Page 31 of The Love Position

‘It’s…’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful.’

Something changed in Isaac’s expression as she held his gaze, and the ground suddenly felt a little less solid than before.

He turned away, breaking the connection. ‘Do you want to go inside?’

6

‘Can I look around outside a bit more?’ Sophia asked. ‘I feel like I’ve just dropped into paradise.’

Isaac nodded, the butterflies in his tummy now whirling like leaves caught by the wind. His house and land had been private for so long that having Sophia here felt like she’d wandered into his bathroom when he was having a shower.

But her delight was also a drug, and he wanted more.

‘When I bought the place, there was already a house on it, but it was derelict so I knocked it down and started from scratch.’

‘Did you demolish it yourself?’

He grinned. ‘Yes, with a digger. I felt like a little kid.’ He led her to the right of the house. ‘There was a large garden at the back when I moved in, but I decided to do something different with it. Although it was also an excuse to play with heavy machinery again.’

Behind the house had been a market garden. He’d kept a small vegetable patch and beds for cut flowers, then had planted fruit and nut trees in the rest of the space and created a natural swimming pool fed by the spring.

Sophia gasped when she saw it, her hands flying to her face. ‘Oh, my god!’

Isaac’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

‘I just…’ She glanced at the back of the house, her gaze falling to the wood-fired sauna and hot tub. ‘No freaking way!’ She shrieked with laughter. ‘This is too much! No wonder you don’t ever have guests. They’d never leave.’

Isaac knew his house and garden were special, but seeing them through Sophia’s eyes made him appreciate them even more.

‘And perfect for weather like this. If I had my swimming togs, you wouldn’t be able to get me out of there. Do you swim every day?’

‘Most days, yes. If it’s really cold, then it’s combined with a sauna.’

Throwing back her head, Sophia laughed with joy.

Isaac had never seen her so happy before. In class she’d always seemed shy, unsure, and as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Now she seemed lighter and bubblier than champagne.

‘Honestly, I wasn’t joking, Isaac. You’ve created heaven on earth.’ She gazed up at the clear blue sky. ‘What’s the light pollution like?’

‘Not bad. It’s far enough from the village that you can still see a lot of stars if it’s a clear night.’

‘Do you sit in the hot tub and look up at them?’

‘Yes.’

His mind immediately and inconveniently supplied an image of a naked Sophia in the hot tub, her long legs entangled with his.

This is a mistake.

No, it’s not. When have you seen her like this before? Doesn’t she deserve to be this joyful?

But…

Eveline said Sophia needed a friend. You can do that. Be her friend.

‘And you grow your own food?’

‘A lot of it, yes. Although I’ve tried to create a permaculture forest garden. Something that can more or less look after itself.’

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