Page 59 of You Had Me At Pumpkin Patch
Rosie was sitting at the typewriter, deep in thought about the magical night and morning she’d just spent with Zain. She hadn’tplannedto turn their lovemaking into a steamy new scene for her novel, but somehow the words had emerged onto her page. In fact, it had taken up quite a few pages. She smiled. Perhaps she should change a few details and delete the part about the pumpkin field, so it wasn’t so obvious that naked Cain was naked Zain. Or more likely, she should keep this scene to herself. She would never want to embarrass him.
They’d spent the rest of that day getting ready for the official launch party and auction, which was happening the next evening. There was still a lot to do, but they had tomorrow. Rosie just hoped the event would grab enough attention to get retreat spaces filling up, and that the party and auction would raise enough to fund Agnes’s roof.
‘This is the life,’ Rosie breathed to herself.
Her hair was tied up in messy buns, damp from her quick swim earlier. She still had her swimming costume on under her flowery dungarees, and there was a wet patch on her bottom from where she’d sat down without drying properly. Her socks were odd because she hadn’t had much time to worry about things matching. And she didn’t care a dot.
Everything feltwonderful. Like anything was possible.
Maybe one day she could start thinking seriously about her writing retreat ideas after all. Her novel was coming together, and she was even starting to think of herself as areal writer. She was working on her manuscript every day now – her own words, not something about periodontitis or horrible teeth. And definitely not anything that could be churned out by a chatbot.
Zain seemed to be growing and changing too. From the antisocial grump in the hut, to a man full of romantic words and plans. And more recently, to something almost in the middle. Like he was settling into himself. Or to her.
Yes, she was a woman in love. Her heart sped at the thought. She and Zain had said the words out loud to each other, and for the first time in her life, sheknewshe meant them. Even her relationship with James, which she was coming to believe hadn’t been what she thought it was, had never been a patch on this.
Finally, she was winning at life.
The loud knock at the door surprised her. She’d been tucked into her writing nook for longer than she’d realised, pages of her manuscript spread out on the table next to her, whilst she tried to work out where her story was going. Was it weird to keep basing her plot on real life, now that Zain was so much more than a muse?
‘Rosie, it’s me,’ came Zain’s rushed voice from the other side of her front door. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Of course,’ she shouted back. It was sweet that he still asked, although she guessed it made sense to keep some boundaries.
The door opened and Zain strode in, running an agitated hand through his hair.
‘Have you seen Steve?’ he asked. Rosie shook her head. ‘He hasn’t touched his food, then I realised I haven’t actually seen him for a couple of days. With everything that’s been going on, I didn’t notice. I’ve looked everywhere. Agnes hasn’t spotted him. He likes to pretend he’s his own boss, but he doesn’t skip a mealtime.’
Rosie put her papers down and stood up, making her way to the coat hooks. ‘Right, we’ll split up and look again. I’m sure he’ll be fine; he always is. Three legs and nine lives. He’s my kind of superhero.’
Zain tried a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
‘Hey.’ She stepped towards him and squeezed his hands. ‘We’re in this together, OK? And we’ll find him.’ She grabbed the pet snacks and gave a handful to Zain. ‘Cat bribes at the ready. Let’s go.’
They set off around the land, taking separate routes. Zain disappeared towards the camping meadow to check the treehouses again. Rosie paced around the lake, calling into the bullrushes and shaking the box of treats. She knew without him saying it that Zain worried about Steve falling in. He could swim in a wobbly sort of way, but not for long and not without starting to gulp water.
‘Steeeeeve?Where are you, little man?’
It was cloudy overhead, and the sky felt grim and grey. Rosie pulled her raincoat tighter. A knot of guilt began forming in her stomach. They should have noticed he was gone, but they’d been too wrapped up in their own bubble. Would they be forced to suffer the price? If anything happened to Steve when they should have been looking out for him, maybe it would shake Zain’s confidence about letting people into his once solitary world.
She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and when she was sure she couldn’t see him by the lake, she headed to the woodsheds. She knew Zain had checked all around the farmhouse and across the pumpkin fields – but the only thing to do was keep looking. Then she’d check the road. Neither of them had mentioned it, because it would be like admitting the worst.
It must have been an hour later when Rosie got back to the lake. Zain’s cabin was closest, so she decided to go in and look for him. If he wasn’t there, she’d put the kettle on and wait. Then they could plan what to do if Zain hadn’t found Steve.
‘Zain?’ Rosie knocked on the door and put her ear to it. There was no light coming from inside, even though it was starting to get dark. Zain didn’t reply.
Then Rosie heard a crash from inside, like something falling and hitting the floor.
‘Steve?’
She pushed the door open and flicked on the erratically buzzing light. Something scurried across the floor.
‘Steve, was that you? Are you OK?’ She rushed towards the table where the shape had darted and dropped to her knees. ‘It’s you! Come here, you silly thing. What are you hiding from?’
Rosie felt her eyes fill with tears at the sheer relief of finding him. He must have let himself in through the cat flap. The awful images she’d been imagining of the poor thing struggling for his life in the water or being injured on the road began to evaporate as he hopped into her arms. She kissed his bald head and breathed him in – even if his cat waistcoat did now smell a bit like a pond.
‘We should get you changed. Have you eaten?’ She had no idea what she was expecting him to answer. Stickleback sandwiches by the lake? But she’d become so accustomed to talking to him, and he seemed to like it. ‘What were you running from, anyway?’ Rosie stood, Steve still cradled in her arms. ‘What was the crashing noise?’
Steve wriggled to get down and Rosie realised he must be hungry. She moved to the full bowls and crouched with him, letting him climb down. And that was when she noticed it. A laptop, in an awkward upside-down position on the floor near Zain’s bed, as if it had fallen there. That must have been the loud noise she’d heard.A laptop?
