Page 30 of Match Point in Crumbleton
‘Glad? I could kiss you!’ she beamed at him before taking another swig of coke.
Andy said nothing. Mainly because he’d like nothing more than a kiss from Cath right now… even though he was all sweaty, still shirtless, and in desperate need of a shower.
‘Anyway,’ said Cath, ‘what do you think? Caroline seemed to like the idea, but she wanted me to run it past you. What do you think?’ she said again, clearly desperate for his seal of approval.
‘I… erm… I think it’s a great idea!’ said Andy. If he was being honest, he’d have agreed with pretty much anything she said right then, but luckily, he really did like the sound of this. ‘Anything that brings Crumbleton to life is good in my books. I can have a word with Fergus with you if you’d like?’
‘Would you?’ she said, her eyes going wide. ‘I mean, I really want to do it as soon as we can, while the weather’s still good.’
‘Of course,’ said Andy. ‘I think he’ll love it. Actually… I’m not sure why no one’s ever tried it before. I mean, apart from another cut of the grass and getting the lines painted… and maybe trying to rediscover the terrace… everything here’s pretty much good to go. And I could even get the signs finished if you give me a day or two.’
‘What signs?’ said Cath with interest.
Andy scrambled to his feet and held his hand out to help her up. ‘Here, I’ll show you.’
‘And then we’ll go and talk to Fergus?’ she said.
‘I think I’d better put my tee shirt back on first, don’t you?’ said Andy with a slightly embarrassed grin.
‘Depends,’ said Cath, cocking her head and staring at him.
‘On what?’ said Andy with a surprised laugh.
‘On whether the owner of the Dolphin and Anchor is a fan of a very nice view!’ she said, flashing him a cheeky grin.
CHAPTER 13
CATH
‘Found one!’ shouted Cath, yanking the racket out of the crammed box and waving it in the air triumphantly.
It had been a couple of days since she’d had her brainwave about reinstating the Sir Anthony Cheswell Cup, and she’d barely stopped to draw breath since. Still, it would all be worth it. Things were coming together so quickly that she could barely keep up.
As both Caroline and Andy had predicted, Fergus loved the idea. He’d jumped at the chance of hosting an event that could bring a crowd to the hotel—as well as some good publicity. Between them, Cath and Fergus had decided that they’d do their best to keep the event as authentic as possible and include as many nods to the past as they could—it was a museum fundraiser, after all.
Fergus’s only concern had been about upsetting his neighbours if tennis balls ended up endangering their windows. Andy had come up with a solution straight away—players could only use old, wooden rackets. They had a lot less power… and in theory, it should make things a little less hairy for everyone involved. The only problem now was finding enough that were in one piece to use on the big day. This was the reason she’d just spent the last two hours with Andy, rummaging through as many boxes at the museum as possible.
‘What’s that make it?’ called Cath over her shoulder. ‘Four-two to me?’
‘Not that you’re competitive or anything?’ laughed Andy, peering around a pillar to smile at her.
‘Me? Never!’ said Cath, before doing a triumphant little fist pump.
‘Found one!’ yelled Andy.
‘Seriously?’ said Cath, straightening up and stretching the kinks out of her back.
‘Damn,’ sighed Andy. ‘Strike that, it’s a badminton racket.’
Cath let out a snigger.
‘Oi, don’t mock!’ said Andy with an exaggerated pout in her direction.
‘As if I would!’ said Cath. ‘You just look cute when you’re sad, that’s all.’
The temptation to head straight over there and kiss that pout right off his face was almost more than she could bear… but no, maybe not. The last thing she needed to do right now was scare the living daylights out of the poor guy and send him running for the hills.
Cath was getting more than a little bit used to having Andy around. They’d spent hours on end together over the past few days, getting various things ready for the event… and it was getting… dangerous. She was finding it increasingly hard to stop herself from reaching for him whenever he was nearby. There was something about Andy that made her want to hug him, pat him, brush past him or lean on his shoulder. It was like there was a magnetic charge between them that seemed to be growing stronger by the day. Hell… by the hour!
