Page 22 of The House on Waterfall Hill

‘And I take it you don’t just want to tell her a firm no and to leave you alone?’

‘No, I don’t particularly like confrontation.’

‘Don’t you think this could be worth a go, just to get some peace and quiet?’

‘I suppose.’

Luke looked really uncomfortable with the idea and Flick wondered if it wasn’t just the idea of lying to people but the horror of having to pretend he was her boyfriend.

‘Or just keep hiding in a cupboard, it’s no skin off my nose. It was just a suggestion. I don’t mind holding your hand and looking at you adoringly. But if you don’t want to do that, I’m sure avoiding her will continue to work just as well. Or find the courage of Aragorn and tell her to sling her hook.’

‘Will we kiss?’ Luke asked.

Flick felt her eyebrows shoot up. She hadn’t thought about that. ‘Well, I guess we could, if you want, just to be completely convincing. It’s just a kiss, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like you’ll be making love to me in the middle of your studio just to show we’re in love, but a kiss…’ She shrugged to show it was nothing when all she could think about was how much she’d wanted that when they were standing in the secret cupboard earlier. This was turning out to be not quite so selfless as she’d first thought.

‘OK, let’s give it a go,’ Luke said.

‘The kiss?’ Flick almost squeaked.

‘No, us, together. At least the pretence of it.’

‘OK,’ Flick said, suddenly wondering if this wasn’t such a great idea after all. Could she really kiss him and not feel anything at all?

‘Right, I’m going to bed,’ Luke said, standing up.

‘Night, lover boy,’ Flick teased.

He paused and even in the darkness she could see him blush.

‘Night Flick,’ he said, softly.

He disappeared down the ladder and Flick couldn’t help smiling. This was going to be fun.

CHAPTER SIX

The painters and decorators arrived early the next day and were already hard at work. A lot of them Luke knew from the pub quiz team and, as it was only a quick paint job, they’d bumped him to the top of their list. They were busily transforming the café into something wonderful. The sunshine-yellow walls really brightened up the place and Rose had agreed to paint the bees and flowers once it was done in return for free coffee and cake for a month once the café was up and running.

Luke had spent the night before painstakingly going through Polly’s list of everything she apparently needed to run the café and ordering the items online. Blenders, smoothie makers, ice cream makers, bread makers, waffle makers, pancake makers. There was a machine for everything, even things he had never thought of or heard of before. Polly had clearly been imagining her dream café for some time, creating her perfect wish-list of gadgets and must-have accessories, and when shefound out who was footing the bill she decided not to hold back. And while he was happy to try and support people’s dreams he was pretty sure the café didn’t need self-heating butter knives for the customers or teapots that could brew two different kinds of tea simultaneously and he was fairly confident that no one in the world needed a strawberry stem remover. What was wrong with a knife? But while he was well aware he was being taken for a ride here, he was going to go ahead with it because he wanted the café to be a success, which in turn would help the studios back on its feet.

And this was exactly the kind of thing he was running away from. Over the past year, since everyone had found out who he was, he’d paid out for a new roof for someone after a tree had gone through it and the insurance company had refused to pay out, a new washing machine for a single mother of two, new tyres for a young family’s car, a new oven for a local café, a newly decorated nursery with all the furniture for a couple expecting triplets, a new bike for a kid whose bike had been stolen, a new car, a new van, a new wheelbarrow, a new laptop, a new bed, a new dining room table, a new shed, the list was endless. And he didn’t know any of these people who suddenly wanted to be his best friend. Then there were the big things he’d been coerced into buying: a new lifeboat for the town, new enclosures at the local dog shelter, a summerhouse at the local school. He was all for helping charities, he’d given millions to them over the years, but the constant expectation that he would always put his hand in hispocket and pay out was growing quite tiring. He was looking forward to walking the streets of Skye and having no one know who he was.

The only people never to ask for anything from him were Audrey and Quinn. In fact, Audrey was quite insistent that she never wanted his money, even when he offered.

And then there was Flick, worried about spending too much, wanting to pay him back, or rather the fictional kitty, out of her profits. No one had ever wanted to pay him back before. Granted, things might change once she knew how much money he had in his bank, just like everyone else who looked at him with pound signs in their eyes, but he liked her attitude, at least for now.

Although he knew it was more than that that he liked. She was kind and easy to talk to. She made him laugh.

He was useless with women, never knowing the right thing to say, always awkward, always worried that the women he was with were enjoying themselves. One of his ex-girlfriends had likened him to a puppy desperate for that pat on the head and to be told he was a good boy. Although rude, there was probably an element of truth in it. She’d laughed when he’d asked permission to kiss her and said women just liked to be grabbed and kissed, which didn’t seem very polite or gentlemanly. She’d mocked him when they’d first made love because he’d asked her if she was OK and if she liked how he was touching her. She’d said real menwent in all guns blazing, they didn’t hold back. She’d laughed at his love ofThe Lord of the Ringsand ridiculed him when she found out he liked to dress up as Aragorn for comic cons. Consequently he’d always been a bit withdrawn around women, never showing his true self. And if he was honest, a bit of a bumbling twat.

But Flick genuinely seemed to like him, he felt like he could truly be himself with her and she wouldn’t judge him or laugh at him. Even if they would only ever be friends. He had to admit, his heart had leapt with happiness when she said she wanted to be his girlfriend and then flopped with disappointment when he realised it would only be pretend. Although she had seemed quite open to the idea of a kiss, maybe even a little bit excited. Was it possible that she was looking forward to the kiss as much as he was? Or was he seeing something that simply wasn’t there?

Promising the boys he’d get them pizza for lunch, he went back downstairs to his studio space and carried on working on some of the smaller wooden animals he was making to sell in his studio. He was actually really enjoying working on the smaller pieces, although he did feel there was probably more attention to detail needed at this size than less.

He wasn’t sure if the other studio owners had decided to create smaller or cheaper items. He knew Katherine had started creating smaller mosaics but he had no idea what the intentions of the other artists were.

Just then Flick appeared in his doorway and he tried to ignore how his heart leapt when she smiled at him.

‘Hey,’ she said, coming in.

---