Page 26 of Best Summer Ever

‘Just like you.’

‘You must get on well with your parents.’

‘Um…’ I said, not wanting to paint too rosy a picture. ‘We have our moments. Do you get on with your mum and dad?’

‘Um…’ Josh echoed, with a wry smile. ‘We have our moments.’

I grinned at that.

‘Do you have far to go?’ he asked, with a nod to my car.

We’d made it to the car park now and my tatty vehicle was right where I’d left it. I hoped the interior hadn’t got too damp with the window down.

‘Just a couple of miles,’ I told him. ‘They live on a beautiful estate in a tied cottage.’

‘That wouldn’t be Wynbrook Estate, would it?’ Josh asked.

‘That’s right – Wynbrook Manor. I grew up there. How come you’ve heard of it?’

‘Sam mentioned there’s a fruit farm there,’ he told me after a moment’s hesitation. ‘A pick-your-own, I think he called it.’

‘That’s right, there is. My friend Nick runs it.’

‘Sam said the strawberries there are the best in the county.’

‘I’m not going to dispute that,’ I laughed, remembering the delicious berries I’d earlier sampled. ‘You’ll have to visit and taste them for yourself.’

‘I would love to,’ he said, sounding disappointed, ‘but I’m without a car here. I didn’t fancy hiring one and getting to grips with driving on the wrong side of the road.’

‘Given the narrowness of the roads, you’d mostly be driving in the middle,’ I pointed out, ‘but never mind about your lackof wheels because I’ll give you a lift out there one day. That is, if you don’t mind slumming it in this old thing.’

I nodded at the car.

‘I like your car.’ Josh smiled. ‘It’s very… characterful.’

He was doubtless referring to the fact that one of the back doors was a different colour to the rest and the bumper had a dent in it. That hadn’t been my doing. The poor car had been assaulted while parked and the assailant had fled the scene without leaving a note.

‘That’s one way of describing it,’ I said, as I began to feel more mindful of the time.

‘So, what do your parents do on the estate?’ Josh asked. ‘I take it they work there if they have a tied cottage?’

‘It’s getting late, so I’d better tell you another day,’ I said. ‘It’ll be the perfect excuse to carry on our conversation.’

‘Do we need an excuse?’

‘I suppose not.’ I smiled, as I pressed the key fob and wondered why I’d bothered to lock the car when the window was wide open.

Josh took a step closer and my head, heart, tummy and knees all responded in a way I hadn’t experienced for a very long time. For one heady moment, I thought he was going to kiss me, but then he leant around me and opened the car door.

‘Until next time then,’ he said, his breath close to my ear.

‘Yes,’ I said, slipping into the seat. It did feel a little damp. ‘Until next time.’

He waited while I pulled out of the car park, having made a total hash of reversing out of the space, even though there was only one other vehicle parked up and it was miles away from mine. He waved when I reached the bottom of the lane and Iflicked my hazards lights on in response. That was a mistake on my part as they then stuck on and I had to drive all the way home with them flashing.

I was surprised to find the cottage in darkness when I arrived home and felt rather aggrieved; had I known Mum and Dad weren’t going to wait up for me, I would have accepted Josh’s invitation to entertain me.

However, all was not lost because Mum had left a note on the table saying she hoped I’d had a good night and informed me there was a chicken salad sandwich in the fridge if I fancied it. It turned out I did fancy it because her sandwiches were legendary and I was famished. As I retrieved it, I noticed Daniel’s postcard had been straightened on the pinboard, which further took the upbeat edge off the end of my evening. I childishly stuck my tongue out at it and headed up to bed, taking the sandwich with me.

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