Page 15

QETESH

I smoothed down my dress and checked myself in the mirror, trying to work out exactly how I was feeling. I wouldn't say that nervous was the right word, but neither was excited. Maybe it was curious. That was how I felt about my upcoming evening with Jacob.

My phone bleeped, alerting me to someone at the front door. I grabbed it and clicked through to see Jacob standing on the other side of it.

I pressed the microphone button. "I'll be one second!"

"Got it," he responded.

I shut off the app and hurried down to my front door, realising that now I felt excited, but mostly about the prospect of getting to spend time with him.

Even when it was a brief conversation, I seemed to come away feeling good about myself.

I didn't think it was necessarily him that did it, but the way I felt around him.

Like I didn't have to hide. All parts of myself were able to be seen, and that was something I hadn't had before.

Not that it was the fault of the people I'd spent my time with, it wasn't any of their faults that I hadn't been strong enough to tell them how I felt inside.

I pulled open the front door and let him inside. He reached out for me, and I went closer so that I could kiss him.

"I brought this," he said, holding out a bottle to me. "It's not fake alcohol, but it's supposed to be really good."

"Oh, rhubarb and ginger," I said as I read the label. "It sounds good. Come in, I'll put dinner in while I show you around the greenhouse."

"What are we having?"

"Stuffed peppers," I said. "It's one of my favourites. And more importantly, it can just go in the oven while we're in the greenhouse. I did wonder whether to make it with meat, but I didn't know what you liked, so I just made them with things I've seen you eat."

"They sound good," he assured me.

I led him into the kitchen and got us a couple of glasses for the drink he brought. I poured it into them and handed one back to him before sliding the tray of peppers into the preheated oven.

"It's nice in here," he said, looking around the kitchen, his gaze lingering for a moment on the solid wooden table that was set for two. It was rustic, but I liked it that way, it made the kitchen feel more like a home.

"Thank you. It took me years to work out what I wanted. But now you should come and see the reason I bought this house."

"It already had a greenhouse?"

"No, but it had the perfect space for one, which was almost as good." I waved him through the door that connected the kitchen and greenhouse. It was warm from the sun that had been shining through the glass all day, making it perfect right now.

"Wow, I know you said you had a greenhouse, but this isn't exactly what I was expecting," he admitted, looking over the array of plants I had set up. "It's more like an indoor garden."

"It's my oasis," I said. "It's where I come when I want a moment away from the world. If I'm home, I'm often in here."

He nodded and drifted over to one of the fig trees. "May I?"

"Of course."

He reached out to touch the tree trunk and closed his eyes.

I watched curiously. I'd seen other dryads interact with plants before, especially Ella, but it was something completely different to see him do it.

Especially when it was one of my trees that he was touching.

I'd been using my dryad magic on this particular tree for over a decade, and as far as I was aware, no other dryad had ever touched it before.

"It's so strong," he said.

"You should taste the figs it produces," I said. "You actually will. I have some dried ones left that I'm serving with cheese after we've eaten."

"A cheese course? That surprises me, every time we've eaten out, you've chosen a chocolate dessert."

"I'd have had to buy one if I wanted one, though, and that didn't feel right. I can cook decent mains, but I'm not a baker. I did consider getting some desserts from the restaurant down the road, they do really good ones, but I thought that might be a bit too far."

"We could always go get some later, if you want."

"That's okay, we can do that another time. Though it reminds me that there is something I wanted to ask about tonight."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you planning on staying over after?"

"If that's all right," he said. "I wasn't planning on just running away."

I let out a relieved sigh. "I hope that's what you had planned, but I didn't want to assume. It was around the time I was buying stuff for breakfast that I realised I should maybe have asked beforehand."

"I appreciate you asking," he assured me as he stepped away from the tree.

I smiled at him, feeling safe and secure in the knowledge that he meant what he was saying. "So, yes, this is my greenhouse."

"It's lovely," he said.

"My bedroom window opens into the greenhouse on one side." I pointed it out. "Though it has good blinds to stop the heat, and the other window opens into the street, so it does let air in. I just wanted to be able to look down on this from my room."

"That makes sense," he said. "If it's where you put most of your time and work."

"Yes. This bird of paradise is from Ella's nursery," I said, gesturing to the plant with orange and yellow flowers.

"It's beautiful."

"She's very talented when it comes to plants."

"And you are at keeping them. I don't need to touch all of them here to be able to tell that they're all healthy. I can feel it in the air."

"I think that's why I like being in here. It recharges me, and makes my magic hum inside me. I probably sound ridiculous."

"You don't," he said softly. "I can feel it. Not as well as you can, I don't think, but it's there, and it's reacting. You probably know better than most about how dryad magic works."

"True, I have had a lot of practice."

The timer for the food beeps from the kitchen, breaking through our time in the greenhouse. I should be disappointed, but I'm not. I know this is just the start of the time I get to spend with him tonight, and I'm already sure it's going to be a great evening.