Page 79 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘It’s supposed to,’ I said, glancing up at him, and staggering slightly as a rush of wind pounded into me.
‘Here,’ he said, holding out his arm. ‘Let’s tackle it together. Bryan can pull us along,’ he laughed, looking down at the little dog, who was trotting into the wind, his ears almost at right angles to his head as he occasionally snapped at it, catching an interesting smell or two. Tucking my arm through Nate’s, I smiled as he pulled it closer to his body, bringing me along with it.
‘Ready?’ he asked, as we faced the wind again. Nate’s nose was turning pink from the cold, but his face was more relaxed than I’d seen it since he’d come here. A gust blew around us and caught him, snatching any other words he might have been about to say away. He shook his head and tried again, laughing. ‘Come to England, they said. It’ll be great, they said!’
I squeezed his arm. ‘It is great, and you know it. It’s just a bit…’ I powered against the wind. ‘Breezy!’
Nate laughed again, pulling his arm tight in order to make us a smaller target for the wind, and we pushed on together up towards the village.
22
In accordance with the wishes of an entire village, the day of the fayre saw no trace of the previous storm, save a few small, misplaced branches snapped off in the wind and carried away. The sky was a cool, bright blue, dotted here and there with the wispiest drapes of white cloud. Outside on the little streets, the village was buzzing with activity as signs were erected, the main road closed to traffic and rows of temporary stalls began to take shape on the main thoroughfare.
I waved through the window at Flora as I made to pass by on the way to get some groceries and restock my currently sad-looking fridge. She made a beckoning motion and I poked my head through the door.
‘I won’t keep you,’ she said, bustling over to me for a brief hug. ‘You sure you’re all right to cover tonight still?’
‘Of course.’
‘And Nate’s still coming?’
‘As far as I know,’ I said, shrugging casually.
‘He seemed a bit hesitant once he knew he’d have to dress up.’
‘But he didn’t say no.’ I got the feeling that Nate had done very little out of his comfort zone for quite some time so this actually could be good for him. An opportunity to build some of the confidence that had been chipped away at. I knew something about that. But I also knew it was possible to rebuild it. And sometimes you found reserves you never even thought you had.
‘I have a feeling he’s going to look rather wonderful as a Victorian gentleman,’ Flora gave me a nudge and I shook my head, smiling.
‘I’m sure he will.’
‘Well?’ she asked.
‘Well, what?’
‘You. Him.’ She made a gesture as if to say the rest was obvious.
I gave her a smile and a roll of my eyes. ‘Hardly.’
‘What? Why not?’
‘I can think of about ten thousand reasons to start with,’ I replied.
‘Oh, what’s distance when it comes to love?’
I gave her a look.
‘Fine, fine. But it seems like a bit of waste. Both of you single and you seem to get on well.’
‘We do. Which is nice, but Nate’s not looking for anything, and I’m not about to get involved with someone who may or may not still be in love with his ex-wife.’
‘Do you think he is?’
‘I think it’s a possibility, whatever he says. Plus, I’m not really the type for flings, which is all it could ever be. He’s leaving again in a few weeks’ time.’
‘And here you are wasting all this time you could be sharing a bed!’
I laughed, half in amusement, half in exasperation. ‘I have to go now. I’ll see you later.’ Waving, I stepped out into the cold December morning, closing the door behind me hurriedly in order to keep as much warmth as possible in the cosy shop. The chill air cooled my skin and I relished the feeling as Flora’s comment about Nate’s bed had sent a rush of unexpected warmth through my body that wasn’t exactly helpful, bearing in mind I had to spend the entire evening with him later. And yes, once Nate had got over the surprise that his volunteering to help in the shop this evening would involve him dressing up, there had been some fleeting thoughts of how sexy Richard Armitage had looked dressed as a Victorian gent inNorth and South. But that was TV and no one last year had had the ability to induce the kind of reaction Mr Armitage elicited in his Victorian costume so, as lovely as Nate was, there were definitely no plans for swooning in my foreseeable future.
