Page 12 of Promises & Petals in Nettleford-on-the-Wold (Escape to… Nettleford-on-the-Wold #1)

‘ T hat’s it, Alfie, not much further now.

’ Just as she was about to cross the road towards the close, she felt the lead go taut.

Looking back, she smiled as Alfie dropped to the floor, curling up on the pavement as though it were as comfy as the sofa in the caravan.

He did this, and it could have been when they’d been walking for ten minutes or three miles. It didn’t matter.

Leaning down, she scooped him into her arms, letting his red lead dangle over her arm. ‘Too tired to walk the extra few metres to the cottage, are you?’

Alfie snuggled his nose into the crook of her elbow.

‘I’ll take that as a yes, then.’ Smiling, she leaned down and kissed his soft head before crossing the road.

‘Hannah? Hannah Langdon? Is that you?’

Pausing, Hannah closed her eyes. She recognised that voice.

It was Mrs Bertridge who used to work at the Post Office, the biggest gossip in the village.

Fixing a smile on her face, she turned around.

Yep, sure enough there was Mrs Bertridge, complete with her signature checked trolley and clear plastic headscarf despite the weather being as far from rainy as it could be. ‘Mrs Bertridge, hi.’

‘Hannah, oh, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?’ Hurrying towards her, Mrs Bertridge looked her up and down. ‘You’re looking well, dear.’

‘Thanks. You too.’ Hannah fussed over Alfie as he let out a small growl. ‘How are you?’

‘Oh, you don’t really want to be asking me that. My leg is playing up and I...’ Shaking her head, Mrs Bertridge nodded at her pointedly. ‘I should be asking you that, dear. You’ve been away for so long. It’s nice to see you’ve got the travelling out of your system and you’re back where you belong.’

‘Well, actually I...’ She let her voice trail off as Mrs Bertridge continued.

‘Your grandad will be proud of you, caring for his cottage. It was his pride and joy, you see. He was always tinkering with it, fixing this, improving that. He’d be happy to see you settling back in.’

‘Right.’ Hannah whispered. What was she supposed to say to that?

Admit that she was okay with selling the cottage?

That she’d returned with the sole purpose of putting it on the market before she left again?

That she was going to get rid of her grandad’s pride and joy?

All the effort he’d put into it, all the hours, the money, the love. ..

‘Apart from you, of course. You were his number one pride and joy.’ Mrs Bertridge held up her forefinger. ‘You coming to live with him after your mother abandoned you was the making of him. Said so himself on many occasions, he did.’

‘I...’

‘How is that mother of yours, anyway?’ Mrs Bertridge all but spat the word ‘mother’ out. ‘Have you heard from her? I noticed she had the good grace to attend his funeral at least.’

‘She... she’s fine.’ Not that Hannah had heard from her since that day, but that was what she’d grown to expect from her mum. She just wasn’t in her life, and that was fine. It was. Her grandad had more than made up for her mum not being around. But now...

‘There you are, Hannah. I’ve been trying to get hold of you.’ Josh’s voice filled the street.

Jerking her head up, Hannah realised he was jogging towards her. ‘What’s happened? Has something happened to the roof? It’s worse than you first thought, isn’t it?’

‘You really need to see this.’ Reaching her, Josh placed his arm around her shoulder and began guiding her down the path before glancing over his shoulder at Mrs Bertridge. ‘I’m so sorry to take Hannah away from you in the middle of a conversation, but this is urgent.’

‘I’ll catch you another time, Hannah, dear.’ Mrs Bertridge called after them.

‘What’s happened? Tell me.’ Hannah searched his face. He didn’t look in the least bit worried. In fact, the way his lips were twitching... ‘Did you just say that to rescue me from Mrs Bertridge?’

‘Uh-huh.’ Now they were out of earshot, Josh chuckled.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw Mrs Bertridge cross the road again. ‘I can’t believe you did that.’

