Page 77 of Just for the Season

And I’m going to see her tomorrow anyway for the wasabi tour.

* * *

Tuesday is a lovely crisp November day.

‘I’m glad it isn’t raining,’ says Frankie when she arrives at the house.

‘You only view wasabi in fair weather?’

‘Exactly.’

I smile at her and then catch hold of her and pull her in for a kiss. We spend a few very enjoyable minutes up against the side of the house before Frankie pulls back and checks, ‘There’s no way the kids will come home early from school, right?’

‘No, definitely not. I do think, though, that on balance maybe it would be a good idea to go somewhere a little more private. Should we wish to…’

Frankie gives me a slow, cheeky smile.

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘We might wish to…’

I take her hand and lead her round the back of the house to the barn where I keep my farm car. The wasabi fields (greenhouses) are some way from the house.

We kiss some more in the car (not the most comfortable location for it, but the minor discomfort of the seats is worth it) and then I say, ‘Okay, let’s do it. Let me show you my big secret.’

‘Ooh er. Is that a euphemism? I haven’t heard it called that before.’

I wink and say, ‘Wait and see,’ and Frankie laughs.

As it turns out, she loves seeing the wasabi plants and hearing all about production, farming methods, the very competitive market and the details of the security I have to have.

And I – predictably – love the fact that in here we won’t be disturbed (my farm manager isn’t here today; I asked him to go to a trade fair) and so we can hold hands while we walk round, and then spend a little bit of time, well, having sex, which I didn’t fully expect would happen but very much enjoy.

‘Well,’ says Frankie when we’re finally getting dressed and tweaking each other’s clothes back into full modesty. ‘My word.’ She gives me another one of her cheeky smiles and moves closer. ‘I very much liked—’ she reaches for me ‘—your big secret.’

‘Frankie Winters!’

And that’s another chunk of time lost to some more amazing sex.

‘Seriously,’ I tell her eventually.

‘I know.’

Her smile is so gorgeous that I can’t help it. It just suddenly feels like the right time; in fact, it’s more than that, it’s like if I don’t say it I’m almost lying to her. I need to make my feelings official.

‘I love you.’ I enunciate my words very clearly, because it feels very important that she understand exactly how serious I am.

There’s a pause, during which I feel my heart beating very fast, and then Frankie, looking as serious as I feel, says, ‘I love you too.’

My heart almost physically swells, and I reach for her hands, and then we stand facing each other for a while, fingers linked, just smiling at each other.

Neither of us says anything about our relationship, but I feel – hope – it’s almost a given that we both want to continue this. We can talk about that in due course. For now, it’s wonderful to just enjoy this moment.

* * *

The rest of the week is great, with a very successful potluck supper on Wednesday, a fantastic walk on Thursday (offering some much-enjoyed time alone together) and a very good dinner on Friday, after which I go up to Frankie’s for ‘coffee’, because Ruby and Sam are having another sleepover with Rob and Miranda’s kids. And I do of course end up staying the night.

I leave an adorably sleepy Frankie at the crack of dawn so that I’m home for the kids, and when I get back have time to make it look like I did not spend the night away from home. I need to tell the kids that Frankie and I are properly together before they realise that we’re spending nights together, and I’m not quite ready to talk to them about it yet.

When I pick Ruby and Sam up, Sam is as normal; Ruby is not.