by Fay Keenan
‘Better get out of here, in that case,’ Harry said.
As they walked to the car, Kate noticed that Harry looked a lot better than he had a few days back. ‘You’ve shrugged off the worst of the flu, then?’ she said as she opened the passenger side of Harry’s car.
‘Yes, thank goodness,’ Harry replied. ‘Owning your own business is great until you are sick. I couldn’t really afford to lounge around in bed, so I’ve been taking it a bit easier this week and I’ve actually been using that blessed armchair that Artemis Bane wanted for his talk to take the weight off in the quiet spells. You’ll be delighted to know that Corey’s been an absolute godsend and has been doing a fair bit of the heavy lifting. He’s a quick learner, and seems really keen to impress me with his efficiency. I found myself having to invent things to keep him busy at times!’
‘I’m really pleased to hear that,’ Kate said. ‘He’s a good kid, but I did tell him to make himself as useful as he could while he was with you.’
‘Well, he certainly has.’ Harry paused. ‘It’s nice to get to know him a bit better, even it is just for a couple of weeks.’ He glanced at Kate briefly then put his eyes back to the road. ‘Kind of makes me realise what I’ve missed out on.’
Kate’s heart went out to the man in the driving seat. Harry had been very matter of fact about his childlessness, when they’d spoken about it while painting the shop, but that didn’t mean it didn’t affect him, she understood that.
As if sensing her hesitation to reply, in case she said the wrong thing, Harry glanced back at her and smiled. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Being out of commission for a few days has made me maudlin. It gave me too much time to think about things I really shouldn’t be thinking about. What a way to start what’s meant to be a nice evening!’
‘It’s fine, Harry,’ Kate said gently. ‘I’m glad you can talk to me. And I’m glad you asked me to dinner. It’ll be good to get out of the house, and Willowbury, for the evening. I haven’t had the chance to visit Stavenham yet.’
‘To continue the theme of our conversation, it’s kind of like the big brother to Willowbury’s irresponsible younger child,’ Harry said, grinning this time. ‘Willowbury’s all experimentation and alternative living, and Stavenham is the upright, uptight, responsible, mortgage-paying stalwart. But no less beautiful in its own way, of course.’
‘That’s what I love the most about this part of the world,’ Kate murmured, looking out of the passenger window as the fields, burned green gold by the summer sunshine, gave way to the honey-coloured stone buildings of Stavenham. ‘There’s so much contrast and variety. You’re close to the sea, but there’s plenty of countryside, there’s history and tradition but also modernity and fresher thinking. And now my brothers have settled here, too, I can really see the appeal.’
‘You sound like you might be hanging around a little longer than the summer,’ Harry said. He paused again before adding quietly, ‘I’d like it if you did.’
Kate felt a warm glow of pleasure wash over her at his words. There was no doubting the chemistry between them, but even after a few kisses she wasn’t sure if he just saw her as a summer fling to pass the time. It was nice, if a little nerve-wracking, to know that he might be thinking of her in more serious terms. Then she stopped herself. This was exactly the kind of thinking she didn’t need. She was, after all, only meant to be in Willowbury for the summer. It wouldn’t do to get too attached. To anything. Or anyone.
All the same, as Harry’s car ate up the few miles between Willowbury and Stavenham, Kate couldn’t help wondering if this might not be just for the summer.
35
The Black Swan Bistro was at the top of Stavenham High Street, just before the entrance to the Bishop’s Palace, which was the main tourist draw to the medieval city. That and the cathedral ensured that the place was kept busy all year round. As they were ushered into a private alcove that allowed Kate a view of the evening tourists and diners lazily ambling up and down the High Street, Kate had to congratulate Harry on his choice of venue.
‘We’re a bit spoiled for choice here,’ Harry said. ‘But I’ve heard this place being talked about by a lot of the customers who come into Vale Volumes, so I thought I’d give it a go.’
‘You mean you’re not a regular?’ Kate asked wryly.
