Page 150 of He's the One

“My parents bought me the stone to keep me busy while I was looking for a job. The dragon was the first thing I made.”

“It’s brilliant.”

Doubt bulldozed its way into Theo’s head. Col had said his first choice was to be a carver.Am I standing in his way?

“What if you get offered a job as a carver in Edinburgh?” Theo whispered. “No, notwhat if. I mean, I’d understand if you wanted to accept a carving jobwhenit was offered.”

“Defineunderstand.”

“I’d…get it.”

“I was offered one yesterday. I’d forgotten I’d even applied for it.”

Theo’s heart began to crumble. He wanted to beg Col not to accept it, but he didn’t have the right. This could still work at a distance.Or I can move.

“I turned it down. I’m not doing anything that takes me away from you.”

Theo eyes filled with tears. “Right answer, and you didn’t need to phone a friend or ask the audience.”

Col wrapped his arm around him and pulled him close so Col’s chest was to his back. “Theo, it could have been an offer to carve in Westminster Abbey and I’d have said no. I like working for Asquith. I can do this in my spare time.”

“But your spare time is for me!”

Col laughed so hard he choked.

“Hey, I was serious.” Theo put his hand on an untouched light brown block. “This piece is just amazing. What incredible creativity. It looks exactly like…a rock.”

Col chuckled. “Fancy that. What would you like it to look like?”

“An otter?”

“Okay. That’s what I’ll make.”

“Can you bear to part with them once you’ve spent hours chipping and caressing and loving them?” Theo turned in his arms to face him.

“Some of them I can. The fox was always for you, but the dragon I could sell. You, I’m not letting go.”

“Not even for a million pounds?”

“Someone’s offering that?”

Theo growled. “What do you think about putting all your creations in the hidden garden? You could sell them to visitors. Be an artist in residence. You could even take commissions.”

“I…”

“Say yes.” Theo hugged him.

“We’ll ask your father.”

“Let’s take Isla to the garden.” Theo went over to the fox, tried to pick it up and gulped. “Youcan put Isla in the garden.”

When Col lifted the fox as if it weighed nothing, Theo huffed.

He worried about Col carrying Isla all the way to the hidden garden but he kept saying she wasn’t that heavy. It was only when they reached the folly that Theo realised it wasn’t going to be possible to crawl through the tunnel with her.

“I can pull her on a piece of wood,” Col said.

“Or we can look for the door.”

---