The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer
Page 14
She spotted a sunshine-yellow rose growing near the front door. She quickly snapped it off the branch and threaded it into the thin braid she’d done at the side of her head. There, that was a little bit of colour at least.
The door was suddenly flung open and Andrew was standing there, dressed smartly in a pale blue shirt that was open at the collar and had the sleeves rolled up to show his strong, tanned forearms. He was smiling at her.
‘You thinking of coming in or running away? I’ve been watching you hovering for the last five minutes.’
‘Oh no, I was just thinking I’d go home and change.’
‘Why? You look lovely,’ Andrew said, stepping back to let her in.
‘I look like I’m going to a funeral. Or an interview. Or an interview at a funeral parlour.’ Willow pulled at her dress as she stepped up in front of him.
‘Willow, you’re beautiful,’ Andrew said, softly. He stroked one hand down her cheek and kissed her.
All doubts and fears disappeared from her head instantly. She was on a date with a wonderful man. That was the only thing that mattered.
‘Thank you for coming,’ Andrew whispered against her lips before kissing her again.
‘I’m happy to be here.’ She held his face, staring into his eyes which were filled with so much warmth for her.
He took her hand and started leading her off to the kitchen. ‘Come through, dinner’s nearly ready.’
‘Hang on a minute.’
He turned back to face her.
‘I’m sorry for messing you around.’
He frowned. ‘Are you going already?’
‘No, I just meant, over the last few days, kissing you, putting that ridiculous six-month hold on our relationship, lying to you, kissing you again, inviting you to share a bed with me. I’ve been sending you some very mixed messages and I’m sorry.’
‘You don’t need to apologise.’
‘I do. I was with Garry for four years and, even after we split up, he stayed in the flat for a while until he found somewhere else. Which was hard given… given how we broke up. After that humiliation, I just wanted a break, just some time for me. But then there was you and I quite honestly have never felt this way about anyone before. I would be crazy to walk away from what we have. I want to explore this connection with you and even if it all fizzles out to nothing after a few weeks, I don’t want to regret not giving this a chance.’
He stared at her for a moment and she realised she’d gone too far with her apologies.
‘I’m sorry. I haven’t had a first date for a very long time. I turn up here in this hideous funeral dress and practically declare my undying love for you. I bet you’re desperately trying to come up with some excuse to cancel the whole evening.’
He smiled and came back to her. Sliding his large hands round her back, he kissed her again.
‘I don’t do dates either, not really and not for a very long time. But I can tell you that this is shaping up to be one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.’
Willow frowned in confusion and her heart melted a little when Andrew kissed her frown away.
‘Why is this a good date?’
His eyes were locked on hers. ‘Because it’s you.’
Oh god, it was crazy to feel this way about him so quickly. She leaned up and kissed him, cupping his lovely face between her hands. He ran his hands up her back and she suddenly liked this dress a whole lot more when his fingers grazed her bare skin. The dress had a deep V cut into the back which always left her feeling a little chilly but right then she was red hot. His fingers danced gently across her skin, tracing her spine all the way up to the top of her neck.
‘I really do like this dress,’ Andrew said against her lips.
She smiled. ‘I do too.’
‘Now, as much as I’d like to stand here all night and kiss you, dinner will be ruined if we don’t dish it up soon and I’d hate for you to miss out on the world’s best curry,’ Andrew said.
‘The world’s best? Now that’s a bold claim.’
‘Well, certainly the best in Happiness.’
‘I think Connor might have something to say about that. You better lead the way then and I can judge for myself,’ Willow said.
Andrew took her hand and she followed him into the kitchen. The table was laid with a beautiful silver candelabra that looked like it was made entirely from forks. Three tall white candles were burning happily away in the middle of it.
‘That’s an interesting piece,’ Willow said.
‘It’s one of Jacob’s. That’s his thing, he makes sculptures from old bits of metal. He buys forks and spoons and things like that from charity shops and makes them into the most incredible things. Although don’t tell him I was singing his praises, it will go to his head.’
Willow laughed. ‘I met him today.’
‘Yes, he said he bumped into you.’
Willow thought about that for a moment. ‘Bumped into you’ made it sound so much simpler than it was. Jacob had specifically come looking for her to warn her off his brother, something he had clearly not told Andrew. But despite that, they had parted on good terms and she certainly didn’t want to stir up any bad feelings between the two of them. So if Jacob hadn’t mentioned the true reason for his visit then she wasn’t going to either.
‘Did he tell you I hugged him? I thought it was you and I threw my arms around him and hugged him before I realised it wasn’t.’
‘He didn’t mention that,’ Andrew said, as he retrieved a big dish from the oven.
‘I think he found the whole thing a bit embarrassing, I know I did,’ Willow said. ‘Oh, talking of embarrassing, I’m so sorry for letting people assume we’d had sex last night. Everyone was talking about who had given the mystery gifts and because Elsie’s house was painted they all thought it must be you. So I tried to cover for you and said we’d spent the night together and everyone just assumed that meant we’d had mad passionate sex. And to be honest, the alibi was such a good one I might have played up to it a bit.’
