Page 65 of Happy Days Ahead in the Cornish Village

‘I was thinking more along the lines of going to a theme park?’

‘A theme park?’ She frowned. ‘I’ve not been to one in years.’ Theme parks really weren’t Lyle’s thing. At all.

Jay grinned and carried on walking. ‘Maybe that’s even more of a reason to go?’

‘Is there even one around here?’ She automatically looked around herself at the beautiful, quaint little cottages and narrow lanes.

‘Well, not here, no. But there’s a good one just over an hour away. Flambards. Mia is desperate for me to take her, so I thought perhaps you and I could go and check it out first? I haven’t taken her in while and have forgotten what rides will be suitable. It could be a celebration trip and a reccy all in one.’

‘Like a risk assessment?’ Megan laughed. Her mum had been a teacher, and Megan remembered going on day trips with her, usually to museums, to check places out before she would commit to taking her class.

Jay shrugged. ‘Yes, I guess so.’

‘Okay.’ Megan narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You do know they probably have a website, right? Which will list the rides they have?’

Jay glanced towards the other side of the lane before catching her eye again. ‘You’ve got me. I was asking you out.’

Megan bit down on her bottom lip. ‘You were?’

‘Yes.’ He chuckled. ‘Remember, I did tell you I was terrible at these things.’

‘Ha ha, you did.’ She nodded.

‘It was just a suggestion. We don’t have to.’ He shook his head. ‘Of course, you don’t have to. That was a daft thing to say.’

‘You’re cute when you get tongue-tied.’

She covered her mouth quickly. Had she really said that out loud? She could feel the prickling of a blush creeping across her face. Why had she said that?

‘Oh. Umm… thank you.’ Jay chuckled.

‘I can’t believe I actually said that.’ She laughed.

‘So, what do you think? Would you like to come?’

She looked down at Cindy, who was walking perfectly at her heel. She would. She’d love to go with him and enjoy a day at the theme park. A day without a care in the world. But she couldn’t.

‘I can’t. I just don’t have the money. When I have a job, though, I’d love to come.’

‘You don’t need any money.’

She held her hand up. Jay had done enough putting her up for the night during the storm, cooking her dinner and just generally being there. ‘Thank you, but there’s no way I’m taking money from you.’

‘You don’t need to.’ He reached into his back pocket and pulled out two vouchers. ‘I have vouchers.’

‘You have vouchers?’

‘Yep. An old colleague of mine was given them by their marketing team after some work he did over there and he’s not going to use them, so he passed them on to me.’ He slipped them back. ‘What do you say? Shall we go and spend the day at Flambards Theme Park?’

Megan grinned. ‘Yes, in that case, I’d love to.’

‘Brilliant.’

As they carried on walking, Megan glanced at Jay out of the corner of her eye. It would be nice to spend more time with him. More than nice. Yes, they both spent most days at Wagging Tails together, but it would be good to meet up outside of their work environment. It would be good to get to know him a little better.

She touched the pad of her index finger against her lip. Would this be a date or just a day out with friends? Whatever it was, she was looking forward to it.

‘You look happy today.’ Percy slipped into his chair at the table before sliding a mug towards Megan.

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