I’d walked far enough along the fence line that no one else could possibly hear, although I did a good three-sixty scan to make sure.
‘I think I’m falling in love with Pip.’
I counted six skittered heartbeats before Blessing answered.
‘Emmie, that is not news.’
‘It is to me!’
‘How many people on that island have made comments about the two of you?’
‘Too many,’ I mumbled, hunching my shoulders.
‘Precisely.’
‘Fine, but that doesn’t help me. What am I supposed to do about it?’
‘Tell him? Kiss him? Ask for his number and if you can meet up when he comes over for his graduation?’
‘I don’t want to come home,’ I whispered. ‘Not yet, anyway.’
‘So don’t! It’s your life, Emmie. What did you just say to me? Enjoy the wedding, and then take a few days to think about what’s next. Find out what he wants, too. Because he clearly loves you back.’
‘You think so?’
‘Don’t you?’
I thought about this. ‘I think he might…’
‘And you’re going to walk away from that, why?’
‘Because I’m a wuss?’
Because I was terrified that I’d end up making the same mistake as my mum, rushing into something I couldn’t handle. Or even worse, Pip might think he loved me enough to make the same mistake as his dad, potentially destroying both his relationship with his family and the farm. Then he’d get to know the real, Sherwood-Forest me. The one with an empty past, pitiful present and no clue about the future. And he’d leaveagain, so all that trouble would have resulted in nothing but a smashed-up heart.
Because if I stayed, I’d have to confront all the weird things that had been happening, and confrontation came about as easily to me as telling a man that I loved him.
‘Ah crap, there’s a queue of customers and Barb’s giving me the evil eyeliner. I have to go. Call me though, as soon as something happens!’
She hung up, leaving me leaning against a wooden fence, head swarming with muddled thoughts.
Pip appeared at the barn door, calling out as he started walking over.
‘Everything okay?’
‘Yeah. It was Blessing. She’s quit her job.’
He came to stand next to me, the fence creaking as he rested his hips against it.
‘You look worried about that.’
I kept my eyes on the grass, unable to look at him now every part of my body hummed with the truth about how I felt.
‘Not really. I’m more worried that I’ve also quit mine.’
His head jerked up.
‘Oh?’
