Page 7 of Secret Paths

I lean in slowly, leaving the choice with her. She closes the last bit of distance.

Her kiss is soft at first. Almost cautious. Then her fingers tighten around mine, and the sound she makes is small enough that I might have missed it if I had not been listening out for her all evening.

I let go of her hand and cup her face.

Her skin is warm beneath my palm. Her mouth is warmer. The kiss deepens in the close dark of the car, rain closing us in, the world reduced to fogged glass, the brush of her breath and the impossible fact that she is still here.

I forget the rain. The wedding. The fact that I have known her for years and should have had the sense to keep this purely platonic.

All I can think about is Mandy.

When I pull back, it is only because I need air.

“Mandy.”

Her eyes open and meet mine. They are dark blue, and this close I notice a fine grey streak running through her left iris.

“Not here,” she whispers.

She glances towards the neighbouring houses. “I am not giving Mrs Higgins something to discuss over sherry for the next six months.”

A laugh slips out of me. “That is what you are worried about?”

“I am trying to preserve some dignity.”

“Bit late for that.”

Her eyes flash. “Peter.”

I grin.

Then she opens the car door and gets out.

For a second, I sit there like an idiot.

Mandy turns back towards me.

“Come inside.”

That’s all I need to rush after her.

Her cottage is warm when she unlocks the front door and flicks on the light.

It opens straight into the kitchen, the way old cottages sometimes do, with no hallway to soften the arrival. One second we are in the rain; the next we are standing beside the little table, the old cupboards, the mug tree by the kettle and the bowl where she drops her keys.

The room smells faintly of lemon cleaner and the floral air freshener she insists makes the place welcoming.

I’ve been at her cottage a number of times over the years but tonight it feels different.

Mandy turns around and steps closer.

The next kiss is nothing like the one in the car.

There is no carefulness left in it.

Her hands slide into my hair. Mine find her waist. I step back, hit the worktop and knock a spoon onto the floor.

Mandy laughs against my mouth.