The Forgotten Village by Lorna Cook

Author:Lorna Cook [Lorna Cook]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

They ate dinner outside. Every time they passed the salt or the water jug and their fingers touched, they glanced at each other awkwardly, apologetically. They talked into the night and Guy gave her his jacket when it became chilly.

‘So what do you have waiting for you back in London?’ he asked. ‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but what’s the situation with your job?’

She sighed, reluctant to admit her life was boring and her working life even more so. ‘I used to work in magazines. I hated it. I tried to get into journalism, but all I could get were jobs in advertising sales. Not even with the glitzy brands, just the classifieds at the back. And even then I was just doing the admin. I couldn’t seem to get anywhere. I was in a cute little coffee shop near work one day and the girl who owned it seemed so happy, so chuffed not to be stuck in an office. Well, that’s how I interpreted it. The music was playing, customers were chatty and queuing out the door. I wished I was her, or at least I wished I could be in there all day. I’m not saying I want to open a coffee shop, but I realised there was no point slogging it out on very little money for a job I hated. So when they offered voluntary redundancy, I leaped at it. I’m temping until I work out what I really want to do.’ She glanced at him nervously. ‘Do I seem like a mess?’

‘No. You seem pretty normal to me.’

‘Well, thanks.’ She poured them both wine.

‘Do you have any idea what it is you do want to do?’ Guy asked.

Melissa thought. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘In an idealistic moment, the redundancy has brought me time. I don’t think I want an office job anymore. I’m sure something else will turn up when I least expect it. It has to. Or I’ll be broke very soon.’

She could feel herself getting tipsy and dared a question to change the subject.

‘What’s it really like to be a card-carrying celebrity? Do you get invited to loads of really swanky parties where the champagne flows all night?’

He laughed hard. ‘Yeah, that bit’s not so bad,’ he admitted. ‘But I much prefer to be at home, chilling in front of the TV, or with a good book. Or out on my boat.’

‘Your boat? You’re joking? I don’t remember the last time I was on a boat.’ She looked to one side and considered how different their lives were.

‘I’ll take you out on it if you like.’

‘Oh, that’s not what I … I wasn’t fishing for an invite.’

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. Maybe it was the ridiculous amount of wine she’d drunk, but she sensed the mood changing. They summoned the waitress for the bill. Melissa insisted she pay this time even though Guy fought it.

He glanced at his watch and then said, ‘I think we should get some sleep.

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