Scones Away!

‘It’s after hours and I had the afternoon off, anyway. I don’t know why I’m explaining myself to you. It should be you doing the explaining.’

‘Do anything nice?’

Charlie gave him a blank look.

‘This afternoon, were you doing anything fun?’

‘I went to the Eden Project, with Oliver.’

Daniel’s smile wavered. ‘It’s a great day for it. You’ve caught the sun.’ He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing, and Charlie felt truly scrutinized. She wondered how red her cheeks were, whether her spray of fair-weather freckles had taken up residence across her nose. She forced herself not to look away and Daniel’s expression softened.

She took her chance.

‘Why did you organize the yoga when you knew my food market was happening this Saturday? If it’s because of how we left things before, then …’ Then what? Should she apologize? She had been well within her rights to back off after their kiss. It had been so sudden, so intense. She was still struggling to work out exactly how she felt.

Daniel dragged his gaze from her lips to her eyes. ‘Lauren organized it,’ he said. ‘She got talking to Belle when she was staying with us and asked if she could put on a course of yoga on the beach. I told her to go for it, because she’s a good colleague and I like to encourage initiative. I thought she’d have the common sense to plan it around the market.’

‘But she hasn’t,’ Charlie replied. ‘So what are we going to do about it?’

‘We? So you think we can try working as a team, now?’

The heat in Charlie’s cheeks went up a few degrees. ‘The reputations of my events and your hotel rest on the outcome. We could do with working together to come up with a solution.’

‘I think you’re right,’ Daniel said. ‘What do you suggest?’

Charlie sighed and leaned against the bus. It was easier being next to him than facing him. ‘You definitely have to have yoga on Saturday?’

‘Belle has been booked and paid for, and she’s got clients for every day that she’s here. I’m not sure anyone would be too happy about us cancelling it.’

‘And I can’t cancel the food market, because it’s a sure thing, now. I’ve got vendors invested in it, and I’ve promoted it on social media. We could move Belle further down the beach, but it’s still going to be noisy and busy. We don’t want to risk any yogis being squashed. Not even Belle,’ Charlie added, with only a slight trace of bitterness.

Daniel laughed. ‘She’s not your cup of tea?’

‘She simpers,’ Charlie replied. ‘I mean, she obviously runs a very successful business and Juliette is beyond happy that she’s here but I just—’

‘You don’t think she’s on your side.’

‘Oi.’ She slapped him on the arm. ‘You’re not being helpful. We need to fix this, for both our sakes.’

‘OK,’ Daniel said, suddenly serious. ‘How about we … no, I’m not sure that will work. We could maybe …’ Charlie glanced at him, but he was shaking his head. ‘Oh, I know!’ He grabbed her arm and Charlie jumped, feeling the fizz of electricity at his touch.

‘What? What could we do?’

‘How about, just for Saturday, we have the yoga up in the gardens of Crystal Waters? There’s lots of space around the pool, they’ll still have the spectacular views, and they’re far enough removed from the market for neither to impact on the other. There.’ He spread his hands wide. ‘Perfect solution.’

Charlie stared at him. His expression was smug, satisfied, but there was something else, too. That laughter bubbling just under the surface. Slowly, realization dawned on her.

‘Oh my God,’ she murmured. ‘Oh my God, Daniel.’

He raised an eyebrow.

‘It was always going to be up at the hotel on Saturday, wasn’t it? You were never going to be in the way of my food market.’

‘It was an easy assumption to make, when they appeared on the beach this morning for a week-long residence. I can see how you could have jumped to the wrong conclusion. I had expected a visit from you earlier, actually. I was looking forward to seeing you.’

Marmite squeaked and hid behind her legs, but a quick glance showed her that Jasper was still lying patiently at Daniel’s feet. Her dog was making something out of nothing, as usual. Charlie wondered if he’d learnt that from her.

‘You purposely didn’t tell me,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘You let me think this, let me get worked up about it, when all along you were planning on having it at the hotel on Saturday.’

‘All’s well that ends well. You need to stop assuming that everyone’s against you.’

‘How can I, when you keep doing stuff like this? I betyou organized Rose and Frank to put on that little show outside my bus, just so you could set me straight and feel superior about it. You’re trying to show me who’s in charge, but do you know what?’ Her eyes blazed into his.

‘What?’ he asked. ‘Tell me.’ He leaned towards her, his breath tickling her cheek. ‘I’m all ears.’

They were only inches apart. He smelt good, woody and citrusy. She pushed the thought away.

‘I’m not against you, Charlie. I thought I’d made that clear the other night, but if you want to keep believing it, there’s nothing I can do.’

She couldn’t look away. Daniel’s eyes were dark pools of intent and his lips were so close … She knew how kissable those lips were …

‘Hey, Char! Hi, Daniel.’ Juliette’s voice broke the spell and Charlie jumped backwards, turning to her friend as if she’d been starved of her company.

‘Jules! How was it?’ Juliette looked happy, her skin glistening, her cheeks bunched into a smile.

‘Brilliant. You have to give it a go, Charlie. It’s the most wonderful, uplifting feeling, and Belle is a great teacher. Oh, and I meant to text you earlier, but I got caught up on the bus. She found out that they’re running all her sessions at the hotel on Saturday, so you don’t need to worry. The food market is safe! But Daniel’s probably told you that anyway. Want to go up to the house together?’

Charlie forced a smile. She wished, with all her heart, that Juliette had sent that text. ‘I’ve got your car in The Seven Stars car park. I’ll drive you up the hill, unless you want to walk?’

‘A lift would be lovely. Did you have a good time with Ollie?’

Charlie nodded, aware of Daniel’s gaze on her. ‘I’ll tell you all about it at home.’

‘Great. I’m just going to go and say goodbye to Belle, then I’ll meet you at the car. Catch you later, Daniel.’

‘Bye,’ Daniel called. ‘There, you see,’ he said, once Juliette was out of earshot. ‘I wasn’t keeping anything from you.’

‘I need to get Marmite his dinner,’ Charlie said. ‘Please don’t scratch the paintwork of my bus.’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ Daniel stood up straight. ‘Good to see you again, Charlie. Glad we’ve sorted things out. I’d hate for there to be any animosity between us.’ He squeezed her hand briefly, letting go before she could react, and led Jasper down onto the beach.

Marmite whimpered, as if he was upset at the German shepherd’s departure, despite clearly being terrified of him. Charlie let out a loud, exasperated sigh and took her dog back to the car.