Willow laughed as she blushed.
‘What’s going on with you anyway?’ she asked, changing the subject again.
‘Would it surprise you to know I’ve put my flat on the market?’
Willow sat bolt upright. ‘Oh my god, that’s amazing. What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe travel for a little while. Maybe I could move here for a year and save up some money if I don’t have to pay any rent, then use that money to travel the world. I just need a break, to do something different.’
‘I would love it if you moved here,’ Willow said, delighted. ‘Even if it is only for a year. And Happiness needs more unusual shops to attract different visitors so I’m sure Kitty and Ken would be thrilled to have you. And who knows, you might even be tempted to stay after you’ve been here a few months.’
Ruby smiled. ‘I don’t think I could live here for the rest of my life, but it would be lovely to live here for a short while. Especially if that hot bit of stuff we saw in the pub lives here too, he would be just the sort of distraction I need.’
Willow laughed. ‘That guy you spoke to for all of five seconds at the bottom of the stairs?’
‘Yes, he was yummy.’
‘That was Jacob, he’s Andrew’s brother. And he doesn’t live here so I wouldn’t go getting your hopes up of falling in love and having a happy ever after.’
Ruby laughed. ‘You know me, Willow, I’m not really the happy-ever-after and sunshine-and-sparkles kind of girl. I’ll leave that up to you. And if I intend to go travelling in a year’s time, I hardly want to put down roots with anyone, even if it is with Hottie McHotFace.’
Willow laughed. She had really missed this, and although it was all very much pie in the sky, she couldn’t think of anything nicer than living in the same place as Ruby again.
Twenty-Four
Andrew had just finished repairing a fence when he saw Willow coming towards him with what must be her friend Ruby. Willow looked sun-kissed, her hair damp probably from a swim in the sea, her face clean and a little shiny from where she’d overdone it slightly with the sun cream. She was beautiful. He caught Jacob looking at him and rolling his eyes. Andrew knew he probably had a loved-up grin on his face.
He threw down his hammer and stood up to greet them but, as he moved to wrap his arms around Willow, she put a hand out to stop him.
He frowned in confusion.
‘I spoke to Morgan this morning,’ Willow said, with no preamble.
‘Morgan?’
‘Yes, the girl you gave multiple orgasms to, does that ring a bell?’
Ah crap.
Jacob cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘I think I might go and see what the pub has on for lunch.’ He put his tools down.
‘I’ll think I’ll join you,’ Ruby said and they both walked off up the hill together.
Andrew stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I should have told you.’
‘Yes you should have. All morning, I’ve been thinking, why wouldn’t you tell me? We’ve told each other so much.’
He sighed. ‘I didn’t want you reading something into me inviting her here. Why upset you over something that doesn’t mean anything to me? It wasn’t anything serious.’
‘She says you were seeing each other for nine months, that’s sounds fairly serious in my book.’
He shook his head. ‘It wasn’t like that. It was just sex. I suppose from the first time we slept together up to the last time it might have been a nine-month period, but we had sex probably no more than five times in those nine months. It was a very casual arrangement. She’d ring me occasionally and we’d meet up. We haven’t seen each other for a year. We’re friends on Facebook but, other than the odd comment on each other’s posts now and again, we’ve not been in touch either. As I said to you before, we’re not close any more. We were friends growing up and then we drifted apart. We met up again years later, had sex a few times. She’s a nice girl but we didn’t date or have any kind of relationship.’
‘Yet you’ve shared things with her,’ Willow said.
‘What have I shared with her?’ Andrew asked. Other than his bed.
‘You told her about Sophie and—’
‘She does not know about Sophie. I don’t talk about that with anyone.’
Willow seemed to stall at this but then she carried on. ‘And what about the other time you had your heart broken?’
Andrew stared at her in confusion. ‘What other time?’
‘She said there was a time that was much worse than Sophie.’
He shook his head. What had Morgan been telling Willow? Had she deliberately been trying to stir up trouble between them by making up these lies or had Morgan got him confused with someone else? Or had Willow got the wrong end of the stick completely?
‘Willow, I’m not sure what Morgan told you but before I came here there was only one person that I had been in love with, one person who broke my heart, and that was Sophie. There has been no one else before or after. I have not shared anything personal with Morgan. We were friends who had sex, nothing more. There is no reason to be jealous.’
‘I’m not jealous,’ Willow said.
He resisted arguing with her on that. He had to pick his battles.
Willow let out a huff of breath.
‘OK, when she talked about how amazing in bed you were, how you gave her multiple orgasms…’ she trailed off.
He could feel himself getting angry. Why the hell would Morgan discuss that with Willow?
‘Yes. I was jealous that you had touched her in the same way you had touched me, that you made love to her—’ Willow went on.
‘Sex,’ Andrew corrected her. ‘Willow, me and Morgan had sex. There’s a big difference between sex and making love and what me and you shared was something I’ve not shared with anyone before, not even Sophie.’
She stared at him with wide eyes, then she let out a big sigh.
