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“Poor thing,” Mum said, tucking her hair behind her ear as she peered at some football merchandise in one of the display cases.
“Yeah.I went over that afternoon and we baked cookies.It was fun.”
“Have you seen much of Donovan this week?”
Every single bit of him.
I kept the thought to myself, but something in my expression must have given me away.
“Nova?”Mum asked, in the way mums have that leaves no room for avoidance or arguments.
Heat radiated from my face, and I tried not to look directly at her, but I could sense her gaze on me.“Oh, God.Yes, I have seen a lot of him.We’ve been...doing stuff together.”
Mum’s eyes widened before she let out a small giggle of delight.“I knew it!I knew you liked him!”
“Please, stop,” I said, walking down a little further to look at another display.“It’s not...I mean...yes, I like him, but...it’s nothing.”
“Nova Louise McKay, don’t give me that.I’m your mother, and I know when you like someone!”She was still laughing as she followed me.“This is great!”
I couldn’t help giving in to a laugh too.She was so excited, and if I was honest with myself, I was too.I’d been trying so hard not to get swept up in this thing with him, but we had spent all evening and well into the early hours texting, even though he was only one house away.If we’d had our way, he would have spent another night with me, but I told him to stay with June.It wasn’t fair for me to take him away again, and I’d already been with him for the whole day.He was there to visit her, not me.The idea of seeing him that afternoon had my stomach in knots of excitement, though.I couldn’t wait.
“How about this for June?”I asked, pointing to a small robin ornament and trying to distract her from the previous conversation.“She loves robins, and it would fit in well with the other ornaments she has in her cabinet in the hallway.”
Mum peeked closer at it.“That’s an idea.Also a lovely symbol of the season.Let me go and find someone to help us, but don’t think you can change the subject so easily.”
I rolled my eyes as she walked away.She was still grinning as she left, and I rubbed my hand over my tired eyes.She was going to be unbearable for the rest of the morning now, and I was going to have to deal with the little balloon of mixed happiness and fear swelling up and down in my stomach while she forced me to talk about Donovan.
I’d had the best day with him yesterday.It was fun to see him in work mode.I got to witness how focused he became when trying to capture the perfect photo.When he was looking around for information about what he was photographing, and taking little snippets into his mind, occasionally whipping out a notebook from his camera bag so he didn’t forget.I wasn’t sure if this was the process for all travel bloggers, but seeing him taking what he did so seriously was fascinating to me.It was also incredibly sexy, the way his eyes flitted around to take everything in, and how they lit up when he saw something that interested him.In between all of that, he continued to reach for my hand whenever his camera wasn’t in his, and I got to learn more and more about the things he liked.Turned out, he was as obsessed with being near the sea as often as he could as I was, though he preferred warmer climes.He’d also loved Brixham harbour and talked about one day owning his own boat.As much as he liked the sea, he hated seafood, just like me, and it was strange how many things we found we had in common the more we talked.
I pulled out my phone, getting a pull to message him; not that we hadn’t already messaged that morning.He had taken to texting me to say good morning, and it made me grin like an idiot.
You are so screwed.
I pushed the annoying thought aside, repeating my mantra to live in the moment as I looked at my phone and found there was already a message from him there.
Donovan
I’m taking Nan to Newton Abbot this morning, but I’ll be back by 12 as she has lunch plans with a friend, so just come over when you’re ready, dolcezza.xx
He added a winky face to the end of the message, and my stomach flipped again, remembering how he’d sounded when he’d said that word to me the day before.
I typed back:
Okay.I will be there as soon as I can.Do you want me to bring something over for lunch?xx
Donovan
Gay’s Creamery chicken and veg pie, please.We’ll figure something out for dessert.xx
He added another winky face, making my insides squirm with need.It was a good thing he was going out because I was strongly considering abandoning my mother and going back to June’s to jump on him.
I replied:
Can’t wait to see you!!xx
Donovan
Me too xxxx
