Page 68 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
Chapter Eighteen
Jamie Scable agreed to meet Thea on Sunday. She knew it was a power play, but she didn’t mind. The shop on Main Street felt like unfinished business, and she wanted to tick it off her list, one way or the other.
When she got back to Sunfish Cottage Ben’s van was outside, the sinking sun turning the windscreen pink, reflecting the view as if it was a painting. There were lights on in his house, and with no curtains over the windows, she had to resist the urge to peer inside.
She was at her front door, key in hand, when she felt something nudge her leg. She looked down and saw Scooter, then turned around. Ben was standing next to his van, his hands in his shorts pockets. His smile was wide, and she had to force herself not to run up to him.
‘Hey,’ he said, then cleared his throat.
‘Hi.’ She saw his gaze flit down, landing on theLakes for Lifecap sticking out of her bag. ‘I was at the Eden Project today. Your hat saved me from sunstroke.’
‘Good time?’
‘Great, thanks. What I really needed to do to escape this heat was go somewhere even hotter.’
He laughed. ‘It’s pretty impressive, though.’
‘Oh, it is! I wasn’t complaining. Just …’
‘I know.’
Thea felt the apprehension, the uncertainty, thickening the air between them, and decided it was ridiculous. ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’
He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘My grand plan is to tile the bathroom, so you’re going to struggle to come up with anything that will tear me away.’
‘Youshouldbe tiling your bathroom,’ she said, mock-scolding.
‘And while I’m doing that, what will you be doing?’
‘I’m going coasteering,’ Thea said, and enjoyed the way Ben’s eyes widened and his lips parted in surprise.
‘But you’re—’
‘I’m not really,’ she said, ‘I just wanted to see your face.’
He frowned, his annoyed confusion so adorable that she doubled over laughing. He folded his arms, feigning irritation. The posture emphasised his biceps, showed off his strong forearms. Thea swallowed.
‘How about I help you with the tiling, then we can have my incredible home-cooked lasagne?’
‘You want to spend the last Saturday of your holiday helping me tile my bathroom?’
‘I’ve done tiling before.’ She had added a splash-back behind her bathroom basin, and it had taken most of a morning, but he didn’t need to know that.
‘I’m not questioning your ability,’ he said. ‘Just your sanity.’
‘The weather’s meant to break.’ She waggled her phone. ‘Tiling and lasagne doesn’t sound a bad way to spend a grey day. We could throw in a film night for added excitement.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘You’re sure?’
‘I’d like to,’ she said. ‘Really.’
‘OK.’ His frown cleared, and it was like the sun coming out from behind clouds. ‘I’d love that, too. See you tomorrow, then?’
She nodded and smiled, and wondered how this was supposed to end. Would they stand there, grinning at each other until darkness fell? She couldn’t do that, so she walked forward, leaned up on her toes and kissed him. He tasted of coffee, and his initial hesitation, followed by the pressure of him returning the kiss, made her want to drag him into her cottage. Instead she stepped back, said, ‘See you tomorrow,’ and went inside before he could reply.
She closed the front door and leaned against it, touching her fingers to her lips. This holiday was turning out to be a lot better than she’d imagined, in some very unexpected ways.
Her lasagne construction the following morning – making the béchamel sauce from scratch, preparing the vegetables, creating a tomato rich ragù – had gone surprisingly well. Everything tasted delicious, and the kitchen wasn’t a bomb site at the end of it. She’d agreed to go to Ben’s after lunch, and was looking forward to being let into his inner sanctum for the first time, even if it was – not a bomb site – but a building site.
