Page 51 of The Wishing Tree Beside the Shor
It makes me laugh again as he holds his arm up, strawberry held by the stem between thumb and forefinger, tanned forearms flexing in a way that makes me blush for no reason, and I slide my arm through his so they hook around each other’s inner elbow and aim the strawberry halves towards our own mouths.
His skin is warm against mine and I can feel every tiny flex of solid muscle that makes me feel a lot hotter than the sun beaming down on us.
‘Hold position!’ Tonya yells, and a load of shutter clicks go off from the gathered residents.
‘Do you ever find yourself in weird positions and wonder how you got there?’ I whisper.
His eyes crinkle up as he laughs, and I know we’ve both got the overwhelming urge to ram the strawberry up each other’s noses. ‘I can’t think of anyone better to be doing this with.’
It makes me go flushy all over and I’m sure my cheeks are so red that they’re going to struggle to tell them apart from the strawberry.
He untangles his arm to knock his strawberry half against mine. ‘Cheers.’
‘Happy strawberry patch reopening,’ I say, wondering what exactly people are supposed to say in these situations.
‘I’m just celebrating having my partner in crime back.’ He gives me that look again, the one that makes me feel like the only person in the universe as he winds his arm through mine again.
‘And, action!’ Tonya yells before I have a chance to get more overheated.
Ryan squeezes my arm using only his muscle power and it catapults me back to the present with the gathered crowd and Tonya doing a countdown.
On one, we both take a bite out of our respective strawberry halves, and I close my eyes as the sweetness bursts across my tongue.
‘Mmm,’ Ryan whispers. ‘I’m not sure it’s worth all the fuss, but it’s good.’
‘Let’snotuse that as a marketing slogan.’
He laughs and opens his eyes. ‘Good, but not worth a fuss. Story of my life.’
I blink at him curiously. I want to know everything about his life. I know this isn’t what he had planned, but I also get the feeling he’s happy here. We spent a lot of time talking about places we wanted to go and things we wanted to see. Before, he was raring to get away, but he seems different now. Settled, secure in his own skin, which is something he never was before, and something I’ve never felt either. That sense of being happy where you are, a feeling of home … I left here to go looking for it, but never found it. It seems like Ryan found it without ever leaving.
Even though the gathered residents have started filtering away, I realise we’ve still got our arms linked and untangle them quickly. When I step back, I stumble over a strawberry plant and his hand closes around my arm and keeps me upright, pulling me against him until I crash into his left side and his arm comes up around my shoulders, holding me there.
‘Aww, I’ve always said strawberries were a romantic fruit,’ Tonya says, amid the noise of another shutter click.
‘What would you consider anun-romantic fruit?’ Ryan asks without taking his arm from around my shoulders.
She thinks about it for a long moment, and instead of letting me go, his hand drifts up and down my arm.
‘Well, pineapples have a bit of a prick, don’t they?’
I meet Ryan’s eyes and we both burst into giggles.
Tonya looks annoyed at our immaturity. ‘Theyhaveprickly bits, and you have to cut them off when you cut through that tough old skin.’
‘I reckon quite a few people around here have prickly bits,’ Ryan says in my ear, making me howl with laughter.
He always had radar for saying the funniest things at theworstpossible moments. His laughter is shaking through me too and his head is pressed against mine. ‘What are we even talking about?’ he says against my ear.
‘I don’t know.’
‘I think you two have been out in the sun too long,’ Tonya says. ‘Do you need to go and sit in the shade?’
I look up and meet his eyes and the sparkle of laughter in them makes that familiar feeling of butterflies flash through my body.
‘I think that would be a very good idea,’ he murmurs, wetting his lips like he has some kind of innuendo in mind.
I’ve totally lost track of this conversation, and I extract myself from Ryan’s arm, trying to work out how just one arm can enclose me in such a tight hug. His arms are incredible.