‘Would you rather I hadn’t?’ Josh turned around and lifted his hand in the air. ‘I can call her over, see if she wants to come for a coffee.’

Hitting his arm playfully, Hannah laughed. ‘Don’t you dare. And thank you; it was very much appreciated.’

Josh shrugged, one arm still draped around her shoulder. ‘I figured you’d need some assistance. What was she grilling you about? The cottage?’

‘The cottage, my mum, my future plans.’ Hannah glanced at his hand casually sitting there on her shoulder and smiled. She knew it didn’t mean anything. Not what she’d want it to mean anyway, but all the same it felt good to know Josh cared, even if it was only because she was Sophie’s friend.

‘Ah, all the light and fluffy topics then?’

‘Exactly.’ Hannah grimaced. ‘So everything’s going okay with the repairs?’

‘Yep, we’ve made a good start. We’ll get a few more hours in for today, I’d say.’ Josh pointed to the cottage roof ahead of them. ‘That’s where I spotted you from, the roof.’

‘Yikes.’ Hannah chewed on her bottom lip. Was he even safe up on the roof? It looked so far up from here.

‘I see you tired this little one out then?’ Taking his arm from her shoulders, Josh fussed over little Alfie.

‘Yeah.’ Trying not to feel disappointed that he’d taken his arm away, she looked down at little Alfie, who had one eye open and one eye closed as she cradled him in her arms still.

‘Well, I don’t know. He likes to be carried sometimes, and one day it might be after a short walk, another a long walk, so to be perfectly honest, I think he just likes to make me feel guilty and play on my emotions. ’

‘Ha, you’re saying he’s got you wrapped around his little toe then?’

‘Exactly.’ Hannah grinned. She’d been so worried about seeing Josh again after she’d made such a fool of herself, but he’d not once made her feel awkward.

In fact, it was just as though it had never happened at all.

Just as though she hadn’t admitted to him that she’d held a crush on him since being a kid.

And she was grateful. She’d tell him that too if it didn’t mean she’d have to bring up the topic and risk making things weird between them.

No, it was best just to be grateful and to move on, to leave it in the past where it belonged.

As they reached the cottage, Josh held the gate open for her. ‘I’ll pop the kettle on.’

‘No, I’ll do that. It’s the least I can do.’ Walking into the garden, she paused as he closed the gate. ‘I’ll just pop Alfie soon the sofa in the caravan and then I’ll be in.’

‘Okay, if you’re sure?’

‘I am.’ She grinned at him before turning to the caravan.

‘Let me.’ Running ahead of her, Josh opened the caravan door.

‘Thanks.’ Stepping inside, she waited until he’d let it shut behind her, before gently placing Alfie on his blue fluffy blanket in the corner of the sofa. ‘You rest here for a bit, Mr Sleepyhead, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

Alfie stirred, standing up and stretching before curling up and closing his eyes again.

‘Has anyone ever told you, you’d make a good cat, Alf?

’ He’d brought so much into her life since she’d rescued him.

He’d been her best friend on the road, and she’d do all she could to keep him happy in return.

Turning around, she picked up his water bowl.

‘I’ll get you some fresh water for when you do decide to wake up. ’

Filling the bowl, she looked out of the little window above the sink.

She couldn’t see Josh in the garden; he must have headed back inside.

Probably to get on with whatever he’d been doing when he’d spotted her being interrogated by Mrs Bertridge and ran to her rescue.

She smiled as warmth flooded her chest. He was definitely one of the good ones, and whoever he ended up with would be a very lucky woman.

Leaning down, she placed the dog bowl back on the floor before tiptoeing to the door and stepping outside. She left the door slightly ajar so he could join them in the cottage if he wanted to.

As she crossed the front garden to the cottage door, she brushed past the overgrown rosemary and lavender, causing a mesmerising scent to waft into the air.

Perhaps she’d make a start on the front garden after brunch with the girls tomorrow.

