Page 57 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘Oh!’ Nate shifted suddenly, releasing my hand. I tried not to notice the loss of his heat and focused on his face. Probably not the best option as it was way too handsome for my own good, but I had to pick something. ‘There was a pile of stuff delivered for you today apparently. Flora had taken it in, but I brought it up when you were off in the land of nod.’ He disappeared into my tiny hallway for a moment before reappearing with a selection of boxes which he placed on the coffee table in front of me.
‘Gosh! Thanks.’ I peered at the senders’ labels quickly before getting up and drawing the curtains against the darkness. The clock on the mantel showed it was gone five. ‘Do you need to get back?’ I ran the sentence back in my head. ‘Not that I’m trying to get rid of you,’ I added hastily.
‘No,’ he checked his watch. ‘I probably should get out of your way. We left Bry downstairs to keep Flora’s husband company in the shop so I’d better check and see how much mayhem he’s caused.’
‘If you both wanted to stay, I could do some dinner.’
Nate hesitated and I suddenly felt awkward. Like a gawky teenager back at the school disco, clumsily asking one of the boys from the visiting school out. ‘I mean, only if you want to. As a bit of a thank you, you know, for helping me up once then not letting me smash my face for a second time and bringing me home, not like a sack of spuds but—’
‘That’d be great. So long as you’re sure we’re not putting you to any trouble,’ Nate, thankfully, interrupted me. ‘But only if you let me help with dinner.’
‘There’s not a lot to do. I made a huge lasagne yesterday, so it’s just a reheat deal really. Nothing fancy.’
‘Sounds great.’ He grinned at me and I made a concerted effort to keep my legs in a non-jelly like form. When Nate smiled, it transformed his face. The blue eyes sparkled as the skin around them crinkled, even white teeth showed in a wide smile that immediately reminded me he was Gabe’s brother. ‘What?’ His voice startled me from my daydream.
‘I… well… I was just thinking how much you look like Gabe when you smile,’ I replied, which was fairly close to the truth.
‘Well, I guess there’s worse blokes to look like, going by how popular he used to be whenever we went out to bars together.’
‘That’s true. Neither of you exactly fell out of the ugly tree, did you?’
Nate laughed, soft and low, but the sound wrapped itself around me. ‘I think that’s a compliment.’
‘It is. Be grateful,’ I grinned, glancing up momentarily as I ran a scissor blade along the top seal of the first box.
‘Oh, I am.’ There was something in his tone that made me look back up but he’d turned away, heading towards the front door. ‘I’m just going to nip down and get Bryan. Anything else you need?’
‘No, I don’t think so, thanks. Take a key. It’s just hanging on the hook there.’
‘OK, back in a sec.’ And then he was gone, the flat suddenly feeling emptier without his sizeable bulk helping to fill it. Knowing Flora, Nate might be down there for a little while so I set about unpacking my delivery and flattened the boxes, before putting them in the recycling tub. Spreading the goodies out on my coffee table, I began looking through. A short while later, I heard the sound of a key in the lock, immediately followed by doggy paws pit-pattering on my hall floor. Moments later, a small mostly-Dachshund rocket raced into the living room and launched himself from the floor into my lap.
‘Manners, mate. Manners,’ Nate laughed, shaking his head.
‘Oh, you’re all right, aren’t you?’ I said to Bryan, fussing over him as he snuggled so far into me I thought he might pop out the other side.
‘Remind me to come back as a cute dog.’
‘Oh, pfft. I’m sure you get more than enough fussing.’ I waved a hand in his general direction and grinned. For a moment there was a pained look on his face, but it was smothered so quickly I questioned as to whether I’d imagined it. But as it replayed in my mind, I knew I hadn’t.
‘You’re looking worryingly pensive.’ He cocked an eyebrow.
I pushed myself up from the sofa and crossed the room to join him. ‘Why worryingly?’
He looked down at me and I tried to ignore the way my breath wanted to shorten as I took in a faint scent of the citrus and woody notes of Nate’s aftershave, the warmth of his body as he moved closer momentarily in order to avoid Bryan who was now dancing round our feet.
‘Mate,’ Nate laughed, bending briefly to scoop up the hound. ‘We’ve had a talk about this before and agreed that you were going to keep out from directly under my feet because if I step on you, I’m going to have to change my name and emigrate to Antarctica. Remember that conversation?’
Bryan cocked his head as though trying to recall it. I grinned at the exchange and felt myself take a step closer to something I wasn’t sure was such a good idea but, without asking permission, my heart had given my head a good shove and ploughed ahead anyway.
17
The next hour was spent talking easily about everything and nothing and all that lay in between. Nate was far more relaxed than he had been when I’d first met him. Back then his whole body had seemed to thrum with tension but, in these last few weeks, Wishington Bay had begun to work the same magic it had done on me when I’d arrived, slowly untying those knots, loosening the nerves that had been strung as tight as piano wire until finally I’d begun to feel like me again. Or, more accurately, it had allowed me to discover who that person really was, now she was finally free to live her own life and make her own decisions. Sneaking a glance at Nate, I could see that same process unfurling. It might not be finished yet, but it was certainly in progress.
‘It’s rude to stare.’ His words caught me off guard as he looked up and met my eyes.
Oops!
‘I wasn’t staring.’