Andrew grinned as he dished up white fluffy rice onto two plates. ‘I kind of liked it, everyone I met today was clapping me on the back as if I was some kind of stud. I’ve never had that reputation before. Jacob has always been the one who had women falling over themselves to go out with him. When we were teenagers, Jacob had a different girlfriend every week. I didn’t even lose my virginity until I was eighteen. Besides, the villagers will find out about us sooner or later. The village is so tiny, everyone knows everyone else’s business. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have this place bugged. And Julia saw me leaving your house very early this morning, so word would have got around anyway. We did need an alibi. A lot of people will think it’s you as it all started happening after you arrived.’
‘Kitty and Ken have already guessed. And though I didn’t admit it to them, I didn’t lie to them either. It didn’t feel right, it is their village.’
Andrew scooped out some of the amazing-smelling curry on top of the rice. ‘I was going to suggest telling them, they should know what’s going on down here.’
‘We’ll have to induct them into the Secret Society,’ Willow said.
‘Only if they’re prepared to learn the secret handshake.’
Willow laughed as she watched Andrew bend down to retrieve the nan breads, admiring his gorgeous bum as he did so.
‘You checking out my bum Willow McKay?’
She laughed loudly. ‘You caught me. Would you like any help?’
‘You can open a bottle of wine, I have one chilling in the fridge.’
Willow retrieved a bottle of sparkling wine and unwound the cage around the cork. She tried to ease the cork out but it seemed to be stuck fast. She grabbed a tea towel and wrapped it round the cork and tried to wiggle it from side to side. She felt it give slightly, rising up out of the bottle, but when she tried to ease it out some more it seemed to be stuck again. She took the tea towel off so she could prise it out of the bottle. Just
as she did so, the cork shot out, up in the air like a missile, and took out the light bulb with a smash, plunging them into semi-darkness, the only light coming from the flickering candles.
Andrew stood there in shock with the two plates in his hands. Fortunately, the light bulb was far enough away from him that none of the glass could have gone into the food.
‘I’m so sorry. I can’t even open a bottle of wine.’
‘It’s OK, makes the room more romantic.’
‘Where’s your dustpan and brush, I’ll clear it up.’
‘Honestly, don’t worry about it,’ Andrew said, putting the plates on the table.
‘Please, I feel awful about it.’
‘Well, we can’t have you feeling awful. It’s under the sink but leave it until after we’ve eaten.’
Willow retrieved the dustpan and brush anyway and bent to sweep it up, while Andrew poured out two glasses of wine. Luckily, the bulb seemed to have smashed into several big chunks rather than tiny smithereens and she was able to clear it all up relatively quickly.
She sat back down with Andrew who was patiently waiting for her.
‘I’m really sorry.’ She took her seat and Andrew sat down opposite her.
‘It’s just a light bulb, no big deal. Here’s your wine, shall we make a toast?’
‘OK.’ She let out a deep breath, as she tried to refocus on their date. She rose her glass in the air. ‘To us.’
He smiled. ‘To… getting to know each other, to lots of wonderful kisses, to cuddling in bed and to making love under the stars.’
‘That’s much better than my toast,’ Willow said. ‘I like the sound of that very much, especially that last bit.’
‘Well the beach is very secluded, no one ever goes down there because of the number of steps. I often swim naked down there. We could make love down there in broad daylight and no one would ever see us. But there’s something magical about going down there at night.’
Now that was a wonderfully delicious thought. She was half tempted to suggest they go down to the beach for their dessert, but there was still a cautious part of her that wanted to go slow with him.
He must have read her mind because he linked hands with her. ‘There’s no rush though. I’m very happy to just spend some time getting to know you.’
She smiled and decided to change the subject slightly.
‘You swim naked?’
He grinned. ‘Yeah. There’s something very liberating about that.’
The image of him naked, his glistening wet body powering through the water, was not something she was going to be able to erase from her mind very easily. And this wasn’t helping her forget the idea of making love on the beach either.
She cleared her throat and took a bite of the curry. It was wonderfully tangy, creamy, the spices dancing on her tongue.
‘This is amazing,’ Willow said.
‘Told you, the best curry in all the lands,’ Andrew said.
‘So tell me, what brought you to Happiness?’ Willow asked.
Andrew focussed his attention on dipping his nan bread into the sauce for a moment, clearly giving himself time to answer. He looked up and frowned.
‘It’s OK, you don’t need to answer,’ Willow said. He was clearly uncomfortable with the question.
‘No, it’s not that. You, erm… have a caterpillar on your forehead.’
Willow let out a little squeal as she felt around her head, found the offending critter and flicked it off. It landed with a splat in Andrew’s curry.
Andrew looked down as the caterpillar struggled against the sauce and burst out laughing. He grabbed a piece of kitchen towel, carefully scooped it out and then gently wiped the curry sauce off before taking the bug to the back door and probably releasing it with a pat on the head.
Urgh, what if there were other creepy crawlies in that rose, which was where the caterpillar had evidently come from? She grabbed the rose and yanked it from her head, but the braid was wrapped around one of the thorns and it got stuck in her hair. No amount of pulling would free it, in fact she was pretty sure it was getting more tangled and knotted the more she tried to yank it out.
