Page 109 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
‘More than,’ she said. ‘I was just wondering who we’re having next door to us.’
‘That’s the good thing about being next to a holiday cottage: there’s so much variety. Some guests are better than others, obviously, but on the whole I like it. There was one woman, a few months back, who I took a particular fancy to.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘Yup. Pretty glad she picked Mel’s house for her vacation.’
‘Quite an eventful one, I seem to recall.’
‘Some might almost say life changing,’ Ben said, and they looked at each other and smiled.
He drove into the space in front of Oystercatcher Cottage, reversing the van so that the windscreen faced the coastline, the view different every single day, but always breathtaking. It was a sight Thea could enjoy out of her bedroom window, now: her and Ben’s bedroom window. She shook her head. How had she got this lucky?
‘I know,’ she said suddenly, the idea coming to her in a flash of inspiration.
‘What?’ Ben asked, turning to face her.
‘How about …’ She paused, feeling a second of uncertainty before it was wiped out by Ben’s smile and his hazel eyes, the way he was looking at her with anticipation, and a warmth she would never take for granted. ‘A New Chapter?’
Ben’s lips parted, his breath hitched, and then he leaned over and kissed her, the touch of his mouth against hers sending a thrill through her, as it always did.
‘Perfect,’ he said. ‘I think it’s perfect.’ There was something else in his expression now, too. Admiration.
Thea had to agree with him. Everything was pretty much perfect.
