‘I wouldn’t be sat here now with you if it wasn’t for Sam. I’m a strong believer in fate.’
Nell smiled up at him.
‘How are you bearing up?’ He asked cautiously.
‘My arms are fine.’
‘I didn’t mean your arms,’ he laughed, bumping his shoulder playfully against hers, ‘I meant with your husband’s birthday.’
She swallowed hard and held his gaze, ‘I’ve learnt to take one day at a time but those days are certainly getting easier.’
‘There’s a brightness in your eyes, time to start living again,’ he observed.
She nodded, ‘Time to start living again.’
Guy leant across the table and covered Nell’s hand; he squeezed it tight, she felt her body tremble a little.
‘That fire is making me feel sleepy,’ she murmured, ‘and the snow is coming down thick and fast.’
‘Have you any plans for tonight?’ he asked.
‘Mum’s expecting me for tea, but with the weather like this she’d understand if I didn’t venture out.’
‘Do you fancy some company?’
Nell’s face flushed as she glanced upwards at him and all of a sudden felt a little shy, ‘Are you sure?’
‘There’s nowhere else I’d rather be’ and he was surprised just how much he meant it after everything he’d been through recently.
‘Well, in that case. That’ll be lovely.’
‘Have you ever lost anyone close?’ Nell asked, suddenly curious about the man sitting next to her.
‘Not in the sense you have but …’ he paused.
Nell could tell by the sudden glistening of his eyes that he’d lost someone who had meant the world to him.
‘My granddad, Hector.’ His mood dipped a little, swallowing down a lump in his throat. ‘Look at me getting all emotional, it always happens when I speak about him.’
‘He must have been very special,’ said Nell softly.
He gathered himself together and lifted his eyes towards her. A smile spread across Guy’s face as he remembered his granddad. ‘Without a doubt, he was my rock and taught me everything I know.’
‘Sounds ominous,’ Nell said lightening the mood a little.
‘Ha, not at all, great memories. He bought me the best present ever when I was a kid.’
‘Which was?’
‘A box of Lego.’
‘I think Bea would disagree with you there – if she stands on one more bit of Lego,’ Nell chuckled while picturing Bea hobbling across the floor holding her foot and swearing profusely, ‘She’s threatened to throw Jacob’s in the bin.’
Guy laughed, ‘My mum used to moan when it jammed the Hoover.’
‘So why was a box of Lego the best present in the world?’
‘Because Granddad showed me how to build everything from a bog-standard house to the Empire State Building and when I was older he let me go onto the site with him and taught me how to lay bricks, plaster and get my hands really dirty.’
‘So he was a builder?’
‘Yes, even though Granny wasn’t impressed when he came home covered head to toe in dust every night. She used to shoo him straight upstairs into the shower. He died a while ago now but he and Granny clocked up over fifty years of marriage.’
‘That’s fantastic!’
Guy shook his head, ‘She’s no longer with us, sadly passed away six months after him. I know it sounds daft, but I honestly believe she died of a broken heart. She couldn’t bear to be apart from him.’ He closed his eyes for a brief moment and Nell noticed the sadness in his voice.
‘It’s not daft at all.’ Her own eyes brimmed with tears at the thought of his grandma too sad to carry on.
Guy leant forward and wiped a tear from her cheek that had escaped.
‘I didn’t mean to make you cry,’ his voice faltered and he gave Nell a weak smile. ‘Here,’ he said, taking a tissue from his pocket.
‘Sorry I was lost in the moment there. That’s so sad and romantic.’
‘I was sure he was going to live forever and now they are no doubt rocking the heavens together. I miss them both dearly. Even though I knew Granddad had been ill for a while, his death was still like a kick in the stomach. It felt like my whole world had collapsed.’
This was a situation Nell could wholeheartedly relate to; first her dad and then Ollie.
‘Were your family supportive?’ Tears threatened again as Nell thought of her mum and Bea, her heart swelled with love for them both, she could never have got through the tough times without them.
Guy turned towards her, ‘Hey, I’m meant to be cheering you up and look at us getting all maudlin.’
For a split second his fingers entwined around hers, Nell squeezed them, then smiled up at him.
‘I know,’ she said, throwing caution to the wind while glancing down at her now-empty coffee mug, ‘I think we are both in need of something a little stronger, even if it’s a school night.’
‘Oh why not. You’ve talked me into it.’
‘It didn’t need much persuasion,’ she laughed, standing up and grasping a bottle of wine from the rack at the side of the fridge before pouring two large glasses.
The pair of them sipped at their wine thoughtfully, both tinged with sadness over the loss of their loved ones.
‘Hug?’ Guy asked softly, reaching towards her and taking her hand. The feel of his touch sent shivers downs Nell’s spine and her skin prickled with goose bumps. A feeling she had missed for such a long time.
‘That would be nice.’
‘How’s that? Comfy?’ He rested his arm around her shoulder. It had been a while since she’d felt the comforting weight of an arm draped around her and she nestled into him as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Hearing the thump of his heart, ‘Perfect,’ she murmured, startled by her own feelings. The feeling of being close to someone again made her tingle all over as she wrapped her arm across his stomach and inhaled the gorgeous aroma of his aftershave. She could feel the intense heat radiating from his touch and wondered if he could feel it too as her heart skipped a beat.
‘So tell me about Guy Cornish,’ she asked. ‘Who is this Irish man who’s turned up at Little Rock?’
‘There’s not a lot to tell. I’m twenty-nine and owner of a scatty dog …’ he paused.
‘Job?’
Guy exhaled, ‘A suit, work in the city, dealing with financial stuff.’
‘You don’t sound too chuffed about that?’ Nell said, detecting the change in the tone of his voice.
‘It pays the bills.’
Nell lifted her head and gazed towards him, ‘Single?’ she asked calmly, even though her heart was hammering in anticipation of the answer.
For a brief second the question hung in the air and he rested his chin of the top of Nell’s head while she reminded herself to breathe normally.
‘I’m single,’ he replied.
Goose bumps prickled over every inch of her body, ‘That’s good, then,’ the words left her mouth before she could stop herself.