The ferry docked on the opposite side of the lake with a loud groan and a squeal of metal against stone and then it stopped suddenly. The barriers lifted and she turned the Mini’s engine back on—last on, last off. There was a long line of cars waiting to board the ferry and go back to the other side. She drove off and waved at the ticket collector. Then she drove the short distance towards Hawkshead and the man of her dreams, who had texted her to say he was waiting for her at the pub and had managed to get a table out the front. She parked in the car park, emptying her purse of ten pence pieces, feeding them into the machine. She got a ticket and then hurried to go and meet Will.
The early evening sun was still warm and the village was full of people wandering around. Annie walked towards the pub and felt her heart fill with joy at the sight of Will and the ice-cold glass of wine on the table in front of him. He looked up from the menu and grinned at her, his blue eyes crinkled full of mischief. He looked so like his dad. Annie squeezed past a loud American couple who were blocking the way and bent down to kiss him on the cheek. He turned and kissed her on the lips and it was her turn to grin.
‘Phew, am I glad to see you—what a day.’
She sat on the wooden bench next to him and picked up the glass, taking a large gulp. ‘It’s amazing.’
‘What is—me or the wine?’
‘You, of course, and the wine.’
He nudged her softly in the side. ‘You liar—you meant the wine. I don’t know about you but I’m starving and I’m having the biggest steak and chips they can drag out of the fridge.’
Annie looked at the menu and nodded in agreement. ‘I’ll have steak and a jacket potato, please.’
Will stood up and made his way to the bar to order. Annie sipped her wine as she people-watched. She could spend all evening people-watching. The American couple sat next to an older couple on the bench opposite and had struck up a conversation about how beautiful the village was and Annie agreed with them, it truly was. She could see the church, which was on a steep hill above the village square and she thought about Father John. She hadn’t seen him for a while; she should really go and pay him a visit. Now that he’d taken over the church in Bowness permanently she wanted to ask him about the wedding. When she’d saved his life last year he’d told her he owed her one and would marry her and Will on the house. She wasn’t after a cheap wedding but she would very much like him to marry them both.
Will reappeared and sat back down. ‘I’ve got a surprise to show you after, but it will have to wait until we’ve finished eating.’
‘You know I don’t like surprises—can’t you just tell me what it is now?’
‘No, sorry, I can’t. For once you will have to be patient and anyway I will have to take you to it.’
Annie scrunched up her face. No idea what he was talking about but she didn’t care; she could manage to wait an hour. They talked about Tom, Lily, the wedding, anything and everything, until the food arrived and Annie’s stomach let out a groan at the size of the plate. Then they ate in complete silence, until the American woman leant over and asked her what she was eating because it looked divine. When they were both finished they left the pub and walked hand in hand back towards the car park.
‘What do you want to do—follow me or leave your car here and I’ll bring you up to get it tomorrow?’
‘I’ll come with you and you don’t need to bring me back up. Cathy is working in Barrow until dinner time; I’ll ask her to pick me up on her way back up to Windermere and she can drop me off here.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Come on, you’re going to love this – I hope.’
They climbed into his car and he drove the opposite way that they would normally come down the small road which led through the village until they passed a big farmhouse and lots of barns. He carried on driving for a couple of minutes and then turned off at an old broken gate onto an overgrown gravel drive. It was bumpy and the hedges were so overgrown it was impossible to see where they were going. Will drove slowly until the drive opened onto a large house which was unloved and in desperate need of repair, but it was love at first sight for Annie.
‘Oh, my, what an amazing house. Whose is it?’
Will stopped the car under a huge drooping lilac tree and picked up her hand. ‘Well, that depends on how much you like it because if you do like it then we could.’
She looked at him. ‘How?’
‘Well, you said you’d like to live in this area and it belongs to my dad’s friend who owns the farm we passed. He wants to sell it and was going to put it up for auction but he said if we like it then we can have first refusal; it will save him the hassle of trying to sell it.’
Tears glistened in her eyes and for the first time in months she felt speechless. ‘But how could we afford it?’
Will began to laugh. ‘This is cheeky, I know, but your house sale should complete soon, so that would be almost enough to pay for it. We can sell mine and then use that money to renovate it. But, to be truthful, you really don’t need to worry if we can afford it; all I care about is if you love it enough to want to spend the time renovating it and then living in it. The rest will work itself out.’
Will didn’t want to sound pretentious but he could more than afford it without using Annie’s money but she would want to contribute and he didn’t want to take her independence away from her.
‘Will, I love it. Have you been inside? How bad is it?’
‘I had a look around before I went to the pub and, believe it or not, considering it’s been empty for over twenty years it’s not in too bad a shape. The roof is sound and the structure; it needs new windows and doors, damp-proofing, and there are a lot of small rooms downstairs that could be knocked through to make it more open-plan and spacious, but see what you think.’
They got out of the car and Annie squealed. The garden was overgrown but amongst the weeds and brambles were cornflowers, lavender, roses and wild foxgloves. Will took hold of her hand and led her towards the front door, which had its own porch built around it. The trellis on either side was rotten and the creamy white rambling rose that covered it was holding it all together but it could all be replaced.
As she followed Will under the porch she shivered and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled; her inbuilt supernatural radar was telling her it was already inhabited by someone that Will would never see but there was no way she would let it stop her because she knew that she wanted to love this house from the inside as much as she loved the outside. As Will pushed the wooden door open, she looked at the faded wooden sign above it – Apple Tree Cottage – and sighed. The house was empty for now and Will led her by the hand from room to room. It was a good job neither of them were tall, as the ceilings were low. Each one had exposed wooden beams. Jake would struggle because he was very tall, but after hitting his head a few times he would remember about them. The kitchen was the only room that still had most of its cupboards and a huge old-fashioned range cooker. It wasn’t very big and Will read her mind. ‘If we knocked through this and the other two rooms we could have a really big kitchen-diner where you could practise your cooking skills.’
He winked at her and she laughed.
‘Cheeky—it’s a good job you can cook or we’d starve. Will, I love it. I can see a huge pine table and chairs and a sofa and a bookcase in the corner.’
She could also see children running and playing but she didn’t say this because she didn’t want to him to get scared