Page 18 of The Perfect Blend
I let out a soft snort and rolled my eyes. He sure was laying it on thick.
“I’d love to buy you a drink,” he said, voice dipped low and intimate. My eyes shot back to his, brown meeting blue. Once again I was drowning in his eyes, the tension an almost visible connection linking us together. I found I couldn’t look away, not that I wanted to. Adrinkdrink? Was he asking me out? Would I say yes? Would that be a bad idea? I was pausing a bit too long in my answer.
“There’s tea and cakes over there,” I gestured stupidly off to the side. What had I said that for? His smile broadened, and he laughed, a warm, rich sound that made me shiver.
“Tea’s great and all, but I meant that maybe me and you could go somewhere nice.”
“I’d love that, actually,” I said, and found it was true. My heart lept a little at the thought even as my mind was bugging me with anxiety and what ifs.
An announcement over the tannoy informed us that the competition was starting, and the moment was broken.
“I best go support Zoe,” I said.
“I’ll text you,” he promised. I caught myself biting my lip and smiling, before I turned away with a wave to find a good spot to support Zoe and Ruby.
Chapter Eight
Ruby won the contest, of course.
Zoe said she and the celebrity vet had been extremely polite to each other, and that in the end it didn't matter, because it appeared that the other judge, a well-known name from the animal grooming circuit, was calling the shots anyway. She was incensed to find out however, that it wasn’t a local news bit or Countryfile episode she and Ruby would be starring in. No, it turned out that it would be for ‘Isaac Moore’s All Creatures Great and Small’, a new show that followed Isaac going round the country and showcasing all the animals of Great Britain, in agriculture, pets, competitions, service etc. Zoe had signed a waiver for her and Ruby to be in the show of the very guy whose guts she now hated. She reckoned he would make them cut her out anyway, but I told her there was no way they’d waste filming, and that Ruby made far too good TV for him to not use their footage.
That night I curled up on my sofa with a good book and a glass of wine. The fire was lit, my Christmas decorations were up and it felt so cosy, it was almost perfect.
Only a few pages into my new book and my phone buzzed. It was a message from Zach. Now it was perfect. I picked up my phone with a small smile and opened the text.
About that drink - I know we don’t have too much time before the event so I’ve been thinking.
My heart sank a little, I hoped he wasn’t cancelling.
How about tomorrow, when you come up to plan the market, I cook for us and we can open a bottle of wine? I know it’s not a proper date, but hopefully this might help ease the insult from today. I’d love to take you out properly once things have calmed down a bit, if you’d like that?
My heart flew up into my throat. No messing around, no faffing, just a simple ‘Would you like to go out with me?’. I may have let out a little squeal and clutched my phone to my chest, grinning up at the ceiling like a love-struck teenager. The thought of going on an actual romantic date with Zach set my heart beating faster, and I looked back down at my phone, typing a reply straight away.
My relationship with Zach might have started off a little bit tense, and ok I may have thought he was an arrogant, yet insanely attractive, piece of work. But since our truce at the Christmas market and realising our past connection, it all just felt so easy with Zach now. I didn’t feel like I had to play any games with him, or like I had to over analyse what he said to determine if there was a hidden meaning behind it.
That sounds perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow at 6. I’ll also be looking forward to being taken by you properly some other time.
I’d hit send before I noticed my Freudian slip of a typo and fired off another text at lighting speed, face aflame with the thought that he might be reading this message and thinking I was coming on really strong.
*taken out
Cheeks burning, I looked at Beanie, who was watching me with interest, head cocked to the side.
“I have got to stop doing that,” I confided in her. I’d made more accidental innuendos with Zach than I ever had before in my life. My phone bleeped again with another text, and I was a little more hesitant to open his message than before.
Don’t put ideas in my head. Sweet dreams Robin.
That was it. The thought of him, thinking of me like that, was my final straw. I’d accidentally invited him to picture us together, intimately, and now I couldn’t get rid of the image either. Nor did I want to, they were delicious. I put my phone down, closed my book and went to bed.
I did indeed have some pretty sweet dreams, and I hoped he did too.
∞∞∞
My dreams might have been heaven, but the next day was hell. Everything that could go wrong in the shop did. Jamie called in sick, machines broke down, someone’s dog threw up its puppuccino, orders got messed up, children threw shrieking tantrums. It felt like all my bad luck had arrived at once and made itself at home creating havoc in my shop. By the time I had driven the winding, narrow road up to Bluebell Ridge Farm, I was knackered. I’d barely had time to change my clothes and brush my hair before heading out the door, Beanie in tow. She would have been distraught to find out I was exploring an exciting new place without her. A place where there would be lots of new smells and interesting things to investigate. Or at least that’s what I told myself, anyway.
As tired as I was though, I could still appreciate the warm feeling of driving up to the farm. Nostalgia, wrapped up with long held fantasies of one day living somewhere just like this, filled me as I took in the familiar buildings lit up by the moonlight. It was winter after all; the days were short and the sun had set a few hours ago. Ancient looking stones laid generations ago formed a series of barns up the track, before reaching the big farmhouse at the end of the lane. Big sash windows looked onto the farm courtyard here on the front, and I knew the back had stunning views of the fields beyond. It made me smile to see lights in some of the windows again, the farm finally had a breath of life back after all this time.
I pulled up to the side of the farmhouse and parked my car. I was just letting my dog out when the front door opened. Zach stepped out, his tall frame silhouetted by the warm light coming from the hall behind him, and waved. I waved back and made my way over the smooth cobblestones, Beanie trotting at my heels.
