Page 35 of Sunset at Embthwaite Farm
“Not a single one,” James replied easily. He locked up the house as he strolled towards the car. “I would have brought coffee, but you beat me to it.” She’d texted him that morning, saying she would bring a flask and travel mugs. “So, I brought these instead,” he told her, and she saw he was holding a paper bag. “Pain aux raisins from the bakery in town.”
“You went into town already this morning?” Anna asked in surprise.
He shrugged. “I’m an early riser. I hope you like raisins.”
“I do,” she assured him, touched by his thoughtfulness. He was a man who seemed to think of just about everything.
“Shall I pour the coffee while you drive?” he suggested as they both got in the car. A few moments later, they were heading down the track, their travel mugs of hot coffee tucked in the drink holders between their seats, a pain aux raisin each on their lap, along with a much-needed napkin. The sky was still grey, and it was starting to drizzle, but Anna felt as if she was all sunshine inside.I’m happy, she thought with something close to incredulity.I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this happy.
James glanced at her and smiled.
*
Anna had beenworried about how to fill four hours of silence as they drove southward, but she realised she needn’t have worried—first, because they’d both soon discovered that not all silence needed to be filled, and second, they had enough to talk about, anyway. James asked her plenty of questions about her life—easy ones, softballs he was gently lobbing and which she gratefully batted back. He asked her about her job, and what she loved about gardening, and why she’d chosen Stroud as a place to land. In return, she asked him the same sort of get-to-know-you questions back—why he’d gone into architecture, the most interesting projects he’d worked on, and whether he thought he’d ever feel like a true Yorkshireman.
By the time they’d stopped on the far side of Doncaster for a break, Anna felt as if they’d got to know a bit more about each other. Just the basics, it was true, but she felt comfortable in his presence in a way that was both gratifying and reassuring.
“Shall I drive now?” James asked once they were heading back to the car. “But only if you want me to.”
“That would be lovely,” Anna replied. After nearly two hours at the wheel, she was ready to relax a bit. James slid into the driver’s seat and began to reverse out of the parking space with the same air of calm competency he seemed to do everything; it wasn’t arrogance, Anna reflected, but assurance. Already, amazingly, he felt like a steady presence in her life. Was she being ridiculous, thinking that way? Probably, but she still enjoyed the feeling.
“So now we’ve done all the easy chitchat,” James remarked once they were back on the motorway. “Shall we level it up?”
“What?” Anna couldn’t hide her immediate discomfort at that alarming suggestion. “Level it up…how?”
He shrugged, smiling. “Tell me something a little more personal. Or I’ll tell you something since I’m the one who suggested it. Only fair.”
“How personal?” Anna asked, trying to sound light and not somewhat terrified. She’d been enjoying the chitchat so much, but she knew she wasn’t remotely ready to delve into the deeply personal, not yet, not when they’d been having such a lovely time.
“Let’s see…” James screwed up his face in concentration while Anna braced herself for some semi-hideous revelation. How should she respond? And more frighteningly, how should she reciprocate? “I’m scared of the ocean,” James stated, “and when I was a kid, I bit my toenails.” He slid her a laughing glance. “So now you know.”
“Oh.” Anna couldn’t hide her relief.Thatkind of personal she could handle. “Scared of the ocean? Really?”
“Deep ocean, without land in sight. I went snorkelling off the side of a boat once when I was about eight, nothing around but blue, and I inhaled about half the Pacific in one mouthful. It was terrifying.”
“And biting your toenails?” Anna grinned and grimaced at the same time. “Ew.”
“I know.” James nodded soberly. “I stopped when I was about ten. But still…deal breaker?” He glanced at her expectantly, while Anna stared back at him, flustered and flummoxed.Deal breaker?Did that mean…?
“That was a long time ago,” she managed lightly, after a moment. “But still, a bit disgusting.”
“So, my mother told me, many times. What about you?” His smiling glance turned appraising. “What disgusting habit did you have as a child?”
Anna smothered a laugh. “You really want to know?”
“Absolutely.”
She shook her head, trying to think of something suitably gross without being entirely off-putting. It was, she realised, a rather delicate balance. James had got it just about right with his toenails remark. “Well, this isn’t gross,” she finally said, “but it’s a bit weird, I suppose. I used to have to line all my shoes up exactly, their tips completely in line, before I went to bed.”
James was silent for a second, and Anna wondered if that was not the kind of thing he’d meant. Instead of being goofy or even gross, she realised, it just sounded…sad.
“Funnily enough,” she finished lightly, “by the time I went to university, I had completely lost the habit. My room was an utter tip all three years.”
“That sounds about right,” James replied with a smile. “But you know, I realise in all our getting-to-know-you chat, I don’t actually know much about your childhood. You said your parents were university lecturers?”
“Yes, very academic. I went to uni in Sheffield for art history, which was something of a disappointment to them, I think, although they never said.” Again, that felt more revealing than she’d meant it to. She had to stop doing that.
“And then you must have married quite young,” James remarked. She’d already told him Harriet and Rachel’s ages as well as her own, so he’d clearly done the arithmetic.
