“Oh? What’s that?”
“Are these really the actions of a man who intends to raze the place to rubble?”
Chapter 72
Alfred didn’t stay, despite Annie inviting him to come up to the flat for a cup of tea. He had “things to do,” though Annie couldn’t imagine what odd jobs he was likely to be doing in the dark. He left shortly before six, his shoulders hunched and head down against the cold as he disappeared into the night. To her disappointment, John didn’t come in either. He had a video call with Celeste and needed to work on the plans for Raye and Aiden’s extension.
“On a Saturday night?” Annie had exclaimed.
“No rest for the wicked,” said John.
Is he trying to avoid being alone with me? Annie wondered. Wouldn’t any red-blooded man be up there like a shot, trying to get his end away?
“What are you thinking?” John asked. “You look miles away.”
Annie brushed it aside with an airy laugh.
“Oh, nothing,” she said, hugging herself against the cold evening. Even with her coat and scarf on, the wind was finding its way in.
“You know I would like to come up, don’t you?”
“Do I?”
“You should.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“Because I don’t want to complicate things more than they already are.”
“I’m inviting you into the flat, not my vagina,” she said. Although my vagina would welcome you too!
John let out a laugh that seemed to echo into the black nothingness beyond the garden.
“How very candid of you,” he said. “Then let me be candid, also. If I come up now, we’re going to have a very enjoyable evening and at some point, I am going to want to kiss you. A lot. I think we’ve already established that I can’t seem to keep away from you, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way. It would be unnecessarily coy at this point for either of us to deny that we find the other attractive. However, whether we like it or not, it does complicate things. I need to make sure that the decision I make about Saltwater Nook is what’s best for my aunt. And you need to think about whether you would still want to be friends if my final decision for the Nook didn’t go in your favor. As much as I wish it were different, now isn’t the time for us.”
Annie felt almost positive that she would want to be more than friends regardless of what happened. But she wasn’t going to blurt that out to him like some silly schoolgirl. Though she would love to throw caution to the wind, she appreciated the care with which John was thinking through the implications. Unfortunately, his thoughtfulness made her want to tear all his clothes off and have sex with him right here in the garden.
“I understand,” said Annie. “I don’t completely like it. But I appreciate it.”
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t like it either. I can’t stop thinking about you, and it’s driving me crazy. It seems like all you’ve done is drive me crazy one way or the other since you arrived!”
“Ditto,” said Annie, smiling.
He leaned down and brushed her cheek with a kiss.
“I’ll see you,” he said, and he left.
Annie watched him go until the night swallowed him. Then she wandered back through the fairy-lit garden and closed the door on the dark. She stood in the hallway surrounded by the craggy faces of fishermen past looking out of the photographs on the wall. She was falling for John; she could feel it happening and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was more than how time seemed to pass slower when she was waiting for him to arrive, more than how each day was electric with the anticipation that he might show up unexpectedly, or how her heart leaped each time his name flashed up on her phone. It was a feeling inside her bones, like he was pulling her to him and she didn’t want to resist.
Wasn’t it just bloody typical that the man she wanted to leave her alone was persistence personified, while the one she wanted to ravish her was keeping her at arm’s length?
Chapter 73
It was Sunday, Annie’s one full day off, and the weather could only be described as awful. Even the most ardent wild-weather lover would be hard pressed to find inspiration in its utter bleakness. The wind and rain were sometimes working together, sometimes tag-teaming, without ever stopping for a break. The windows were running so thickly with rain that Annie could barely make out sea from sky from beach. Annie didn’t go out all day. Instead, she filled the slow cooker with the ingredients for a lamb hotpot, caught up on housework, and read for her book club. Though she didn’t show it, Annie was sure Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle was appreciative of her company. At three o’clock, she had a video call with Alex and Peter.