‘Right time, right place.’ Jason raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. ‘Congratulations, Isabella Indigo. TikTok loves you.’
59
‘Noah Hathaway, you’ve got some fast explaining to do!’
Bella’s irritated expression as he pressed the green button on the incoming FaceTime call matched her exasperated tone. Noah, fearing the worst, leaned back in his office chair and tried to compose his own features into something he hoped looked calm.
‘How so? Has my stupid brother been contacting you? I told him to leave you out of it.’
‘No. Nothing to do with the cottage, or your bloody brother, or anything like that.’ Her expression wasn’t changing. Noah shook his head in bewilderment.
‘Then what? The last time we spoke, you told me you needed space. You explained your reasons perfectly. What exactly doIneed to explain toyou?’ Noah had spent the past week burying himself in work, putting together a business plan for the second branch of the estate agency, and working out his pitch to Mollie and her landlord. He’d barely had a second to think, and he’d been counting on the long drive to Somerset on Saturday morning to put the finishing touches to everything, when he could mull things over as he drove. He hadn’t wanted to drive to Lower Brambleton on the Friday, worrying that it would make things more awkward between himself and Bella. He’d hoped to make himself as scarce as he could over the weekend, even though he was dying to see Bella sing, so he’d booked a room in the Star and Telescope for Saturday night, so he wouldn’t crowd her in the cottage. Jack’s cottage was still her home, and he was in no rush to move her out of it.
‘Oh, don’t pretend that you don’t know!’
‘Honestly, Bella, I don’t. What on earth’s the matter?’
‘Well, if you really don’t, then I think you’d better call a staff meeting, and find out who did it!’
‘Who didwhat? For goodness’ sake, Bella, tell me what this is all about!’
As Bella finally told him, Noah saw his own face in the small selfie window of the FaceTime screen metamorphosing from worry to surprise, to, finally, a huge, excited grin.
‘But that’s incredible! It must feel amazing to know that all those people have been listening to your music.’
‘That’s not the point, Noah. I never wanted this. Doing a gig for Purrfect Paws to a few locals is one thing, but going viral on TikTok? What happens now? I stepped away from all that for a reason. You know damn well I never wanted to get dragged back into the hype of a music career and now you, or one of your staff, has shoved me back in the limelight. None of you had any right to do that!’
The vehemence of her tone made Noah’s grin fade instantly. ‘I’m sorry. For what it’s worth I had no idea. The last time Isabella Indigo came up in conversation, it was because Ruby and I were going to meet with a client. All she said was how much she liked your song and how great she thought it would be as the backing track to one of our mini reels to showcase the property. I genuinely had no clue that she’d actually used it.’
‘That’s as may be, but it’s your bloody name above the doorway.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry. I’ll get her to take the video down straight away.’
‘It’s a bit late for that.’
Noah wished, more than anything, that he’d decided to head down to Lower Brambleton that evening, instead of waiting until tomorrow. He desperately wanted to put his arms around Bella, to apologise properly and reassure her that, whatever the fallout from ‘Heartbreaker’ going viral, he’d be there to support her. He could see how freaked out she was from the way she kept biting her bottom lip, and running her fingers through her hair, flipping it off her face impatiently.
‘Look,’ he said, ‘I can come down tonight if you want. We can talk about all this. I can be with you in a bit over three hours.’
‘Don’t bother,’ Bella snapped. ‘I’m working tonight anyway.’ He saw her glance at someone or something off camera to her left, and as the audio pickup faded out on her microphone, he caught her saying, ‘I’ll be there in a sec.’
‘Was that Paddy?’ Noah asked.
Bella shook her head. ‘Jason Flyte, the guy I’m duetting with tomorrow night. He’s buying me a stiff one before I have to get behind the bar and serve.’
Noah felt a flare of jealousy ignite in the pit of his stomach, because Jason was right there with her and he wasn’t. Daft as it was, he desperately wanted to be there in person to reassure her.
‘Well, I wish I could be the one buying you that drink,’ he said quietly. ‘Can we talk about this tomorrow?’
Bella nodded. ‘I’m not sure what I’m up to yet, but I’ll see you some time.’
On that noncommittal note, she ended the video call.
Noah chucked his phone on the desk and let out an irritated huff. He tried not to dwell on the call: he had enough to think about already. He’d arranged to meet Mollie and the landlord of the Purrfect Paws charity shop at the cattery tomorrow morning to discuss his proposal to jointly lease the building for the second branch of the estate agency. His mind needed to be on that, rather than what he was going to say to Bella. This was the most important decision he’d made since he’d conceived the idea of Noah Hathaway Estates. If the landlord, a man named Martyn Fellowes, didn’t go for it, then he’d find somewhere else, but Mollie’s tenure at the store would be over. He was surprised at how passionately he didn’t want that to happen. When he’d opened his first branch, it had been a risk he’d been taking solely for himself: this time, like it or not, Mollie’s future hung in the balance, too.
Trying to take his mind off the conversation with Bella, he opened his laptop back up and scanned through the documents he’d sent Martyn and Mollie earlier in the week. They’d have had time to digest them by now, and he hoped that they’d both see the sense in what he proposed. He’d spoken to Mollie earlier, and she’d seemed cautiously optimistic, but the final decision lay with Martyn. If he didn’t go for it, then the charity shop was dead in the water. It was up to Noah to talk him round in person, if the figures hadn’t been enough.
After about twenty minutes though, even Noah had had enough of the business plan. Wearily he shut down the laptop and got ready to go home. Yet again, his mind drifted back to Bella, as he began to put his things in his messenger bag. Although he still couldn’t really comprehend why she was so pissed off about ‘Heartbreaker’ going viral, he supposed he could see her point about feeling out of control. She’d been so clear about needing to do things on her own terms, and that choice had been taken from her by a random video that Ruby had posted.
