For a moment she hesitated and glanced at the screen of her phone. There was no signal. Damn. If she didn’t let him help, she wasn’t sure how long she would be stuck here, and with the community meeting planned for tonight at Rose Cottage, Florrie wanted to be home in plenty of time to prepare. Taking the keys from the ignition, she placed them in his outstretched hand. They held each other’s gaze for a silent moment before Florrie pointed to the double doors at the back of the van. ‘The spare tyre is in there.’
Sitting on a rock at the side of the road, Florrie quietly observed him as he took off his waistcoat and white shirt and hung them over the branch of a nearby tree. There was a heavy silence as he pushed his hair from his eyes, and they made eye contact for a second, but neither said a word.
She wasn’t going to admit it to him but he’d captured her full attention with that half naked, sultry, damn-right sexy look he had going on as he effortlessly changed the tyre. He glanced back over his shoulder and she felt herself blush, having been caught looking.
Barely twenty minutes later Tom was putting the flat tyre into the back of the van and saying, ‘You’ll need to get that fixed, otherwise you’ll be stuck if it happens again.’
Florrie nodded. ‘Thank you.’
Tom locked the back of the van and handed the keys back to her. Then he put his shirt back on and held his waistcoat in his hand. ‘And just for the record, I think about the time we spent together … a lot.’
With that he turned and headed to his car, his open shirt flapping behind him as he walked.
Florrie watched as he drove off. She wanted to dislike that man so much, but her heart was telling her something totally different.
ChapterSeventeen
Every time Florrie pulled up outside Rose Cottage, she marvelled at the beauty of the place. It certainly lived up to its name with its cluster of pink roses decorating the oak-timbered porch. She parked the van and noticed Martha and Isla carrying a trestle table down the gravel path. As soon as they spotted her, their smiles grew and they put down the table and waved.
‘Here, she is, our TV star with brand-new hair. Give us a twirl, you look gorgeous!’
Florrie laughed as Isla twirled her around.
‘It really suits you. And you were amazing on TV. Your face has been plastered all across the news channels and no doubt the story will be in the newspapers tomorrow. Goodness knows what’s been happening on your social media channels in the last couple of hours.’
‘I’ve not had time to look just yet.’
‘Why don’t I put the kettle on and you girls can take the table through to the garden?’ suggested Martha, and disappeared into the kitchen whilst Isla and Florrie positioned the table next to another that had already been set up. Florrie looked around. All the picnic blankets were laid out, ready for the meeting, and Rona had dropped off a container full of mugs, the tea urn and trays of home-baked delights.
‘You’ve all been busy,’ she observed.
‘We have but let’s get back to you. How did it feel being on TV? I honestly think if we all stick together, the planning department will have to take notice of us.’
Florrie smiled. ‘Let’s hope so and being on TV was amazing, though I was a little nervous at first. Would you believe there were followers outside the TV studio, calling my name? It was a little surreal.’
‘No way! How was the journey? We thought you’d be back before now,’ said Isla, draping paper tablecloths over the tables before beginning to lay the mugs out in rows. ‘And by the way, I think we’re expecting between fifty and sixty people tonight.’
‘I hit a pothole on the way back, and the tyre blew.’
Isla stopped what she was doing. ‘Are you okay? That must have been a bugger to change.’
‘It wasn’t as difficult as you might imagine… You probably won’t believe me when I tell you the name of the driver of the next car to pass me on the road. It was none other than Tom Houston who came to my rescue.’
Isla’s eyes widened in surprise.
Florrie blew out a breath. ‘It was a little heated. I told him I knew about him and Sophia Henley.’
‘And how did that go down?’
‘He said something quite weird.’
‘Which was?’
‘That some things aren’t quite what they seem.’ Florrie shrugged. ‘I think that it was his way of deflecting from the fact that he’d been caught out cheating, as he didn’t offer any other explanation.’
‘Possibly. Seems a strange thing to say though. Why wouldn’t he just accept responsibility for his behaviour?’
Florrie shrugged. ‘It just shows the type of person he is.’
