Page 3 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

Her mind suddenly conjured up a much more romantic scenario than he was probably suggesting, the two of them together, not wearing much or anything at all as they swam together, kissing with salty lips, under a sunrise-coloured sky.

‘Bring Star too, she would love it,’ Bear said, popping her little fantasy bubble.

‘She would.’

‘Where is she today?’

‘She went with River, Indigo and Tierra to see their baby on the scan. She was so interested in it, I asked if she could come too. River and Indigo were happy to oblige.’

‘I bet she’ll have a ton of questions when she gets back.’

He turned to the computer and he started singing to himself, slightly out of tune which made her smile. God she loved this man.

She watched him fondly as his fingers flew across the keys as he logged in to the website and did his daily check to make sure everything was running smoothly. It almost always was. He had designed and built their website and booking system by himself. He was also responsible for all their social media and marketing and had helped with all the electricity and lighting around the resort, too. As a kid he’d always been taking apart computers and fixing them or building new computers from the old parts of others. He was super smart and an expert in all things techy and electrical.

Meadow often wondered what would have happened between them if she had accepted his offer of a date shortly after that first incredible kiss. They had both been so young, she’d just turned seventeen, he was sixteen. Would they have stood the test of time or would they have fizzled out after a few weeks? Would these feelings for her best friend have faded away too if they’d gone out with each other because she’d been there and done that rather than all these years of wondering?

She thought back to their one and only kiss. She had read that little chapter in her diary just that morning. Despite being her first kiss it had been wonderful. He had been away on four weeks’ work experience in London and when he’d come back she had practically thrown herself into his arms because she had missed him so much. The hug had turned to a kiss, one that had made her feel like she was floating on air.

She’d gone home that night practically bouncing with excitement. Her parents, well her dad mainly, had always been so strict about her staying out and dating boys, which was why her first kiss had happened so much later than all her other friends’. When she told her mum about kissing Bear, her mum had laughed and said it was foolish to fall in love with a boy like Bear because he would leave her and break her heart. And Meadow had known she was right. Not because Bear was a womaniser or one of those love-them-and-leave-them types, it was because he was always destined for bigger and better things than a sleepy village in Wales. Everyone knew that. He was so smart that Meadow had known that one day the move to London or New York or some other big city somewhere in the world would be permanent. He would follow his dreams to work in designing computer programs. And she wanted that for him. She wanted him to grab every opportunity that came his way, for him to see the world and be successful.

The next day she’d bumped into Heath who excitedly told her about Bear being offered a three-year apprenticeship with Strawberry, one of the biggest computer software companies in the world. Someone from his work experience in London had been impressed by him and had used their contacts at Strawberry to get Bear an apprenticeship. It was two years in London and one in California. It was an amazing opportunity for him.

So when she’d seen Bear later that day and he’d asked her out she had said no. She didn’t want him giving up his life for her. She hadn’t wanted him to miss out on an incredible experience. And selfishly, she hadn’t wanted to get involved with him, fall even more in love with him, only to watch him leave in a few weeks’ time. So she’d laughed off the kiss, told Bear that it didn’t mean anything and to prove it she’d started dating other boys. But Bear had never left. He turned down the apprenticeship and she’d never known why. And almost as if he was trying to prove he wasn’t bothered about the kiss either, he started dating other women, rubbing salt into the wound when he’d slept with Milly Atherton. But then she’d discovered she was pregnant with Star and the diary she’d found had pages of regret and messy complicated feelings after that.

She knew she had hurt Bear when she fell pregnant and got married to Heath, especially after they’d shared such an incredible kiss, but what was worse was that she could never tell him why. Only she and Heath knew the truth and she was determined it had to stay that way.

Bear turned to face her, flashing her a smile that warmed her heart.

‘I just saw Heath, he said you needed a hand with something.’

‘Oh, I’m just trying to set up my dating profile on Connected Hearts, but I think I’m done now. I just have to hit submit and I will be on the market as if I’m selling my house. They want to know my entire life history. It seems so complicated. I just don’t believe that two people can share a real connection from ticking boxes on a website.’

‘You see, that’s where me and you differ. These dating websites are built on algorithms, finding a match is about a computer program finding matching patterns in a sea of different patterns. It stands to reason that if your pattern matches someone else’s – if you like and dislike the same things, you have the same attitudes and beliefs, not necessarily religiously, but the same moral compass – then you at least have a common ground to start from. Human beings are like very sophisticated computers and if you can find one with compatible software then you can connect very easily.’

‘But what about that old adage, opposites attract? Your algorithms and software don’t consider that random chance meeting, that connection that comes from nowhere. That kind of thing can only be found by meeting someone in real life.’

‘Yes, but how often does that happen?’

‘It happened for River and Indigo. That love at first sight kind of thing.’

‘I think what they have is very rare,’ Bear said. ‘I think you have a better chance of having a computer find you a match than try to bump into your soul mate in a pub or on the street.’

‘He could walk in here any second, looking for love.’

Bear looked towards the door and she did too but there was not a soul to be seen.

‘Well, that doesn’t prove anything,’ Meadow said. ‘I’m not sure why you’re so supportive of online dating. You’ve tried it and I don’t see you happily married to your soul mate. In fact, you gave up looking.’

‘Soul mates are tricky to find. If you believe those romance books you love so much, we only ever get one. Some people never find theirs. A lot of the women I was getting matched with were looking for sex. I’m looking for forever. And I haven’t given up, I just had a run of bad dates and now I’m taking a break for a while.’

‘See, that’s not a good advert for online dating, is it?’

‘But at least I had things in common with these women. You walk into a pub and see a man with a nice smile, you might not have anything in common with him. He might enjoy fox hunting or eating sprouts. Or in all seriousness, he might not want to get involved with someone who has a child and, honestly, someone who doesn’t want to get to know Star isn’t worth you wasting your breath on because she is an amazing little girl. These are things you can find out before you even get as far as meeting them. I understand your reluctance. Online dating is weird and there are many men online I wouldn’t want you to meet. But I do think that a dating site that uses a program to match you with someone similar to you is a really good place to start.’

‘I get that and I guess online dating has its merits but there is so much more that happens when you meet someone new face to face; eye contact, body language, a comment that warms your heart, a smile that makes your heart flutter. Look, I saw this the other day,’ she dug out the leaflet she’d seen in a café. ‘There’s this new dating company in the area and they have different ways to find your perfect match. They ask you to go to five events and at each event they match you in a different way. They measure your heart rate, they have a body language expert, they even have a pheromone night where you can find your match by scent. By the end of the five events you should have found your perfect match.’

Bear arched an eyebrow, ‘You’re going to walk around smelling everyone?’

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