Page 34 of Could It Be Magic?
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‘So did you ask her?’ Annabelle hissed on Friday afternoon as Thea disappeared behind the bakery shelf.
‘Ask who what?’ Nick, who knew all too well, played for time. He’d seen Thea coming in, and she looked stressed. He didn’t want to add to her problems.
‘You know damned well who and what,’ Annabelle replied. ‘Just get on with it or I’ll—’ She turned her attention away from him as Thea re-emerged and walked to the counter. ‘Oh, hi, Thea. How are you doing?’
‘Fine, thanks,’ Thea replied, but to Nick’s attentive eye it still looked as though she had something on her mind. ‘How are you? How was the holiday?’
Annabelle beamed. ‘It was fabulous and thank you so much for covering at such short notice. I really appreciate it, and I know Nick does, too.’ Nick saw her glancing at him. ‘I hope he told you that.’
Thea looked at him, and he felt his heart skipping around merrily in his chest as she did. When would that ever stop happening, he wondered. ‘He did.’ This time her smile seemed more heartfelt. ‘And to be honest, he did me a favour. The extra cash’ll come in handy over Christmas.’
‘Well, I’m sure we could find you a more permanent job if you wanted one,’ Annabelle replied. ‘From what Nick’s told me, you were brilliant behind the counter and in the rest of the shop.’
‘He’s being very kind,’ Thea said, but Nick could see she was pleased to hear the compliment. ‘He had to show me a fair few times how the till worked!’
‘Oh, it takes a bit of getting used to,’ Annabelle said airily as she started to ring up Thea’s purchases. ‘Do you, er, need a hand taking these out to the car?’
‘Thanks, but I’m sure I’ll be fine,’ Thea replied, then slapped her forehead. ‘Oh, bugger, I forgot, Gran’s asked me to pick up a bag of the Somerset Ruby spuds as well. She’s cooking Christmas dinner for us all and she forgot to get some when she came in last week. Can you put a bag through, and I’ll grab one on the way out?’
‘Sure.’ Annabelle smiled at Nick, and he knew what she was going to say next. ‘And don’t worry about lugging them out. Nick’ll take them to the car for you. Wouldn’t want you putting your back out this close to Christmas, would we?’
‘Oh, I can manage,’ Thea said.
‘Don’t be daft.’ Nick finally spoke, and to his relief, his voice wasn’t shaking, even though his palms were sweating, and his stomach was flipping like a pancake. ‘I’ll go and grab a bag for you.’
Thea’s smile made his nerves even worse. Why was he behaving like a lovestruck fifteen-year-old? He’d worked alongside Thea for three weeks and hadn’t felt like this.
‘Well, get a move on, little brother.’ Annabelle gestured. ‘That sack of spuds won’t carry itself.’
‘Yeah, right, OK.’ Nick hurried out from behind the counter towards the front of the store where the paper sacks of potatoes were. ‘I’ll, er, see you at the car.’
‘Thanks.’ Thea smiled at him again. Nick picked up the pace before he could put himself through the torture of eavesdropping on the rest of the two women’s conversation. He didn’t want to be mortified by his sister’s attempts to matchmake. Hefting a twenty-kilogram bag of Somerset’s best potatoes over his shoulder, he spotted Thea’s Volvo in the car park and made a beeline for it.
‘Sorry.’ A voice came from behind him as he put the bag down by the boot of the Volvo. ‘It’s so old, it doesn’t have central locking, or a key zapper!’
‘It’s fine,’ Nick replied, turning around to see Thea approaching with the rest of her shopping. ‘I’m used to lugging stuff around all day, anyway! And I’m in no rush to get back behind the counter. Annabelle’s been nagging non-stop.’
‘Oh yeah?’ Thea’s smile made Nick’s breath shorten again. ‘About what?’
Realising he’d nearly dropped himself in it, Nick back-pedalled furiously. ‘Oh, nothing, really, just stuff to do with the business. She’s very particular about the way she likes things done, and I don’t think I quite kept everything to her standards while she and Jamie were away.’
‘Oh God, I hope it wasn’t anything I did – or didn’t do.’ Thea looked worried, and Nick mentally kicked himself. ‘You didn’t get into trouble on my account, did you?’
‘No, no, nothing like that,’ Nick said hurriedly. ‘I, er, I mean, I kind of said I’d do something, and I didn’t, and now she’s on my case about it…’
‘So what was it, then?’ Thea asked. Nick was sure he wasn’t imagining a trace of amusement in her voice, which made him even more self-conscious. ‘Anything I can help with?’
‘Well…’ He started to shuffle on the spot and forced his feet to stay still. ‘Actually, there is something, but feel free to say no, and I don’t want to be weird about it, and really it’s all right if you don’t want to, and?—’
‘Nick.’ Thea’s voice cut gently through his nervous chatter. ‘You know you can ask me anything. Just tell me what’s on your mind.’
Sensing that it was now or never, that this moment might give him an answer he’d been searching for ever since he’d reconnected with Thea properly, he steeled himself. Whatever she said next, at least he’d be secure in the knowledge that he’d done something.
‘Well,’ he said carefully, ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you something.’
Thea’s brow wrinkled endearingly. ‘Yeah? What is it?’
