Page 120 of Love ad Lib
She raised her head to look at him. He was holding onto the end of the lilo, looking like a water god. ‘What makes this different?’
‘You.’
‘Really?’
He smiled. ‘The weather certainly helps. And I suppose this is the first time in years that I’ve been home for more than a night. But you do make the difference. No-one wants to argue in front of you.’
It was all so perfect she never wanted to leave. She would stay in the countryside with Henry forever if she could. But tomorrow they returned to London. Tomorrow this would all be over.
He frowned. Was he thinking the same?
‘Aren’t you cold?’ she asked. ‘You’ve been pushing me up and down like Lady Muck for ages.’
He leant forward and kissed her.
‘Henry, you’re freezing! We need to get you out and rubbed down.’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘Henry!’
‘Yes, Libby?’
She pulled his head closer and kissed him again, slipping her tongue through his parted lips and being rewarded with a groan.
Shrieks of laughter broke them apart as Minty and Monty barrelled into the water a couple of feet away.
‘Little brats,’ he murmured, pushing her back downstream.
‘Do people stay here the whole night?’
‘Yes, there’s bedding and camping mats. But we don’t have to if you don’t want to. I haven’t done it since I was a kid.’
Libby couldn’t think of a better end to the weekend than spending the night with Henry in the middle of nature. Just not surrounded by the whole of his family.
‘Could we possibly do it in the field of flowers? That way we can bring Serafina mark two back with us in the morning?’
His smile was wicked as he replied. ‘Yes, Libby, we can definitely “do it” there.’
The sun wasn’tdue to set until nearly half past nine, so they ate around the bonfire with the family and Libby wove another flower garland with Summer and Willow. Henry brought his car down and they loaded it with bedding before driving it through the narrow lanes to the field.
Henry made up a bed under the oak tree and lit a small fire as Libby walked her new starter through the flowers, trying to gather as many wild yeasts as she could. Then she sat back in his arms, listening to the crackling flames, the chirp of crickets, and the trills of birdsong as the sun sank towards the horizon.
‘Libby?’
‘Yes?’
‘I want to ask you something, but I don’t want you to take it the wrong way.’
Her heart rate spiked. She shifted to look at him. ‘What's wrong?’
‘Nothing! Nothing at all, I just wanted to talk to you about what’s going to happen when we go back to London.’
Oh. She returned her focus to the view as the sky darkened behind the golden glow of fire. This was it, the moment he drew a line on their time spent together and they went back to their very different lives.
With her back against his chest, she felt each breath he took. He kept inhaling as if to start a sentence, but stopped short each time.
‘It’s okay, Henry, just say whatever you need to.’ Her stomach was knotted, waiting for the inevitable speech that would tie the strands of tension tighter.
