by Fay Keenan
‘Sorry. I’ll just, er… I’ll see you downstairs, OK?’ she said, finally getting a hold of herself. She turned back to the stairs and away from Alex.
‘Sophie?’ Alex’s voice held a trace of amusement.
‘Yes?’
‘Hadn’t you better go and get your grandmother’s glasses first?’
‘Bugger. Yes, of course.’ Face flaming again, Sophie scuttled past Alex, eyes down this time, and into her gran’s room. As she turned to close the door behind her, she caught sight of Alex disappearing into his room, and her heart flipped at the sight of his muscular back. She let out a deep breath. She already knew that she fancied Alex; it was hard not to when she spent so much time with him at work, and, after all, he was incredibly good looking. However, coming so close to him had really jolted her. Her heart was hammering so violently in her chest, she was surprised it hadn’t echoed off the stone walls of the landing, and she couldn’t get the image of Alex, clad only in that towel, out of her mind. Not to mention what was hidden by the towel. To make it worse, her phone had obviously snapped a shot of him as it had fallen, and a rather blurry image of his chest now took its place as the most recent photo. She really should get rid of it, she thought. Then didn’t.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake!’ Too late, she realised she’d said it out loud. She hoped Alex had closed his door behind him; she’d have trouble explaining that it was thoughts of him that caused the outburst, rather than struggling to find her grandmother’s glasses, which were, unsurprisingly, exactly where she’d said they would be. Grabbing them off the bedside table, Sophie hurried out of the bedroom door, back across the landing and then down the stairs before she could encounter Alex again. She definitely needed to compose herself before that happened.
‘Everything all right?’ Lily asked as Sophie came back into the parlour. ‘You look a little flushed.’
‘Fine,’ Sophie replied shortly. The last thing she wanted was to give her grandmother any more ammunition. ‘Here are your glasses.’
Lily took them with a smile, and then glanced down at her feet, where Barney the Weimaraner had crashed out. ‘He’s not used to quite so much exercise as Alex keeps giving him,’ she said wryly. ‘But I’m sure it’s good for him. He’s a fine specimen.’
Sophie wondered for a moment whether Lily was talking about Alex or the dog, but was deflected from asking the question by the former’s appearance in the parlour. He was more suitably clad in tan cargo shorts and a black T-shirt now, but his hair was still wet from the shower. Sophie felt her face flaming again as she remembered their encounter in the upstairs hallway.
‘Did you have a good run, dear?’ Lily asked.
‘Yeah, thanks.’ Alex smiled at the two women.
Please don’t smile like that, Sophie found herself thinking. He was heartbreaking when he did.
‘Any plans for this afternoon?’ Lily stroked Barney’s silky grey head, which had snaked its way up to her lap.
‘I thought I might head into Bristol and see some sights,’ Alex replied. ‘There’s a bus on the hour from High Street, isn’t there?’
‘Oh, yes, you mentioned something about that last weekend, if I remember correctly,’ Lily replied. She glanced at her granddaughter. ‘Do you have any plans for the afternoon, love?’
Sophie bit her lip, vaguely irritated with her grandmother for calling attention to her. ‘No, not really,’ she conceded. She supposed sitting in the garden and sunbathing didn’t really count.
‘Why don’t you and Alex go into town together, then? I’m sure you’d make a good tour guide. You said the other day you’d been meaning to go in and take a look at the new exhibition in the Bristol Museum.’
‘I’m sure Alex has seen quite enough of me at work this week as it is!’ Sophie replied, giving a nervous laugh. She glanced at him. Was that merely a polite smile, or was he mortified about being put in this position by Lily? Perhaps, because he hadn’t mentioned getting together for a drink again, he’d changed his mind and was embarrassed?
‘Not at all,’ Alex said, still smiling. ‘Although I’ll understand if you feel that way. It can’t be much fun answering my questions all the time.’
