‘You’re really serious about losing weight, aren’t you?’
‘So?’ she retorted belligerently.
He said softly, ‘I think you’re perfect as you are.’
The way he said it made her heart flutter, an entirely different sensation to the one that had driven her from her bed earlier. But no less disturbing.
So it was fortuitous that she was almost home.
Hurrying to her front door, she said, ‘This is me. Thanks for keeping me company.’
‘My pleasure.’
The problem Nora had when she gently shut the door as he strolled away, was that he’d sounded as though he’d meant it.
And she’d enjoyed it, too.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Elijah woke on Sunday morning with three things on his mind. The first – that there was no doubt he would never run again – didn’t come as a shock. The second, that it would be another week before Dawn, the sanctuary’s manager, would consider his application, was met with resignation.
The third was that he was looking forward to seeing Nora today.
It was this which concerned him the most, because the last time he’d looked forward to spending time with a woman, he’d married her and it hadn’t ended well. Which was probably why he’d been single since the divorce.
He’d had many first dates, but few had led to second ones, and only once in twelve years had he got as far as date number three. There simply hadn’t been a spark.
But Nora was different. He couldn’t put his finger on how or why. She just was.
When he’d seen her last night, he’d been surprised at first, then mildly alarmed. Was her quest to lose weight so important to her that she had to roam the streets in the middle of the night? Seeing her alone in the darkness had given him the shivers, and he’d been relieved when she’d agreed to let him accompany her, and even more relieved when he’d safely delivered her to her door. He’d also meant it when he’d told her she was perfect the way she was, although he couldn’t believe he’d actually said it out loud. What a muppet.
The bakery wasn’t open on Sundays, but this morning Elijah felt an unexpected urge to play with dough, to bake something different, and not because he wanted to produce a new product to improve sales (although that would be welcome), but for the sheer act of baking something new.
It had been a long time since he’d felt like baking for the love of it.
He never baked at home these days, wanting to keep his work life separate, but there’d once been a time when the house – the one he’d shared with his wife and son – had been rich with the smell of fresh bread, the air seeded with a fine dusting of flour or icing sugar. A time when he’d been happy…
Elijah sighed, pushing aside the dreary memories of his failed marriage, and with it the desire to bake.
He’d go for a run instead— Ah, no, he wouldn’t be doing that, either: the deep ache in his leg last night had been a warning, and one he would be foolish to ignore.
Another walk, then?
But walking on his own was a different kettle of fish torunningon his own. Running was purposeful. Walking was…?
Second best.
Elijah slumped in his living room chair feeling restless, useless, adrift. On any normal Sunday, he’d be halfway through a fifteen-mile run by now and thoroughly enjoying every step. At least if he had a dog he could—
His thoughts turned to Biscuit.
A big dog like that needed a lot of exercise. Bernese Mountain Dogs had been bred to herd cattle in the Swiss Alps, and they’d also been used to pull small carts to transport cheeses. They liked being active (he’d been reading up on them) and he’d be more than happy to give Biscuit the exercise needed. He certainly wouldn’t be sitting in an armchair contemplating his navel if he had Biscuit to care for; he’d be out on the hillside, putting in the miles.
Restlessly he picked up his phone, remembered he’d deleted the RunMad app, and put it down again, a crushing loneliness assailing him. It was pathetic that he missed people he only really knew via an electronic device, that those usernames had been his only social life and without them he felt lost.
The sole light in the gloom of his self-pity was the prospect of adopting Biscuit.
And seeing Nora at the kennels this afternoon.
