Page 24 of The Good Neighbour

Her face softened a little. She pulled away from him and wound her fiery red curls up into a twist and skewered them in place with a pencil from the drawing board.

Josh wasn’t sure if he had been forgiven or not. He would let her torture him. After all, he deserved it for coming in there and instantly slagging her work off.

“What do you mean bysafe?” she asked quietly.

He shrugged. “Nothing major. Maybe a slash here or a buckle there? Sex it up a bit.”

Suzanne frowned at the drawing of a maxi dress in white linen. Already, Josh could see where he would bring it in tighterto accentuate the bust. He also was dying to get a split in it right up to the top of the thigh.

“I guess I’m not Josh Winterton,” she said sadly.

“Hey now,” he replied, squeezing her arm. “You have gone beyond the call of duty and I will be forever grateful. I wouldn’t be Josh Winterton anymore if it wasn’t for you.”

She shook her head, a flicker of amusement on her face. “You’re a smooth-talking bastard.”

It appeared the crisis had been averted. Josh let a sigh of relief go. To lose Suzanne would be disastrous.

“How about you give it another go? Get some leg showing and shove up the bust?” Josh suggested.

“And what are you going to do?”

Josh leapt off his stool and went to his old drawing board opposite Suzanne. He might not have been there for quite some time but it had been left exactly how he liked to work. This touched his heart more deeply than he would have expected and again pangs of guilt for leaving his workforce to fend for themselves stabbed away at him.

“I’m going to come up with the masculine equivalent, of course.”

“Now you’re talking.”

Before Winston’s illness, this had been how they worked best. Usually, Josh would come up with a concept. Then they would do the first design separately before bringing them together. Josh had always produced a masculine and a feminine version of his ideas. It was his favourite way to express himself.

He had brought Suzanne on board because of her experience at designing for a rival gown couturier. She had accepted the role to diversify her approach. When they met in the middle, magic happened.

As he set about getting his workspace together, he glanced up and caught her watching him.

“I truly am sorry,” he said. “Please don’t ever think I don’t appreciate what you’ve done for me.”

“You’ve said that enough now,” she replied. “I’m happy to have you here again. End of story.”

The day went really well. He and Suzanne rediscovered their mojo that had been on the missing list for far too long. Emailing designs and discussing over Zoom calls were not the same as being across from each other. They had also found that their old jokes and funny stories were still as powerful as ever.

“I’ve really bloody missed you,” Josh said. “Fancy a drink?”

Suzanne shook her head. “Polly’s cooking dinner. It would be more than my life’s worth to be late.”

“She’s back then?”

Suzanne nodded. “I missed her so much.”

“Ugh, you’re still sickeningly in love I see?”

“’Fraid so,” she replied.

He mock-shivered. “Never again,” he said.

She flung her arms around him and gave him a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

“Less of that talk. You’re just too damned lovable to be alone for too long.”

His mind went instantly to Hugh. The night they had shared had been wonderful and they hadn’t even seen each other naked. Yet.