Reaching for the hem of his t-shirt, Andy started to yank it up and over his head. It was sticky with sweat, which made the whole process a lot more tricky than it should have been, and he got stuck halfway. After a slightly panicked battle to free himself, he eventually managed to haul it off. Mopping his face with the damp cotton, he was about to toss it aside when Andy noticed he had an audience.
One stunned-looking spectator was staring at him from the entrance to the garden.
‘Cath!’ he said, feeling his face grow even hotter. ‘I’m sorry… I would never have… if I’d known you were there…’ he gestured uselessly at his bare chest.
Cath had a peculiar expression on her face that Andy couldn’t quite place. Blinking slowly at him, she seemed to be coming out of some kind of daze.
‘Hi!’ she said, a smile creeping onto her face. It grew wider… and wider. ‘Oh my… Andy! You’re a genius!’
Andy frowned, not quite sure what was going on… but he didn’t get much time to work on the riddle. Cath executed a funny little jump on the spot and then ran towards him. Wrapping her arms around his sweaty neck, she kissed him on the cheek.
Andy promptly lost the power of speech as Cath’s flowery scent washed over him. A line of fire spread outwards from the point where her lips had met his face… and the new heat that spread through him had nothing to do with the warmth of the day.
Cath pulled him even closer in the hug, and Andy’s arms wrapped around her waist of their own accord as she kissed his cheek again.
‘I… erm…’ stuttered Andy. ‘I’m all sweaty!’
‘Okay, so you’re a sweaty genius!’ laughed Cath, stepping back a little way and grinning up at him.
Andy raised a hand and ruffled his hair, completely confused.
‘It’s a tennis court!’ said Cath, pointing at the newly mown patch of grass.
‘Yep, it used to be,’ said Andy, not entirely sure why this had just earned him such an enthusiastic greeting. Not that he was complaining, of course! He rather liked getting hugged by Cath… even if he had no idea why he deserved it.
‘It’s perfect!’ said Cath.
‘Great!’ said Andy. ‘Erm… what for?’
‘Well, how about we sit over there in the shade,’ said Cath, grabbing his hand and tugging. ‘I’ll fill you in over a drink.’
‘I don’t think the bar’s open,’ said Andy faintly, looking at her slender hand wrapped around his big brown one… that he could really do with washing. Hell – he could really do with a shower… maybe a cold one!
‘Don’t worry!’ said Cath, blissfully unaware of the direction his thoughts were wandering in. ‘I came prepared.’
Andy followed Cath and watched as she sank down onto a patch of grass in the shade of the newly trimmed bushes.
‘I can’t believe this,’ she said, rummaging in her bag and pulling out two cans of coke.
She handed one to Andy. It was wonderfully cold and judging by the dewy sheen on the outside, it wasn’t long out of the fridge.
‘Thanks,’ he said, cracking it open and taking a grateful slurp of the ice-cold, sugary deliciousness. ‘Cheers!’ he added, coming up for air long enough to clank his can against the edge of Cath’s. ‘And… what exactly can’t you believe?’
‘That great minds think alike on something quite this weird!’ chuckled Cath, taking a far more dainty sip of her drink than he just had.
‘Okay—I might have had a bit too much sun, but I’m lost,’ said Andy.
‘The tennis court!’ said Cath. ‘I was coming to find you to ask if it might be possible to mow it and tidy it up… but you’ve already done it!’
‘Oh,’ said Andy. ‘Yeah, I have… but… why?’
‘It’s like this,’ said Cath, ‘I’ve had an idea!’
Andy listened as Cath laid out her plans for reinstating the tennis tournament and raising funds for the museum. In fact… he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She seemed to have come alive with excitement—her cheeks were pink and her eyes dancing with life as her words tripped over themselves in her haste to fill him in.
‘And I just can’t believe you’d had the same idea!’ she finished breathlessly.
‘Erm… not quite the same idea,’ hedged Andy, ‘but I’m glad it worked out!’
