Page 19 of Coming Home to Roseford Villas
God, why is this so difficult?he thought, frustrated. All he was going to do was see if Rory fancied coming to see a bloody author’s talk, for goodness’ sake! Why was he feeling so nervous? It was like he was sixteen again and quaking in his Dr Martens at the prospect of asking her out for the first time. He was an adult now, and he needed to start behaving like one. He couldn’t stop his heart from leaping when his phone pinged, though. It was from Rory, asking if now was a good time to pop over? Texting back a quick yes, he found himself frantically taking a swig of mouthwash before he darted out of the en suite and hurried back downstairs to the dining room, where he could see Rory locking up the chalet and making her way down the path. Pausing in the doorway, paralysed by indecision, he sat down in the nearest chair, then sprang back up. He leaned against the wall, but then, worried he’d look too casual, stepped away again. Appearing relaxed was stressful!
In the end, he walked across the dining room and met Rory at the French windows. He pushed them open and smiled as she came through.
‘Hi,’ he said quickly. ‘Thanks for coming over. How was your day?’
‘Great!’ Rory replied. As she proceeded to tell him what her research session with Stella had unearthed, Leo once again found himself drawn in by her enthusiasm. He was intrigued by her findings, and when she’d finished explaining, he wanted to know more.
‘So you’re feeling pretty inspired, then?’ he said.
Rory grinned. ‘You could say that and it’s given me plenty to think about in terms of how I might use a relationship like that in fiction. It’s the perfect counterpoint to the modern story that I wanted to tell. The two ideas will complement each other beautifully.’
‘And what’s the modern story?’ Leo asked. ‘I don’t think you’ve actually told me anything about that aspect of it. I thought you were writing a historical novel?’
Leo noticed the pause that Rory took before she spoke. ‘Well,’ she said carefully. ‘I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that…’
22
‘You want to writewhat?’ Leo’s tone of incredulity was about what Rory had expected as she delivered the news that she was planning on drawing on their past relationship for inspiration. Of course, if he’d stayed on the other side of the bloody world, she’d never have had to tell him. At least, not face to face.
‘Well,’ Rory said, beginning to feel very self-conscious. ‘I, er, have this idea about linking the two tragic love stories together. I wanted to use what happened to you and me as the base for the modern love story, and then the original idea was to make it a kind of parallel with the historical relationship, when I’d done the research into Edmund and Francesca, of course.’
‘And how much of it is really going to be fictional?’ Leo asked. He suddenly looked a whole lot more serious than he had when Rory had walked in. ‘I mean, am I going to cringe every time I think about it? How much of our teenage angst are you going to be sharing with your readers?’
Rory laughed. ‘What, the millions of people who will pick up a romance by a new author off the shelves? You do know this book might not even get published, Leo? Chances are, myreaders, as you call them, will be my mum, and my flatmate, Alex!’
‘You don’t know that, Rory,’ Leo said. She watched his face carefully. ‘Look… I’m not going to tell you not to write it. But do you think you could, oh, I don’t know, think carefully before you write about anything that might be difficult for me to read? I know that makes me sound like the biggest, most conceited twat, but I just don’t want to be hung out to dry in public for things we both did twenty years ago.’
Rory laughed, strangely tickled by the earnestness in Leo’s expression. ‘Seriously? I’m not out to do a hatchet job on you, Leo. And I’m not going to go into the gory details about what we got up to when we were teenagers. If anything, my main characters will be a little older and wiser than we were. But I can’t ignore the emotions I felt when I fell in love for the first time, and I need to draw on some of those to make this book feel authentic.’ She paused. ‘If you hadn’t opened the door to me when I arrived here, chances are you’d never have known about this project. After all, you didn’t even know I’d changed my name. So just because you know about it now, why should it worry you?’
She watched as Leo mulled over what she’d said. He’d leaned back in his chair, and a lock of dark hair had fallen over his forehead, which he brushed impatiently away. ‘I get it,’ he said eventually. ‘And I trust you. But can I ask you a favour?’
‘Sure,’ Rory replied.
‘If you’re unsure about anything… don’t write it. You always were good with your gut feeling. If anything feels off, then think about it.’
‘So not exactly a “publish and be damned” then?’ Rory said, smiling slightly. Seeing he was still concerned, she added, ‘I promise to think very carefully.’ All the same, she thought, he need never have known…
Leo pushed himself up from his chair and straightened his back. Rory was sure she didn’t imagine a slight grimace of pain crossing his features.
‘Are you OK?’ she asked. She rose from her chair and they were suddenly standing in front of each other, both a little wary.
‘Yup. Just had a hectic couple of days,’ Leo replied.
‘So, er, why did you want me to come over?’ Rory said.
‘Oh, yeah, right. I’d nearly forgotten.’ Leo fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, which he handed to Rory. ‘I thought you might like to come to this. With me. If you want to, that is.’
Rory felt a surge of excitement as she unfolded the paper and saw the name of her favourite author, Shona Simmonds, written on the page. ‘Oh, wow!’ she said. ‘I had no idea she was coming to RoseFest. She wasn’t mentioned on the website anywhere.’
‘She was a last-minute booking,’ Leo replied. ‘The event didn’t go live on the website until this morning. I was, er, looking for something that you might like, and this seemed perfect.’
Rory felt her face begin to warm at the tone of Leo’s words. It was clear he’d really put some thought into it, and she couldn’t help feeling flattered. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and before she could stop herself, she’d leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. She caught a waft of his scent, and her senses felt as though they were suddenly on high alert. Pausing, so that her face lingered next to his for a long, delicious few seconds, she breathed in, and the memory of what it felt like to be so close to him tugged at the back of her mind. She felt more definitely those stirrings of attraction that she’d been trying to keep a hold on threatening to cloud her caution and judgement, and when Leo put a warm, gentle hand on her waist, she felt the distinctive rightness of that gesture. She let out a breath and turned her face closer to his.
‘And don’t worry,’ she said softly. ‘I promise I’m not going to write anything that you’d be embarrassed to read!’
Leo laughed. ‘Or, more importantly, that my mum would be embarrassed to read. I’m pretty sure she guessed most of it, but there’re a couple of things Ireallywouldn’t want to see in print!’
‘Such as?’ Rory raised a teasing eyebrow.
