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‘Oh, no. No, I’m fine, thanks.’
I’d woken up this morning feeling quite embarrassed about phoning Kurt in a panic the night before. Especially when he’d come up to the flat and looked out of my window for himself and there was nobody there, and in my emotional state, I’d let slip that I thought I might have beenimaginingthe figure under the tree. I really wished I hadn’t said that. It made me sound a bit deranged.
‘Well, if it happens again,’ he said seriously, ‘I think you should call the police straight away, okay?’
‘Okay.’ I smiled sheepishly. He was choosing to believe that therehadbeen someone lurking there last night – and not that I was crazy and imagining things – and I felt grateful for that.
I’d been trying all day not to think about it, and I was so glad to going be out with Kurt tonight. Apart from the fact that I really liked him, enjoying all the fun of the fair with him would take my mind off everything...
On the short drive to Buntingford, Kurt asked about my work and I told him about Milo and Ellie, and their exciting vision for a glamping site in Sunnybrook, and how I’d be helping to run it after the April opening date.
Arriving in the village, we followed the makeshift signs to a field, where the fair was being held. It was after seven and already dark, and the bright colours and flashing lights and familiar fairground music whisked me right back to my childhood, when Skye used to take me to a local fair near where we lived. Tears pricked at my eyes at the memory and Ismiled, surprised. I didn’t often have pangs of affection for my childhood. Maybe I was growing soft in my old age. Or maybe it was that ever since Skye came to Sunnybrook, I was getting to know her again – and along with that came all the memories of how she was a proper little mother to me when I was a child.
‘You okay?’ Kurt looked at me anxiously.
Smiling, I brushed away the tears. ‘Yes, yes, I’m fine. Just getting a bit sentimental about going to the fair with my sister.’
He nodded as we wandered over to the waltzer. ‘The music whisks you right back to your childhood, doesn’t it? I love it.’
‘I’m too old to go on that,’ I said, as we stood watching the cars on the waltzer spinning crazily around.
‘You’re scared?’
‘I am!’
‘You’re not chickening out on me, are you?’
‘No.’ I grinned at him. ‘Although you may well have to cart me off mid-ride when I faint. I mean, howoldis this contraption? Those cars are rattling so much, they look as if they might fly off at any minute.’
He chuckled and I felt his warm breath at my ear. ‘I’m sure they’ve done the safety checks. And anyway, I’m an expert on all things fairground-y. I’ll rescue you if it goes wrong.’ He took a firm hold of my hand and a little surge of desire shot through me at the feel of his warm fingers squeezing mine. Standing there in the moonlight, huddled next to him against the chill of the winter’s night, my heart felt suddenly full and almost bursting with happiness.
With Kurt here beside me, I could face any danger – even a creaky old fairground ride!
The waltzer was already filling up so we decided to wait for the next one. And as we stood and watched everyone laughing nervously and finding seats and pulling across the safety bar, I asked Kurt about his business.
‘I make bespoke kitchens. Well, I don’t make themmyself. I have a team of highly skilled craftspeople to do that.’
‘Did you always have ambitions to be in business for yourself?’
‘There’s a question.’ He stroked his chin thoughtfully. ‘I think the entrepreneurial streak runs in the family. My dad’s a self-employed accountant and Mum runs her own florist’s shop. And then there’s my sister, Laura.’
‘Younger or older?’
‘Two years older.’ He smiled. ‘Laura’s amazing. You’d like her. She trained as a chef and worked in a few top London brasseries before deciding to open a restaurant of her own.’
‘Wow, how amazing. Where is it?’
‘Over the border in West Sussex, deep in the countryside. She and her husband Tony bought a derelict old house with a walled garden and four acres of land. The house had to be demolished sadly, but they managed to preserve the walled garden and they built the restaurant alongside it. So now Tony works in the garden, growing their own fruit and vegetables, and Laura uses the fresh produce in her food, designing the menu around what’s currently in season.’
‘It sounds incredible.’
‘I know. I’m so proud of her. And Tony. They’ve had a lot of good Press and people travel from miles around to eat there. They have glamping pods on the site as well, so guests can make a proper break of it.’
‘Glamping?’ I laughed at the coincidence. ‘You sister could probably teach Milo and Ellie a thing or two about the glamping business, then.’
He smiled. ‘She probably could. Although from what you’ve told me, they seem to be well on track to making a success of their own venture.’
‘Yep. Not long now till we open.’
