands of indigo and violet cloud stretched across the opalescent sky, all of which was reflected perfectly in the glassy surface of the river. It was a magnificent sight and one Jenna would never tire of. Now, thanks to Alastair’s generosity, she was part owner of Linston End with Callum and Rachel, and would be able to visit as often as she wanted. It really didn’t seem possible. But then so much that had happened this summer didn’t seem possible.
Including Blake – her fiddle-playing lover-boy, as Rachel annoyingly still referred to him. From nowhere he had come spinning into her orbit, and ever since had made her feel dizzily disorientated. Nobody had ever had the same effect on her before. And just as he had said he would, he had left Heart-to-Heart two weeks ago, having resigned and worked his notice. She had felt guilty at the decision he’d taken, but he had reassured her that he had intended to move on anyway.
The office had seemed very dull without him, and despite the sad circumstances of their meeting today, Jenna had been looking forward to seeing him again. She had longed to turn around during the funeral service to locate him in the pews behind her, but reminding herself of the reason she was there, she had refrained from doing so.
Not until they were gathered around the grave was she able to steal a proper glance at Blake. Dressed in a suit, shirt and tie, he had looked uncharacteristically sombre and even more youthful than he usually did, like a sixth-former on his way for an interview. At the sight of him, especially when he’d caught her eye and nodded, her heart had done that absurd jumpy thing it had started doing recently whenever she thought of him. It was doing it now.Jumpety-jump-jump, jumpety-jump-jump.
‘It was good of you and your mother to come to Alastair’s funeral,’ she said, trying to still her out-of-control-heart. She turned her head to look at Blake and realised he’d been staring at her, and not the view as she had. ‘You really shouldn’t do that,’ she said, her stomach now performing back-flips and somersaults.
‘What?’ he said. ‘I was breathing, that was all.’
She tutted. ‘If only that was all you ever did.’
He smiled. ‘What’s the latest on your parents’ house? Has work started yet on putting it right?’
‘We were warned by the insurance company that the process would be slow, but it looks like we’re finally getting somewhere. The builders start work next week.’
‘Fingers crossed it’s plain sailing from then on,’ he said. ‘How’s your father doing?’
‘He’s behaving himself and not overdoing it, much to Mum’s relief, and mine, so that’s good. I was so worried about him before. But then Rachel reckons I worry far too much.’
‘Better to care than not at all.’
‘That’s what Dad says when Mum tells him he cares too much.’
‘So you’re a chip off the old block, are you?’
‘I suppose I am.’
‘And I suppose that’s what I like about you. The fact that you don’t trivialise things.’
Her heart suddenly lurched at his words, and the intense way he looked at her. Before she could say anything, he said, ‘Would I be pushing my luck to ask if you’ve missed having me around at work?’
‘Funnily enough, I have,’ she said, attempting to play it cool. ‘So how’s the new job going?’
He laughed. ‘Oh, no you don’t! You’re not changing the subject just as it gets interesting. Tell me, and be truthful, on a scale of one to ten, how much have you missed me?’
Another sip of her tea. Another attempt to play it cool. ‘Goodness, who knew you could be so needy?’
‘Answer the question, Lawyer Girl.’
She drew her brows together and pressed a finger to her lower lip as though giving the question her greatest consideration. ‘Oh, about five, I’d say.’
‘Only five,’ he repeated, ‘and after I’ve tried so hard? I mean, come on, I’m good for a seven, surely? An eight if you were feeling benevolent?’
‘I’m kidding,’ she said with a small smile. ‘Ten. Maybe even eleven.’
He whistled. ‘As high as that? I’m honoured. And if you’re interested, I’ve missed you ten to the power of ten. Which begs the question; where does that leave us? Given that I’m not a work colleague anymore? And by us …’ He paused to take her mug of tea and place it, along with his, on the floor behind him. He then put his hands on her shoulders, ‘… And byus,I mean you and me.’
After two months of being frantically busy with work, as well as helping her parents sort out the mess of Walnut Tree Cottage, it was time now to be bold. Time now to stop pretending she didn’t feel the way she did. ‘I think it’s high time we kissed. Don’t you?’
She saw a glimmer of surprise in his face, and then, moving a hand from her shoulder, he placed it deftly on the nape of her neck. Instinctively she leaned towards him, closing the gap between them. With her mouth a tantalising few inches from his, and drawing the moment out, she looked up into the beguiling caramel warmth of his eyes. All summer, she thought, it’s taken me all summer, right through to autumn, to allow myself to do this.
‘Shall we jump?’ he asked.
