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The whole day was going wrong. They were supposed to be having fun. He wanted to show her what he did and why he loved it so much. Now he’d bored her with tales of his heartbreak.

“Hey there,” he said, walking towards her.

Kitty and Wendy sat in a heap at the base of the tree. She was red-faced, and Wendy panted like a pair of broken bellows. Kitty raised her hand in greeting, then flopped it down in her lap again.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“All good. Just a mild dermatosis.”

“Ah yes, dermatosis, of course. All the best alpacas have it.” Kitty smiled at him, and Josh’s heart lifted a little.

“Are you ready to go?” he said. “You look melted at the edges.”

“I amsoready. I think I’ve sweated my entire body weight today,”

A sheen of perspiration covered Kitty’s face. His old grey T-shirt wasn’t the coolest thing she could wear, not to mention the thick rubber boots. Josh, too, was struggling in the ridiculous heat. He wiped the moisture from his brow and headed to the truck to change out of his overalls. As he put on a new shirt, he had an idea. Something he could do to lighten their mood and cool them down. Somewhere special he could take Kitty to put a smile back on her face.

He returned to the front of the truck, taking out water and energy bars from the fridge and handing them to Kitty. She took the food but just stared at it.

“I’m still not hungry. It’s too hot to eat,” she said.

“I don’t like to put my responsible adult hat on, but I don’t want you passing out from low blood sugar. At least have a drink.”

Kitty nodded and took the water, tipping it back. Josh eyed the shimmering skin on her long neck, imagining his lips moving over it, tasting her.Damn.He was the one who needed to cool off.

“Hang on,” he said, taking his phone out of his pocket. Josh walked to the gate at the edge of the field. He made a quick call, watching Kitty the whole time. She’d climbed into the truck and waited for him to return, stroking Wendy’s head and chatting to her.

After a couple of minutes on the phone, Josh walked back to the truck. He grinned as he opened the door and sat down. Gunning the engine, he turned to Kitty.

“Fancy a change of scenery?” he asked.

“Sure. Where to now? Can’t we just stop off to give a chihuahua an enema or something? I honestly don’t know how you do this.”

Josh laughed as they drove down the driveway and pulled onto the road. The windows were still wound down, and the hot, blustery breeze made the loose strands of Kitty’s hair dance.

“I can turn on the air-con if you’d prefer?” he said. “I’m just trying to heat-torture you.”

Kitty grinned. “Torture away. I like it.”

Josh turned on the radio, and an old song came on. At first, he sang quietly but was soon belting the tune out the window at the top of his voice.

“You can actually sing!” Kitty giggled. “Is there anything youcan’tdo?”

Josh gave her a cheeky wink and carried on, throwing in a couple of arm moves. Next, Wendy was up on her feet, making small yelping noises as if singing along with him. Kitty held her hands to her ears, refusing to join in.

“Is singing even allowed?” she shouted. “I thought you had to be always ready for action? How will you hear the phone?”

“I’ve turned it off,” he said.

She looked at him, confusion in her eyes.

“I’m done. It’s too hot to concentrate, and there may or may not be a corrupting influence on ride-along today.” He side-eyed her with a smirk on his lips.

“Don’t blame me!” she squealed, wrinkling up her nose. He loved it when she did that.

“Well, it’s not Wendy, is it?She agrees with everything I say.” He ruffled the top of his dog’s head, and Kitty grinned at them. “Only because she relies on you for food.”

They reached the outskirts of Tottenbridge after a few more songs and more ‘singing’ from Wendy. Josh pulled onto the side of the road in front of a small bridge. He turned off the engine and faced Kitty.