Page 22 of Hope and Happiness in Bluebell Wood
I glance at my watch. ‘Er, yes, I think we will. We’ve been out a fair while now.’
‘Mind if I tag along?’
‘Aren’t you supposed to be running, though?’
‘I think I’ve done enough of that for today. A walk back will be my cool-down.’
‘Sure, if you want to,’ I say, sounding indifferent.
Callum puts his hands on his hips and grins. ‘You sure know how to make a boy feel wanted.’
‘You’re hardly a boy,’ I counter, smiling to myself as I head off with Merlin.
‘The charm of her!’ he calls, jogging to catch up with us. ‘So, miss, how old do you think I am, then?’
I turn and look at him. His dark, almost black hair is flecked with grey at the temples, like the stubble on his chin. Close up I can see that below his now twinkling pale blue eyes, along with the laughter lines I’d spotted the other day, are heavier lines. Up on his forehead are the type of furrows that only deepen that far when one has reached a certain stage of life.
‘I’m going to be polite,’ I say, trying to guess in my head before I share with him, ‘and say on a good day forty, and on a bad . . . ’
He pulls a silly face.
‘Forty-five, maybe -six?’
‘It must be a bad day, then,’ Callum says. ‘I’m forty-six.’
‘Like I said, hardly a boy!’
‘Sadly no, not any more. I try hard, though.’
‘I bet you do.’
We walk on a bit further. It should feel odd having someone walking alongside me, but strangely it doesn’t. Callum, a bit like the wood, is a very calming presence.
‘What brings you to Bluebell Wood?’ Callum asks. ‘We’re a bit off the beaten track. Not many folk choose to come and live here at your age unless they have a reason.’
‘Are you saying I’m old?’ I ask, feigning shock.
‘No, quite the contrary, actually. I’m saying you look too young to retire here.’
‘Is that a prompt so you can guess my age now?’ I say, raising my eyebrows at him.
‘Youmustbe younger than me,’ Callum says diplomatically. ‘No way you’re older.’
I shake my head. ‘Flattery will get you absolutely nowhere with me.’
‘Somehow I didn’t think it would,’ Callum says knowingly, looking far too directly into my eyes for my liking.
‘If you must know,’ I say hurriedly, looking away, ‘I’m the same age as you.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
‘You look good on it.’
‘Thanks,’ I say, blushing, not for the first time. I pretend to look around for Merlin, but he’s right beside us.
‘You obviously haven’t been blessed with children, then?’ Callum asks. ‘In my experience that usually ages people.’
