The women around her giggled.
‘Your family has given Harp Brook a bad name. Your brother-in-law hurt my sister.’
I have never been one for quick-witted responses in tense situations. Afterwards, I will always come up with a hundred imaginary responses and wish I had thought of them at the time. Words jostled around on my tongue, but nothing came out.
Denise made a scoffing sound and walked off with her crowd.
‘What did she say?’ Grandpa asked as I pulled out of the car park.
‘Our family has given Harp Brook a bad name.’ I missed out the part about Frank hurting Vanessa.
Grandpa shook his head. ‘Frank has caused this. What has he been up to?’
An uncomfortable feeling passed over me.
I dropped Grandpa back to the manor house and made him promise to not tell Aunty Bev about our encounter with Denise. The last thing I needed was Aunty Bev to get in her car and go look for a fight with Denise. Grandpa gave me his word and I walked to Ben’s cottage.
Ben and Rosie were doing a Christmas jigsaw on the table. Rosie patted the seat next to her and grinned. ‘Where’s Humph-Wee?’
‘He’s being a good boy.’ I smiled, finding a missing piece from Santa’s hat in the jigsaw.
‘I miss him,’ sighed Rosie. ‘When I am sad again, he will show up.’
‘Humphrey misses you too, Rosie. He told me you are the best person on a sledge he’s ever seen.’
‘Better than Daddy?’ she asked.
I nodded. ‘Humphrey says you were much better than your daddy at sledging.’
She smiled and giggled at her father who was trying to squeeze the wrong jigsaw piece into a gap. Once Ben had read her a bedtime story he came back downstairs and made us both a cup of hot chocolate. He came to sit next to me on the dark red sofa. His living room was small and cosy. Low imposing dark beams stretched across the ceiling and the cream walls on either side of the stone fireplace were adorned with Rosie’s paintings from school, her swimming certificates and framed photos. My eyes were drawn to the photos directly opposite of Ben and a heavily pregnant blonde-haired woman. I assumed that was Sophie. She had a beautiful smile and the camera loved her. Lifting my gaze, I caught sight of Olivia standing alongside the blonde woman. They both looked young and happy.
Ben jolted me back to the present. ‘So, what did you want to talk about?’
His arm brushed against mine as he stirred his hot chocolate. My whole body became engulfed in tingles.
‘I like you… a lot. The other day I heard something about you, and it made me act the way I did last night…’
He interrupted me. ‘This sounds interesting.’
I took a deep breath. ‘I believed the rumour for a bit and…’ My words tailed off as he held my gaze.
‘You have to tell me the rumour.’
I fiddled with a loose thread on my jumper. ‘You’re a bit of a ladies’ man.’
I lifted my face to his. His eyebrows were arching in surprise. ‘Me – a ladies’ man? Wow – that’s quite a rumour.’ He scratched his stubble-clad chin. ‘That’s the sort of rumour I would have loved to have heard in my youth.’ After a heavy sigh he turned to me. ‘Look, I know where this has come from. I have been on one date in six years, it was a total disaster, and that person has been saying nasty things about me.’
‘Denise?’
He nodded. ‘I didn’t fancy her and at the end of the evening I told her I wanted to be friends. Well, she took it badly. She told me that no one turns her down and started spreading these rumours about me. One of her boys at school has also been giving Rosie a hard time.’
‘That’s not nice.’
He shook his head. ‘It’s not nice. I’m sorry you had to hear that. I’m the last person to be a heartbreaker and a player. Believe me.’
‘About that kiss?’
‘Oh yes, about that. I meant what I said. If you want me to back off…’