Harry grinned and took a sip from the glass of water he’d poured from the jug on the table. ‘Much as Jack Winter likes to try to drag me out on the town, be that here or Bristol, I’m afraid I rather live up to my reputation as a dowdy old bookseller these days. So, no, in answer to your question, I’m not a regular.’
‘Then I’m very pleased you’ve brought me here.’ Kate’s smile softened. ‘Thank you, Harry.’
There was a pause between them again that ran the risk of becoming awkward. ‘Not that it’s any of my business,’ Harry began again, ‘but have you, er, dated much since… you know?’
‘Since my divorce?’ Kate filled in for him. ‘It’s all right, you can mention the D-word. I’m long past dissolving into tears at the thought of it.’
‘Much like me and the other thing,’ Harry said, smiling. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to skirt around it.’
‘And in answer to your question, no, not a lot. With the boys, my life’s been pretty full anyway. I had a couple of dates with a friend of a friend, but I just wasn’t ready for what he was hoping for. In the end, it seemed simpler to be happily single.’ Not to mention the near constant feeling of being too rusty at the game to keep trying to play, she thought. She was still rather amazed she’d said yes to Harry. And yet here they were.
‘I can imagine it’s pretty full-on, being a mother to three of them.’
‘It is,’ Kate said. And then she suddenly thought that she didn’t want to spend the whole night talking about her sons, and motherhood, and the reasons why she’d ended up in Willowbury painting her brother’s house. But how to get away from it? She coughed nervously, took a sip of her white wine and grinned. ‘Seen any good rock bands lately?’
And they were off, bantering about their shared musical shames.
‘For me, you can’t get better or hairier than Foreigner.’ Kate laughed. ‘I mean, when it comes to a power ballad, there’s none finer.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Harry countered. ‘Bon Jovi are pretty much the epitome of eighties bad hair and power ballads, aren’t they? I saw them in Milton Keynes in 1996 with a girlfriend, and I’ve never forgotten how amazing “Always” sounds belted out across a green field on a summer night.’
‘I blame eighties movies,’ Kate said. ‘I mean, how many montages were there to terrible soft rock?’
Harry laughed. ‘Which was your favourite, then?’
Kate thought for a moment. ‘You’ll probably be expecting me to say something girly like Dirty Dancing, but, much as I love the wiggle of Patrick Swayze’s hips, I have to admit to a guiltier pleasure.’
‘Oh yes?’ Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘And what would that be?’
‘Promise not to laugh?’
‘I solemnly swear.’ Harry grinned.
‘Okay. I had a real thing for The Karate Kid.’
Harry looked surprised. ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting that.’
‘I even got away with showing it to the boys a couple of years ago,’ Kate continued. ‘Phil didn’t like it at all; said it was a pile of sentimental nonsense, but for a while it was the boys’ favourite film, too.’
Harry smiled. ‘That’s sweet.’ A look passed over his face that Kate just caught before he assumed his usual pleasant expression. The question must have registered on her face because he immediately answered. ‘If I’d had children, I always imagined sharing things that I loved with them.’
‘It can be a bit of a risky strategy,’ Kate said. ‘I mean, they already know I named them after eighties movie stars, and they find that a bit embarrassing when someone twigs, but they can also be quite critical and unforgiving if they think something’s, er, “lame”.’
/> ‘So did you and your husband—’
‘Ex-husband,’ Kate corrected, but without rancour.
‘Sorry,’ Harry replied. ‘Ex-husband – did you agree straight away on the names for your children?’
Kate laughed. ‘Not exactly! We went through about a hundred different names before we agreed on the three we actually ended up choosing.’
‘I had enough trouble naming the bookshop,’ Harry said, ‘I can’t imagine being responsible for giving someone their name for their lifetime, let along doing it three times.’
‘You’re such a dork,’ Kate said. ‘Don’t tell me it’s just a female thing to think up the names for your kids, even before you’re in a position to have them?’
‘Well, I didn’t exactly spend hours and hours thinking about combinations,’ Harry said. ‘And after I got the infertility diagnosis, I kind of stopped thinking about it altogether.’
