Page 31 of A Cosy Christmas with the Village Vet

‘I think it’s lovely,’ said Nick.

Brogan wasn’t so sure she believed him, but all the same, it was kind of him to say.

The next couple of hours passed companionably with them chatting about a whole variety of innocuous subjects, skirting around the day they’d first met. Wilf and Maudie were curled up together on the rug in front of the fire as if they were old friends, Wilf’s head resting on Maudie’s back. Nick had made himself comfy on one of the armchairs and Brogan had her legs tucked beneath her on the sofa while she listened to stories of when he was a little boy, visiting his grandparents’ farm over by York. It was where he’d developed his love of animals and it had been their encouragement that had led him to want to train to be a vet. The more he told her, the more Brogan realised they had much in common.

She was enjoying his company. In fact, she’d found herself thinking that she’d quite like to be snuggled up to him here on the sofa on more than one occasion that evening, her head resting on his chest, his arm around her. Bliss! She felt completely at ease with him, just like she’d done that Saturday at the wedding. It made her realise why she’d fallen for him so easily that day and it hadn’t been a case of her simply throwing herself at the first available man who’d shown her attention. Which is what she sometimes talked herself into believing when she was reliving the memory in the wee small hours. But him being here tonight, their laughter and chatter bouncing around the room, made the place seem brighter again; made it seem alive. It also made her realise how lonely she’d become since her grandparents had gone. Why couldn’t she let herself take the plunge and be guided by her feelings for him? She was sure she wasn’t imagining that connection sparking between them. Granted, she’d never experienced anything quite like it before, but she was sure it couldn’t just be her imagination that was making her feel this way. The emotions Nick aroused in her were way too strong for them not to be real.

Brogan drew in a deep breath, her thoughts tumbling around her mind. If that was the case, then she shouldn’t let what had happened between her and Archie affect her forever. Couldn’t let it hold her back. She hadn’t dated anyone since he’d so unceremoniously dumped her; she’d been too scared to dip her toe in the dating pool. In fact, Nick had been the first man she’d kissed since Archie and there’d been no comparison between the two. Wowzers! Nick’s kisses had blown her socks right off! They should’ve come with a warning! The thought made her giggle. And while she remembered Archie’s as being kind ofnice, they’d never aroused the strength of feeling in her Nick’s had – and she was absolutely certain it wasn’t just because it had been a long time since she’d been that close to a man! She felt her face flame and her pulse race as she recalled how Nick’s lips had felt on hers.Wow! Just wow!It had rocked her to her core. If that was how he’d made her feel, wasn’t it time she opened up her heart again? Three years was a long time to keep it locked away. She was in serious danger of the door permanently seizing up, never to be opened again. From what she could tell, Nick seemed to genuinely like her, unless, of course, she was reading things all wrong.

She froze, her stomach squeezing, as she ran the possibility over in her mind. Maybe shewasreading him all wrong. Maybe she was so out of practice, she couldn’t read the signals properly anymore– not that she’d ever been any good at it anyway, and had never been able to tell when a boy fancied her. Maybe she was seeing things she wanted to be there, or at leasthopedwere there.Oh blimey.It was a minefield, and way,waytoo confusing for her to navigate. She needed to calm herself down, think about something else.

She breathed out slowly and glanced over at Nick, her heart taking off again.Well, that didn’t last long!The way he was looking at her right now, the way his gorgeous blue eyes had gone all soft, made it impossible to doubt for even the tiniest second he had feelings for her. Surely he couldn’t fake that kind of expression? One thing she couldn’t doubt was that she sure as hell had feelings for him. Feelings of the extremely strong, lose-yourself-in-the-moment variety. And at his very moment they were coursing around inside her, making her heart thump hard against her chest and her skin tingle in the most delicious way.Oh my days!This was heady stuff. She was in serious trouble of falling head-over-heels in love with him if she wasn’t careful.

