The Little Village Bakery: A feel good romantic comedy with plenty of cake (Honeybourne Book 1) (21 page)

‘SPENCER!’ she cried as she waded towards him.

Rich and Dylan dragged Spencer clear of the water. Jasmine barged past and bent to him, turning him over, her heart beating wildly and a cold sickness creeping over her. He had a gash on the side of his head that was bleeding badly and the unforgiving torch beam lent him a grey pallor. It looked bad.

Millie handed Dylan the torch and gently guided Jasmine out of the way. ‘Let me see.’ She bent to Spencer and listened. ‘He’s not breathing. He must have water in his lungs.’

Jasmine watched, half fearful, half in awe as Millie worked to save him. She had never seen anything like it and neither had she seen this new Millie: calm, knowledgeable and confident, calling out orders for help with Spencer’s positioning and the torchlight, until, after an anxious few minutes, he began to cough.

‘That was amazing!’ Rich said in hushed tones, echoing Jasmine’s thoughts.

Millie shrugged. ‘I picked up some first aid tips, it’s no big deal.’ Her expression was still tense as she scanned the steep incline now stretching above them in its entirety. Then her gaze went back to Spencer, still not moving, despite the fact he was now breathing. ‘There’s no way we can get him up there. Someone is going to have to phone the emergency services.’

Dylan nodded. ‘I’ll do it.’

Jasmine sat down next to Spencer. She stroked his hair and took off her raincoat to cover him. She knew he was already soaking wet but she had to offer him something. He had saved her marriage, possibly Rich’s life, and had almost lost his own for his pains. She glanced up at Rich as another fork of lightning jagged across the sky. His gaze slid over the two of them, and then away to the river. His expression was unreadable. Maybe he was jealous. Maybe he was still stinging from the revelations Spencer had finally laid bare so ferociously after years of bottling them up. Right now, although she was glad to see Rich safe, she didn’t much care. She would forgive him eventually, but not tonight.

‘They’re on their way,’ Dylan said, interrupting her thoughts. ‘What the hell has been going on here?’

‘It’s a long story,’ Jasmine said.

‘I’m sure the rescue team can’t wait to hear it,’ he replied drily, ‘especially when we’ve dragged them out on a night like this.’

Jasmine and Rich looked at each other.

‘How’s Spencer?’ Dylan asked.

Millie turned her attention to the patient again. ‘I think he’s breathing normally now… but that head will need stitching. It’s hard to see if there are other injuries in this light. And he’s still unconscious.’

‘Let’s hope the paramedics get here soon then.’ Dylan picked his way over to where Millie knelt next to Spencer, handed the torch to Jasmine, and then pulled Millie to stand. She gave a little gasp of surprise as he pressed his lips forcefully to hers.

Jasmine looked at Rich, who raised his eyebrows slightly. She couldn’t help a small smile in return.

Dylan was grinning as he let Millie go. ‘It’s a weird, dangerous night, and that makes you do weird and dangerous things.’ He hugged her. ‘You are incredible.’

‘I don’t know if this is the time…’ Millie replied uncertainly.

‘Oh yeah,’ Dylan said, the steel returning to his voice, ‘thanks for reminding me. I owe Rich a beating for being a dickhead.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Rich said quietly.

‘You need to sort things out. You’ve got three kids going out of their minds right now because they don’t know where their dad is. Don’t you think about this stuff at all?’ Dylan asked. ‘They hear how their grandparents died and it makes the possibility real. They make connections and they know that if it happened to me and Jasmine it can happen to anyone.’

‘I know,’ Rich said. ‘You’re right. I owe everyone an apology.’ His gaze went to Spencer. ‘Even him.’

Dylan frowned as he looked from one to the other. A shadow crossed his features but then seemed to clear. ‘You two are ok, though?’ he asked Jasmine.

She nodded and shot a questioning look at Rich. ‘I think so…’

Rich squirmed slightly as he looked at Spencer again. ‘You don’t want… You know, after what you’ve heard tonight…’

Jasmine shook her head. ‘Don’t be an arse. I told you before that I love you and I meant it.’

Spencer groaned softly. Jasmine turned back to him and stroked the hair away from his forehead. ‘I hope you’re going to be ok,’ she murmured.

M
illie opened her eyes
. Dylan’s sleeping face swam into view. His breath tickled her cheek and she smiled. Turning her head slightly, she glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was gone midday, but considering what they had all been through the night before, she was amazed to be awake this early.

