‘True. Although to be honest, it’s been way more fun than many of therealdates I’ve been on lately.’
Interesting. I stored that one away for later.
‘I really didn’t think they’d shut this early,’ Nick said, glancing again at the ‘Closed’ sign on the pizza restaurant door, as though if he looked at it hard enough it would magically change to ‘Open’.
I gave a shrug, which I hoped hid my disappointment that our time together was coming to an end sooner than I’d expected.
‘It’s half past three,’ I said, amused by the surprised expression on his face as he double-checked his watch. If nothing else, at least it proved the day hadn’t dragged by for either of us.
‘We could try and find somewhere to grab a bite in a nearby town,’ he suggested.
I shook my head. ‘I’d need to leave almost as soon as we got there to make it to the hospital in time. And besides, don’t you need to get back for work?’
Nick nodded, and I like to think there was a smidgeon of regret on his face as we began making our way towards the exit. He walked me to my car and even though he must have been in a hurry to leave, he showed no sign of it as he stood by my open driver’s door, waiting for me to climb in.
‘So, what’s next?’ he asked. His bright-blue eyes were mesmerising behind the window of his glasses. I found myself having to concentrate extra hard when we were standing in front of each other like this, because there was something about his face… his eyes… that kept making my thoughts wander.
‘Next? Well, you go to work, and I go and visit my sister.’ Glib was definitely the way to go, I decided, pleased to hear just the right amount of nonchalance in my reply.
And yet Nick still showed no signs of leaving. ‘I meant what’s next on Sam and Amelia’s schedule? Where’s our next date?’
This was the moment to release him from his obligation. I’d found his missing daughter in the shopping mall, and he’d given up his day off to help me achieve something he probably still thought was crazy. Whichever way you looked at it, we were definitely quits.
Except Nick was having none of it. ‘You’ll only have evidence of a single date if we stop now. Don’t you need photos from some of the other memorable occasions?’
‘Thatiswhat I’d originally intended. But I can see now that I wasn’t being sensible. This is going to take up way too much of your time.’
‘Let me worry about that,’ he said.
Let him go, I told myself.Let him leave before you start catching feelings that don’t belong to you. They’re Amelia’s, not yours.
‘What else did they do together?’ Nick asked, interrupting those dangerous thoughts. For a moment, some of the very explicit details my sister had shared flashed through my thoughts – only it wasn’t Amelia and Sam in those intimate images, but two people who looked an awful lot like them. I felt an incipient blush.
‘They went horse riding at sunset,’ I said on a rush, before anything more risqué came out of my mouth. ‘Do you happen to know anyone with a couple of horses?’
Nick raised a single eyebrow, and I felt the warmth of a pink tinge flood my cheeks. What a ridiculous question to ask a veterinary surgeon.
‘That would be a strong yes,’ he replied, his eyes twinkling. ‘Can you ride?’
‘That would be a strong no,’ I said, biting my lower lip to stop the smile that seemed determined to take over my mouth.
‘This should be interesting,’ he said, stepping back finally to allow me to slide on to my seat. ‘Leave it with me, I’ll arrange it,’ he promised.
There was more than enough time to stop him, to tell him I’d changed my mind, but I appeared to have lost all my good sense somewhere in the amusement park that day.
‘See you soon,’ Nick said, as he firmly closed my car door. It was strange how three perfectly ordinary words could suddenly become so important.
*
‘You’re wearing my jumper.’
I had an instant flashback to my early teenage years, when I was forever getting caught raiding my big sister’s wardrobe.Same crime, different reason, I thought, as I looked down at the emerald-green sweater that I’d intended to change out of before going up to the ward. How distracted had I been to have totally forgotten?
‘Sorry. I had an important Zoom call with an author just before I left the cottage and none of my decent stuff was clean,’ I lied.
‘Oh, okay,’ she said, sounding a little disappointed with my answer. ‘I thought maybe you’d been out somewhere for lunch.’
At least this time I could tell the truth. ‘No. I definitely didn’t go out for lunch,’ I said, my thoughts straying to the meal Nick had wanted us to share.
