Page 17 of Whispers from the Past

‘No reason, other than that it’s one of my top five favourite cars after the Capri. How long have you had it?’

‘About twenty years. It was my first car,’ Luke replied as he reached over Rose to grab his jacket from the hook behind her. He was close enough for her to smell him, which sounded strange but she found it oddly captivating. For a moment, their eyes locked. Rose blinked and inhaled, just as Luke cleared his throat. ‘Ready?’

‘Ready?’ she repeated; confused.

‘To go home?’ Luke prompted.

‘Oh yes, of course,’ Rose rolled her eyes to herself. What else did she think he meant?

Luke’s torch was much more useful than Rose’s. But although they could now see clearly ahead of them, it didn’t help with their footing on the wet ground beneath their feet.

‘It must have lashed it down whilst we were in your office.’

‘Yes. Watch your st-’ Luke’s caution was swallowed by a groan as he slipped on the leaves at the top of the footpath. Rose spun round to see what had happened, only to see Luke falling backwards. She grabbed on to his jacket to steady him, but hadn’t factored in her total lack of upper body strength. So instead of steadying him, she was pulled down to the ground with him. Opening her eyes, she found their faces were inches apart.

‘Oh Luke. I’m so sorry!’ she flustered, attempting to get up, but failing. She looked down at the poor man she kept upsetting or injuring, expecting a thunderous face. Instead she found him smiling. And it was the loveliest thing she’d seen for a while. She swallowed hard - he was far too attractive when he smiled.

‘You should do that more often,’ she advised, feeling strangely emboldened in the darkness.

‘What? Fall on my arse in the mud?’

‘No. Smile,’ Rose teased as she pushed into his chest to get back up. But Luke held her close for a moment longer.

‘I’ve not had much reason to smile lately. That was until you gatecrashed my garage with your beauty of a car.’

Her earlier teasing encouraging her, Rose countered, ‘Oh and there was me thinking you were going to say I gatecrashed your garage with my beauty.’ Again, she pushed forward and this time managed to get up and added, ‘Although that would have been cringingly corny.’

Rose laughed at herself and looked back expecting to see Luke doing the same. Instead she found him looking almost thoughtful. ‘I’m only teasing Luke - don’t worry! I know I’m no beauty…especially when compared to my car.’ She offered her hand to him, who hesitated. ‘Luke. Seriously. I was joking. I’m not coming on to you, let me help you up.’

Eventually, he took her hand and seemed to be about to say something when a flurry of fur swept past them, followed by the local postman; both of whom were in far too much of a hurry to notice the blossoming moment they’d ruined as Luke’s hand dropped back down to his side.

A few minutes later, Rose and Luke reached the door of The Book Nook. As she pushed her key into the slot, he gently touched her hand. ‘Thank you for checking on me.’

‘No worries. Kind of felt I should seeing as I was the cause of the pain.’

‘I’m just glad I spotted you out there.’

‘Me too. It was looking a bit grim for me back there.’

‘No near misses tomorrow.’ He scowled slightly before carrying on ‘You need to be in one piece for your date.’ He turned to leave and then changed his mind. ‘Have you got your phone on you?’

Rose nodded and took her phone from her pocket. Luke held out his hand for it, and then noticing her confusion he explained. ‘I’ll give you my number. That way you can just message me to check up on me, rather than wandering around at night.’ She handed him her phone, waiting for him to finish adding his number to her contacts. Placing the phone back in her hand once he was finished, he turned around without another word. And then he was going and Rose was surprised at how much she missed his touch. The ping of her phone distracted her from watching him walk away from her.

Have you decided what you’re wearing tomorrow?

Holly’s message brought a smile to her face, it was like they were both still at school working out what to wear on a night out. Flipping her phone round to take a selfie, she sent the photo with a message about her new coat.

I’ve just been a little sick in my mouth. What are you wearing?

I was in dire need of a Yorkshire winter appropriate coat.

You do know that you can get coats that don’t look like something Del Boy died in?

Maybe that’s the look I’m going for?

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