Page 34 of Reece & Holden (Gomillion High Reunion #6)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Holden

We’re in a pretty spot. There are trees and flowers and we’re walking along the river but still somehow in the city.

Reece says it’s called Christ Church Meadows.

Apparently it dates back to the thirteen hundreds, when it was gifted to a priory.

It has cattle grazing on part of it, but also has a lot of boathouses for the rowing clubs.

It’s Sunday now. Yesterday we didn’t do a lot.

Reece took me to lunch and showed me a few parts of the city, though mostly we just stayed in bed, and not all of the time was spent sleeping.

I breathe a deep sigh of contentment as we walk hand in hand.

“Is everything alright, baby?” he asks as we wander slowly along the path.

“Just happy,” I reply and he gives my hand a squeeze. “I’m a little worried about the future, but I’m hopeful we can work it out.”

“We will. I need to put a few things in place and make sure I have everything worked out with Nolan, but then I’m ready to follow you to wherever you want to be.” That Reece is willing to do that for me fills me with so much joy and gratitude.

“How’s the hunt for a new store going?”

“Not great. There’s nothing that looks suitable that’s become available in the cities where I’ve been looking. But I’ve got an idea.”

“Go on, what is it?” he prompts.

“You said I could go anywhere, so how about further north, into Vermont, or New York. Or even the Pacific Northwest. Oregon or Seattle.”

He stops and looks at me with a smile plastered on his face. It’s a special one I don’t see often, usually when I’ve done something that particularly pleases him.

“You are feeling adventurous, aren’t you?”

I give a small shrug, pleased that he noticed. “You don’t mind?”

“I love your plans, and they’re great states to live and work in.

So when do we start looking for stores?” He grins as we continue walking.

I haven’t started looking yet, wanting to know what he thought first, but I outline my plans as we walk back to Reece’s house.

He listens and makes a few suggestions I hadn’t thought about.

When we reach the house we take off our shoes in the entrance hall and I follow him through into the kitchen.

For an old house the interior is modern.

There’s a lounge at the front that looks out onto the street, which has a wood-burning stove and comfortable couches, and a large-screen TV on the wall.

There are a few pictures hung up, but not many, and they seem to be mostly abstract.

The kitchen is huge, with a large dining space.

It’s light and airy with doors that open onto a small back yard, which has a seating area, then the lawn and a couple of trees.

Reece says he doesn’t have time to garden and isn’t any good at it, but this is easy to maintain.

He makes me a coffee and I open my laptop, wanting to capture some of the points we discussed before I forget them.

“You’re as bad as me, working all hours,” he says, sitting beside me.

“This is future planning, it doesn’t feel like work.

” I defend myself and he laughs softly. But he still helps me add to the list. I can monitor my store from my laptop, what we took and the stock levels, but I don’t as it’s a Sunday and Reece said we’d been invited to dinner at Marina’s.

I’m keen to see her again and to meet the mysterious Mac I’ve heard so much about.

Marina greets me with a big hug, and I apologize that I didn’t bring anything for her. She waves away my excuses.

“There’s no need to bring anything but yourself.

And anyway, we’re almost family,” she says, and my heart soars to be accepted so readily, not just by Theresa but Marina as well.

She wasn’t exaggerating when she said her cottage was old, small, and pretty.

I think it’s charming, so quaint and very Marina-like.

I can see her knitting projects everywhere, and I’d like to ask her more about them but it’ll have to wait as she ushers me into the kitchen.

I can tell who Mac is as soon as I see him.

The resemblance between him and Reece is uncanny even though they are half-brothers.

Though Theresa and Marina aren’t really dissimilar to each other.

Reece introduces us and I can see that Reece’s features are softer; maybe Mac’s are harder because he’s a cop.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” I say, and Mac grins and looks pointedly at Reece.

“That’s funny, as I’ve heard almost nothing about you.”

Reece shrugs. “What was there to tell? You don’t go around blurting out twenty-year-old secrets all the time, do you? And it wouldn’t have looked good if I had and then Holden had kicked me to the curb.”

“Which I nearly did,” I add in. Reece laughs and it breaks some of the tension.

“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Holden. Come and meet Levi.” I follow Mac over to where a young man is talking to Marina. He’s striking, in a feral way, blond and tattooed, all prickly looking.

“Pleased to meet you,” he says and gives a wide smile, which diffuses the spikiness and enhances his beauty.

“And you,” I reply. “Reece says you’re in catering college.”

“Yes, I just passed the first unit with honors. I’m planning to go into hospitality management when I finish.”

There’s a knock on the door and Marina goes to answer it, and she returns with two more people. She introduces them to me as Nolan and Uli.

