Page 24 of Strawberry Moon
“I mean I don’t doaimlesswalking. My walking is always purposeful.”
His lip twitches. “Oh yes? Where do you purposefully walk?”
“From home to the bookshop and then that journey in reverse, taking in the pub along the way,” I say promptly. “Or shopping, but that doesn’t count as exercise because of all the happy feelings it gives you.”
His mouth loses the fight, and he starts to laugh. I try to glare some more, but I can’t when I’m so hopelessly in love with him. It makes my heart full to see him free of care and laughing. And to know that I’ve had a hand in it fills me with bubbles like a bottle of champagne.
Finally, he sobers, and pulling me to him, he kisses me. It’s a brief caress, but still packs a punch, and I gape at him when he pulls back. He taps my nose. “Speechless? I like it.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
He hesitates. “Is your ankle really okay? You said it was, but we can stay here if you want.”
I sigh. “It’s absolutely fine,” I say truthfully and rather reluctantly.
“Great.” He pushes me gently in the direction his parents disappeared. “The beach is only a couple of fields away.”
“A couple offields.”
That sets him off even more, and I shake my head as I follow him down the drive.
Halfway down he takes a left into the wood, and I see there’s a path. “Public footpath,” he says. “It leads down to the beach.”
I narrow my eyes. “Which is probably a few feet away behind those trees?”
His eyes twinkle. “I’m afraid I don’t understand your question.”
“And you own a bookshop too,” I say in a mock despairing voice that makes him grin.
He seizes my hand, and we walk to meet his parents who are waiting for us to catch up.
The next ten minutes are spent walking.
“A few fields, my arse,” I whisper as Harry and his parents discuss the wedding present they’ve bought his cousin.
We’ve climbed over numerous stiles, walked through a wood, and traipsed over a field with cows in it, and we’re currently walking down a long path, the steepness of which doesn’t bode well for the return journey. However, I’m cheered by the sight of the sea in the distance. I’m a true Pascoe family member in that just the sight of the sea lifts my spirits.
I become aware that Harry’s mum just spoke to me, and I look over at her and smile. “Pardon?”
Harry takes my hand. “Ma wanted to know how we met.”
“Oh.” I grin at him. “I met him when I came to tell him that yes, Iwouldwork for him.”
He snorts. “I don’t remember ever asking you that question. I thought you came with the shop.”
His dad laughs and I nudge Harry. “You should be glad I do. Who else will tell Mrs Willoughby that putting books in her scarf is shoplifting and not creative thinking because we don’t provide a basket in the shop?”
He shakes his head. “She hasn’t got much money, and she only takes the cheap books.”
I look at him affectionately. “And that’s why you need me. I am the bad cop to your rather Ivanhoe-like saintly cop.”
“That’s a complete mash-up of genres and don’t call me a ho.”
I snort and when I look up his mum is staring at us. “How long have you been together?” she asks.
My “A few weeks,” comes at the same time as Harry says, “Since the beginning.”
I stop dead. His parents just smile and continue walking on ahead of us. “I think you just completely contradicted our story.”