‘I know we both have pasts, boyfriends, girlfriends, things we’ve done or said, good and bad. Those experiences are what shape us, make us who we are now. Sure, I wouldn’t exactly invite my past to come and hang out with me. Garry would be the last person I’d want to see now, despite the fact that we parted on fairly good terms. Yes, I’m not exactly thrilled that you want to hang out with your ex but she’s your friend and I don’t want you to stop seeing your friends because of me. But you should have told me.’
‘I don’t… that’s not… she was just the best person for the job, I didn’t think of anything beyond that. You were the one who suggested covering the houses up.’
‘And your first thought was Morgan?’
‘Because that’s her job. It’s quite a specialised thing we’re asking for here, it’s not like looking for a plumber or a painter.’
Willow nodded. ‘No, I get that.’
‘I don’t have feelings for her,’ Andrew said, quick to reassure her. But by mentioning that, he felt like he was drawing attention to something that hadn’t even been considered. ‘I’ve barely given her any thought at all since the last time we met up.’
Now he was making it worse.
‘Then we don’t have a problem, do we?’ Willow said.
Although by the tone of her voice he guessed it was a bit more of a problem for Willow than she was letting on.
‘You should catch up with her properly while she’s here. Go to dinner tonight with her, rather than me and Ruby,’ Willow said.
He smiled at that. He could imagine how well that would go down if he decided to spend the night with his ex rather than Willow. And quite honestly, if Morgan was trying to cause trouble between him and Willow, she was the very last person he wanted to hang out with. Furthermore, faced with a choice of spending time with Willow or Morgan, there was absolutely no contest.
He reached out and took her hand. ‘There is no place in the world I would rather be tonight than with you. This thing between us, I’m enjoying it way too much to want to stop.’
She smiled slightly.
‘Morgan is… an acquaintance. I don’t need to catch up with her. She is here to do a job. That’s it.’
She was quiet for a moment. ‘OK.’
‘OK?’ He dipped his head to look her in the eyes. He could see the affection for him return and the anger fade.
She nodded. ‘I’m being an idiot.’
‘No, not at all. If one of your male friends turned up here, someone you’d had amazing sex with, I wouldn’t exactly be over the moon either. But for the record…’ he lowered his voice. ‘Sex with her wasn’t amazing, not like it is with you.’
She smiled and shook her head. ‘You’re too smooth Andrew Harrington.’
‘It’s true.’ He gingerly pulled her into his arms and after a few seconds she wrapped her arms around him and leaned into him. He breathed a sigh of relief into the top of her head.
She pulled back to look up at him. ‘So no more secrets?’
‘None at all,’ Andrew said. ‘I promise.’
‘OK. What time does Cliff arrive tonight?’
‘I think about seven.’
‘Is he bringing loads of gear with him? That kind of thing is hard to keep hidden.’
‘No, just him and his guitar,’ Andrew said.
‘OK, cool. Are you coming for lunch?’
‘No, I really must finish here.’
She nodded and then reached up and kissed him. She leaned her forehead against his, holding his face between her hands, then she looked up at him, frowning slightly.
‘What did you mean when you said, before you came here you had only been in love with one person?’
He thought about the words he had chosen to use. He had said that, which implied that there had been someone he had been in love with since he had moved here. Whereas before he’d just thought he might be falling for Willow, it now seemed his brain had already made the decision for him. But he certainly wasn’t going to say those words now. If he was going to tell her he loved her then it wouldn’t be in the aftermath of an argument. Those words were important and he wasn’t going to use them to win opportune brownie points.
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. ‘Maybe that’s a conversation for another day.’
She grinned. ‘No secrets, remember.’
He laughed. ‘In that case you should know, I adore you Willow, I think what we have could be something amazing.’
She smiled. ‘I’ll take that.’
She kissed him briefly on the lips and gave him a little wave as she walked up the hill.
He watched her go, unable to take the smile off his face. He really was in trouble with this one.
Twenty-Five
Willow sat in the pub watching Ruby and Jacob flirt with each other as they got the drinks at the bar. It was quite an interesting thing to watch, two people who obviously liked each other a lot go through the motions of attracting the other. Ruby twisted a strand of hair round her finger, Jacob touched her hand, Ruby laughed at all of Jacob’s jokes, Jacob licked his bottom lip. Willow had watched a nature documentary a few weeks before on mating rituals and this was like watching that. The only thing was that after mating with Jacob, Ruby was likely to eat him for breakfast just like the praying mantis.
She wondered what people would make of her and Andrew’s mating ritual. Whether outsiders looking in would see a couple that were going to stand the test of time or just survive a few weeks. Her relationship with Garry had lasted four years and that had been a disaster. None of her other relationships had lasted longer than a few months. Maybe she wasn’t long-term relationship material. Maybe she was boring or just wasn’t enough for people to want a long-term commitment from her. After all, the thought of marrying her had been so horrifying to Garry he had turned her down the day after he’d said yes. Would Andrew get bored of her too? In terms of the nature documentary she had watched, would they be like swans and mate for life, or be like dolphins who quite often mated for pleasure and then moved on to another willing partner?
‘Hey!’ Andrew said, sliding into the booth next to her and placing a kiss on her forehead. ‘What are you thinking?’
Willow leaned into him; he smelt clean and zesty like limes. ‘Whether we’d be swans or dolphins.’
