Page 24 of Promises & Petals in Nettleford-on-the-Wold (Escape to… Nettleford-on-the-Wold #1)

S tanding on her tiptoes, Hannah tried to grab the sparkly cardboard ‘H’ from the Happy Birthday banner.

And failed. Jumping up, she caught the end of the letter and gripped, the blu-tac stretching from the wall to the letter before finally giving way.

The party had been a roaring success, and the partygoers had left tired but happy.

Meg and Pat had taken little Florrie for ice cream whilst she, Sophie, Gemma, Lucy and Josh stayed behind to tidy the hall.

‘You could just ask me to get them, you know. Or use the stepladder.’

Hannah grinned. She could feel Josh’s breath against her cheek, he was standing that close. Worried that people might be watching, she fought the urge to turn around and kiss him and instead stretched to reach the ‘A’.

Easily pulling the letter down, Josh passed it to Hannah before they inched across, and he pulled down the ‘P’ before passing it across to her again. As they continued across the wall, Hannah’s skin prickled against the heat of his arm against hers.

‘You do realise I’m using up all of my willpower not to take you in arms, don’t you?’ His voice was barely audible as he plucked the ‘B’ in Birthday down and passed it slowly across to her, adding it to the pile, his fingers brushing hers, lingering longer than was necessary.

‘Do you think you’re the only one tapping into their willpower right now?’ She lowered her voice as she heard someone walk past behind them.

Josh chuckled beside her. ‘I hoped I wasn’t.’

‘Josh! Can you come and help with this, please?’ Sophie called across the hall.

Turning, Hannah watched as Sophie stood on the stepladder, trying to reach a bunch of balloons tied to the curtain rail above one of the tall windows.

‘Coming.’ Josh quickly plucked the remaining letters from the wall before dropping them. ‘Oops.’

Kneeling down, Hannah began gathering them up as Josh dropped to the floor too. Quickly picking them up, he passed them to Hannah. ‘Will you meet me on the roof tonight for some more stargazing?’

Nodding, she grinned, her stomach flipping. She wanted nothing more than to meet him. Grabbing his hand before he stood up, she frowned. ‘I thought we were telling Sophie today?’

Josh glanced towards his sister. ‘We will. Just as soon as Gemma and Lucy have gone. You’ll still meet me though?’

Letting go of his hand, Hannah quickly glanced around the hall to make sure Sophie hadn’t seen them touching before she nodded. ‘I will.’

‘Josh! We need to be out in five minutes.’ Sophie called again, her voice verging on panic.

‘Great.’ He nodded at Hannah before standing up and hurrying across the hall.

Slowly, Hannah stood up and shuffled the letters in hand. Now the time to tell Sophie was getting closer, she couldn’t help feeling nervous. What would her reaction be?

‘Hannah, is that the last of them?’ Gemma walked across to her, an open bag in her hands.

Shaking her head slightly, Hannah turned her attention to Gemma and placed the cardboard letters in the bag. ‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Great, me and Lucy are going to take this lot out to my car and then take them back to Sophie’s.’ She nodded towards the pile of plastic boxes Sophie had brought the food, plates and cups in, which were sitting by the door to the hall. ‘Are you coming?’

Glancing towards Josh, who, now that the bunch of balloons had been taken down, was folding down the stepladder, Hannah shook her head. ‘You go ahead. I’ll grab a lift with Sophie and Josh. I want to double-check we’ve not left anything int he kitchen.’

‘Okay.’ Gemma nodded slowly and began walking away before turning back again. ‘You’re going to tell Soph about you and Josh, aren’t you?’

Chewing on her bottom lip, Hannah shrugged. ‘That’s what we’d decided but, I don’t know, she looks so happy after the success of the party, I don’t know if it’s the right time.’

‘The right time is before she works it out herself or someone else does and tells her.’ Gemma rubbed Hannah’s arm. ‘Tell her. She’ll be thrilled.’

Nodding, Hannah watched as she headed towards the door and hefted up a box before she and Lucy left.

They were alone now, the three of them, she, Josh and Hannah.

The perfect opportunity and the one she and Josh had spoken about.

She wiped her palms down the legs of her jeans.

She suddenly felt clammy and awkward. What if Sophie wasn’t happy?

What if Lucy and Gemma had got it wrong?

What if she never spoke to her again? What if Josh decided their relationship wasn’t worth rocking the boat for?

As Josh and Sophie made their way across the hall towards her, Hannah stayed rooted to the ground, scared that if she moved, she’d run right out of the hall before uttering a word to her friend.

Passing beside her, Sophie grinned. ‘Thanks so much for all your help, Hannah. You, Lucy and Gemma have been lifesavers today. There’s no way I’d have got everything organised and set up in time if you hadn’t been helping me.’

‘No worries. You’re welcome.’ Hannah tried to force a smile.

Frowning, Hannah reached out and touched her lightly on the forearm. ‘Is everything okay? You look...’

Leaning the legs of the stepladder on the ground beside him, Josh cleared his throat. ‘We actually wanted to chat with you about something.’

‘Oh, really?’ Sophie turned to him. ‘What?’

Josh sidled across to Hannah and placed his hand on the small of her back.

‘We’re dating.’ Hannah blurted out. She resisted the urge to clap her hands over her mouth and instead plunged them into her jeans pockets. Why had she said it like that? She shouldn’t have blurted it out.

Sophie looked from Hannah to Josh and back again, her face ashen. ‘You’re...’

A loud bang filled the hall as the door was pushed open and ricocheted off the wall, and they all turned to watch Richard barrel inside. Hannah felt Josh tense beside her as he let his hand drop from the small of her back and he positioned himself in front of Sophie.

‘What are you doing back here?’ Josh held his hands up, palms forward, his jaw ticking as he spoke.

‘Sorry, mate, that was an accident. The door was sticking, I didn’t mean to make such an entrance.’ Richard glanced over his shoulder as the door closed behind him with a click.

‘Still, why are you here?’ Josh repeated his question, his stance relaxing a little.

‘I came to speak to Sophie.’ Richard looked at Sophie. ‘Can we talk? In private?’

Sophie nodded. ‘Okay, we can go into the kitchen.’

‘Hey, whatever you’ve got to say to her, you can say in front of us.’ Josh shook his head.

Turning to face them, Sophie lowered her voice. ‘I’m going to talk to him alone. You two have your secrets, I can have mine.’

‘But Soph...’ Josh frowned.

‘No.’ Holding her hand up, Sophie quietened him before shaking her head. ‘I can’t even... You two...’

Hannah swallowed; her mouth suddenly dry.

This conversation hadn’t ended how she’d wanted, and all her fears were coming true.

Sophie was angry. She was upset with them.

And Hannah didn’t blame her. She’d crossed a line.

It was common sense not to date one of your closest friend’s brothers, and she’d put her own feelings above Sophie’s.

Looking down at the floor, she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Sophie was going through enough already.

And now Hannah’s selfishness had added to her worries.

Once Sophie and Richard had disappeared into the kitchen, Josh reached out to take Hannah’s hand in his.

Pulling her hand away, she crossed her arms. ‘No. I need to go.’

‘Hannah?’

As she walked towards the door, she could feel Josh’s presence beside her, and it was all she could do not to sink into his arms and sob. She’d ruined everything. She’d ruined her friendship with Sophie, and she’d probably ruined his relationship with his sister too. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t...’

‘But...’

Pausing, she turned on the spot, her eyes darting anywhere but at him. ‘Please, I need to get away.’

Nodding, Josh dragged the palm of his hand across his face.

‘Thank you.’ Whispering, Hannah turned back and hurried outside, grateful her tears had waited until she was alone.