Page 18 of Spring Dreams at the Cornish Bakery

‘Just relax. This will help.’ He pressed deeper this time, drawing the pads of his thumbs deep into her muscle.

It was easy for him to tell her to relax, but she had to admit it felt good. She could already feel the pain easing. Watching a blackbird flutter in and out of the overgrown hedge outside the small dining-room window, she savoured his touch against her. Maybe she’d got him wrong. Maybe he wasn’t after the cottage after all, but if he wasn’t, then why had he sneaked back inside at the crack of dawn? Gently shrugging him off, she turned on the spot and came face-to-face with him. She could feel his breath against her nose. They were that close.

As if frozen to the spot, he reached up and slid his goggles to the top of his head, his sandy hair ruffling against the plastic lenses. Reaching slowly towards her, he gently slid hers to her to rest on her head before carefully tugging a trapped strand of hair from the arm of the goggles.

He was so close. She was so close. And she felt it. That connection, that spark she’d felt when she’d initially seen him. She blinked. It would be so easy to lean forward, to close the tiny gap between them and touch her lips against his, to find out what he felt like, what he tasted like.

Shaking her head, she stepped back, the chill of the early morning instantly enveloping her, a feeling of loss filling heras she watched him rub his palm over his face before shifting backwards slightly too.

He cleared his throat and nodded towards the wall. ‘This is going to be a really lovely space.’

Glancing at the floor, Lynsey slipped her goggles from her head and held them in her hands before focusing her attention on the gaping hole in the wall. ‘Why did you come by this morning?’

Scratching his stubbled jawline, he spoke quietly. ‘I wanted to take another look at inside. I noticed the lock was a bit iffy when I left yesterday, so had a feeling it wouldn’t be working.’

Turning, she looked him in the eye. ‘But why?’

‘After I saw you with the estate agent yesterday and noticed how upset you were at the prospect of not being able to afford the renovations and having to sell, I went away and spent most of the night working on my quote.’

‘You’d already given me a quote.’ He wasn’t making any sense. In fact, the only little sense he was making was by saying he’d spent most of the night awake. That at least explained the dark circles under his eyes and the stubble visible across his chin.

‘Yes, I did. You’re right.’ He held up his forefinger before. ‘One moment. Let me grab my clipboard.’

Lynsey watched as he disappeared through the door into the living room before re-emerging with his blue clipboard clutched against his chest.

Glancing around, Zac pointed to an old dust sheet crumpled in the corner. ‘May I?’

Lynsey nodded. He wanted the dust sheet? He was welcome to it. It hadn’t done much good in here, anyway. She watched whilst he tucked the clipboard beneath his arm and dragged the dust sheet into the middle of the room. After shaking it out a little, he spread it across the filthy floorboards, picnic-rug style,before holding out his hand, indicating Lynsey to sit down. She lowered herself to the sheet as he did and curled her legs beneath her.

Placing the clipboard between them. ‘Right, you bought this cottage before you’d seen the inside, right?’ He looked up, waiting for Lynsey to nod before continuing. ‘And I’m taking a wild stab in the dark that you only had a certain amount of money to buy a property with. Hence why you bought through auction and took an almighty gamble on this cottage of yours?’

She nodded slowly. ‘You know this.’

‘Yes, yes, I do. Now, I mean. I didn’t before. When I quoted you for the work, I wasn’t aware there was a set budget I needed to work with.’

‘So, you tried to fleece me by giving me the highest quote you could?’ As soon as she’d said it, she regretted it. She had a feeling she may have misjudged him before. No, she knew she’d misjudged him before. He’d helped her, free of charge – she hoped – after all.

Giving a low chuckle, Zac wagged his finger at her. ‘No, I worked with the knowledge I had at the time. You wanted to renovate this cottage, turn it back into how it was before the previous half-hearted renovations had begun, right?’

She nodded. She still didn’t understand what he was getting at.

‘What if I told you that I could do the work for less than half the price, but you wouldn’t end up with the interior cottage looking as it did when it was last purchased? And yes, I did some digging on the internet last night too and found the listing of the property both when it was sold through the estate agent and when it was sold through auction.’

Huh? Less than half the price of his original quote. She certainly liked the sound of that. ‘I don’t understand how you can cut your quote by so much.’

‘That’s where it gets interesting.’ Zac folded the first sheet of paper over, tucking it beneath the plastic backboard and revealing a sketch of a room. ‘We use fewer materials and I offer my work at a reduced price if you let me use the before and after pictures for advertising my business.’

‘Really?’ She rubbed the palm of her hand across the leg of her jeans. ‘I like the sound of that. But what do you mean by using fewer materials? How is that possible?’

‘Take a look at this.’ He tapped the sketch on the clipboard. ‘I’ll take off the remaining plaster, check the brickwork and repair any damage and we leave the brickwork bare.’

Shifting onto her knees, Lynsey leaned forward and peered at the sketch. It certainly looked a little like her living room. The fireplace was in the right place but instead of smooth plastered walls as she’d imagined, Zac had drawn exposed brickwork, giving the room a classy and yet different look. She grinned as she took it all in. ‘I love it. I think it’ll look really good.’

‘That’s not all. To further reduce costs, I had a quick search on the internet and there are loads of quirky old cabinets and shelving for sale in the local reclamation yards. You don’t need a brand new kitchen. We can visit the reclamation yards and create a custom kitchen, completely useable but also filled with character.’ He flicked over the sheet of paper again, revealing yet another sketch beneath. ‘This is just an idea using what cabinets and shelving units the local reclamation yards have for show on the internet. There’s bound to be more if we visit.’

Lynsey didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Zac’s ideas looked perfect and much more her style than a brand new kitchen. She looked at him, resisting the urge to cup his cheeks in her palms and give him a big kiss. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

Zac shrugged, his cheeks pinking a little. ‘You don’t need to say anything. I’ll leave the sketches and the quote here and youcan take a little time to think about it. Get back to me when you’ve made a decision.’

---