Page 29 of Promises & Petals in Nettleford-on-the-Wold
Hannah shrugged. ‘But if...’
‘You won’t know until you try.’ Lucy raised her eyebrows.
She didn’t understand. ‘I feel as though I’m lying to Soph. I am lying to Soph, and I hate myself for it.’
‘Look, just leave it a few days. See how things between you and Josh go. if it all fizzles out, don’t tell her.’
Hannah shoved her hands in her pockets, the lead still dangling from her wrist. It wasn’t going to fizzle out. She could tell that if they both jumped into the relationship, things most definitely wouldn’t fizzle out. This felt real.
‘If they don’t, then tell her.’
‘I feel guilty,’ Hannah whispered.
‘You don’t need to. Honestly, I think Sophie will be over the moon.’
‘She won’t be. Don’t you remember that whole thing with Claudia and Sophie warning her off him?’
Throwing her head back, Lucy laughed.
Narrowing her eyes, Hannah glared at her. This was serious. This wasn’t a time for laughing.
‘Sorry, but that was, what? Twenty years ago or something. When we were all at school.’ Lucy emphasised the word ‘school’. ‘Besides, Claudia was awful. You must remember how horrible she was to us?’
Hannah frowned. Josh had said much the same thing about them not being at school anymore, not about Claudia being awful. She wasn’t even sure what he’d thought of Claudia, or whether he’d even been aware she’d planned to ask him out. ‘I don’t know.’
‘If you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know if you’ve just passed up on your happy ever after.’ Lucy draped her arm around Hannah’s shoulder.
‘But Sophie...’
‘Nothing will change between you and Sophie. The four of us are solid.’
Hannah rubbed at her temples. She wanted to believe Lucy; she really did.
Chapter Twenty
‘Okay, I’m giving up.’ Hannah glared at her laptop. It was already dark outside, and she hadn’t done anything but stare at the same email since coming back from Sophie’s. She must have read the same sentence a million times but still couldn’t make sense of it. Not that she was trying. The only thing she was trying to do was not to relive that conversation at Sophie’s house again.
And she wasn’t winning either. She pushed the laptop away before she leaned her head against the window behind her. She’d closed the curtains on the side of the table ages ago to shut out the view of the scaffolding going up around her cottage in the hopes she could focus better. It had been quiet out there for a while now, so she assumed the scaffolding was now up.
‘Shall we get some dinner, Alfie?’
Alfie’s ears pricked at the mention of the magic word.
‘Actually, you’ve already had yours, haven’t you? You had yours when I had my Pot Noodle.’ She glanced at his bowl sitting in front of the small gas fire. She’d grabbed his dinner an hour or so ago now after she’d felt his eyes piercing into her. ‘So, nice try.’
Lifting her arms above her head, she stretched before glancing at the small carriage clock she kept on the front shelf of the caravan. It was already almost eight o’clock. How had that even happened?
A ping from her mobile startled her, and she picked it up. She smiled automatically as she read Josh’s name on the screen before she scrolled through and opened his message:
Look out of your door :) Josh x
Frowning, Hannah stood up. What was going on? Did he want to show her the scaffolding was complete, or was he going to be there waiting for her? Despite the inner turmoil stirring in her stomach, she hoped it was him. She hoped she’d open the door to find him standing there, waiting to come inside, or to take Alfie on a walk with her — anything. Just to spend some time with him.
Although being in his presence would complicate things, it would make this decision even harder for her.
Opening the door, her heart sank. He wasn’t standing there waiting for her. She looked across at the cottage. The scaffolding was in place though, so perhaps that’s all he’d been wanting to show her. Sighing, she went to close the door again, stopping as the sight of something lying on the floor caught her eye.
What was that? Leaning down, she picked it up. It as a petal. A rose petal, by the looks of things. She could just about make out that it was red from the light escaping the caravan behind her. She gently turned it over in her palm, her skin barely registering its presence because it was so soft. Lifting it to her nose, she sniffed it, the sweet aroma of roses filling her lungs. It was definitely fresh.