‘Well, you do have a lot of them!’ Sophie replied. ‘But I like teaching you.’
Alex laughed. ‘That’s a relief! So, do you want to come with me this afternoon?’
Sophie felt herself blushing, both because of the prospect of spending the afternoon with Alex and because she was a bit gutted she didn’t have anything else to do, and she felt like quite the saddo for it. Much as she hated to admit it, her social life had taken a dive since she’d split with Mark. Lots of their friends were in couples, and inevitably had not quite known what to say when the relationship ended. ‘Yes, thank you,’ she said eventually. ‘Gran’s right, I have been meaning to go to the museum for a while, and it would be nice to get out of the village for a bit.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I’ll just nip home and get my handbag. Shall I meet you at the bus stop?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ Alex replied. ‘I look forward to it.’
‘You kids have fun,’ Lily said as Sophie kissed her goodbye. If Alex hadn’t been standing there, she’d have chided her gran for the knowing look she gave her, but this time she decided to let it slide. There was nothing wrong with spending an afternoon with a work colleague, after all, was there?
12
Bristol on a warm summer’s day was a wonderful sight. Sophie couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken the bus into the city, but she didn’t want to seem to be pre-empting Alex’s plans by offering to drive. Besides, a cool pint in one of the many pubs on the waterfront, or al fresco on Clifton Down, would be a lovely way to spend the afternoon, without having to worry about driving home. As the bus rattled and bumped its way towards the city centre and she caught sight of the Clifton Suspension Bridge cat’s-cradling across the Avon Gorge, she thought about the route they should take through the city. There was so much to see, and she found herself wanting to share her favourite places with Alex; to make him see just how much they meant to her.
As if reading her mind, Alex, who’d been looking out of the side window admiring the view of the bridge, turned back to her with a smile. ‘Where should we start? I’m in your hands.’
Sophie smothered the thought of just what it would be like to really have Alex in her hands, especially after their encounter in the hallway that morning. ‘Well, if we walk up Park Street, we can go to the Red Lodge and the Bristol Museum and then head up onto the downs for a wander, if you like.’
‘Sure, sounds good. And hopefully there’s somewhere to stop for lunch on the way.’
‘Oh, lots of places,’ Sophie said. ‘There are quite a few pubs or we could try a brasserie – Browns or Pinkmans are worth a go.’ She felt her phone buzz in her handbag and, distracted, pulled it out.
‘Everything OK?’ Alex asked, seeing Sophie’s expression darkening momentarily.
Sophie paused a fraction too long before replying. ‘Fine,’ she said. She was reluctant to switch her phone off altogether, as Lily might need to get in touch with her, but she did switch off the vibrate function. There was no way she was going to answer that text message today. Or ever, for that matter. Why did Mark keep texting her? Hadn’t she been clear enough the last time they’d met?
‘So…’ Sophie dragged her mind back to the present and away from her phone ‘… we’ll jump off the bus outside the aquarium, shall we?’
‘Sounds great,’ Alex said.
In no time, the bus was nearing their stop. Sophie reached up and rang the bell. Standing as the bus slowed and then juddered to a halt, she found herself careering into Alex’s back as they dismounted the steps from the top deck. ‘Sorry,’ she murmured, taking a step backwards to put some space between them.
‘No problem.’ Alex smiled back round at her.
Sophie felt her stomach flip. Get a grip, girl, she thought.
It was a beautifully sunny day, and as Soph
ie and Alex headed up Park Street the light caramel stone of the buildings looked warm and inviting. They passed the city library, and headed up towards College Green, where students were lounging on the grass eating lunch al fresco, laughing, and even playing frisbee in the larger spaces. A couple of dogs, panting to be let off their leads, dragged their owners towards the fountain outside the pillars of City Hall, and the enticing scents of coffee and street food blended in the air. Sophie’s stomach gave a rumble; those pastries with Lily seemed like an age ago.
