Page 66 of Watch For Me By Candlelight

The staff shower cubicle was great. It was just big enough to squeeze into and as Kate had promised, there were shower gels, shampoo and towels in there as well.

Theo waited, of course, until Kate had herded the last of the visitors out and the ducks had been fed before using it. He was sure nobody would want to see him, half-naked, running to his van afterwards to grab a fresh t-shirt. If he had learned anything, it was to keep a few spare items of clothing in there — you never knew in this business when you’d end up covered in mud, hay or worse.

Kate came downstairs freshly scrubbed, a slick of wine-coloured lipstick on her mouth, her eyes framed by sooty, dark lashes.

‘Awesome shower,’ Theo said with a grin. ‘You should rent it out to walkers. You could make a fortune.’

Kate wrinkled her nose. ‘I’d have to invest in some manly shower gel first. You smell like Jenna.’

Theo raised his arm and sniffed his skin. ‘I’m getting strawberry yogurt with a hint of cherry.’

‘I wonder what my brother’s getting,’ Kate said, inspecting her bag for something.

‘Something with a hint of fermented grape?’

She laughed. ‘I’m not sure I really want to know! Come on. This way.’ She pointed towards the village. ‘I hope you like sticky toffee pudding. The Dragon does the best one ever. You might have to share some with me. It’s a pretty big helping.’

‘I don’t mind sharing a pudding.’

‘Excellent. Come on, then. Let’s get there and beat the rush.’

* * *

‘So what’s it like, living so close to the past?’

Theo’s question startled her, and Kate choked as she swallowed a spoonful of sticky toffee pudding. ‘The past?’

He handed her a glass of wine to wash the sponge down. ‘You know, living above the museum? It would be a bit different for me in my line of work — not like the blacksmith from the museum cottage. His forge was next to the house after all. Not far to go for a coffee break, but then you couldn’t really leave your work in the office, could you?’ He frowned, possibly contemplating it. Or just maybe, he too had been thinking about Cat and Will?

His question seemed innocent enough, but Kate dropped her spoon into the bowl and pushed it away, the pudding losing its appeal. ‘Sometimes,’ she replied cautiously, ‘the past seems pretty close to me.’

Theo nodded and dropped his spoon as well. ‘And it doesn’t freak you out, having dead peoples’ things underneath your flat?’

‘Theo!’ She saw the smile quirking at the side of his mouth. She balled up her napkin and plopped it by the side of the rejected pudding bowl. ‘Those things were special to people. Nothing freaks me out about the museum.’ Apart from the fact you knew all about the ice-skates and then there’s the randomly striking clocks, and the way that cottage on the end melts into the nineteenth century. ‘Nothing at all.’

She scraped the chair back from the table and stood up, suddenly wanting to be out of the Dragon. Wow, she felt pretty drunk. Theo shifted out of focus and she stumbled a little.

‘I know, I should have stopped at two glasses.’ She pointed to the empty bottle on the table. ‘That third one pushed it a bit.’

Theo was standing now, somehow already next to her, the smile widening and his hands in his pockets.

He leaned in towards her: ‘I stopped at two. I’m saving myself for the beer,’ he whispered.

Kate flushed and pushed her hair out of her face. ‘I don’t normally drink that much. I’ve got a few things on my mind, that’s all.’

‘Come on.’ He smiled. ‘Let’s get you some fresh air. I’ll pop back in and settle the bill once you’re safely outside.’

He took her by the elbow and steered her out of the door, propping her up beside one of the beer garden tables, then disappeared indoors again. It was a glorious evening though and Kate took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the Suffolk air. God, she loved it here. She never wanted to be anywhere else.

‘I love it here,’ she told Theo as he came back over to her. ‘It’s really my favourite part of the world.’

‘I can think of many places much worse than Hartsford. Your brother, he enjoys travelling, doesn’t he?’

Kate nodded. She recalled telling him about Tom’s various escapades whilst they shared their picnic in the entrance of the tent last night.

‘Yes. And as you know, he’s just been to Hever Castle.’ She peeled herself away from the table and pointed herself towards the footpath that led to the back of the pub and around the outskirts of the village. It wound its way back towards the Folk Museum and was one of the trails they’d put in for the healthy living thing. ‘And it’s no surprise to me that he slept with somebody and he doesn’t know her name.’

‘Perhaps he’s never found the right person. When he finds her, he’ll know it.’ He fixed Kate with a look that might have spoken volumes, and she dropped her gaze. This was entering dangerous territory.