Page 21 of Promises & Petals in Nettleford-on-the-Wold (Escape to… Nettleford-on-the-Wold #1)
‘ O kay, I’m giving up.’ Hannah glared at her laptop.
It was already dark outside, and she hadn’t done anything but stare at the same email since coming back from Sophie’s.
She must have read the same sentence a million times but still couldn’t make sense of it.
Not that she was trying. The only thing she was trying to do was not to relive that conversation at Sophie’s house again.
And she wasn’t winning either. She pushed the laptop away before she leaned her head against the window behind her.
She’d closed the curtains on the side of the table ages ago to shut out the view of the scaffolding going up around her cottage in the hopes she could focus better.
It had been quiet out there for a while now, so she assumed the scaffolding was now up.
‘Shall we get some dinner, Alfie?’
Alfie’s ears pricked at the mention of the magic word.
‘Actually, you’ve already had yours, haven’t you? You had yours when I had my Pot Noodle.’ She glanced at his bowl sitting in front of the small gas fire. She’d grabbed his dinner an hour or so ago now after she’d felt his eyes piercing into her. ‘So, nice try.’
Lifting her arms above her head, she stretched before glancing at the small carriage clock she kept on the front shelf of the caravan. It was already almost eight o’clock. How had that even happened?
A ping from her mobile startled her, and she picked it up. She smiled automatically as she read Josh’s name on the screen before she scrolled through and opened his message:
Look out of your door :) Josh x
Frowning, Hannah stood up. What was going on?
Did he want to show her the scaffolding was complete, or was he going to be there waiting for her?
Despite the inner turmoil stirring in her stomach, she hoped it was him.
She hoped she’d open the door to find him standing there, waiting to come inside, or to take Alfie on a walk with her — anything. Just to spend some time with him.
Although being in his presence would complicate things, it would make this decision even harder for her.
Opening the door, her heart sank. He wasn’t standing there waiting for her.
She looked across at the cottage. The scaffolding was in place though, so perhaps that’s all he’d been wanting to show her.
Sighing, she went to close the door again, stopping as the sight of something lying on the floor caught her eye.
What was that? Leaning down, she picked it up.
It as a petal. A rose petal, by the looks of things.
She could just about make out that it was red from the light escaping the caravan behind her.
She gently turned it over in her palm, her skin barely registering its presence because it was so soft.
Lifting it to her nose, she sniffed it, the sweet aroma of roses filling her lungs. It was definitely fresh.
She looked down again and spotted another, and another. Glancing towards the cottage, she grinned. A whole lot of them had been dropped, winding through the garden and trailing towards the cottage. What was he playing at?
Closing the caravan door behind her, she began walking across the garden, following the trail.
No one had ever done anything like this for her before, and if the careful trail of rose petals led to a surprise dinner in the kitchen, then she most definitely would not be admitting to him that she’d already eaten a Pot Noodle.
Almost right outside the door to the cottage, the trail veered off to the right, and Hannah frowned. Had that been a mistake? Had he had too many petals and so had discarded them outside?
Placing her hands on her hips, she looked around the garden, half-expecting to catch a glimpse of him but, nope, there was no sign of him.
After deciding he must have just discarded the extra petals, she went to open the front door, stopping as she saw another pathway of petals leading around the corner of the cottage.
Hannah stepped away from the door and instead followed the petals, which were becoming increasingly difficult to spot in the dim light from the setting sun.
As she turned the corner, she stopped in her tracks, lifting her hands to her cheeks.
The petals were leading to the ladder of the scaffolding, and around the edge of the ladder, Josh had wound fairy lights, which glimmered in the half-light, illuminating the metal rungs.
A piece of paper was taped to one of the rungs, and she stepped forward before gently pulling it free. Opening it up, she read:
Climb the ladder to the stars :) x
She grinned as tears pricked the backs of her eyes. This was way beyond romantic, and she decided in that moment that she’d climb Mount Everest itself if it meant she got to spend the evening with Josh, whether she decided it would be their last or not.
Folding the paper in four, she took a tentative step forward and gripped the ladder.
Leaning her head back, she looked above her.
She couldn’t see Josh, but she could make out that the ladder led up to a wooden platform near the bottom of the thatch.
And it was high. Not that heights had ever bothered her when she’d been younger, she remembered many an adventure which had led to climbing trees, but she hadn’t climbed for years and never this high.
Still, it must be safe, or Josh wouldn’t have led her this way. Reminding herself that he would be waiting at the top, she began to climb. It was sturdy, as though it were fixed to the scaffolding rather than just leaned up against it, which she was grateful for.