Page 111 of Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon
‘Would you like to stay for dinner?’ Erin asks.
Josie knows she can’t hide her surprise at the invitation.
‘I’d love to,’ he says, getting to his feet. ‘Can I help you with anything?’
Erin looks pleased. ‘If you could help Josie inside, that would be wonderful.’
‘Sure thing.’
As Erin closes the door Brett offers Josie his hands. She holds them and with what seems like hardly any effort he pulls her up and wraps his arm around her.
‘I’ve got you,’ he says, and she knows he means it for today, tomorrow and as far into the future as she can see.
‘I’ve got you too,’ she replies, nuzzling her nose against his neck.
‘You sure do,’ he says, laughing, and as he walks her inside she relaxes into him, feeling as light as air.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
After she had Stevo over for dinner the other night, things shifted between them. They’ve always communicated well but now it feels as if they’re in on something together. Not romantically – that’s never going to happen. Instead they appear to be co-conspirators. It’s almost as if he wants to help her get a boyfriend, whether it’s Oliver or someone else, and she really wants Stevo to find someone as well.
At the end of that night Evie still wasn’t sure if she should give Oliver a go but it was good to know she had time available should she choose to. A few days later she’d made up her mind, and she called him. He sounded surprised to hear from her.
‘How have you been?’ she said.
‘Worried,’ he said.
She waited for him to continue.
‘I didn’t know if I’d ever hear from you again.’
‘Guess you can stop worrying, then.’
She swore she could hear him smiling into the phone.
‘So, um …’ She twisted the phone cord in her hand. ‘Would you like to come over for dinner one night? Billy goes to his father’s on a regular basis so, um, it would just be the two of us.’
She wanted to make it clear to him that this wasn’t a clubby get-together with a kid around. It was dinner. It was … a date, maybe? Or something on the way to a date.
Oliver accepted her invitation and sounded very happy about it, so he’s coming over tonight, which means she has to get away from the salon on time. Stevo is picking up Billy from schoolso Evie can go straight home and start preparing. She’s going to keep it simple: pasta and a sauce, and she’s made a cake for dessert. Despite never having been that keen on cooking – maybe because she has to do so much of it for Billy – she loves the idea of cooking for Oliver.
‘It’s flat out today, isn’t it?’ Sam says as he passes by her chair, rolling his eyes. ‘Is every woman in town getting her hair done or something?’
Evie laughs. A few weeks ago she would have tried to decode what Sam was saying, in case it might have greater meaning for her.He’s flat out – that must mean he needs someone to help him and she could be that person.Now she sees that none of it is personal to her. It never was. She just wanted it to be. She desperately wanted someone’s words and feelings to be about her. But that wasn’t Sam’s business. It was hers. She should never have put it on him. If anything makes her feel abiding embarrassment bordering on shame, it’s that.
‘Maybe there’s a big do on?’ Evie tries to calculate what might be going on around the place. ‘You know how some ladies get their hair done in advance and keep it away from water until the day.’
Anna walks in just as Evie goes to look up her next appointment.
‘Hello, stranger!’ Evie says ironically. Anna’s been coming in once a week, and they’ve taken to chatting on the phone sometimes too. Like proper friends. In fact, theyareproper friends.
‘Hello.’ Anna beams.
Earlier this week Anna told her that she and Gary are talking more and that she’s happy about it. She looks relaxed. Her face has lost the tension it’s been holding for months.
‘How are you?’ Anna says knowingly – Evie told her about Oliver coming to dinner, and it was Anna’s cake recipe Evie used for her dessert.
‘I’m … good.’ Evie smiles bashfully. ‘Really good. Looking forward to tonight.’
