Page 60 of Starry Nights over Dragonfly Lake

Beth took a sip of hot chocolate and looked at Noah. ‘Anyway, enough of the doom and gloom of my childhood,’ she carried on with a wide smile. ‘In any case, it’s hard to take things too seriously when you look through a telescope and see just how small and insignificant you are in the universe.’

Something had obviously shown in his face because she suddenly reached out to take his hand in hers.

‘You okay?’ she asked. ‘I know you hate talking aboutanything personal so I’ve probably made you deeply uncomfortable.’

He blanched at her touch but then relaxed and gave her hand a squeeze in return, grateful for her friendship. But then he noticed a long strand of dark hair was caught on her lips and he found himself tempted to draw it away. He suddenly realised that he had never wanted to kiss anybody more than at that moment.

‘So let’s change the subject,’ she carried on, letting go of his hand. ‘What are you going to do with this boat when it’s finished?’

He cleared his throat which had suddenly become dry. ‘Walter says I can store it here,’ he told her. ‘But I want to go out on it somewhere. I’ve always thought sailing to the Channel Islands in the spring would be great.’

‘Sounds lovely,’ she told him. ‘Well, I’d better give you a hand if you’re going to get the boat ready in time for your dream to come true. I might be rubbish with a hammer but I can give extremely precise measurements and understand the science as to what makes them float.’

He looked at her before draining his mug of hot chocolate. It was true what Beth had said. He didn’t believe in love. At least, that’s what he’d always told himself. But the truth was that he did love. After all, he had loved his father in a strange, convoluted way. And he did probably love Walter as well. There were different types of love, not just the romantic type that Beth wanted so badly.

All his life, he had avoided women just like her. Those who believed that there were soulmates for everyone and wanted the whole happy-ever-after show.

And yet he found himself drawn to Beth, more than any other woman he had ever met. He understood now why she dreamed of a family of her own and why she had putso much emphasis on finding her life partner. He also knew her to be courageous, given what she had gone through with her serious heart issues throughout her childhood. He knew that they were incompatible as far as their futures were concerned. He knew that their kisses in front of Jeremy had been only for show.

However, he liked her as a person. As a friend. He’d never had many friends and certainly not a female one. But, despite never trusting anyone and wanting to keep everyone as far away as possible from himself, he trusted Beth.

When he glanced at her, he found Beth watching him with a question in her eyes.

He stood up. ‘So you want to know about boats?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely,’ she told him, also standing up. ‘All the best astronomers have an insatiable curiosity. They’re always asking questions and then gathering data to get their answers.’

‘So I’m research?’ he asked.

She laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t publish a scientific paper on you. I’m not sure anyone would believe me,’ she told him with a cheeky grin.

He smiled down at her, aware how close they were now standing to each other. ‘Thank you for trusting me with your story,’ he told her. ‘I’m sorry you had such a tough time of it growing up.’

She shrugged her shoulders. ‘You can’t change the past, as they say,’ she replied, in a bright tone of voice. But still, he could see the pain in her eyes and wanted to help her however he could.

He hesitated for a moment before putting his arms around her and holding her close for a moment. She was initially stiff with shock before she relaxed against him. He could smell her perfume and felt the softness of her hair brushing against his chin.

Finally she stepped back to smile up at him. ‘I hope this doesn’t mean that you’ve fallen in love with me,’ she joked.

‘Don’t worry,’ he told her. ‘You’re safe with me.’

As they walked towards the boat, he knew that it wasn’t love. But he did feel fond of Beth. And wanted to know more, much more about her. But just as a friend, he reminded himself.

Because he could never give her what she truly wanted.

32

A fortnight later, Beth and Hannah went out of the hotel and around the side of the building before stopping short.

Beth stared at the absolutely huge crowd who were lined up on the beach in the darkness of early evening and blanched.

‘That’s a lot of people in the middle of the countryside on a Wednesday night,’ she said, looking at Hannah in amazement.

‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ said Hannah, grinning. ‘Apparently Lily had to stop any more bookings due to safety reasons which is why you’re going to have to do this all over again tomorrow night, meteor shower permitting, of course.’

It turned out that Ella’s idea to update the Starry Nights blog, as well as marketing it on her own far more successful account, had worked wonders and the place was packed. Even the cut-out astronauts had gained some notoriety on social media and had added to the number of bookings apparently.

So much so that they had hurriedly had to add the following night for bookings so that nobody would be disappointed.