Kate felt her heart lurch again. ‘Of course. Sorry, I didn’t think.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Harry said, his tone gentle. ‘I asked you first, remember? And you haven’t answered the question yet!’ he grinned. ‘So how did your boys get their names?’
Kate’s smile broadened. ‘You’re going to laugh.’
‘Try me.’
‘Well,’ Kate began, ‘I was a bit of a fan of a certain type of movie when I was growing up. You know, those films about American teenagers in high schools, where each one was a massive stereotype but it all worked out okay in the end.’
‘Yes, I remember seeing a fair few of them.’ Harry grinned. ‘And you’ve told me your favourite one, but you didn’t name any of your sons after the lead actor in that film, so where did their names come from?’
‘Not even I could call a son born in the twenty-first century Ralph!’ Kate laughed. ‘Karate Kid notwithstanding, Judy Blume’s book Forever put me off the name for life!’ The moment she said that, she blushed. What if Harry didn’t get the reference? Thankfully, he laughed along with her.
‘I’m sure I’ve got a copy of that book stashed away in the Young Adult section,’ he said. ‘Something tells me I’d better look it out if I’m going to fully understand.’
‘I’ll let you discover that one for yourself,’ Kate said.
‘So… the names?’
Kate grinned, relieved to be away from that particular conversational cul-de-sac. ‘So, as well as the Karate Kid obsession, I loved The Lost Boys and Stand By Me,’ Kate smiled. ‘Then when it came to having kids… well, let’s just say that Corey and Will still don’t really know who they’re named after!’
Harry grinned. ‘Fair enough. Are you going to enlighten them one day? And which one was Corey named after, Feldman or Haim?’
‘That would be telling,’ Kate smiled back. ‘Although if I told you I had a thing for one of the Frogg brothers…’
Harry’s bark of laughter was sudden, but it made Kate smile more broadly. ‘And don’t even get me started on what they think of my taste in music!’
‘So I take it you haven’t been blasting their eardrums with Foreigner albums on a regular basis, then?’
‘Definitely not!’
Harry leaned forward in his seat. ‘Can I let you into a secret?’ His dark blue eyes, warmed by the setting sun, twinkled mysteriously and the crows’ feet at the corners made Kate’s stomach flutter as she suddenly had to suppress an urge to touch them.
‘If you like,’ she said softly.
‘I’ve got a Spotify playlist on my phone that’s purely eighties hair rock, but I wasn’t brave enough to put it on during the drive over. Shall I risk it on the way home?’
‘I think you can take the chance.’ Kate laughed. ‘I won’t think any less of you.’
‘That’s good to know.’
A companionable silence descended between them, that was broken a few moments later by the waiter coming over with their main course choices. Kate, thinking that she’d be far too nervous to eat, actually felt ravenous as she looked down at the exquisitely presented pork tenderloin and Bramley apple puree, with a side order of vibrantly coloured young broccoli.
The rest of the meal was equally delicious, and as Harry gestured for the bill, Kate reflected that, for a first date, this has been a pretty good experience. Glancing at her watch, she was surprised to see that it was still quite early; not even half past nine. She wondered if there was any way to make the evening last a little longer, but she was at a loss for ideas.
As if reading her thoughts, as they headed out of the restaurant and back onto the High Street, Harry cleared his throat. ‘If you like, we could have a walk on Cathedral Green before we head home.’
‘I’d like that,’ Kate said. ‘I can’t believe I haven’t come to Stavenham and I’ve been living in Willowbury for nearly four weeks. It’d be nice to see a bit more of it.’
As they walked across the cobbled stones to the other side of the High Street and towards the archway that led to the green, Kate found herself drifting closer to Harry until her left hand brushed his as they walked. Feeling the jolt of electricity, her heart thumped faster when he carefully took her hand in his, so gently that it felt as though he was tacitly asking permission. Suddenly she felt like a teenager on her first date, and not a nearly-forty-year-old mother of three. Harry’s hand was warm and dry, and instinctively felt right. They slowed their pace a little as they went under the archway and Harry steered them so they were in front of the cathedral.
