Page 26 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

Meadow smiled, her heart melting at the effort he was going to.

She walked across the road and pushed open the door. As soon as Bear saw her he stood up, waiting for her.

She moved across the restaurant and, as she reached him, he bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek, making her heart gallop so loudly she felt sure he’d hear it.

‘Hi, I’m Bear,’ Bear said.

Meadow grinned. ‘Meadow.’

Bear moved behind her and held out her chair for her and she couldn’t help smiling as she took a seat.

He sat down opposite her.

‘Very smooth,’ she said.

‘Oh, I’m going to pull out all the stops for you.’ He cleared his throat. ‘So Meadow, shall we order some food to share and then you can tell me all about yourself?’

Her mouth twitched with a smirk. ‘OK.’

She looked at the menu. There were lots of little bite-size dishes here, it was the perfect place to come to share food.

‘These tapas dishes are going to be really small so we should probably get five or six to share. What do you fancy?’ Bear said.

She looked across the table, her eyes locking with his, and she had to stop herself from saying that she fancied him.

She refocussed on the menu. ‘The tiger prawns look good and the marinated chicken wings.’

‘Excellent choices. How about the meatballs and the sautéed mushrooms?’

‘Yes, they sound delicious. Shall we also get a sharing board – it has ham, olives, nuts, roasted tomatoes and cheeses?’

‘OK, looks like we have a plan.’ Bear studied the menu a bit more. ‘How do you feel about calamari?’

‘Never had it, but willing to give it a go.’

‘Brilliant.’

They called over the waitress and gave their order. Meadow realised the girl was Frankie, Greta’s teenage daughter. She had only met her a few times but Meadow wondered if Frankie would recognise her and whether their little impromptu date would find its way back to Greta. The staff at Wishing Wood loved a bit of gossip and word travelled very quickly but, as Frankie left to take care of their order and Bear reached across the table and took her hand, she suddenly didn’t care who knew about this. He gently stroked his thumb across her palm, sending tingles of desire through her body.

‘So Meadow, I feel like I already know you so well… through your dating profile obviously.’

‘Yes, of course, my dating profile, not from twenty-odd years of friendship.’

‘So tell me something I don’t know, something that no one knows.’

Her mind went instantly to the dress that was hanging in the spare room. ‘When I was little my dream was to be a—’

‘Fashion designer,’ Bear interrupted.

She let out a little gasp. She hadn’t spoken about that for years. That dream had faded away. ‘How do you know that?’

‘I remember. You were always sketching out designs for different dresses when we were younger. I was always impressed with them. What happened to that dream?’

She smiled. ‘I love my daughter completely and utterly but when she was born my only priority was her, providing for her, looking after her, making sure she was happy. Everything else went out the window. But a few years ago, once Heath had moved out into the treehouse next door, I decided to use the spare room for something just for me. I bought myself a sewing machine and I set about making some clothes for Star, dungarees mostly and I still make those, they’re fun and easy to make. Leah has said she will sell some of them at Dwelling for me at her clothes stall. But after I had mastered that I tried to make my own dress. It was a lot of trial and error and a lot of research and watching YouTube videos as I’d had no training or experience, but eventually I made my own dress. The bright pink one you admired so much when I first wore it.’

‘I remember that dress vividly. It had silver ribbons from the shoulder to your hip. You looked so beautiful wearing it.’

She stared at him, swallowing a lump of emotion in her throat at his choice of words. Not that the dress looked beautiful but that she looked so beautiful wearing it.

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