Page 68 of A Recipe for Love
‘Cos it’s stronger there because…’ He knew this. He built arches and bridges. He shook his head. ‘Because of science.’
‘Yeah. Science,’ Bella agreed. ‘Who’s going first?’
‘You’re lighter.’
‘Right.’ She stopped. ‘Sorry. Does that mean I should go first to test it out or you should go first cos it’s only going to get weaker?’
‘I don’t know.’
She giggled again. ‘I’ll go first.’
He watched as she edged her way across the bridge, feet wide to the sides, holding on to what was left of the hand rail. She jumped off the end at the other side and span round, hands aloft in victory. ‘Your turn.’
Adam stepped onto the bridge. First step – so far, so good. Nothing was moving underneath him. There were no ominous creaks. He went further. Second step, and then third. It couldn’t be more than fifteen, at most, to the other side. Fourth step, fifth. Was that a hint of a wobble under his foot? He stopped still and took a deep breath in. Sixth step, seventh, eighth. More than a wobble now. The wood under his left foot groaned. He knew the crack was coming before he felt it. He hopped his foot up and lurched forward. The movement shifted everything and he landed at first onto the wooden deck, allowing him a blissful moment of thinking it was OK, before the floor beneath him disappeared and he was falling.
‘Adam!’ He heard Bella squeal on the bank and then she was scrambling down towards him. Their bodies met in the water. She grabbed his arm and tried for a second to hold him up before they both fell, her on top of him, pushing him backwards until he was lying on his back on the bottom of the stream, half covered in water, with a damp, red-faced Bella spreadeagled on top of him. ‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine. Wet,’ he laughed. ‘Very wet.’
She pushed his damp hair out of his face. ‘I don’t think the bridge is safe, you know.’
‘No.’
They hauled themselves up to standing and clambered up the riverbank, added a layer of mud to their wet legs and hands.
‘You’re sure you’re all right?’
‘I’m fine,’ he reassured her.
‘I was trying to save you.’ She waved a hand back towards the water. ‘I thought I was being heroic.’
They both fell into another fit of laughter. ‘I appreciate the effort,’ he managed.
‘Come on.’ She grinned. ‘I want to get you back and get you out of those wet things.’
He took her hand as they walked up towards the coach house, Bella excitedly retelling the drama of the fall from her vantage point on the bank, sharing fits of laughter at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
Adam glanced back. The Low Bridge was gone, literally collapsed beneath him. It didn’t seem that funny any more.
Chapter Eleven
The next morning Bella installed herself at the kitchen island, with Darcy’s iPad in front of her (donated in the earnestly stated belief that Bella was going to save Lowbridge), her phone at her side and a notepad open as well. The list of things to do was starting to overwhelm her. Setting up a cookery school would require insurance, and health and safety certificates, and advertising, which meant she would have to pin down specific dates and offers and prices. They didn’t have enough useable accommodation rooms yet to offer residential schools, so she was planning one day and half day sessions to start with. But then would anybody come along to those when Lowbridge was about a million years’ travel time from everywhere?
And, in addition to all of that, would Bella even be any good at teaching someone else to cook? She cooked as much through instinct as understanding, and that sense of what flavours went well together, whether to cook a piece of meat fast and hot or low and slow, how to treat a simple ingredient to elevate it from simply edible to a delicious indulgence – was that something that could be taught?
‘What are you up to?’ Adam dumped his suitcase in the doorway to the kitchen.
‘Oh, many plans and plots. Are you ready to go?’ Bella stood and wrapped her arms around him. ‘This is going to be the first night we’ve spent apart since—’
‘Since we met.’
‘Yeah.’
He planted a kiss on her lips. ‘It’s only a few days.’
‘I know.’
The sound of raised voices reached them from one of the many coloured rooms on the other side of the front hallway. Adam winced.
