Page 43 of Coming Home to Crumbleton

This was the other side of his grand plan he hadn’t quite thought through properly. He’d been here for what felt like hours already. He’d given himself far too much time to set up, and now all he had left to do was tie himself up in knots while he waited.

As soon as the pair of them had finished their coffee, Caroline had given him a lift and dropped him off at Crumbleton Clump. In his head, Oli had figured that it would take at least an hour to set everything up and make sure it was perfect and ready for Ruby’s arrival.

Not so much, though. It had taken just five minutes to string the woodland clearing with fairy lights, and another ten to line the path from the road to the clearing with dozens of tealights set in jam jars. Then he’d spread the tartan blanket out on a comfortable spot – and everything was ready in less than half an hour.

All he had left to do was wait for her… and pace.

And sit.

And obsess.

And pace some more.

Oli made another circuit of the clearing, checking everything for the umpteenth time.

‘Yep. Still perfect,’ he sighed. There wasn’t a light out of place.

Wait… was that candle out?

‘Get a grip!’ he laughed, as the little flame fluttered back to life.

With a long sigh, Oli flopped down onto the blanket and made himself a promise that he wouldn’t budge again until Ruby turned up… or it got so late he’d know for sure that she wasn’t going to come.

Pulling his legs to his chest, he wrapped his arms around them and stared intently at the entrance to the candle-lined path.

‘One, Mississippi… two Mississippies,’ he muttered. ‘Three… pfft!’

He promptly gave up and lay back on the blanket to stare up at the green canopy of leaves swaying far above his strings of fairy lights.

‘She’s going to come. She’s going to come!’

He let out a huge yawn and his eyes fluttered closed. A gentle breeze brought the scent of the woodland to him - rich and earthy - and the sound of the rustling trees started to calm his taught nerves.

‘She’s going to come,’ he yawned again.

CHAPTER 19

RUBY

Popping another foam banana in her mouth, Ruby leaned back on her elbows and stared at Oli. He was still fast asleep. She smirked. She’d arrived a good twenty minutes ago, having practically trotted up the tree-lined path, admiring the flickering candles in their glass jars as she went.

Then, she’d stepped into the magical clearing, with its canopy of fairy lights and huge red tartan picnic blanket – and nearly had a heart attack. The last thing she’d been expecting was to find Oli, spark-out on his back. Her initial blast of fear that there was something horribly wrong had been quickly put to rest by a soft snore drifting on the breeze.

‘Sleeping beauty!’ she chuckled, picking up her pink plastic cup and taking a sip of the ginger beer she’d helped herself to. She had a feeling Oli wouldn’t mind that she’d tucked into some of the goodies from the basket while she waited for him to wake up.

Oli’s ancient copy of Persuasion sat next to her on the blanket. Ruby had fully intended to dive into its pages and enjoy the pure nostalgia of the words. As it turned out though, watching him snooze peacefully in front of her proved to be far too alluring, and she’d quickly set the book down to gaze at the way the dappled light played across his face.

Suddenly, Oli let out a huge yawn and started to stir. Ruby watched with amusement as his face went from pure, relaxed peace - to confusion - to panic in just a matter of seconds. He scrambled up and then spotted her sitting just a few feet away.

‘You’re here!’ he said in pained surprise.

Ruby grinned at him and raised her cup in a mock toast.

‘Wait…’ he said, rubbing his face, ‘you’ve been here for… how long?’

‘One and a half glasses of ginger beer and most of my foam bananas!’ she chuckled. ‘I did think about opening the bubbly, but that seemed a bit mean… I didn’t want the pop to wake you up!’

‘I’m so sorry,’ he said, rubbing his face. ‘I can’t believe I fell asleep. I wanted this to be-’

---