Page 30 of Promises & Petals in Nettleford-on-the-Wold
She looked down again and spotted another, and another. Glancing towards the cottage, she grinned. A whole lot of them had been dropped, winding through the garden and trailing towards the cottage. What was he playing at?
Closing the caravan door behind her, she began walking across the garden, following the trail. No one had ever done anything like this for her before, and if the careful trail of rose petals led to a surprise dinner in the kitchen, then she most definitely would not be admitting to him that she’d already eaten a Pot Noodle.
Almost right outside the door to the cottage, the trail veered off to the right, and Hannah frowned. Had that been a mistake? Had he had too many petals and so had discarded them outside?
Placing her hands on her hips, she looked around the garden, half-expecting to catch a glimpse of him but, nope, there was no sign of him. After deciding he must have just discarded the extra petals, she went to open the front door, stopping as she saw another pathway of petals leading around the corner of the cottage.
Hannah stepped away from the door and instead followed the petals, which were becoming increasingly difficult to spot in the dim light from the setting sun. As she turned the corner, she stopped in her tracks, lifting her hands to her cheeks. The petals were leading to the ladder of the scaffolding, and around the edge of the ladder, Josh had wound fairy lights, which glimmered in the half-light, illuminating the metal rungs. A piece of paper was taped to one of the rungs, and she stepped forward before gently pulling it free. Opening it up, she read:
Climb the ladder to the stars :) x
She grinned as tears pricked the backs of her eyes. This was way beyond romantic, and she decided in that moment that she’d climb Mount Everest itself if it meant she got to spend the evening with Josh, whether she decided it would be their last or not.
Folding the paper in four, she took a tentative step forward and gripped the ladder. Leaning her head back, she looked above her. She couldn’t see Josh, but she could make out thatthe ladder led up to a wooden platform near the bottom of the thatch. And it was high. Not that heights had ever bothered her when she’d been younger, she remembered many an adventure which had led to climbing trees, but she hadn’t climbed for years and never this high.
Still, it must be safe, or Josh wouldn’t have led her this way. Reminding herself that he would be waiting at the top, she began to climb. It was sturdy, as though it were fixed to the scaffolding rather than just leaned up against it, which she was grateful for.
Chapter Twenty One
As she neared the top, she glanced beneath her, immediately regretting her decision as her eyes blurred at the shock of how high she was. Turning back, she squeezed her eyes tight shut and gripped on tighter to the rung in front of her, her knuckles turning white as her ears filled with the noise of her heart hammering.
‘You’ve got this, Hannah. Just a few more rungs.’
At the sound of Josh’s voice, she opened her eyes again and tilted her head back to look above her. Sure enough, Josh was there, holding his hand out towards her. Reaching out, she waited until he’d taken her hand and gripped it tightly. As soon as she felt his grip, her heart rate slowed, and she felt more confident. Climbing the last couple of rungs, she paused when her head peeped above the platform, and she saw what he’d set out for her. More fairy lights had been wrapped around the poles of the scaffolding, twinkling away and illuminating the platform on which he’d set a flask, two mugs, a blanket, a book and a telescope.
‘Good evening.’ Josh grinned at her as he helped her onto the platform.
‘Evening.’ Sitting down, she sidled across to him and crossed her legs, her hand still enveloped in his.
‘I’ve missed seeing you around the cottage today. Did you have a lot of work on?’ Reaching out, he gently tucked her hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek gently in his palm.
‘I’ve just been busy. I missed you too.’ She omitted that she’d been busy staring blindly at one email whilst battling with her heart and her head. She looked into his eyes as he leaned forward, their lips millimetres apart before she spoke again. ‘I really have missed seeing you about today.’
‘So have I.’
Reaching around his neck with her free hand, Hannah placed her palm against the back of his head and pulled him towards her, the few millimetres between them closing as their lips touched. How could something so wrong, something that had the power to hurt so many people, feel so good? So right?
Leaning back, he kissed her lightly on the forehead before looking away. ‘Take a look at the view.’
Shifting on the platform, she turned to face where he was indicating before she gasped. Because the cottage was located at the edge of the village, there was limited light pollution, and they were surrounded by a limitless blanket of darkening sky, stars twinkling above. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘It’s gorgeous up here during the day too. You can see right across to Nettleford from here.’ Wrapping an arm around her, he pointed ahead of them.
She picked up the book, grinned as she read the title and then turned it so the cover was facing him. ‘The Beginner’s Guide to Stargazing?’
‘Yes.’ He chuckled. ‘I don’t know the first thing about stars and constellations, so I thought it might be pretty neat for us to learn together. Even if we just locate one named star a week or something.’
‘One a week?’ She frowned as she flicked through the pages, not that she could make out the text or the diagrams in just the glow from the fairy lights, but more so that she could roll the words, ‘one a week’ over in her mind and try to process what he was saying. How many stars were visible from Earth? A hundred? Five hundred? A thousand? She didn’t have a clue, but it definitely sounded as though Josh was hoping they would be together for the long haul.Did she? She did. Without hesitation, but could she? Now, that was the question.
‘Are you okay? You look kind of sad?’ Josh ran his fingers down her cheek.
Keeping her eyes focused on the book in her hands, the book she couldn’t actually read because of the lack of light, she shrugged. ‘I want to be. You know how long I’ve liked you like this, how long....’ She shook her head. He knew. ‘But what with everything Sophie’s going through at the moment, I just don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.’
‘You know how I feel and what I want.’
‘I know.’ Looking up from the book, she caught his gaze and smiled sadly. ‘And if you were anyone else, I’d be jumping for joy.’
‘If I were anyone else?’ He rubbed at his jawline, thinking.
