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He jumped out of the truck with Trixy tugging on her lead. Bending down, he attempted to pick her up but dropped the lead and she scampered over to Holly. Mitch followed and joined the group. Ethan gave him a short nod with a bullish flare of his nostrils. Mitch smiled inwardly, imagining Ethan scuffing the floor with his shined shoes. Not the right footgear he noted, for surveying a building site.
Mitch smiled at Holly. ‘I won’t interrupt, she’s been cooped up in the truck while I was in a meeting. I dropped by to let you know we have our first farmer on board and I thought you might like to see Trixy before you have her to stay. But I can see you’re busy.’
Holly bent down and stroked Trixy. ‘Oh yes, it’s this Monday.’ Holly stood up with Trixy in her arms. Trixy was all over her. ‘Do you want me to take her now and get her used to the caravan? I’ll pop her back down in a couple of hours.’
‘Are you sure? I can see you’re busy.’
‘Oh, we’ve nearly finished here.’ Holly turned to the men. ‘Guys, this is Mitch Booth, the neighbour I was telling you about.’ She swung back around and gave Mitch a big smile.
The workman nodded their heads.
‘If you don’t mind, that’d be great,’ Mitch said, not sure whether Holly was trying to get shot of him; the expression on Ethan’s face certainly said,jog on. But Mitch was pleased she would be coming down to visit him. ‘I’ll see you later then.’ Mitch waved and left. He glanced over his shoulder after a few strides, but Trixy was far from pining for him as she snuggled up to Holly.
Returning to Booth Farm, Mitch felt positive, knowing that he would see Holly again in a couple of hours. As he walked in the back door his mobile rang, he hesitated not recognising the number, then answered the call. ‘Mitch Booth.’
‘Hi, Mitch. Nina here. We met last night?’
‘Yes. Yes we did.’I don’t remember giving her my number,he thought.
‘I met Holly today and she said you were lonely and might be in need of some female company.’ Nina’s voice seemed to purr at him. ‘I’m at a loose end this evening and wondered if you wanted to meet up?’
Mitch knew he was free. He never went out in the evening, other than for Trixy’s walk. He shook his head, feeling like a tyre with a slow puncture.Holly’s obviously not interested if she’s fixing me up with her mate,he thought.
‘I thought I’d come on over to your place. Cook you a meal? It’ll be nice to get to know one another before the first Rural Business Committee meeting.’ Nina’s voice had a cheeky sound to it. Mitch’s first instinct was to say no. But if he did – would she let up? He had been in this situation before. He decided it was probably best to let her come over and make it quite clear during the evening that he was not interested. Nip it in the bud.
‘I’ve a few Nina specials I can rustle up for you,’ she went on.
Mitch inwardly groaned. Nothing he couldn’t handle though, after the line of women he had rejected in Essex. He was sure they meant well and he was used to letting them down gently.
After Nina had checked he had no food allergies, she said she would drive herself over.
Mitch filled the kettle with too much force splashing water everywhere.Calm down,he told himself. He knew he was grumpy because Holly was clearly not interested in him, pairing him off with Nina. Maybe he was an idiot to think that Holly would get involved with him. She was the one being sensible, given their planned business arrangement. Still, he wanted no-one to fix him up with a girlfriend and he decided to put her straight when she returned with Trixy. But he would have to calm down first. If he was rude, it might give his feelings away.
He shook his head ‘How did I misread those signals?’ he said to himself.
Mitch cleaned the kitchen. The scrubbing helped chase away any anger. After all, Holly was probably trying to be kind. He knew she would never do anything to upset anyone. He was just sore because he wanted her to want him.
Later, having had a shave and dressed in a short-sleeved polo shirt and a fresh pair of jeans, he checked his phone for the time, wondering how long Holly would keep Trixy. She had said a couple of hours but it had been three. Nina was due in three-quarters of an hour.I’d better call Holly. He heard the doorbell.There she is,he thought. Although wondered why she had not used the back door. Opening the front door, he found Nina wearing the flimsiest dress he had ever seen, with a sheer black cardigan over the top.Oh, no.
Nina fanned herself with her hand. ‘It’s so, hot. Sorry, I’m a few minutes early. We did say six, didn’t we?’
No, half past,he thought as he looked at the carriage clock sat on the porch table which said five forty-five.
‘I’ve got all sorts of goodies in the car.’
‘I’ll help you get it in.’
‘The shopping bags are in the boot.’ Nina led the way to her car, a white SUV.
Mitch lifted the boot.‘I get less than this to last a week.’
Nina giggled. ‘I couldn’t make my mind up what to cook. So I thought I’d do us finger food.’ She lowered her eyes and smiled. ‘Something to nibble on.’
Mitch realised he would need to tell her he was not interested, as soon as possible.
Once in the kitchen, Nina began to unpack the items. ‘I’ll start the prep, shall I? At least it’s nice and cool in your house.’ Nina picked up a box of pre-prepared blinis. ‘I couldn’t find anything to wear.’ She removed her cardigan. ‘I found this.’ She pulled at the straps of her dress. ‘It was roasting in my little apartment, the sun streams in like a greenhouse in there.’
‘Er … nice.’ Mitch rubbed the back of his neck. He was sure she’d told him she owned a dress shop, so found it hard to believe that she would she have nothing to wear.
