Page 54 of The Forever Cottage

‘Do you? I love a curry, and it would be great to see your new place too.’

‘Sorted then,’ he said, with a lazy smile that lit up his entire face. His gaze ran over her features, and he lifted a finger to trace the contours of her face as though consigning it to memory. ‘Does that mean I can finally do something that I’ve been wanting to do for weeks now?’

His head moved closer, an electricity fizzing between them, his mouth hovering over hers until she nodded.

‘I really wish you would.’

Tess felt his lips upon hers, and her eyes closed involuntarily as she lapped up the sensation of being held in his arms, of being cheek to cheek, inhaling his familiar, musky scent that sparked sensations all through her body. It felt wholly unfamiliar and exciting, but in the same way, entirely natural too. Their mouths parted, and Rob ran a hand through her hair, massaging her scalp. With the warmth of the summer’s afternoon wrapped around them, Tess gave into the moment, enjoying every single delicious sensation, content in Rob’s embrace, thinking she could happily remain there all afternoon, until she heard a familiar sound come from the side of the house.

‘Cooee, it’s only me!’

Rob and Tess pulled away from each other reluctantly and Rob frowned, his lip curling in an expression of frustration.

‘Ah… the lovely Dilly, we might have known, eh? To be resumed,’ he said with a smile, running a fingertip along Tess’s lip. She inhaled a sigh and looked across at her neighbour, who had stopped in her tracks as she took in the scene in front of her.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Dilly, obviously noticing the pair of them sat very closely together, maybe even the red blotches of desire creeping up Tess’s neck, the couple’s limbs touching. ‘I didn’t realise.’ Slowly, understanding dawned on Dilly’s features. ‘Oh my goodness! Is it true? Are you two actually a thing now then?’

Tess laughed, not entirely sure if that was the case, but suspecting that by the end of the day, the rest of Dilly’s address book might believe it to be true so she simply smiled, reflecting on that possibility.

She didn’t need to answer because Rob beat her to it. ‘We don’t know, Dilly. We’re just figuring that out for ourselves, but I’m hopeful we might be,’ he said with a smile, laying a hand on Tess’s knee.

38

The summer fete in Lower Leaping was the highlight of the village social calendar, a chance for the whole community, old and young, to come together to enjoy the celebrations and to raise some much-needed money for local charities.

Tess had popped down early in the morning to help with the setting up of the stalls, which were lined up on both sides of the riverbank. There was a wonderful sense of camaraderie as the volunteers erected gazebos, laid tables with paper cloths and tied colourful bunting on the canopies. Tess had brought along the coffee and walnut cake and flapjacks which she had made yesterday, and a batch of scones which she had whipped up early this morning. Seeing the vast array of cakes and biscuits that had been donated to the cake stall, Tess wondered if they’d be left with a baker’s shop worth of goodies at the end of the day, but she might have known from previous years that the cake stall was always one of the most popular stands.

As soon as the fete was declared open at 2p.m. sharp, there was a rush of customers to reserve and pay for their favourites, with a promise that they would be back later to collect their sweet treats. While Tess was queuing to buy a lemon drizzle loaf that she would take home to share with Hannah, she was gratified to see that her coffee and walnut sponge was sold within the first five minutes.

She had tried to persuade Hannah to come along this afternoon, but Hannah had been adamant that she wanted to stay at home, or more accurately in the garden annexe, where she had escaped with her magazines and her headphones to listen to some podcasts. Understandably, she wasn’t quite ready to face the entire village and their inevitable, well-meaning questions about how her trip had gone and what plans she had for the future. There would be plenty of time for those conversations in the coming weeks.

Instead, Tess had wandered down to the village fete with Dilly, where she’d been eager to visit some particular stalls, before doing her own stint at the cake stall, picking up some rhubarb, some lavender plants and jars of plum jam and green tomato chutney, popping them into her wicker basket. Tess loved to see everyone out and about, chatting, laughing, enjoying the sunshine and all the attractions on offer. Children ran up and down the grass, shouting and skipping, enjoying the freedom and the ice creams, while the four-legged community members were equally happy meeting up with their canine chums. Tess had considered bringing Barney along but he’d already had a long walk that morning and looked more than happy curled up on the daybed in the annexe with Hannah.

‘Are you done?’ After Tess had finished her session serving at the cake stall, Gina, Suzy and Dilly were hovering at the side, waiting to collect her. ‘We thought we’d go to the Pimm’s tent but we didn’t want to start without you.’

‘What a good idea,’ said Tess, dropping her sunglasses on to her face from her head and linking arms with Gina and Suzy.

‘Oh look,’ said Dilly, pointing to the other side of the river. ‘Isn’t that Nico?’

Tess turned to look. ‘Oh, great. Yes, it is. Let’s go and say hello.’

Tess had messaged both Nico and Rob about the fete, saying how much she would love to see them if they fancied it and Nico had replied to say he would try to get along, while Rob had thanked her for the invitation but explained that he had plans with his children. It didn’t matter because she already had arranged to see Rob later in the week for an early-evening walk, followed by some pub grub in the Royal Oak, but it was lovely to see Nico, at least.

‘Hi!’ She embraced him in a hug and he kissed her lightly on the cheek. ‘You know Dilly. And these are my friends, Gina and Suzy. We were just going to get a drink. Would you like to join us?’

‘Love to, if I’m not intruding?’ he asked with a glance around the group.

‘Not at all,’ said Gina. ‘The more, the merrier.’

As Tess suspected, Nico’s easy-going manner meant that he fitted into their group as though he’d known them all for years, chatting away, telling tales of his recent holidays, listening intently as they talked about their plans for their next trip, and offering suggestions for future destinations.

With their refreshments collected – long, cold Pimm’s for the women and a beer for Nico – they wandered out to the grass and found a free table where they settled in uncomfortable plastic chairs, but it didn’t matter in the slightest because they were enjoying the drinks, the conversation, and the general ambience, watching the afternoon unfold as the sun cast a benevolent glow over them.

That was until Suzy spotted a familiar figure over the other side of the field, who was looking all around him, as though searching out something, or someone, in particular.

‘What’s Charles doing here?’ Suzy asked, and they all turned to look at him, dressed in chino shorts, pink polo shirt and straw hat.

‘Oh no! That’s the last thing we need. I bloody well hope he hasn’t brought Melody with him. That’s out of order.’ Tess stood up, outraged that Charles would even contemplate coming along when he’d left his life in the village behind.

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