‘Yes, please.’
Immediately outside the cottage was a patio with a metal table and two chairs. Caleb picked up his drink from the table and I followed him along a curved path. Either side of the garden were shrubs, roses and other climbing plants creeping up trellises and winding around pagodas. The path meandered left and right across the lawn and, at each change in direction, there was a paved circle. Colourful ceramic planters overflowing with flowers and shrubs were arranged on some of the circles and there were babbling water features on others. At the far end of the garden was a patch devoted to wildflowers among which I spied bug and bee hotels and a hedgehog house.
‘I haven’t seen this many butterflies and bees in one spot in ages,’ I said as a painted lady fluttered past and settled on one of the plants.
‘I carefully chose all the plants to attract them.’
‘You did this?’
‘Little hobby of mine. My grandparents – the ones I lost in my twenties – moved house when I was about seven. Their new cottage had this really long garden and it was an overgrown tangle of weeds – bit like out the back of the farmhouse. What they turned it into was astonishing. I loved spending time in the garden with them, helping them weed and prune and tease the climbing plants to follow the right route. I wanted to honour them here by creating a more modern take on what they’d done.’
‘It’s stunning. If you ever want another project, feel free to turn your attention to my back garden.’
‘I’d love that.’
As he held my gaze, my heart started pounding.
‘I was joking,’ I said.
‘I wasn’t. It would be a privilege to turn it into the sort of garden you deserve.’
My heart raced even faster. What did that mean?
‘I’d pay you to do it.’
‘Then I wouldn’t do it.’
I definitely hadn’t imagined that chemistry before because the same thing was happening right now. A bee flew between us, breaking the moment and we both took a swig from our drinks. I felt as though my cheeks were blazing and longed to press the cold bottle against them.
‘There’s more,’ Caleb said, leading me to a curved gateway in the stone wall separating his back garden from whatever was behind the forge. He pushed open a wooden gate, revealing raised planters full of vegetables. There were fruit trees and bushes along the back wall and at the far end there was a small greenhouse.
‘That’s the pear tree the cottage gets its name from,’ he said, pointing to a large tree in the corner.
‘I’d never have guessed this was here,’ I said.
‘My little oasis. I like that I can keep the practical part separate from the cottage garden part. I grow some fruit and nearly all my own vegetables. That raspberry juice you liked? That’s from my raspberries.’
‘You made that? It was divine. Flippin heck, Caleb, is there anything you can’t do?’
‘Plenty of things,’ he said, laughing. ‘I can’t sing, I’m useless at team sports – which is why I go running – and there’s something else… something you’ve already seen…’
I shrugged my shoulders, curious as to where he was going with that.
‘I can’t hide my feelings. You saw that when you first got here and I might have been off with you last Saturday when you gave me that bottle of wine. Was I?’
I grimaced in response.
‘I’m so sorry. Once again, it wasnotabout you. I was about to take Scampi for a walk when you knocked. I don’t suppose you fancy joining us so I can explain?’
We took our empty bottles inside and headed along the path behind the forge and cottage with Scampi running ahead.
‘Last Saturday was a difficult day for me,’ Caleb said. ‘It should have been my wedding day.’
I’m not sure what explanation I’d been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been that.
‘She left me just after Christmas,’ he continued, before I could say anything. ‘It was the right thing for both of us and I’m totally over her so I thought Saturday would be just another day, but I woke up and it hit me like a brick.’
‘I’m so sorry, Caleb. Do you want to tell me about it?’
