‘Come on.’ Leaning backwards, Hannah used all her weight as she used the grab handle to push the caravan away from the car after uncoupling it. Yes, it was always a bit of a struggle to manoeuvre her little home on wheels by herself and, at this point, someone else on the campsite would usually come running and give her a hand, but shehaddone it by herself before and she’d do it again.
She glanced up at the sky. The sun was setting, and if she didn’t hurry, she’d just have to pitch it here for the night and ask Gemma to help her in the morning. Yes, it would be annoying because she just wanted to get everything set up this evening before going to Gemma’s house, but it could wait.
‘A couple more goes and then we give up, okay?’ Hannah directed her question at Alfie, whose new favourite spot to lounge on was the wooden swing chair her grandad had so loved. He’d loved people watching and even though the street was relatively quiet, he only had to be sat there a few minutes and one of their neighbours would have turned up, holding two coffee mugs, or in Harold’s case, the chap who had lived next door for years, a small bottle of whiskey and two small tumblers. ‘Don’t worry, you sit there and watch me struggle.’
Taking a deep breath, Hannah dug the heels of her trainers into the dry dirt and leaned forward again, the caravan shifting a mere few millimetres. Taking a step back, she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. What was going on? Why couldn’t she shift it? Perhaps it had got stuck in something, some weeds or some of the rosemary which had broken free of the confines of its border. She’d check the other side. One more try. It wasn’t as though she could really pitch it right here as it was. It was far too tilted with one wheel now digging into the overgrown grass and weeds and the other still on the tarmac driveway.
She glanced at the cottage towards her bedroom window. Yep, one more go. She wasn’t ready to stay the night in the cottage quite yet. Not that she could with half the roof caving in. ‘Wait there, Alfie. I won’t be long.’
Striding around the other side of the small caravan, she nodded. Yep, that would be why it wouldn’t move. She’d been right. It was stuck in a large cluster of weeds. She stamped them down in front of the tyre before returning to her spot and taking the grab handle again and using all her might to push it.
Nothing. It didn’t move one tiny bit. Again. Even with the weeds now trodden down by the wheel.
‘Fine. Stay like that then. As if I need anywhere to sleep tonight, anyway. I’ll just curl up on the swing chair. Alfie seems pretty comfortable there.’ She kicked the tyre as a lump formed in her throat. She’d have to face the one thing that had kept her away for four years and spend some actual time in the cottage by herself.
‘Do you need a hand, Cupcake?’
She knew that voice. The deep, sultry tone of Josh Morgan. The faint Yorkshire accent lingered from the few years he’d spent up north before his family had moved to the Cotswolds. Twisting on the spot, she watched as Josh, the object of her teenage daydreams, walked around the side of the caravantowards her. As a flash of heat ignited her cheeks, she tucked her damp, sweaty hair behind her ears and hoped he hadn’t heard her talking to herself. ‘Must you still call me that?’
‘What? Cupcake?’ Josh chuckled.
‘Yes, Cupcake.’ She wiped her palms down the legs of her jeans. She’d made him cupcakes once. Once. And she still maintained that they’d been for his whole family; she’d just forgotten Sophie had gone out for the day with their parents.
Shrugging, Josh looked at the caravan. ‘This is pretty neat.’
‘Umm, thanks.’ Crossing her arms, Hannah stood back and looked at her caravan. No one had called it ‘neat’ before. Quirky, pretty, tiny, yes, but not neat. What was that even supposed to mean?
‘So this is what you’ve been living in all this time? Since you ran out on us?’ He ran his fingers across the pink stripe running around the middle of the caravan.
‘Us? You weren’t even living here in the village.’ Hannah brought her thumb to her lips, biting at the cuticle. She shouldn’t have said that. She’d figured the best way to stop the excruciating embarrassment rumbling in the pit of her stomach was to keep things professional between them. And certainly not speak or even hint at the last conversation she’d had with him before leaving.
‘No, I wasn’t.’ Josh shrugged, an easy smile reaching his eyes. ‘I moved back not long after though.’
‘Right. Yes, I heard.’ Today. She’d heard today. Why had her friends kept that golden nugget of information from her? Sophie, she could understand. She was never one to gossip about other people’s lives, including her brother’s. Plus, most of the conversations she had with Hannah revolved around little Florrie. Which was understandable. Besides, Sophie didn’t know Hannah’s true feelings for Josh. Gemma and Lucy, on the otherhand, though... They’d probably known the fact he was here would have put her off returning.
‘I’ll give you a hand. Where’s she going?’ Josh placed his palm on the side of her caravan.
‘Over there. Just along far enough so I can get my car out.’ Hannah pointed. Now that he was here, it was worse than she’d thought it would be. She felt as though she was just waiting for him to say something. To tease her. To bring up the whole conversation. She couldn’t have him fix the roof, she didn’t think she’d be able to stand another minute of being in his company, let alone days or weeks of having him around the cottage. She watched as he disappeared around the other side of the caravan.
‘Ready?’
Hurrying back to her position and gripping hold of the grab handle again, she shouted back. ‘Yep. Ready.’
‘After three. One, two, three.’
As she pushed, Hannah felt the caravan shift before rolling easily into place. Letting go of the grab handle, she made her way to the front of the caravan and pulled the handbrake up before winding the jockey wheel down into position. She could level it and put the legs down later once he’d gone. Now, though, the quicker she got him into the cottage and directed him to the problem, the quicker he could give her a quote and get out of here. She hurried around the other side of the caravan towards him, grimacing as she spotted him walking across towards Alfie. ‘Careful...’
Kneeling down in front of the small dog, Josh grinned as he fussed over him, Alfie rolling onto his back and exposing his stomach for tummy rubs. ‘What?’
‘Don’t worry, I was going to say to be careful because he can be a bit unpredictable with strangers, but he seems to like you.’ Hannah smiled as pride fleetingly replaced the nerves. Alfie hadbeen so good today, first with little Florrie and her friends and now with Josh. ‘I’ll show you the problem with the roof.’
‘See you in a minute, buddy.’ Standing up, Josh gave Alfie one last fuss before following Hannah towards the door.
Chapter Five
Pausing with her hand on the door handle, Hannah took a deep breath in and forced herself to open it and step inside. She’d spent most of the afternoon outside, finishing off Sophie’s flask of tea before trying to manoeuvre the caravan, putting off stepping inside again whilst she was alone. Even now, as she walked inside and through the living room towards the stairs, she almost expected to hear her grandad’s voice to call out from the kitchen, chiding her that she was cutting it close to dinnertime or asking her if she wanted a choccie digestive with her cuppa. Keeping her eyes on the dark wooden floorboards, she hurried through and up the stairs, pausing at the top of the landing. ‘Here.’
Whistling through his teeth, Josh came to stand beside her and crossed his arms. ‘Wow.’