“Hi, nice to finally meet you,” Nolan says, offering his hand. “So you’re the reason Reece stood us up on Friday night.”

My cheeks burn and once again I’m grateful that my beard covers most of them. Reece comes over and puts his arm around my shoulders.

“Can you blame me for taking the better offer?” he says, and Nolan chuckles. I’m saved from any more embarrassment by Marina calling out that dinner’s ready. She directs Mac into making sure everyone has a drink, and allows all of us to help carry a dish through to the dining room.

I’m seated between Reece and Uli, who I discover is a florist with his own store in the next village.

After having listened to my dad talk about flowers for years, I’m pleased I was able to hold an intelligent conversation with him.

I like him a lot and plan to ask Reece if we can visit his store while I’m here.

After dinner, Nolan and Uli have to leave, but the rest of us settle in the lounge, Levi making teas and coffees for us all. He looks at home here, but I understand from Marina that he lodged with her for several months before he got together with Mac and moved in with him.

Finally I get to ask Marina about a lampshade that’s been intriguing me. It has a brightly colored cable-pattern texture with yarn fringing.

“Did you make it?” I ask, and she tells me which yarn she used and how she should still have the pattern if I want it.

“It looks perfect in your cottage, but it won’t quite suit my house. But I think I could modify it into something that would.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun,” she replies. “You know, if you aren’t doing anything on Tuesday, I’m in town and I’d love to show you Ami’s store.”

“Yeah, sure, I’d like that.” I know Reece has to work, so I’ll probably be searching the internet for new stores to check out when I get back, but a trip to the famous yarn store would be lovely.

“And my knitting group ladies would love you,” she carries on. I glance over at Reece and see he’s suppressing a giggle as Marina tries to fill up my social calendar.

A good yarn store feels like home. Not one of those modern chain stores for craft supplies where yarn is just a small part of their range, but a traditional store, with a full rainbow of yarns in all different types.

There’s a certain smell a yarn store like that has, and I inhale deeply when I walk into Ami’s Yarn Barn.

Marina introduces us, and I remember that Ami’s from the US.

“Where do you come from originally?” I ask.

“Iowa, but I’ve been here forty years.”

“Do you ever miss it?”

“Sure, sometimes,” she says. “But this is home now, it’s where my friends and my life are.”

I wander around the store. I see a lot of familiar US brands, and some I don’t recognize, which I ask about.

“Yes, most of them are UK suppliers, but I have Scandinavian and also some from New Zealand.” She indicates a display stand of yarn.

“Oh, that’s cool.” I pick up the yarn, feeling the quality of it. “Would you be able to give me the details of your supplier? I’d love to stock these in my store.”

She asks for my email to send the details over, and then asks me about my store.

“It’s not as big as this; it’s in a small town. Gomillion in South Carolina. But it has a good reputation, and people come from all over the state and beyond. I’m planning to open a second store, a larger one in the city.”

“That’s a grand plan. Good luck.”

After we leave the store, Marina buys me lunch and takes me to the Ashmolean museum.

As we walk through the city, she points out some of the colleges that make up the university.

I don’t know what it is about being around hundreds of years of history, but I’m beginning to like Oxford.

When I say as much to Marina she gives me a knowing smile as if she knew I would.

Two days later and I’m back in Ami’s store.

Reece took yesterday off work and we spent the day together, but today he has a meeting with his client Chase, so I took a walk and my body gravitated toward the store.

I don’t know if it is because I’m missing my store, which I am of course, but I know it’s doing fine without me.

Clara has been giving me progress reports, and I’ve been monitoring the sales from my laptop.

She even said that Theresa came and helped her one day, and she hoped I didn’t mind, but in her words, “That woman is not one you say no to.” And I laugh, just imagining her and Clara going toe to toe. But I could tell she admired her.

Ami offers me a coffee and I accept. As I drink it, she asks me a few questions about back home and the US in general, and I tell her what I can.

“I’d like to visit it again.” She sighs wistfully. “Maybe when I retire next year, I’ll do a tour of all the places I never got to see, take some of my friends with me.”

“You’re retiring?”

“I’m getting too old for this. I should’ve retired by now, but I’m stubborn and I like it. However, I’ll be seventy next year, and I said I would make this my last year.”

“You don’t look old enough,” I say, and she gives me a kind look, like she appreciates me saying so but she’s old enough to know the truth. “What will you do with this place?”

“Sell it.” She takes a sip of her coffee. “It’s my retirement fund.”

I thank her for the drink and walk back to Reece’s house, and on the way I stop at a grocery store. I want to cook something nice for Reece when he gets home. As I walk an idea begins to form, and when I get back I call Ami, hoping she agrees.