Page 95 of New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Cafe
‘Have you looked in that wardrobe in the spare room? I’m sure there’s some of your old dresses hanging up.’
‘I don’t think so, Mum. I binned a ton of stuff before I went travelling.’
‘Ah, youthoughtyou binned a load of stuff, but I kept a few bits that I thought you might want to wear again…’
‘Really?Oh, Mum, thank you!’ cried Tori, leaping up from the bed and kissing her mother on the cheek. ‘Come on, let’s take a look.’ Tori headed to the spare room, flung open the wardrobe doors and began looking through the clothes that were hanging on the rail. ‘No, no,God no,’ she said, making a face. ‘I’m not sure there’s anything here…’
‘Keep looking, there must be something.’
‘Hang on, what’s this? Oh yeah,’ she said, shooting Joyce a smile. ‘I remember this dress!’ Tori pulled a short black chiffon dress out of the wardrobe that was covered in tiny white flowers. ‘I used to love this one.’
‘I remember. Why do you think I took it out of the rubbish pile?’
‘Mum, you’re a lifesaver,’ said Tori, turning to give her mum another kiss on the cheek. ‘Let’s hope it fits,’ she continued, racing back to her bedroom and closing the door.
‘Well? How does it look?’ Joyce called through the door after a few minutes had passed.
‘Ta-dah!’ said Tori, as the bedroom door opened.
‘Oh, Tori, you look beautiful.’
‘You don’t think it’s too tight? Itispretty snug.’
‘Not at all, it looks lovely.’
‘Looks like we have a winner then,’ said Tori, breathing a sigh of relief.
‘It’ll go well with those black sandals you’ve got.’
‘Oh, they’ll be perfect, yes,’ said Tori, rummaging under her bed to fish the shoes out. She slipped them on and applied a fresh coat of mascara to finish her make-up off. She looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. There was a knock at the front door. ‘He’s here!’ Tori grabbed her clutch bag and stuffed her phone inside.
‘Well, you best be off. Remember, Leo’s a lovely boy, there’s no need for you to be nervous.’
‘Thanks, Mum.’ Tori ran down the stairs as quickly as her heels would allow and opened the front door. As soon as she saw Leo, she felt her heart race. He was wearing a crisp, pale blue shirt, which matched his eyes perfectly, a pair of tan chinos and he smelt of fruity, citrus tones. He took a step backwards when he saw her.
‘Wow, Tori, you look amazing.’ He smoothed down his hair and straightened his collar. Was it possible he was feeling nervous too?
‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘You don’t scrub up so badly either, you know.’
He laughed, the lines around his eyes creasing.
‘Ready?’
‘Ready!’ she said, grabbing her keys from the hall table. This was it. Her first date since she’d split with Ryan and she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather be on it with. She was really doing it and it felt great.
When they got out of the taxi in Rye, Leo automatically reached for her hand and slipped it into his.
‘I’m still in shock, you know,’ he said, turning to face her.
‘About what?’
‘That you finally agreed to go on a date with me. You were pretty elusive for a while there, you know,’ he chuckled.
‘Yeah, well, I…’ she said, looking down at her feet.
‘Hey, I didn’t mean that in a bad way,’ he said quickly, placing a hand gently under her chin and lifting her head.
‘No, I know. Well, we’re here now,’ she said, stepping towards him, ‘and just in case you’re in any doubt about how I feel…’ She placed her arms around his neck and kissed him. It was everything she had hoped it would be, she could feel Leo’s body pressed up against hers and all she wanted was to stay in this moment, right here, right now, for as long as she could. When they finally broke apart, she was breathless.
