They were all momentarily distracted by the clip-clopping of hooves as a horse was led past outside. This really was a rural idyll. Bruce almost dragged Jay to the doorway to watch the horse walk by.
Tyler tipped his head down. ‘But, Nora, you see,you didbreak my heart and if you’re suggesting what I think you might be suggesting then I definitely can’t go through that again.’
‘Woah,’ said Jay. ‘I didn’t see that coming.’ He pointed at Tyler who scowled at him. ‘I’ll be somewhere else,’ he added quickly. Although it seemed he didn’t want tomiss the rest of the discussion, so instead of leaving he skulked behind the sculptures.
‘I feel bad that I hurt you,’ said Nora.
‘Don’t. I’m fine now after a period of grieving, learning how to activate my light energy and a week of healing therapy in Goa.’
Nora chuckled. ‘Joking again?’
Tyler’s jaw was tight as he slowly shook his head.
‘I thought everything was great between us and I didn’t see it coming,’ he said. ‘It’s taught me a lot about my ego and to not take things for granted. And for that I am grateful. I genuinely think I’m a more whole person now than I was back then. And I am better placed to share my light and my love.’
This showed her there was a different side to Tyler. Perhaps it was a clever play on his part.
‘I may have been a little hasty in ending things,’ said Nora. ‘I look back now and all the things I thought were important… I’ve learned that they’re not. People are what’s important. That’s all there is.’
‘That is true,’ said Tyler.
‘I’m sorry I hurt you,’ said Nora. Tyler and Nora exchanged weak smiles. There was nothing here for her.
Nora got a whiff of something unpleasant.
‘Blimey, that makes your eyes water,’ said Jay. Nora and Tyler both glared at him. ‘Sorry. Horse.’ He pointed out of the open door and began wafting his hand, although it didn’t seem to make much difference.
‘It’s been lovely to see you again,’ said Tyler.
‘Anyway, my number hasn’t changed if you decided you wanted to keep in touch,’ said Nora, turning to leave.
‘Did you not want to talk about something bespoke for your garden?’ asked the older man, popping up out of nowhere and making Bruce bark. Had he been lurking this whole time, she wondered.
‘I need to think about it a bit more,’ said Nora.
Jay followed her out into the sunshine. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I’m fine actually.’ Although she wasn’t sure that she was fine at all. She felt bad for hurting Tyler and didn’t want to open his old wounds. But it was making her wonder. She definitely still fancied Tyler, but there was something missing. They had never laughed much, and certainly not as much as she and Jay did. It had been quite serious and intense. Something made her glance at Jay– she liked silly and relaxed. She liked Jay. He was a strikingly good-looking man. Of course she’d known that. He was an actor after all but looking at him now her heart was doing crazy things.
In that moment she realized, like Thor’s hammer to her head, that Jay could be the one.
Jay Pandey was everything she wanted in a man and– more importantly– everything she needed. He cared about her, made her laugh and supported her unconditionally. And, quite frankly, he was hot. Not in a beefy macho blokey way but in a subtle, kind and delightfully charming way.
But, with as much force as the Hulk punching her in the face, she also realized that he could never be hers. She valued their friendship too much. Friendships of the sort she shared with Jay were rare. She wouldn’t risk that for anything. Once before she’d made the mistake of going from friends to lovers, with Liam, and when they had split it had been devastating. There was no way she could risk that happening again, especially not with Jay. He meant far too much to her to risk losing him from her life.
The devil on her shoulder gave her a nudge. What if you just told him how you felt? What’s the worst that could happen? The scenario played out in her head. It could be instant rejection or– worse still– a brief relationship that destroyed their friendship for ever. She could hardly sit and crochet opposite a man she’d bounced up and down on top of. The thought of it made her catch her breath– this was getting out of hand and it had to stop.
‘That’s good,’ said Jay, pulling her back to her sad reality. ‘Out of interest, why did you dump Tyler?’
‘He was quite high maintenance. Needed a lot of reassuring all of the time. And there was something else.’ Nora waited until they were definitely out of earshot before she elaborated. ‘That smell…’
‘The horse’s bottom?’ he queried.
‘That wasn’t the horse,’ she replied, striding to the car.
It took Jay a moment to process what she’d said. ‘Ewww,’ he said with feeling.
34