A little voice piped up in her mind, asking if it would really be so bad for her to fall for him. It was quickly followed by another, telling her it had the potential to be monumentally disastrous.Oh jeez!Talk about confusing. Why couldn’t things be simple for a change? She tried to steady her wayward heart, feeling completely and utterly torn.

‘You okay?’ Nick asked, bringing the battle that was raging inside her head to a halt.

‘Uhh? Oh, umm… yeah, I’m fine, thanks. Just a bit tired, that’s all.’ A yawn made a timely appearance as if to prove her point. She covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Oh, excuse me.’

‘Of course, I’m not surprised, it’s been quite a day. I shouldn’t have kept you talking for so long.’ His smile fell a little.

‘Oh, I didn’t mean… I’ve really enjoyed our chat and hearing about your grandparents’ farm.’ She smiled at him. She hadn’t wanted to make him feel guilty, she’d just said she was tired as it was the first thing that had popped into her head.

‘You sure you’re not just being kind? Sure you’re not in danger of being bored to sleep by my stories. “By ’eck. I remember t’day…”,’ he said, emphasising his North Yorkshire accent.

‘Not at all.’ She giggled, just as his phone started vibrating with a call, as it had done several times that evening. ‘Who calls at nearly eleven o’clock at night?’ she asked, watching as he picked it up and looked at the screen.

His smile dropped.

‘Ughh. My ex, that’s who.’ He ran his hand over his chin. ‘She’s the reason I was supposed to head over to Middleton-le-Moors tonight. Flaming heck! I shouldn’t be such a coward, I should take the call, get my bollocking over and done with. I won’t be long.’ He got to his feet and pressed the phone to his ear. ‘Loretta,’ he said as he walked towards the door, his head hung low.

Brogan couldn’t help but feel for him. He hadn’t mentioned what the situation was with his ex, but she sensed things were far from resolved between them. It made her wonder if the vibes she’d picked up from him liking her were nothing more than rebound feelings.

The thought was enough to dampen her mood.

Despondently, she pushed herself up and reached for a log in the basket by the hearth, stepping around Maudie and Wilf as she threw it on the fire. It caught light instantly, flames leaping up the chimney, sending out a welcome blast of heat.

The bedroom she’d given Nick was located directly above the living room and, with such low ceilings, she couldn’t help but overhear his side of the conversation, in which he mostly appeared to be apologising profusely. Feeling uncomfortable, as if she was eavesdropping, Brogan reached for her wine glass and headed for the kitchen, her spirits sinking as she went.

24

NICK

Nick listened as Loretta wiped the floor with him. She hadn’t given him an opportunity to explain why he hadn’t managed to get the shoes to her. As he absorbed more of her tirade he could feel his stress levels rising, his chest squeezing. If she was this livid about him not showing up, he could only imagine what she’d be like when he’d told her that her shoes were ruined. Which was something he hadn’t been able to do because she hadn’t given him a chance to get a word in edgeways. And the longer she went on, the more he wanted to get it over and done with. The only problem was, since he’d first seen the damage, he’d been running through his mind how best to broach the matter, but now his carefully prepared explanation had deserted him, and his brain was scrabbling about to find the right words to break it to her.

‘Loretta, I need to tell you someth—’

‘I’ve told you a million bloody times, Nick, I don’t want your pathetic excuses. I just want my shoes! It’s not difficult, but you seem to be getting a great deal of pleasure out of hanging onto them.’

‘But I’ve been trying to—’

‘The only thing you should’ve been trying to do is to get them here. End of.’

‘But if you’d just give me chance to explain—’

‘I don’t need a bloody explanation, I just need my shoes. By dragging it out like this you’re being nothing more than puerile and irritating. I don’t need this stress. I’m too busy to have to keep reminding you how much I need them. They’d better be here by the time I get back from work tomorrow or I’m going to—’

‘That’s the thing, I’m not going to—’

---