Shed told herself she’d start packing away the bedrooms, or at least cleaning them ready for the estate agents’ photos, but they could wait.

It wasn’t as though she could get an estate agent round with the roof as it was.

Still, if she worked on the garden, she would still be progressing to reach her end goal, wouldn’t she?

The front door was open, and she paused outside as she heard Freddie’s booming laugh, unsure whether to go inside and interrupt whatever they were talking about or to wait. She didn’t want them to think she was eavesdropping.

‘And she’s definitely single? The owner? Hannah?’

That made up her mind. Freddie’s voice was so loud, she couldn’t have helped but overhear. What was he saying about her? Why did he want to know if she was single? She leaned forward a little, straining to hear Josh’s response.

‘As far as I’m aware, she is. Not that it’s any of your business.’ Josh’s voice sounded a little guarded, but then again maybe she was just trying to read into something which wasn’t there.

‘Ah, it definitely is my business. I’m single too, as you might be aware.’ Freddie laughed.

‘I wouldn’t call going on a date every night with a different woman single, if you ask me.’

So, he was a player then. Hannah shoved her hands in her pockets.

‘It definitely is. Do you think she’d accept the offer of a date from me?’ Freddie again.

‘Don’t you even think about it.’

Hannah blinked at Josh’s response. His voice had been almost a growl, a warning most definitely.

‘Hey, if you’re not going to ask her out, then she’d fair game, mate.’ Freddie pushed again.

‘She’s not, and you’ll do well to remember who pays your wages, Freddie.’

Hannah widened her eyes. He was sticking up for her. Did that mean her feelings for him might just be reciprocated after all?

‘Okay, okay, you’re the boss.’

‘I don’t want the business getting a bad reputation, Freddie. And I mean it, leave her well alone.’

Slumping her shoulders, Hannah caught herself just in time before she sighed audibly.

He didn’t feel anything for her then. He was just worried about his business.

Of course he was. Why had she even thought he’d warned Freddie off for any other reason?

She should head back to the caravan for a few minutes.

She didn’t want to walk in straight after that conversation; they’d think she’d been listening or something.

Spinning on the spot, Hannah froze as Alfie came bounding across the garden and ran straight past her through the open doorway and into the cottage.

‘Hey, buddy.’ Josh’s voice softened.

Hannah held her breath as Alfie growled.

He’d obviously taken a dislike to Freddie, and she needed to get to him before Alfie tried to bite his ankles.

Pushing the door open, Hannah ran inside and scooped the small dog up, just in time it seemed as Freddie jumped onto a kitchen chair. ‘Sorry. He doesn’t like strangers.’

‘No harm done.’ Freddie reached up and ran his fingers across the ceiling. ‘I was just checking the ceiling for cracks.’

‘Sure you were.’ Josh chuckled.

Looking pointedly at Alfie in Hannah’s arms, Freddie stepped down onto the floor and pointed towards the stairs. ‘I should probably...’

‘Run away from the big scary dog?’ Josh crossed his arms, his eyes glinting with laughter.

‘Yeah, well, you didn’t see how sharp his teeth are.’ Freddie muttered under his breath before striding across the room and up the stairs.

Standing on the spot, Hannah was suddenly unsure what to say.

She could feel her cheeks burning and hoped Josh would assume she was embarrassed because of Alfie’s behaviour and not because she’d overheard him telling Freddie not to ask her on a date for fear of damaging his business’s reputation. ‘I should probably go.’

‘How about that coffee? Freddie will be okay. He’s out of the way now.’

Hannah looked from Josh to the stairs and back again.

She needed to get away from him, to give herself some time to process the fact that all he’d done for her had just been because he cared for Sophie and she was her friend, and of course, the reputation of his business.

Which she’d known all along. She’d known he didn’t feel anything towards her, not like that, but still.

.. she just needed a bit of space. ‘I’d best not risk it. Sorry. Help yourself though.’

‘Okay, no worries.’ Josh frowned as she left.