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‘These dishes need sorting, when you’re ready.’ He turned and went back into the kitchen.
Carrie felt wrong-footed and annoyed.What just happened?she asked herself. She had just been trying to be nice; to pass on some of the kindness she herself had received from Dotty and Gretchen and the other villagers since she’d arrived. But Rory had thrown her kindness back in her face. Now she saw what Fiona had meant about Rory being standoffish. Not even that: he’d been downright rude. She had seen it, herself, that first time in the shop. Maybe her first impression of him had been right, after all.
She returned inside. Rory was in the large larder, his back to the kitchen, so she returned to the sink and finished loading up the dishwasher and put it on. He re-emerged, nodded to her and walked into the restaurant without a word.
Oh. That’s not going to be awkward at all, Carrie thought, taking off her apron and tossing it into the basket for used aprons, napkins and tablecloths. At the end of every week, they got taken off by a laundry service and replaced with a stack of clean, starched white garments and cloths. She took a deep breath, took her jacket and bag from the little cupboard where they kept their belongings during service, and went out into the main restaurant.
Rory was standing by the door, obviously waiting for her to leave so he could lock up. Kathy, as usual, had left first. Carrie had never seen Rory quite like this before, and she didn’t know how to be with him.
‘Right, then. See you tomorrow,’ she said, abruptly.
‘Carrie. I’m sorry. About that, just now,’ Rory took her arm as she reached for the door handle. A frisson of something – electricity? – shot through her.
Not actual electricity. That would be dumb, Claire’s voice said in her mind.But what the hell was THAT?
I don’t know, Carrie thought, looking up into Rory’s eyes.
‘It’s okay. I shouldn’t have been so personal,’ she said, quietly. His hand stayed on her arm, and she could feel an immense warmth from his touch. She was reminded, close up, how soft his deep brown eyes were with their long lashes.
There was a definite chemistry between them; it was as though the air around them was thick with anticipation. Carrie’s lips tingled, and she licked them with her tongue to wet them. She noticed that Rory watched her as she did it, and his eyes widened just a little.
Nice,Claire’s voice said.
I didn’t do it to be sexy. It was just a reflex.
Yeah, right.
Rory cleared his throat and released her arm. ‘No. You were just being a friend, and I was being rude. Please, forgive me,’ he murmured.
‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she said, quietly.
‘Well, I’m still sorry.’
‘Okay.’
‘All right. See you tomorrow, then.’ Rory cleared his throat again and opened the door for her.
‘See you tomorrow,’ she said, looking behind her as she stepped out into the street, and meeting his gaze.
There was another moment of something that passed between them.
‘Until then,’ he replied.
Carrie walked away, along the street and turned at the bottom of the road. When she looked back, Rory was still standing in the restaurant door, watching her walk away. She felt a tug at her heart. She didn’t quite know why, but in that moment, she had to fight the impulse to run back up the street, grab Rory and kiss him.
Instead, she followed the way home to the cottage.
Well, that was interesting, Claire said.I’d follow that up if I were you. No sense in being miserable and alone when you could be satisfying yourself with THAT.
Shut up, Claire, Carrie thought.
You agree with me. I know you do, her sister’s voice insisted.
It doesn’t matter if I do or not, Carrie thought.I’m not going to do anything about it. Rory’s my boss.
Chicken, Claire responded.
Are we ever going to talk about what happened?Carrie asked her sister’s voice, knowing that it was stupid to be talking to her dead sister in her head but needing to do it anyway.
