It had gotten colder, and Laurel pulled her coat around her, not having quite drunk enough wine for a suitable beer jacket.
‘Well good, because I like him too,’ Laurel said tartly.
‘Oh my god, can you talk about something else? It’s sickening,’ Robin muttered behind them.
‘Ooh, Robin. I have to say…’ Laurel turned and pinned her brother with wavering eyes. ‘If you break my Sylvie’s heart, I will smother you in your sleep. Okay?’
Robin rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone to type a message.
‘No, I mean it,’ Laurel continued. ‘I love you, obviously, but I adore Sylvie, and if you’re going to be nice to her then that’s fine, but if you’re going to break her heart then I may have to burn you.’ She squelched down on a hiccup.
Robin finished his text and put his phone in his pocket.
‘Sylvie?’ he huffed. ‘Who even said I like Sylvie?’
Laurel shrugged theatrically, and Rebecca stifled a laugh.
‘I’m just saying, you know, just in case.’
‘Oh look,’ Robin deadpanned, pointing over her shoulder. ‘It’s Nate.’
‘Nate!’ she cried, dragging a giggling Rebecca over to her front door, where Nate had magically appeared. He exchanged a look with Robin. ‘Look, Rebecca, it’s my boyfriend!’
‘It is your boyfriend!’ Rebecca squealed.
‘Okay, she’s your problem now,’ Robin said, and gave Laurel a light shove into Nate’s arms.
He smelled so good.
‘I’ll just sleep here, on your chest,’ Laurel said, snuggling against him.
‘Okay, good,’ Nate said, smiling.
Okay. Good.
Chapter Twenty
Nate
Nate was sweating under his shirt collar.
‘Relax, Nate, you’re doing well,’ Laurel whispered to him as they moved from one group of academics to another.
‘Are you sure? Is it going alright?’ he asked anxiously. No matter how many of these he did, his heart still beat hard against his chest, and his voice seemed sluggish and strange.
Laurel nodded. ‘It’s going perfectly, okay?’
‘Okay.’
Having Laurel on his arm whilst talking with funders, industry professionals and university members was incredibly calming. She was convivial, friendly and engaging, the perfect partner in selling both the site and her farm.
Alex, however, had studiously kept as far away as he could, mingling with people at a very precise ninety-degree angle from him and Laurel, wearing a mismatched blue jacket with crumpled black trousers. Didn’t he even own an iron?
‘I knew you and Nathanial here would find something brilliant, Lauren,’ Professor Rowlands was saying.
‘Professor, thank you, but it really was all Nate and his team,’ she said, squeezing his arm gently.
‘Well, I think you make a very good team together,’ the old Professor said warmly.
