Page 21 of Promises & Petals in Nettleford-on-the-Wold
‘Why?’ Hannah clamped her mouth shut. She should have just taken him at his word, or offered a thank you, anything but try to push him into admitting something he more than likely wasn’t feeling, anyway. Why would he feel anything towards her?
‘Because I...’ A loud knock from the front door cut him off, and he waved his hand behind him. ‘We ordered a chippie dinner. You’re welcome to have Freddie’s?’
As Josh retrieved the chippie dinners from the delivery person, Hannah swallowed. With the cottage quickly filling with the aroma of chip shop chips, her stomach growled, reminding her that she’d worked through lunch. She took the chip parcel from Josh as he held it out to her. ‘Thanks.’
Chapter Fifteen
‘Shall we?’ He indicated the living room.
‘Yep.’ Hannah nodded as she led the way towards the sofa. Sitting down, she placed her chip parcel on her lap, the hot chips quickly filtering through the denim to her skin. Looking up, she watched as Josh headed towards her grandad’s armchair opposite the small two-seater sofa. ‘Don’t sit there!’
‘Sorry.’ Josh quickly walked across the living room towards the sofa and sat down next to her, their knees almost touching as he shifted position. ‘I didn’t think.’
‘It’s okay. I know that one of these days someone will sit in it. Heck, I’ll need to sell it or give it away when I sell up the cottage.’ She shuddered. ‘But that’s something I don’t really want to think about right now.’
Josh unwrapped his chip paper to reveal a large fish surrounded by fluffy golden chips. ‘He was a good man, your grandad. One of the best.’
She smiled sadly as she unwrapped her chips too. ‘He sure was.’
‘We’re making good progress.’ Josh glanced up at the ceiling. ‘And the thatch isn’t in as bad a state as I first feared it was. Weshould be able to patch it up perfectly fine rather than stripping it and replacing the whole roof.’
‘That’s good news.’ Hannah looked down. His knee was resting against her leg, and he’d made no move to shift over away from her. Not that there was much spare room on the sofa. Perhaps he was as far against the arm of the sofa as he could be. She could perhaps move an inch or two, but... ‘What were you going to tell me?’
Looking at her, Josh frowned. ‘When? About the roof?’
She shook her head. She’d got this far, so she might as well finish what she’d started, however painful and embarrassing it might be. ‘In the kitchen, before the delivery guy turned up with the chips.’
‘Oh, then.’ He lowered his head, suddenly super interested in his dinner laid out across the paper on his lap.
‘Yes, then. Why don’t you want me to go on a date with Freddie?’
Snapping his head up, he caught her eye. ‘I thought you said you didn’t want to go for coffee with him?’
Picking up a chip, she held it between her thumb and forefinger, stalled in mid-air. ‘I don’t, but that’s not the point. What were you going to say?’
Slowly wrapping his chips up again, Josh placed them on the coffee table.
‘You’re not hungry anymore?’ She frowned. Why had he ordered them if he wasn’t hungry?
‘I am, but I need to talk to you about something.’
‘Okay.’ Hannah could feel a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. This didn’t sound good. What was he going to say? Had he noticed how awkwardly she’d been acting around him? Was he going to tell her he could no longer work on the roof? Who would she be able to employ instead? At such short notice too?
‘Do you remember the last time we spoke? Before you left the village?’
‘Umm...’ And there it was again, the fierce flush of heat radiating from her chest all the way to the tips of her ears. Please don’t bring this up, Josh. Please leave it in the past.
‘You told me that you...’
Closing her eyes, she barely recognised the voice that escaped her throat. ‘Please don’t. I shouldn’t have said anything. I was drunk and upset. So drunk and so upset. I even remember what I said to you.’
‘You don’t? Okay, if you really don’t remember or if it was the drink talking, then I guess we don’t have to speak about it then.’
She opened one eye and then the other as she breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you.’
Josh ran his palm across his face, his skin dragging against the coarse stubble covering his chin. ‘But if you did mean it, then I think I’d like to talk about it.’
Hannah squeezed the chip in her grasp, the soft potato spilling from the split skin. ‘Why?’
