Page 34 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

‘He is. I’m not sure any man is going to live up to that. He set the bar very high.’

‘Do you think you might want to date Bear for real if he was such a perfect date?’ Indigo fished.

Meadow grinned. ‘What is it with the Brookfield family trying to matchmake me with Bear? I’ve already had Amelia pushing me towards him.’

‘I’m not part of the Brookfield family, not officially. So I’m saying this as your friend, if last night was so perfect, you have to ask yourself why.’

‘Because Bear pulled out all the stops to make it special for me.’

‘And why would he do that?’

‘Because he’s my friend.’

‘Heath is your friend. If he did that for you to introduce you to the dating world, would you be sitting there with such a huge grin on your face when you’re telling me about it?’

‘No, that would be weird,’ Meadow said, thinking about what it would be like to hold Heath’s hand or to dance with him in the way that Bear danced with her.

‘And why would it be weird?’ Indigo said.

‘Because we’ve never been anything other than friends. There is nothing romantic about my relationship with Heath.’

‘But there is about your relationship with Bear,’ Indigo said.

Meadow cursed. She had walked straight into that one.

‘OK, I might have a bit of a soft spot for Bear,’ she said, downplaying the huge space in her heart that was taken up solely by him. ‘It doesn’t mean he feels the same way.’

‘But why would he go to all that effort if he doesn’t? I can’t see Heath or River doing that for you and they both adore you.’

Meadow thought about this for a moment. The night before she had to keep reminding herself that it hadn’t been real, especially when they’d been so close to kissing while they were dancing. What if it had been a lot more real than she’d thought?

Just then Amelia arrived, somehow making the little blue shorts and diamante wellies she was wearing look fabulously glamorous, as always. She was tying up her sheet of silvery hair in an extravagant and effortless plait ready for her day of playing in the woods or on the beach with Star.

‘Star and Bear are just finishing checking the food stations they left out last night in the woods,’ Meadow said. ‘They are trying to find the best places to put up some webcams. They’ll be back in a minute.’

‘That’s OK, I’m not in any rush,’ Amelia said, a sly grin on her face. ‘How was your first date last night?’

Meadow glanced at Indigo, hoping to convey in the briefest of looks not to mention anything about Bear. But she trusted her, especially after Indigo had been at the receiving end of Amelia’s nosiness when she and River first got together.

‘Awful,’ Meadow said. ‘He brought his mum along and she was very disapproving of me being a divorced mum. I got out of there after only a few minutes of hell.’

Amelia seemed delighted with this. ‘See, I told you. Bear would never have done something like that.’

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t,’ Meadow said. ‘I’m attending a speed-dating event tonight, so hopefully I might meet some nice men there.’

Amelia’s face fell. ‘I don’t really like the sound of that.’

‘You said I should date other men.’

‘Well I suppose so but—’

‘How is your search for a man going?’ Meadow quickly tried to divert her.

Indigo’s face lit up. ‘Are you looking for a man, Amelia?’

‘I’m… not sure,’ Amelia said and Meadow had the pleasure of seeing her squirm uncomfortably.

‘We could set you up with an online dating profile,’ Meadow said.

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