‘Yes, nice to see you, Brodie. Good to meet you all.’
As soon as they were outside, Lettie gave a sigh of relief.
‘Are you still thirsty?’ Joe asked.
‘I am a bit. It’s a warm evening.’ Lettie fanned her face with her hand and wondered what he was going to suggest. She was very tired but it was a beautiful summer evening and she was happy to agree to stay out for a bit before heading home.
‘So am I. I think we should pop to the shop and buy a couple of bottles of lager, or local cider if you prefer?’
She hadn’t had a cider in months. ‘Cider for me.’ She loved the local brew and now that he mentioned it, she decided that it wouldbe a perfect way to spend part of the warm evening with its gentle breeze.
Shortly afterwards they walked back to her farm, deciding that the top field with its views of the sea on three sides would be the perfect place to watch the sunset while they sat quietly and drank the bottle each had chosen and ate the slightly stale French sticks and slab of Brie Joe had added to their basket.
‘This is perfect,’ he said once they were seated and had each fashioned a sandwich of sorts and opened their drinks.
‘I was thinking the same thing,’ she admitted.
They sat in silence for a while and Lettie tried to work out exactly how she felt about each of these new men who had both unexpectedly entered her life. Joe was gorgeous, but so was Brodie, although he seemed relaxed with Cathy. Joe was also fun to be with and she liked the spur-of-the-moment way he came up with fun ideas. It was refreshing how he simply came up with something new, like this walk and this evening snack.
He took a mouthful of his lager and swallowed. ‘I’m glad you chose to drive along the lane where I’d broken down,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Today has turned out far better than it began.’
‘It has for me, too.’ Not the bit where Brodie was out with a beautiful woman, her thoughts nagged before she pushed them away. ‘I much prefer it out here to in the stuffy pub.’
‘You’re not the only one.’ He pointed out to the sea. ‘Look at the way the setting sun changes the colour of the water. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of scenes like that.’
‘Nor me.’ She thought back to living on the mainland. ‘I loved my time in England, but being in a city where although there are beautiful sunsets high on some hills, it’s not quite the same as when it happens over the Channel.’
‘I agree. I lived in France. We were near the sea and often went to the beach to sit quietly and watch the sun going down.’
Lettie was intrigued to know more. She had a dentist when she was a child who commuted weekly from France to work on the island and several of her friends had lived there at one time or another. ‘Where did you live when you were there?’ she asked suddenly curious.
He nudged her with his shoulder. ‘So, you are interested in me. Good. I was beginning to think you might not be.’
Taken aback by his directness, Lettie narrowed her eyes. ‘I was only asking about your life in France.’
He turned to her, amusement in his dark eyes. ‘I’m only teasing. I lived near Biarritz. Have you heard of it?’
‘I have. My brother, Zac, went there on a trip to surf with some friends a few years ago.’
‘It’s well known for its surfing, although to be honest I never did much of that. I’d rather swim than surf.’
‘You said we. Were you there with a girlfriend?’ She hoped not. The last thing she wanted to do was inadvertently have drinks with someone’s boyfriend.
He nodded. ‘There was a significant other, but it didn’t work out.’
‘No?’
He shook his head and for a fleeting moment she saw pain cross his face. ‘We met when she came here to work at one of the hotels for the summer season a few years ago and I went back and moved in with her.’
He sighed. ‘We should have left it as a summer romance, but it’s easy in hindsight to know these things.’
‘I know that only too well,’ Lettie said not meaning to voice her thoughts out loud.
‘Same thing happened to you then?’
‘What? Oh, no. I met my ex, Scott, when I moved to London after university. We worked in the same company, but where I wasin fashion, he worked in the finance part.’ She thought back to those exciting days when everything seemed so straightforward. ‘We lived together for a while until…’ She wished she hadn’t begun sharing about her relationship with Scott now that she had started.
‘Until?’ Joe leant forward looking concerned.
