Page 8 of Valentine Nook
“I know. I’m ahugefan.” She grins wider. “Your latest movie, the one about New York? Saw it twice. Loved it. Can’t wait for part two. Your Oscars speech was perfect. So was your BAFTA.”
My hand freezes on the doorframe. Shit. Maybe I’m wrong, and she isn’t a local, and my face must give every internal thought away.
“Don’t worry, I’m not a stalker. You’re renting this cottage from my family.”
“What?” I ask with a frown, still wondering if I should retract my offer to let her in.
“The cottage . . . it belongs to my family . . . my brother really. I’m not sure anyone knows you’re here, and we won’t say anything if that’s what you’re worried about. I assumed you realized who I was when I introduced myself.”
I shake my head. “No, my assistant and business manager dealt with it all. I wanted to get away for a few months, andthey gave me some different places to choose from. This looked the cutest, even if the ceiling drips,” I add.
“The roof’s leaking?” Clementine asks with a frown.
“Yes, I thought you were the maintenance man.” I nod and realize we’re still standing in the doorway, holding champagne, eggs, and flowers between us. Clemmie’s probably safe, so I say, “Sorry, come in. I’ll put these in water if I can find a vase.”
“There’s probably one in the pantry. I’ll show you,” she replies, toeing off her rain boots, which she leaves slumped next to the front door. “How’re you settling in?”
“Good,” I reply out of habit, hurrying after her through the small hallway to the kitchen, which leads out to the back of the house, “but I’ve mostly been catching up on sleep. I haven’t been out yet. It was something I planned to do today.”
Placing everything on the counter, I lean against it and peer outside to a backyard as pretty as the front.
Large apple trees, ripe with fruit, take center stage by a seating area I had my morning coffee at yesterday before going back to bed. Today, the rain has knocked some of the last vestiges of blossoms off the trees and scattered the petals among the wildflowers growing along the borders.
There’s a beauty to it that brings back a sense of calm I’ve not felt in a while.
“I’ll take you around and introduce you,” Clemmie offers, appearing from the small pantry off the kitchen with a huge mason jar in her hands. “Here, this is the best I can find, but I’ll have some proper vases delivered in case you need them.”
“I’m good. The jar is fine.” I huff out a small chuckle. “It kind of goes with the vibe of this place. It’s really cute.”
“My mother will be happy to hear it. She got a bit carried away with her interior designer,” she replies as she places the roses one by one into the jar before filling it up with water and positioning it on the counter. “There.”
From the sunlight creeping through the clouds, the rosestake on all different shades of pink and immediately add an extra brightness to the kitchen.
“Thank you, they’re stunning. Where did you say you got them from?” I ask because I fully intend to go and buy weekly bunches of these to fill the house.
“My mum’s rose garden.”
I blink. Wow. That has to be some rose garden. My mom takes care of the garden at my parents’ house in Maine, but there’s no way she’s ever grown anything of this caliber, and if she had, there’s even less chance she’d be cutting it down to put in a vase. I’ll have to find a different supplier.
Maybe there’ll be one in this little place I plan to call home, and I’m suddenly excited to explore.
Clemmie turns away from the window. “Come on, it’s stopped raining. I’ll show you around Valentine Nook.”
I glance down at the sweats I pulled on this morning and realize I haven’t even brushed my teeth. “Can you give me ten minutes to change?”
“Of course, take your time,” she replies.
I run back up the stairs, adding one more bruise to my growing collection.
I’m definitely going to break something on these if I’m not careful.
CHAPTER 2
Holiday
“Have you spent much time in England before?” Clemmie asks as we make our way out of the house and down the road.
Except I soon learn it’s not really a road. It’s a lane with no sidewalk and only wide enough to fit one car down at a time.
