Page 132 of He's the One

Chapter Twenty

Theo spent the afternoon working with Henry, the temporary estate manager, and his head was buzzing, even though Henry was much easier to listen to than Dastardly. Though the grimace when Theo mentioned a winter ball told him that wasn’t going to happen.Another year then.

At the end of the day, when Theo saw how much progress Col had made on the main roomandthe bedroom, he was almost speechless. Both were fully boarded out and looked much brighter and, more importantly, spider-free. Cables might still be dangling, but the electrician had been booked for the following week.

Theo showered, packed enough clothes to last for several days, then set off with Col for his parents’ house.

“James has ordered a new bathroom suite,” Theo told him. “I was hoping for a hot tub but apparently that isn’t going to happen.”

“My mum and dad have a large tub in their bathroom.”

Theo’s heart thumped. “Do they?”

“Yep. Not a hot tub, though it has jets.”

“I desperately need a bath.”

“I thought you just had a shower.”

“For some reason, I’ve gone all sweaty.”

Col chuckled.

“It’s so kind of your mum and dad to let us stay while they’re away. Did you ask if we could use their bathroom?”

“Yes. I said,hey, is it okay if Theo and I do unspeakable things in your bath?”

Theo sucked in a breath. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“Theo!”

“Okay. Just checking. The weather forecast for tomorrow is great, by the way. Not much fun metal detecting in the rain.”

“Anything’s fun with you.”

“Ahhh.” Theo slid his hand onto Col’s thigh and squeezed it. “Even if I—”

“No,” Col interrupted. “Do not give me a list of things I need to make an exception for.”

“I hope you don’t get fed up of me.”

Col turned to flash him a smile. “Not going to happen.”

“Well, you say that now…”

“I’m going to take you out for a meal tonight. A restaurant on the seafront. We can walk there and back. The food is supposed to be really good.”

“Great. Afterwards, can we go into one of those arcade places with the flashing lights and noise? I’ve never been in one.”

“And you’ll probably never want to go in one again when you realise those streams of tokens you’ve won entitle you to nothing more exciting than a bouncy ball.”

“A bouncy ball! I can’t wait.”

“Oh God. You and a bouncy ball?”

“I thought maybe…perhaps… I could try to go on the sand.” Theo blurted out the last part.

“All right. Let’s see how you feel.”

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