Page 15 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘Good time?’ Ned asked as he pulled out on to the main road.
‘Very,’ Carrie said, leaning forward and tucking the blanket round the baby a little more. ‘Quite… productive.’
Ned glanced back momentarily in the rear view mirror. ‘Sounds like there’s a story there.’
‘And we’re all eagerly awaiting the next chapter.’ Eloise joined in the tease.
‘Billy that I told you about on the phone?’ Carrie continued. ‘He’s dropping off the wreaths he’s making for us in the next few days. We’re hoping it gives him time to work on who to bring for his free dinner.’
‘Sounds fair enough. So what am I missing?’ he asked, looking round as he stopped at a set of red traffic lights.
‘He took rather a shine to our Sophia, here.’
‘Oh, did he now?’ Ned’s eyes lit up with mischief.
I pointed my finger at him. ‘Don’t you start.’
Ned laughed as the lights changed and we headed home towards the bay.
* * *
The wind had blown the previous day’s heavy cloud through by the next morning but from my window I could see people walking their dogs on the beach, wrapped up with hats, scarves and mittens. Standing in my cosy flat with the winter sunshine streaming in, I could imagine it was glorious out there. Well, glorious in a freeze your bits off kind of way. Checking the clock, I guessed that it should be a good time to go in and clean Holly’s house. Nate had mentioned he usually took Bryan out in the morning, and by the state of the little dog last time they obviously spent a fair bit of time on their walk. Nate had been friendlier at the restaurant than at our initial meeting – until he’d shut down again – but I wasn’t about to assume that made me or the noise of me vacuuming any more welcome in his space. Best to stick to my original plan of keeping out of his way as much as possible. I felt the tingle of colour on my face as I remembered the fizz I’d felt at his touch. Yes. Definitely a good idea to keep out of his way. Ramming my woolly hat with its oversized bobble down onto my head so that my eyes just about peeked out, I finished bundling up against the cold, grabbed my bag and jogged down the stairs, hoping to start building up some warmth. As I stepped outside, the crisp, sharp air made me gasp a little as I turned back to lock the front door. I gave another gasp as I turned towards the street and bumped my forehead straight into a strong, broad chest that definitely hadn’t been there a minute ago.
7
‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I—’ I looked up and stopped. The chest belonged to Nate McKinley and he was now standing there, looking down at me. Worst of all, he was smiling. I mean, as he was going through a difficult patch, it was great to actually see him smiling. It’s just that it was such a good smile that, from my perspective, it made it really, really bad.
‘My fault. Narrow pavements. Big guy. I don’t fit very well.’
Actually, I thought he fitted in pretty damn perfectly, looking at him now with his beanie hat pulled down over his ears, an expensive-looking down jacket keeping him cosy, long, solid jeans-clad legs and hiking boots. Clearly, I needed to get a grip.
‘It’s fine. Are you off for a walk?’ I asked, distracting myself from the unexpected smile by bending down to play with Bryan who was decked out in a coat that looked to be made by the same brand as Nate was wearing.
‘Have you got a new coat?’ I said, giggling as Bryan rested his paws on my knee and snuggled his head into my neck for a cuddle, his whole body whipping to and fro with excitement. From the corner of my eye, I saw an elderly couple approaching us on the pavement. Scooping Bryan up, I moved all three of us into the quiet road for a moment to let them pass.
‘Bit chilly today, Soph!’ the chap called, making a ‘brrr’ motion as they passed, his wife giving me a wide smile and patting my arm with her gloved hand as she passed.
‘Certainly is, Albert. Keep wrapped up!’ He waved a hand in agreement and carried on.
I stepped back onto the pavement, pulling at Nate’s sleeve to get him to follow me as a car appeared round the corner.
‘I’ve not seen this before,’ I smiled, cuddling Bryan to me, his lead hanging in a loose loop from Nate’s wrist. ‘Have you been treating him?’
‘I didn’t want him to get cold. How do you live like this?’
I rolled my eyes at him. ‘Don’t be such a drama queen. It’s not that cold.’ As I said this, a funnel of wind shot out of one of the alleys and wrapped itself round me, producing an involuntary shiver.
‘Nah. Positively balmy.’
I gave him a look and tried not to smile.
‘You did realise it would be winter when you came here, right?’
‘Yes. Of course. I’m just not sure I thought it through properly.’
‘Well. I’m afraid I can’t do much to fix the temperature,’ I said, bending down to place Bryan back on the floor, much to his disgust, judging by the look he gave me and the fact that he was now attempting to climb back up my boot. ‘But I can make sure you have a clean, tidy and warm house to reside in. By the time you finish your walk, I should be done. I’ve got some homemade soup to put in the fridge for you to heat up for lunch too so hopefully that will help.’
‘We’ve done our walk. I just strolled up to the restaurant to see if I could catch Ned as you’d said he’d be in this morning.’
