Never The Bride(9)

'It must be life or death stuff,' Georgie suggested.

'He designs video games, hardly the same as being needed to carry out major heart surgery,' I huffed.

'Don't take it personally. He made the effort to write a letter before he left,' she reminded me, shoving the letter back in the envelope and offering it to me. I shook my head.

'Bin it.'

'What?'

'Bin it. What's the point of me having his number? He lives over there, I live here. He's hot, I'm not. So we had a moment, but he's going to forget all about the clumsy, wet, tie-dyed girl when he's settled back into his life over there.'

'Abbie, you really like him and from what I saw, he really likes you, and stop with the Abbie bashing. You're beautiful. Ok, granted, you may not end up walking down the aisle with him, but don't stop something before it's even had a chance to begin. I've not seen you this interested in a guy before. At least communicate with him, see what he wants.'

'Sweetie, I can't make a relationship with Mr. Sumo work, and we've lived together for seven years. I've got no chance with a hot American. So I liked him, I felt a spark, but it was what it was. A fleeting moment. There must be loads of local guys I could spark with, I just have to get out there and start looking again. Now drink your drink and let's go dance. I need a bit of fun after the disaster of today,' I stated firmly, not entirely convinced I meant it.

'Abbie,' she pleaded, waving the envelope at me. I pulled it out of her hand and slid it across the bar towards the guy that had given it to me.

'Can you bin this for me please?' I asked, and he nodded and took it off me. I grabbed Georgie's hand, blanking out her protests, and dragged her away towards the dance floor before I had a chance to change my mind.

I had really liked him. How many times did you feel a pull to someone so strongly within seconds of meeting them? Not often in my case. But even if there wasn't the Atlantic between us, he was out of my league. And I'd heard what the girls had said earlier. He was single for a reason. He was a serial dater and he wasn't the settling-down type. I was living in fantasyland, and as an accountant, I should know better.



       
         
       
        

Miller Davis plus Abbie Carter was one mathematical equation that would never work out.





Chapter Three


The Bush Trimmer

August



'OK, OK, I'M COMING,' I yelled, trying to rake my fingers through my bed-matted hair while I jogged down the stairs, quickly doing up the buttons on the pyjamas I'd just grabbed from my chest of drawers. It had been two weeks since my Miller encounter and Georgie had come over to help me drown my sorrows in my subsequent slump. I was seriously regretting having thrown away his number now. I couldn't stop thinking about him. I knew that I could always ring Rachel to ask for it, but so could he if he wanted to get mine, and he hadn't. I was kind of old-fashioned, I liked a guy to do the chasing. Again, in his case. I didn't want to come across as some desperate, panting groupie, which of course I was. Then there was the whole he-didn't-do-relationships thing, against my not-looking-for-a-fling thing, not to mention the whole ocean thing. There were too many "things" to even consider dating a man like him. I heard Sumo grumbling in the lounge, as annoyed as I was to be woken up at eight a.m. on a Saturday. Who the hell was it?

I paused with my fingers wrapped around the door handle, my heart suddenly racing. What if it was him? He could have flown all the way over an ocean, traversed the countryside lanes, dodging badgers and the odd stray sheep that wandered into the road, to come and claim me in some kind of romantic-comedy movie moment. My fingers were shaking as I unlocked the top half of the door and threw it open, sighing heavily to find a complete stranger staring back at me.

'Good morning. Abbie Carter?' came the deep male voice with a noticeable Welsh twang to it.

'Yes?'

'I've come to trim your bush.'

'I'm sorry, I'm half-asleep. Did you say you've come to trim my  …  bush?' I was having a déjà vu of the conversation, but not of the admittedly cute, strapping guy standing in front of me. He was dressed in a pair of honey-coloured Timberland boots, black combats, and a khaki Henley shirt, which was rolled up to his elbows, exposing some tanned, strong-looking forearms. Nice!

'Sorry, I'm an early riser, I like to get as much done as possible before it gets too hot in the afternoon. David, your neighbour, said it's got out of hand, and you might need some other jobs doing?'

'Oh, you're the bush trimmer, sorry, gardener.'

'Heath Jones, nice to meet you,' he replied, extending his hand.