‘It’s beautiful when the stone is lit up by the sunset, isn’t it?’ he said as they stopped to admire Stavenham Cathedral. There were a few people enjoying a late supper on the green, and the burble of chatter from those on picnic rugs gave the atmosphere a pleasingly continental flavour. The scents emanating from the other restaurants that backed onto Cathedral Green drifted through the air, mingling with the smell of cut grass from the generous lawns. Bordering the green, on the flagstones, were tubs and tubs of lavender, the scent of which reminded Kate of France in the summertime, and created even more of a summer holiday atmosphere.
‘It really is,’ Kate replied. She moved closer to Harry as they stood looking at the cathedral, and she could feel the heat from his body as her arm brushed his, her hand still clasped in his. ‘This evening’s been perfect. Thank you.’ Looking up, she couldn’t help but be drawn to the sight of Harry’s mouth, smiling gently in the dying light, and his eyes, almost black in that same, sultry summer evening hue, looking down at her with undisguised affection.
‘I think there’s one thing that could make it more perfect for me,’ Harry said softly, as he drew Kate towards him so that they were facing each other.
‘And what would that be?’ Kate murmured, pulse jumping at the sensation of being so close to Harry in this achingly romantic setting.
‘This,’ he replied gently, dipping his head and sliding his free arm around her waist until their torsos were touching, and, a moment after, their lips. ‘And this time,’ he said as they came up for air, ‘I don’t have a temperature, you don’t have to apologise for slipping and I won’t drop a paint can at your feet!’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Kate said and, with great enthusiasm, kissed him back.
36
The tension was palpable as Kate and Harry drove back to Willowbury. Something had shifted between them on the green outside the cathedral, and safe in the knowledge that Corey was spending the night at Florence and Sam’s place, Kate felt a sense of reckless liberation that she’d not experienced in a very long time. Kate smiled, despite her tension, as, on Harry’s car stereo, Foreigner implored them to know what love was. She laughed in the soft darkness at their shared love of bad rock music.
Harry drew up outside Aidan’s house, and Kate turned to him. Feeling ridiculously brave and not at all like herself, she said, ‘Would you like to come in for a coffee?’
Harry nodded. ‘That would be lovely.’ He parked the car and they walked up to the front door, Kate breaking free from Harry’s protective arm
which was around her to scrabble for her keys.
‘Go through to the living room if you like,’ she said. ‘I won’t be a tick with the coffee.’
Harry nodded and ambled off, and Kate took a moment to consider what she was about to do. She and Harry were in a holiday romance situation, that was all. Although painting houses was hardly a holiday for her, Willowbury had been a change of scene. And wasn’t part of the holiday romance narrative that it gave you the chance to fling off real life, throw caution to the wind, and do things you wouldn’t normally do? She was sure that was right, even if her sixteen-year-old son was in the house next door.
With slightly shaking hands Kate made a cafetière of coffee, arranged two mugs on a tray and brought it through to the living room, where Harry was ensconced on the sofa waiting.
‘I promise not to spill this on you!’ Kate said nervously as she carefully placed the tray on the coffee table in front of them.
‘Glad to hear it.’ Harry laughed softly, a sound that sent a flicker of desire through Kate. Suddenly, in this light, after a wonderful meal and that kiss on the green, she knew exactly what she wanted.
‘Sod the coffee,’ she murmured, moving closer to Harry until she felt his jeans-clad thigh brushing her own. ‘I’d rather kiss you again, if that’s all right.’
‘No complaints here,’ Harry murmured as Kate brought her lips to his, luxuriating in the taste and warmth of him.
A little while later, when the coffee had cooled and Kate was feeling like the teenager on holiday she’d remembered being all those years ago, she and Harry broke apart.
‘We are very good at that,’ Kate murmured. ‘But the problem is, I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do next.’
Harry smiled down at her. ‘You’re not supposed to do anything that you don’t want to do.’ He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘And I’m not in the habit of putting pressure on, so we can do whatever you want.’