‘I’d…I think I’d better…’ Go was the last thing she wanted to do. And exactly what she intended right now. Beth pulled her car keys out of her pocket and slid her fingers under the handle of the driver’s door.
‘So should I.’ He didn’t move, and Beth nodded. Climbing back into her car, she twisted the ignition key firmly and it started first time for a change. Must be a sign. She gave him a wave, and he returned the gesture as Beth backed out of her parking space and drove away. His figure leaned motionless against his own car as it receded in her rear-view mirror.
CHAPTER EIGHT
HE HAD nearly kissed her. Matt was not sure which he regretted most, that he had lost his resolve to keep his distance or that he had not finally tasted her lips against his. He held out as long as he could against the urge to talk to her and finally the rigours of the Saturday morning supermarket trip with Jack broke him. Pulling out his phone, he texted Beth.
How is your car? Can I pick you up this afternoon? M.
Matt thrust his phone back into his jeans pocket and turned his attention to Jack’s current deliberations. He had announced that he wanted to buy Beth a box of chocolates for Christmas and was fingering a prettily packaged box of fair-trade, speciality chocolates that Matt had got down from one of the top shelves for him.
‘These will be okay, Dad. I haven’t got enough money, though.’
‘Here.’ Matt proffered a note and Jack whipped it out of his hand. ‘We’ll get her something nice, eh? Do you want to get her a bunch of flowers with the change?’
Jack wrinkled his nose. ‘Flowers are for girls, Dad.’ He rolled the note up and put it in his pocket. ‘I’ll just put these in the basket and see if there’s anything else she’d like better.’
‘Okay. Don’t take all day about it, though, we’ve got some wrapping paper to get, too.’ Matt lifted Jack up with one arm, so he could see the selection of boxes on the top shelf, reaching for his phone with the other hand as it vibrated against his hip.
Thank you, a lift would be great, car still playing up. See you both about 3? B.
It was guarded and she had made it obvious that this was all about accepting a lift rather than going to the party with him. Still, she had said yes. Matt found himself smirking with unconcealed triumph as he texted back his acknowledgement.
When Jack planted his finger on the doorbell, Beth opened the door almost immediately, as if she had been waiting behind it, although the comb and pins in her hand told Matt that she’d been standing at the large hall mirror, fixing her hair. His grip on Jack’s shoulders tightened at the sight of her, as the earth tilted a couple of degrees on its axis.
‘You look nice!’ Her eyes were on Jack, and he felt the boy straighten in response to her appreciation. ‘All ready for the party?’
Jack nodded. ‘You look…’ He was obviously lost for the right word, and Matt supplied it before he had time to think.
‘Gorgeous.’
She coloured, dropping her gaze to the floor for a moment and stepped back from the door, allowing Jack to run into the hallway.
She was wearing a simple, mid-blue dress made of a heavy silk that followed her curves without clinging. Her hair was pinned up, curls escaping from a loose arrangement on top of her head that managed to look natural and sophisticated at the same time. Matt took in the blue pumps and the cluster of silver strands around her neck without really noticing them. As usual, her eyes drew his gaze. Wide, misty grey and like cool, inviting waters that he longed to plunge into.
Surrounded by dark, heavy lashes that made them look even more ethereally beautiful.
Those eyes were registering apprehension at the moment. He summoned a friendly grin and stepped inside the house. ‘Ready to go?’ He tried to keep the tone light, but he couldn’t help watching as she turned back to the mirror. The flexible sway of her waist. The pearly skin of her arms as she fussed with her hair, slipping the microprocessor on the side of her head under the dark strands so that it was barely visible.
Now he was inside he could smell her fragrance. Light, but not too flowery. Subtle, not the wall of scent intended to make you drop from ten paces that Mariska used to wear. Suddenly Mariska seemed out of place in his thoughts. Someone who was locked for ever in the past and not relevant to today.
‘Nearly.’ She stuck a diamanté pin into her hair, securing the last errant curl, and patted it carefully. ‘That’ll do.’
It would more than just do. Matt wondered what it would be like to carefully pull the pins from her hair, running his fingers through her curls as he kissed her lips. He’d bet his last pay cheque, along with all those in the foreseeable future, that her lips would be soft, and that her kiss would be tender.
She was saying something, but Matt had been too busy with the imagined kiss to listen. ‘Sorry—what was that?’
‘I said come through for a minute. There’s a little something for Jack on the tree.’ She held a finger and thumb up to give the measure of a token present.
‘Oh. Thank you.’ Matt turned to Jack and realised that they had left his parcel in the car. ‘I think we have…’ He was about to go and fetch Jack’s present for him and then realised that he should let Jack do it. ‘Here.’ Matt handed his car keys to Jack without further explanation.
Jack trotted importantly back down the path, swinging the keys in his hand in what Matt realised was a pretty good imitation of his own habit. Beth was standing in the shadow of the hallway, watching him unobtrusively, and Matt looked through the open door into the sitting room.
‘You’ve been busy! This looks a bit better than when I saw it last.’ It looked great. Freshly cleaned and arranged, the room was inviting and homely, muted patterns, fabrics and furniture that didn’t match but somehow managed to blend perfectly.
Her face lit up. ‘Yes, almost back to normal now. When everything dried out the bubbles in the wallpaper in the sitting room and the bedroom went down, so I won’t have to replace it. There’s the hall to do over again and a new carpet for the sitting room, but I was going to get one anyway in the new year.’
‘The bare boards don’t look so bad. If you stripped and polished them, they’d look great.’