Andrew came back from releasing the beast and watched her struggle for a moment.
‘Here let me help,’ he said.
He gently tried to untangle the rose.
‘God this date is turning out to be—’
‘Memorable,’ Andrew said, fondly. ‘If we get married one day, this is the story I’ll tell in my wedding speech.’
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ Willow laughed. ‘You’ll tell everyone how you fell in love with my magnificence.’
‘Well that too. But they also need to know the dark and murky truth. I’m sorry, I can’t get this out. I think I’m going to have to cut it, it’s knotted up pretty bad.’
‘This is what I get for stressing too much over what I was wearing, a bloody caterpillar on my face and a massive knot in my hair.’
Andrew pulled out a pair of scissors from the drawer and carefully cut the rose out of her hair.
‘There, all done.’
‘Well now you have a lock of my hair, you can keep it in a box by the side of your bed,’ Willow said, as Andrew sat back down.
‘Creepy. Although I could use it to clone you.’
‘And that isn’t creepy?’
Andrew laughed.
‘Sorry about throwing a caterpillar into your food.’
He shrugged and carried on eating, seemingly not bothered at all.
She watched him with a smile. ‘Nothing really fazes you, does it?’
He thought about this for a moment. ‘I think there are quite a few things that faze me but the big stuff, not any of this. I’m enjoying spending time with you and caterpillars and smashed light bulbs aren’t going to change that.’
She smiled as she watched him. She could really fall in love with this man.
Eighteen
As Willow lay on the sofa with Andrew kissing her, she knew she couldn’t be happier. There were no longer any doubts and fears about whether she should or shouldn’t be doing this, or whether this was moving too fast. She had never been so sure in her life that she was doing the right thing.
‘What are you smiling about?’ Andrew said, pulling back slightly to look at her.
‘You. Us.’ She stroked his face. ‘This is…’
‘I know…’ His eyes were soft as he looked at her.
‘And the crazy thing is, if I’d stuck to my silly rules, we wouldn’t be doing this for another six months.’
‘I’d have waited,’ Andrew said, rolling onto his back and bringing her onto his chest. ‘And I don’t want to rush anything with you. We’ll go as slow as you want. And if you think it’s going too fast, we’ll stop and we’ll just go back to being friends again – well, friends who kiss. I’m not sure I could give this up.’
She smiled and rested her head on his chest as he stroked her hair.
‘So what was so awful about your last relationship?’ Andrew asked. ‘I want to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.’
‘It wasn’t awful, but we didn’t love each other, never did. We were flatmates and we got on well. We had the same friends, and all our friends assumed we were a couple long before we were. He was nice, good-looking and my friends couldn’t understand why we weren’t together. Even his friends were egging him on. I guess in the end I thought, are they all seeing something that I’m not. Before Garry, I had two boyfriends that cheated on me and I knew I could trust Garry. But you need more than that in a relationship. We had zero chemistry. Sex was nice, he was a nice kisser. I don’t know. So many of my friends were desperately trying to find a man and the men they did date, well, a lot of them would turn out to be arseholes. My friends all said that I was so lucky to be going out with Garry that I started to think maybe they were right. He was nice, he used to cook for me, he always took the bins out.’
God, even to her own ears it sounded so dull.
r /> ‘I started to think maybe this is what being in a relationship was like. That maybe the books and films over-romanticised everything and that as long as you got on with the man you were with, he didn’t cheat or treat you badly, maybe it was better than being alone. When actually, being single for the last four years would have been far better. We just drifted along, never rowed because we simply didn’t care enough to get angry or upset. We had sex once a week, always on a Saturday morning, before he’d bring me breakfast in bed. It was boring and neither of us could be bothered to do anything about it. Well, that was until I asked him to marry me.’
‘What? You’ve just described the most mundane relationship ever, where you clearly weren’t happy, and you decided marriage would fix that?’
‘I don’t know what I was thinking actually. I was desperate for change and I wasn’t entirely sure breaking up was the answer. I guess I wanted to see if he did love me, whether we had anything worth fighting for. I think I was kind of hoping he’d say no, just so I knew it was really over.’
‘And did he?’
‘No, he said yes and for a few hours I got swept away with the excitement of a wedding, of wearing that dress, the champagne, the special day. I’d already picked out the bridesmaid dresses in my head. I announced it on Facebook and texted all my friends and family. All the ones that were married said it was about time, Ruby went mad at me and said I’d be a fool to marry him and I did start to panic and wonder if she was right. Next day, he told me that he’d changed his mind, that although he loved me, he wasn’t in love with me and that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with me. It was a bit of a kick in the teeth but I was relieved more than anything. Except that I then had to tell all my friends and family that the wedding was off not even twenty-four hours after it had been on. Slightly embarrassing.’
‘And what was everyone’s reactions?’
‘“Oh no, I’m so sorry, this is so sad.” I tried to tell them that actually it was a good thing but no one really believed that. They just thought I was putting on a brave face. Anyway, after we broke up, I felt like I was stepping out into the light. I vowed then that I didn’t need a man to make me happy, I was just fine on my own.’