'Abbie Carter, obviously,' I replied, giving it a shake. Wow, he had a firm grip. And unlike the businessmen I usually shook hands with, his hands were rough and slightly calloused. 'So, Heath Jones, how much do you charge for bush trimming, sorry, sorry, gardening?' 

'Twelve pounds an hour, but I don't just do bushes.' He gave me a lopsided grin, showing a set of nice, even teeth and a solitary dimple. Was he flirting with me?

'Tell me more,' I smiled, folding my arms across my chest. I was suddenly acutely aware that I was standing in front of a very cute guy wearing just my emergency hot pink pyjamas with a huge Hello Kitty face on my chest and a small white one on my backside.

'I'm a jack-of-all-trades, really. Landscaping, plumbing, odd jobs around the house like painting, putting up shelves, and assembling furniture. I'm a trained carpenter too. I made the tree house in the Weathers' garden for their grandchildren, and those custom-made struts to hold up the branches of my uncle's plum tree, which were hanging too low with the heavy load.'

'Oh,' I nodded, having a light bulb moment. 'Those are the plums that gave Daphne the black eye. Got to say that's a relief.' Well, this Heath was cute, and now that I knew he wasn't a bisexual, old-aged-pensioner romancer, his stock was rising rapidly. He gave me a puzzled look and went to say something, then changed his mind. 'Ok, Heath, I obviously need the holly bush doing, the hedge trimming, and some general tidying up in the back garden. But I have some jobs around the house that need doing too.'

'What kind?' he asked, folding his strong arms across a very broad chest as he angled his head.

'Well, I have a slight leak under the kitchen sink, the front door sticks and squeaks, I've had a shelf unit to put up in my bedroom forever, and the house, as well as the windows and doors, are overdue painting. Then my chimney in the lounge needs sweeping.'

'Ok well, I can do the bush and hedge today, and the odd jobs in the house. I'd have to come back to do the back garden another day, if it's as large as next door's. The house painting I'd have to schedule in, but obviously it will depend on the weather, and I can give you a number for the chimney sweep, as that's not something I do.' He smiled again, some fine creases appearing around a pair of bright emerald eyes, and ran a hand through his short, very dark brown hair. I needed to upgrade him from cute to very cute.

'Great. Well, give me a minute to get out of these pyjamas and I can show you how I want my bush done. I kind of like a shape to it, you know? It makes it look more pretty,' I told him. He chuckled and put a hand up to his mouth as he tried to keep in his laughter, while I felt my cheeks flush when I realised how that must have sounded.

'I'll go and get my tools out of my van,' he nodded, his eyes still sparkling with amusement. 'Nice pussy, by the way,' he added. I gasped, and he dropped his hand as he flicked his chin at me. 'On your chest. My niece loves Hello Kitty.'

'They're emergency pyjamas only, I'm not some kind of woman who thinks she's still a teenager,' I advised him in a rush. 'Trust me, I'm all woman. I happen to sleep naked and when you knocked on the door, I grabbed these to put on. And now I'm telling you totally inappropriate things. I'm going to shut the door and go and get changed and come back when I'm more respectable.' My cheeks burning, I didn't give him a chance to respond and quickly pushed the top half of the stable door, ramming it a couple of times to get it to shut, then locked it. 'Idiot, Abbie,' I muttered to myself as I took the stairs two at a time.



'Seriously, Sumo,' I griped as he waddled out of the kitchen, leaving the utility room in carnage. His breakfast bowl was upside down, there were drops of stray gravy on the floor where it had dripped off his head, and he'd managed to put his foot in his water bowl in his enthusiasm to chow down his food, leaving a puddle of water everywhere. Not to mention the wet paw prints he was leaving as he headed back for his après-breakfast snooze. I grabbed him first, much to his bemusement, and dried his paws with an old towel. I then tried to hold him still, struggling to keep my grip while he wriggled to escape, as I attempted to wipe the gravy out of the deep, hairy creases in his forehead. 'I'm feeling very under-appreciated as a mother right now, you know.'



       
         
       
        

His dark, moist eyes just held my gaze, as his pink tongue hung from the side of his mouth while he panted. I was going to have to ask Georgie if she offered teeth cleaning as part of her services, as he was in desperate need of some breath freshening.

'Go on then, go sleep while I clean up your mess, then after lunch we'll go for a walk, ok?'