Page 41 of A Second Chance in Seabury
‘While you’re here.’ David echoed, giving her a sad smile. ‘Thanks. And you’ll have to come over to ours too… for Snakes and Ladders… or… something.’
Or something?She liked the sound of that!
Hannah gave herself a little shake. What was she thinking?! David was a lovely guy. Kind… caring… mouth-wateringly attractive…
Another little shake.
None of it mattered, did it? Hannah couldn’t start something with him… she couldn’t lead him on… not when she’d be leaving Seabury for good in two short weeks.
‘Ready to head home?’ he said, smiling at her as they reached the truck.
Was she?Hannah swallowed.Where was home anyway, these days?
As she met David’s sea-blue eyes, for a split second, she had the strange feeling that home was wherever this guy was.
‘Yes,’ she said, blinking as her eyes welled with unexpected tears. ‘I’m ready for home.’
CHAPTER 17
Hannah tossed the pen onto the desk and flexed her stiff fingers before ripping the page she’d just completed from the pad.
‘Oh no,’ she sighed. ‘How is it the last sheet?!’
That was an easy question to answer. She’d been sitting at the desk in Aunty Millie’s little study ever since David had dropped her off at the house.
Initially, she’d just wanted somewhere safe to stash her sea urchin - somewhere it was least likely to get smashed while she was busy sorting through the house and cleaning from top to bottom.
The desk had seemed like the perfect place, and Hannah had made a beeline straight for it the moment she got back. She’d placed her precious treasure right at the centre in pride of place, and had then emptied her pockets of all her other finds.
‘And that’s when the problem started!’ she laughed, stretching her neck from side to side in a bid to ease the stiffness from sitting in one position for too long.
The sight of all those seaside shapes and colours together had ignited something in Hannah’s imagination. She’d quickly started to arrange the shells and pieces of glass as if she wasgoing to use them to create a necklace… then a wide cuff bracelet… and a pair of earrings.
That’s when the sketching started.
Hannah had filled sheet after sheet, tearing them one at a time from the yellowed notepad and arranging them between her beach treasures. She stared at the drawings now—a complex tracery in blue and black biro, because that’s all she’d had to hand.
At some point in the process, honeycomb and bee motifs had worked their way into the mix. It didn’t take a genius to guess where that particular inspiration had come from!
Hannah’s mind had been full as she worked—of David, and the sea, and the bees, and Seabury. If she wasn’t very much mistaken, these scruffy drawings held the beginnings of the jewellery collection she’d always dreamed of.
Hannah stared at the chaos on the desk in wide-eyed wonder for several long moments before letting out a huge yawn.
‘How very arty!’ she chuckled, rolling her shoulders. All that sea air and exercise had clearly unlocked something, though…
Suddenly, Hannah realised she was gasping for that cuppa she’d never got as far as brewing. She checked her watch… and then checked it again.
‘Wait, what?!’
There was no way she’d been at this for three whole hours?! Three hours scribbling at the desk without even getting up for a drink… or a pee?
Hannah shook her head in wonder, and then the guilt kicked in. She should have been working on clearing the house, not sitting there doodling the day away.
‘Oh no you don’t,’ she said gently. Because that nasty little guilt trip wasn’t anything to do with her, was it? It was an echo of her ex—someone she never had to listen to again.
That said, maybe itwastime for a little break.
Hannah had just turned to head for the kitchen and some much-needed sustenance when the shrill ring of the landline broke the silence.
