Perhaps his grand gesture was too much, too intimate to be splashed all over daytime television. Although, he silently thanked Jess, once again, for her insistence that her afternoon chat show cover this ‘human interest’ story.
Fucking human interest.
Nate scrubbed a hand over his face and groaned. He was so damned tired.
‘You alright, mate?’ the driver asked, looking at him through the rear-view mirror.
‘Yeah,’ Nate sighed. ‘Shit, watch out!’ he cried, because there was a big green tractor bursting through a gap in the hedgerow, straight onto the road in front of them.
‘Shit!’ the driver shouted, slamming on the brakes.
Nate was thrown against his seatbelt as the car skidded, his phone flying from his hand.
‘You okay?’ The driver turned to check that Nate wasn’t injured.
‘Yeah.’ He nodded.
Who the hell was that? Why were they driving that tractor like a maniac in the pouring rain?
‘Oi! What are you doing?’ The driver had the window down and obviously had the same thought as Nate had.
It was raining so hard, he could only make out two splodges in the cab of the tractor, but then one climbed down. One with a black dress on and long brown hair.
Nate launched himself out of the car because it was Laurel, standing there in the middle of the road, in the pouring rain.
His Laurel.
‘Where are you going?’ she called over the hammering of the rain on the tractor and the car. Why wasn’t she wearing a coat, a hood? She would catch her death being out here in just that flimsy cotton dress.
‘I’m going to Jess and Owen’s to give you some space,’ he said, his voice hoarse.
She was beautiful. Tired and exhausted. But beautiful.
He took a cautious step forward, not caring that he hadn’t done up the zip of his jacket, and the front of his shirt was saturated.
‘Are you coming back?’ she asked.
He made a mirthless laugh.
‘I don’t want to pressure you, Laurel.’
It was her turn to take a step forward, into a puddle, but she didn’t seem to notice.
‘You didn’t know,’ she said. It wasn’t a question. It was a revelation.
‘I didn’t know.’ He gave a tight smile.
‘I’m sorry, Nate, I should have listened to you, I should have let you explain. I was just so hurt, so upset. I thought you’d betrayed me. I didn’t,’ she stuttered, ‘I couldn’t.’
He was a few steps in front of her, but he couldn’t close that gap, wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her hair. No, he had to wait for her. He’d laid himself bare on television. It was up to her now.
‘Did you mean it?’ There was barely concealed hope in her eyes, and his chest bloomed with heat.
‘Yes,’ he rasped. ‘I meant it. I’m in love with you, Laurel Fletcher.’
Laurel’s throat bobbed in a swallow, and the tears on her cheeks mingled with the rain still falling hard from the sky.
She took a deep breath.
