In the end, it was Noah who pulled away. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘I didn’t mean to make things weird. It’s not appropriate, is it?’ He moved his hand away from hers, and Bella immediately felt the loss. ‘This is your home now, and I’ve no right to impose on you.’
‘You didn’t,’ Bella said gently. ‘It’s all right.’
‘And you were right.’ Noah stood up hurriedly. ‘Time’s getting on and I should hit the road.’ He made to leave the kitchen. ‘Um… is it OK if I come back next Friday night? I need to get the garden sorted, and I’d like to start early on Saturday morning, if that’s OK with you.’
‘That’s fine,’ Bella said quickly. ‘And by that time, Monty should be OK to be let back outside, so he can keep an eye on you.’
Noah smiled. ‘I’m sure he’ll be very keen to do that!’
As Bella said goodbye to Noah that evening, she couldn’t help wondering what it would have been like if they’d both leaned in a little closer. She couldn’t deny that she was finding him more and more attractive, and from the look on his face when he’d pulled away, he seemed to be feeling the same.
Perhaps Noah was right, though. This relationship they had was full of imbalances, not least that he owned this house, and she was just his informal tenant. There was no written contract between them, and although he was happy for her to stay here and look after Monty, if things went sour between them, who knew where she’d end up? She couldn’t risk the security of the roof over her head because they were attracted to each other. She needed to give herself a shake and get over it.
36
In the event, Bella didn’t get any more time to brood about what had nearly happened over the kitchen table. Monday morning rolled around quickly, and she was busy settling in yet another young female cat and her litter of kittens. These ones were semi-feral, having been born in an ancient shed on some farmland, and hadn’t taken kindly to being trapped and rescued. With time and a lot of patience they’d finally settled into their portion of the outdoor enclosure in the back garden of the sanctuary, which Mollie had constructed for feral rescues. It was hoped, eventually, that they might find an outdoor home of their own.
In the afternoon, the electrician had come over to the cottage and taken a look at the fuse box. Noah had warned her that a re-wiring project might cause some inconvenience, but Bella wasn’t concerned – she’d be out most of the time, and she’d make sure to have an extra cuppa at work if the power was going to be off for any duration. It was generally just a case of letting him in and leaving him to it.
That evening at the pub, Jason, the Harry Styles lookalike, was playing again. Bella was getting used to the sound of his set, and she’d begun to tune him out, but when he broke into a different song to usual, her ears pricked up.
Heartbreaker,
You’re just a heaaaart-breaker!
Dream maker,
You’re still a heartbreaker…
Bella’s heart started to thump as she recognised her own hit song, and she buried her face in the beer pumps as the all-too-familiar melody echoed through the pub. Jason’s voice was deeper than Harry Styles’s dulcet tones, and the slight gravel quality lent a distinctive patina to the lyrics that, much as Bella hated to admit it, gave a new dimension to the tune. She couldn’t help but be as grudgingly impressed as she was embarrassed, and by the end of the song she could almost enjoy it as a piece in its own right, divorced from her own version.
As Jason finished his set and came to the bar for a drink, she handed him a pint of his usual.
‘Interesting song you did there,’ she said casually. ‘I don’t think I’ve heard that one before.’
‘Yeah,’ Jason replied, after taking a pull from his lager. ‘I’ve been listening to a lot of retro stuff on Spotify lately. This singer, Isabella something or other, popped up on my recommended list. She’s all right, basically a lot of Euro pop, but that song’s a banger.’
Bella tried to keep her expression neutral. ‘I haven’t heard of her before,’ she said.
Jason grinned. ‘I don’t think anyone this side of the North Sea has! From the looks of it, she wasn’t exactly what you might call a success in the UK. But, as I said, I thought that song was great, so I worked out the chord progressions and added a touch of the old Jason Flyte magic.’ He gave her a wink. ‘Works every time.’
‘I’m sure,’ Bella said dryly.
‘So, fancy doing an encore with me, Bels?’
Bella laughed. ‘Not tonight.’
‘One day, you’ll get up there with me, and we’ll be dynamite.’
‘But not today.’
Jason gave her another wink and drained his glass. ‘See you next week.’
As Jason packed up his guitar and left, Bella shook her head. It was a measure, perhaps, of how self-involved Jason was that he hadn’t twigged that ‘Isabella something or other’ was actually standing on the other side of the bar, but she was glad. Having Noah discover her musical past was one thing – he wasn’t going to be around for long – but revealing it to Jason was quite something else. She got the feeling that if he had made the connection, she’d never get away from his requests for a referral to her old record label.
‘Everything all right, Bels?’ Paddy broke into her reverie.
‘Fine.’ Bella turned to the landlord and smiled. ‘Only Jason up to his usual tricks.’
