Page 59 of A Recipe for Romance in Brambleton

But what did it matter if he was a little rusty? He knew he got on well with Lauren, and she’d already given him a black eye – what else could go wrong that was worse than that? He glanced at his reflection in the hallway mirror; the bruise was almost gone, now, thank goodness. He hadn’t slept much last night, turning and turning the next day and a half over in his mind until he’d dropped off, long after midnight. He looked scruffy, with unkempt hair, still wet from the shower, and an old grey T-shirt and blue jeans. He’d have to smarten up a bit later.

The thought made him grin self-consciously. He wondered if Lauren was feeling the same way. He hoped she wasn’t overthinking it. He was trying not to. Distracted, he didn’t notice his phone ringing until it was nearly too late. ‘Hello? Bella?’

The sound of the traffic in the background immediately put Noah on his guard. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘Yeah, sorry, Marc – didn’t mean to worry you.’ Bella’s cheerful voice put him at ease again. ‘I just wanted to check that you were all right with the boys having a fizzy drink when we stop for lunch.’

Marc laughed. ‘Well, I can’t be held responsible if they chew your ears off afterwards – Coke, especially, makes them very talkative!’

‘I’ll bear that in mind.’

‘Are the boys behaving themselves?’

Bella’s giggle emanated from the phone. ‘Well, they haven’t stopped bickering since they got in the car!’

Marc, mortified, began to apologise before Bella cut him off. ‘Oh, you mean the twins? They’ve been absolutely angelic. It’s your blooming brothers I’m talking about!’

Shouts of denial emanated from the phone, and Marc grinned. ‘I’m sure you’ll keep them in line.’

As he rang off, he was still smiling.

48

‘Hi, Mum!’ Lauren greeted Myriam brightly when her mother answered her call. It was just after four o’clock in the afternoon. She’d shut the café an hour early because trade had dropped off and she wanted a bit of extra time to get her head straight before she headed over to Marc’s place. But what she really needed was a bit of reassurance from the one person she’d always turned to in uncertain emotional times.

‘Hi, darling,’ Myriam’s face appeared on Lauren’s phone screen. ‘Everything all right?’

‘Yeah, mostly.’

‘Mostly?’

Briefly, Lauren filled Myriam in on her plans for the evening. When she’d finished, Myriam raised an eyebrow.

‘This is all quite quick for you, love. Are you sure it’s what you want?’

‘It does feel that way, but it also feels right, Mum. And you said I should try to broaden my horizons while you were away.’

‘I meant take an evening class or get out a bit more!’ Myriam laughed. ‘But I suppose a hot date in a gorgeous house with an even more gorgeous fella’s as good a way of doing it as any.’

‘But it’s been a while,’ Lauren countered. ‘What if I make an idiot of myself?’

‘I’ve no doubt you will, at some point,’ Myriam replied matter-of-factly. ‘We all do, when we meet someone new. Isn’t that right, Gary?’

‘Gary’s listening in?’ A hot flush of mortification flooded Lauren’s cheeks. ‘You could have mentioned that before I told you all that, Mum.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, he’s only got half an ear on us. He’s stuck into a podcast about someone’s dad writing a naughty book. I think he’s trying to pick up tips!’

Lauren suppressed a shudder. She was chuffed about the suggestion that her mum and Gary were making progress, but she drew the line at details. ‘That’s, er, great.’

‘But anyway… what are you going to wear?’

‘I don’t know. Jeans?’

Myriam gave an exasperated huff. ‘No, you’re not. Get upstairs and look in my wardrobe. I went on a bit of an online buying spree before I came away, and even I had to concede that some of the stuff was a bit impulsive. See what you can find.’

‘How did you manage that?’ Lauren laughed. ‘The postman always brings the parcels via the café.’

‘I gave explicit delivery instructions to use the tradesman’s entrance,’ Myriam replied. ‘Didn’t want you to smell a rat before I told you where I was going. You’d only have worried. Now, stop gassing and get upstairs. You’ll find the new stuff on the right-hand side of my wardrobe.’