‘It almost seems too good a day to go inside, but you really ought to see the Red Lodge,’ Sophie said. ‘It’s not only a gorgeous house, but it has the most amazing herb garden.’ She gestured to the traffic on Park Street. ‘Let’s cross here, and start with the lodge, if that’s OK with you.’
‘Sure,’ Alex replied. They headed over the road and then Sophie led Alex down a steep, narrow cobbled street to the garden gate of the Red Lodge. They could smell the garden before they saw it. Enticing scents of thyme, rosemary and honeysuckle drifted through the warm summer air, and as Sophie pushed open the wrought iron gate that marked the entrance to the Red Lodge’s walled garden, the riot of colour and scent was a huge contrast to their brick and urban surroundings.
‘I thought this might be a nice place to check out how good your nose is getting,’ Sophie said playfully as they walked up the cobbled path. ‘The garden used to be a lot bigger, but this is all that’s left now.’
The garden was arranged in a geometrical formation with small pathways of hedge separating the aromatics and flowers that clustered in colourful and fragrant beds. Sophie reached out and rubbed her thumb and forefinger against the leaves of a light silvery green, roughly textured herb. ‘Can you identify this one?’ she asked, picking a leaf and then handing it to Alex. Their fingers touched briefly as he gave it a sniff.
‘That’s easy,’ Alex replied. ‘Sage.’
‘Variety?’ Sophie teased.
Alex wrinkled his brow. ‘There’s more than one?’
Sophie laughed. ‘Of course! This one’s Berggarten sage. Doesn’t flower often, but it’s really pretty in a garden like this, as well as smelling great.’
She leaned forward and buried her nose in one of the large, loose petalled Old English roses that rambled along the far wall of the garden. In full bloom, their scent was a marked contrast to the sage, and made her think of long sunny days, and the sweet, fizzy taste of Carter’s Eloise cider, which was one of the blends she’d been proudest to help create. It was a cider that, when you drank it, made you yearn to share a warm afternoon with a lover. For that reason, it was best to limit your consumption if you had anything substantial to do after drinking it.
Snapping back to reality, Sophie straightened up, her face colouring as she noticed that Alex was staring intently at her. ‘What?’ she asked, slightly on the defensive.
Alex smiled and shook his head. ‘Nothing. It’s just…’
‘Just what?’
‘You get this look on your face when you’re smelling or tasting. I’ve noticed it at work. It’s as if those senses are taking you to a whole different world. You seem to just drift off, as if you really are somewhere else.’ He glanced away, embarrassed. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.’
Sophie smiled to try to defuse the moment. ‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘I’m flattered that you’ve been paying so much attention. To the process, I mean.’
Alex smiled back. ‘So why don’t you show me the rest of this place, and then we can decide where to go next?’
Relieved that the focus was shifting away from her, Sophie nodded. ‘It’s not huge, so it won’t take long, but it’s got a very interesting history. And you wait until you see what’s in one of the rooms on the ground floor!’
Mounting the steps to the front door, with Alex loping behind her, Sophie had just about regained her sense of equilibrium by the time they crossed the threshold. Trying to be cautious on such a warm day, with such lovely scents in the air, was going to take some willpower, she thought. The atmosphere itself seemed to be singing love songs.
As they entered the cool, marble floored hallway of the Red Lodge, they were immediately assailed by that very English scent of wood polish underpinned with dust. The open hallway led off to a room to the left that had a rather unusual feature, and as Sophie stepped over the threshold she gestured to Alex and pointed.
‘I dare you to walk over it,’ she teased.
Inset into the floor, around a metre in diameter and nearly twelve and a half metres deep, was a sixteenth century well. It had been uncovered during renovations to the lodge in 2010, having been incorporated into the house at some time in the distant past during an extension, and was now artfully lit, topped by thick glass and a feature of the room. Schoolchildren, students and visitors alike dared each other to step on the glass without feeling dizzy.