‘Oh, swans definitely,’ Andrew said, without missing a beat. ‘Have you ordered food yet?’
She sat up and looked at him in surprise. ‘Did you just get my obscure nature reference?’
‘Swans mate for life, right?’ Andrew shrugged as if it was obvious.
She smiled with love for this man and she cupped his face and kissed him.
‘Oi! None of that,’ Jacob said, sitting down opposite them and placing the tray of drinks for them all on the table. ‘This is a respectable family establishment. We don’t want any canoodling going on here.’
‘No, that should be kept for behind bedroom doors,’ Ruby said, eyeing Jacob as she sat down too.
‘Agreed,’ Jacob said.
Willow suppressed a smile.
‘Ruby, we haven’t properly met. I’m Andrew and I see you’ve already met my no-good brother.’
Ruby smiled as she looked at Jacob. ‘He doesn’t seem all that bad.’ She turned her attention back to Andrew. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Willow hasn’t stopped talking about you since I arrived. She’s obviously completely smitten.’
‘The feeling is very mutual,’ Andrew said.
Willow smiled.
‘Just don’t hurt her or you’ll have me to answer to,’ Ruby said.
Andrew clearly wasn’t fazed at all. ‘Duly noted.’
‘So there were more presents delivered last night,’ Willow said, trying to be as vague as possible in case there were ears flapping nearby. The pub was packed so anyone could be listening. There were several groups of people in the pub that Willow hadn’t seen before – maybe the young Sir Cliff had spread the word about his performance that night. ‘Eileen was delighted to receive an apple pie, and Connor received something too, but he has been out all day so Tabitha doesn’t know what his present was. I’ve just seen him come in about half hour or so ago so I guess we’ll soon find out what he got.’ Or, more to the point, what he thought of it.
Andrew looked at his watch and Willow knew he was looking to see what time Tabitha’s present would arrive.
She looked at him expectantly.
‘About ten minutes,’ he said, quietly.
‘What is going on with all these presents?’ Ruby asked.
Willow hadn’t told her about her involvement in the Secret Society of Happiness. Although her friend could be trusted to keep big secrets, she wasn’t so good at keeping the smaller ones. But Ruby had already been there while Willow picked up some of the presents she had ordered from the post office earlier and when she’d opened them back at her cottage, Ruby had been intrigued over why Willow had bought such an array of things. She had especially loved the calendar of half-naked men holding up bits of cheese to preserve their modesty. It had taken Willow ages to find that but she was hopeful that Roger would love it. She was sure Ruby had put two and two together after seeing the presents and hearing the rumours. She wasn’t sure how much Andrew had told Jacob either and what Jacob had told Ruby.
‘People in Happiness have been receiving mystery presents and no one has any idea who is delivering them,’ Andrew said.
‘Oooh, that’s interesting. I wonder who it could be,’ Ruby said, giving Willow a look that said she knew exactly who it was. ‘Have you two had any presents yet?’
‘Not yet,’ Willow said, suddenly realising that if she was going to go undetected as the present-giver she would have to give herself one too.
Willow spotted Connor up at the bar and decided to change the subject. ‘Shall I go and order the pizzas? There’s three different kinds, shall I just get one of each?’
There were nods around the table and Willow hurried up to the bar.
Connor came over to take her order.
‘Can
we get one of each pizza for our table please.’
‘Sure,’ Connor said, ringing it through the till.
‘So I hear you had a mystery gift last night? Everyone is dying to know what it is,’ Willow said.
Connor made a noise of disapproval. ‘A fish cookery book.’
Willow hesitated. ‘You don’t sound too pleased?’
‘My fish is good, everyone loves my fish. But someone clearly doesn’t think so. It’s offensive is what it is.’
Her heart sank. ‘I’m sure it wasn’t supposed to be offensive.’
‘And how would you know how it was intended?’
‘I… I don’t. I just think all the gifts so far have been… thoughtful, nice gifts. I’m sure the mystery gift-giver just thought about what kinds of things you liked and knew cooking was one of them.’
‘Someone is trying to tell me how to do my job. How would you like it?’ Connor said as he gathered together cutlery for her.
Willow thought about it for a moment. ‘I love making candles, I love playing with wax and creating different results. If someone got me a candlemaking book, I’d be over the moon. Even if most of the candles in the book I’d already made before, I’m sure there would be one or two ideas in there that I hadn’t tried or at least could adapt, put my own spin on. I wouldn’t be offended, I’d be thrilled that someone had taken the time to give me a book about something I loved.’
Connor grunted. ‘That’s a very rose-tinted outlook.’
Willow shrugged. ‘It’s normally better to see the good in things than to try to find the bad.’
She took cutlery and napkins back to the table and then flopped down next to Andrew.
‘What’s up?’ Andrew said.
‘Connor didn’t like his present.’
‘Why? What did you get him?’ Ruby asked and Willow smiled and rolled her eyes.
‘He was given a fish cookery book. He thinks it’s offensive.’
‘That’s a bit small-minded,’ Jacob said. ‘I don’t think you ever stop learning, in any profession.’
The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer Page 20