Page 44 of Wild Swimming at Croftwood Lake
He shrugged. ‘Yes. But that’s me. Sometimes, I’d rather be just Archie but that can only ever be a temporary situation and I shouldn’t have led you to believe that’s who I am. Being Lord Harrington is my life, really, and holes in the roof aside, I’m pretty happy about it most of the time.’
‘So this is who I need to get to know, if we’re going to be seeing each other,’ Nora said, linking her arm in his as they continued their walk.
‘I never expected to find what we have now, Nora. If I’d had any idea that we might…end up in a relationship, if that isn’t too forward of me to assume, I may have done things differently.’
‘Well, I might not have fallen for Lord Harrington in quite the same way as I did for Archie.’
Archie looked surprised and a little hurt.
‘No, I don’t mean I don’t love you being Lord Harrington, it’s just that I think when you’re down at the lake with me, you’re not thinking about all of the difficult stuff. It’s like we’re in a bubble where you’re not his Lordship. The formality and the etiquette and all of that don’t matter. And I love that you can be like that with me. The other stuff is still you, but the you that everyone else has.’
‘God, Nora.’ He took her in his arms and breathed the words into her ear. ‘Is it too soon to say that I love you?’
18
NORA WAS IN Stoke glazing the spare stock for a final firing while there was capacity in the kiln and space in her schedule. Once she’d finished, it was lunchtime and she was thrilled to have the afternoon free for a little experiment. Since her visit to Croftwood Court at the weekend, she’d been thinking of designing a new bespoke line. A modern take on early nineteenth century pottery. She’d done some research on the regency era after seeing plenty of pieces on display in Croftwood Court. With the popularity of that era at an all-time high thanks to Bridgerton, she thought it might be something to explore.
She went into the room where they stored the clay and took some ready-wedged balls from a tray that was ready to go to the production line, hoping that Val wouldn’t mind. She sat at her favourite wheel and centred the first ball of clay. She worked it for a minute or so, getting used to the feel of it before she began to translate what was in her head, through her fingers and onto the wheel. The first attempt was less than perfect, so it went in the bucket on the floor next to her and she started again. This time was better. She knew where she’d gone wrong the first time and this was all about knowing that and rectifying the next time. Once she was satisfied, she ran a wire between the wheel and the pot and lifted it onto a board. It was elegant, the wide base narrowing to form almost a stem for a pleasingly bulbous pot. The challenge was in keeping the top light but robust at the point where the stem met the pot, so that it didn’t collapse into itself with the weight. It would need some delicate handles and maybe even a lid.
‘Have you been in here all afternoon?’ Val came into the room, taking her apron off and folding it neatly.
‘What time is it?’
‘Just gone five.’
Nora had completely lost track of time. That’s what happened when she was struck by inspiration like this. Just another pot, just another attempt at perfection, and the hours ticked by without her realising.
‘Shit. I’m going out for dinner tonight. I’d planned to leave at three.’
‘Go. I can clean up for you,’ said Val. ‘Loving these, by the way,’ she said, picking up one of the boards and admiring the pot that sat on it. By this time there were six that had made it onto boards, but more than that were in the bucket.
‘It’s an idea I had for a new collection,’ said Nora, washing her hands at the sink. ‘Shit,’ she said again. ‘I’d better text Archie and tell him I’ll meet him there.’
‘Where are you off to?’
‘Dinner with some friends. It’s the first time we’ve been out with other people and now we’re probably not even going to arrive together.’
‘Things are progressing,’ Val said, her voice reaching a squeal. ‘I’m going to need all the details.’
‘And you can have most of them next week. I have to go. Would you mind putting the pots in the drying room? I’m not sure the kiln gods will be kind with these. There’s a lot of inconsistency with the thickness of the walls.’
‘Well, don’t worry about that now.’ Val began chivvying her out of the door. ‘You can’t keep the lord waiting.’
‘Bugger off, Val.’ Nora gave her friend a quick hug. ‘See you Monday.’
Hitting the rush hour traffic, which is what she’d been hoping to avoid, made Nora even later. Archie was sitting in his car on the lane outside her house. She turned into the driveway and he pulled up behind her and climbed out.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, opening the door and falling inside. ‘I need ten minutes. Come in.’
‘I’m sure it’s alright. We’ll only be half an hour late.’
Archie settled himself on the sofa while Nora raced up the stairs. She had a quick shower, settled for dry-shampooing her hair and then threw on a wrap dress that she always felt good in. She shoved her hair up in what she hoped was a stylish messy bun, and applied some mascara and her favourite tinted lip balm. She grabbed some ankle boots and headed back downstairs.
‘Ready! Oh god, let me find a bottle of wine. I meant to get one on my way home.’
‘No need. I have one in the car.’
She smiled and sighed with relief. ‘Thank you.’