‘That’s pretty cool,’ Alex said, leaning over to get a better look down the well. ‘I’ll walk over it if you will!’
Sophie laughed. ‘Such a gentleman, getting the lady to go first!’ She stepped into the middle of the glass top and beckoned. ‘Come on, scaredy cat!’
Alex glanced down, shook his head and took a step. ‘Are you sure it’ll take both of us?’
‘What are you suggesting?’ Sophie took a little step back so that they could both stand over the glass covered gap. She looked down again. ‘Although it is a long way to fall if the glass cracks.’
A discreet cough behind them signalled that there was someone else in the room. ‘I wouldn’t worry about that,’ the guide said. ‘It’s built to take a lot more strain than you two could put on it.’
‘That sounds like a challenge.’ Alex’s voice was low with amusement. Stepping forward again, he joined Sophie in the centre of the glass panel. Sophie felt a shiver of anticipation run down her spine at his nearness; it reminded her yet again of their collision in the hallway at Lily’s.
‘I guess you’re right,’ Alex said as the guide gave a smile. ‘We seem to be holding up OK.’
Speak for yourself, Sophie thought as she once again found herself nose to jawline with Alex. Suddenly feeling awkward, she stepped backwards off the glass panel. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘There’s still loads to see in here, especially if you want to go to the Georgian House, too.’
Alex stepped over the well and grinned. ‘Well, you’re my tour guide, so I’d better do as you say.’ In step as they left the Well Room and headed upstairs to see the rest of the house, Sophie realised just how much she was enjoying spending time socially with Alex; she definitely wanted to make the most of the day.
13
After getting through her shifts at The Cider Kitchen that week on autopilot, Meredith had been consoling herself with the tubs of her favourite Chew Moo’s ice cream in the freezer that her father had bought. Knowing that this was his way of expressing concern, she’d given him a hug. Anna had also suggested a film and popcorn night on the sofa on the Thursday evening, which had cheered Meredith immensely. She never stopped being thankful that her father had married Anna, who had glued the fractured Carter family back together with her patience, her kindness and her emotional intelligence. She dreaded to think how her father would have initially reacted to the news of her and Flynn’s break-up – with well meaning, but truly terrible advice, she assumed. And a shotgun. She felt pleased that Flynn was in France for the summer, though – it meant she didn’t have to worry about bumping into him before she was ready. Getting dumped by text was rough, but at least she hadn’t actually had to see him face to face.
She’d been sleeping better than she’d thought she would, too, and she’d woken up on Saturday morning, a week after being dumped, completely ready to face a shift at The Cider Kitchen. Still unable to face breakfast, though, she left the house, cutting across the cider farm’s site towards the restaurant. She was a little early, but Caroline never minded her getting in before her shift started. Meredith was so
preoccupied with her own thoughts that she failed to notice the tree surgeons still working on the taller trees of the Royal Orchard. Although they wouldn’t normally work on a Saturday, there was a lot to do and they were independent contractors so they were putting in a few extra hours.
Whereas the commercial stock was kept to a standard height and width, and organised in neatly regimented rows on the fifty or so acres of the site, the Royal Orchard was left intentionally a little freer, a little wilder. A standing monument to the Carter’s Cider heritage, it contained a couple of dozen ancient varieties of apple trees, some of which were growing increasingly rare as the years passed. Blends from the orchard were occasionally produced on a boutique scale, but for the most part it was a monument to their past. Every few months the tree surgeons would come in and maintain the trees, ensuring that the varieties would live to see another spring.
Meredith, however, failed to notice the bright yellow signs that had been put on the boundaries of the Royal Orchard, and, as it was her usual route, she headed straight through the middle, head down, eyes on her own feet, earphones connected to the phone in her pocket, playlist deliberately loud and distracting. It wasn’t until a huge branch crashed to the ground, landing virtually at her feet, that she looked up in alarm. Whipping out her earphones, she took a step back, just in time to hear someone shouting from the boughs directly above her head.