They had left Spencer to be observed overnight in hospital. He had briefly regained consciousness and was confused, but the doctors reassured them that all his preliminary checks were fine. After his ordeal, a little confusion was the very least they could expect. Not long after he had woken, he was sleeping again. Jasmine had insisted on staying at his bedside and the nurses had fetched her blankets while Rich was taken back to Honeybourne by taxi, now sobering up and promising to go straight to the Dog and Hare to let the kids know all was well. All five of them were soaked and caked in mud and there had been a few raised eyebrows when they had tried to give an edited version of the night’s events. Dylan and Millie had gone home in a separate taxi, an hour or so after Rich, leaving Jasmine sleeping in a chair by Spencer’s bed.

And when the taxi dropped them off outside the bakery, Dylan had watched it drive away in silence before kissing Millie again. From that moment on she had been lost. They didn’t care that they were soaked to the bone, shivering, muddy and exhausted. Dylan had swept her into his arms and carried her up to the bedroom. He had laid her on the bed and made love to her with such tenderness that she could scarcely believe this was the same man she had met when she first arrived in Honeybourne. She gave herself completely, in a way that she had never done before, not even with Michael. Afterwards, as they lay in each other’s arms, lost in their own thoughts, she wondered whether it was all some sort of weird reaction to the night’s events. Perhaps, in the cold light of morning, everything would look as bleak and hopeless as it had done before.

But as she gazed at him now, she knew that a new name had been indelibly inked onto her heart. She had no idea what that meant, whether she had to leave as she had planned in order to protect him or stay to be with him, she just hoped he would feel the same.

He stirred, and then he was looking at her. ‘Hey, you,’ he smiled.

‘Hey yourself. How are you feeling?’

‘Amazing. How about you?’

‘Pretty amazing too.’ She rolled over and he opened his arms for her to snuggle in. ‘I suppose you’re hungry?’

‘Depends what’s on the menu…’ His mouth met hers, hands plunging into her hair as he stiffened against her. Rocked by a wave of desire undiminished from the previous night, Millie gave herself to him again.

I
t was
a quarter past three when Millie woke and looked at the bedside clock again. Her stomach was growling so loudly she wondered how the racket hadn’t woken Dylan. As she tried to extricate herself from his embrace without waking him, his grip around her waist tightened and he grinned. ‘Don’t think you’re getting away that easily.’

‘I thought you were still asleep,’ Millie said, kissing him lightly. He opened his eyes and gave her an impish smile.

‘That’s what I wanted you to think. Aren’t blokes supposed to look cuter when they’re asleep?’

‘That depends on the amount of drool they’re producing at the time.’

‘Harsh but fair.’ He propped himself up on one elbow. ‘You want breakfast?’

‘As we’re in my house, aren’t I supposed to ask you that?’

‘I like to bend the rules.’

Millie raised her eyebrows. ‘I already guessed that much.’

There was a knock on the front door that echoed through the house and Millie shot up.

‘Are you ok?’ Dylan put a hand protectively on her arm.

‘It’s Rowena. I know it.’

‘No. I don’t think so. Not after yesterday.’ He vaulted off the bed, hauling the sheet off Millie and wrapping it around his midriff as he went to the window. Millie hugged her knees to her chest, feeling exposed and vulnerable in her nakedness. He craned his neck to get a look at the street below, and then turned with a slow grin.

‘It’s Ruth.’

Millie heaved a sigh of relief.

‘Want me to get the door?’ he asked.

‘No! Imagine what she’d say!’

‘Exactly…’ He let the sheet fall to the floor and snatched up a sock which he proceeded to arrange around his penis. ‘Will I do?’

‘Dylan!’ Millie squealed.

He bolted from the room laughing as he ran down the stairs. Millie leapt from the bed and hurriedly threw on his abandoned shirt to give chase.

‘Don’t you dare!’ she cried.

She raced through to the front shop but it was too late. The door to the street was wide open, Dylan standing before an open-mouthed Ruth.

‘Morning…’ he said amiably. ‘Or should I say good afternoon? I’m not entirely sure how long we’ve been in bed.’

For the first time since Millie had known her, Ruth appeared to be dumbstruck. She simply stared at Dylan, her eyes trained on one area of his body as if held there by hooks and string.

‘I’ll come back…’ she finally managed in a feeble voice.

‘Are you sure, Ruth? Because it’d be no trouble to make you a cup of tea. We’d have to get dressed first, of course, and perhaps get something to eat because we haven’t had time yet with all the sex, but I’m sure you wouldn’t mind that, would you?’

Ruth shook her head silently. And then, without another word, she turned and left.

Dylan let the door slam shut and span round with a wicked grin. ‘Did you see her face? She’ll be straight down the Dog and Hare to see Colleen!’

‘What did you do that for?’

‘It was funny.’

‘No it wasn’t…’ Millie folded her arms and glared at him. But then a smile appeared at the corner of her lips and she was unable to stop it growing. ‘I suppose it was a bit.’

‘She won’t come snooping around again in a hurry.’

‘That’s what you think,’ Millie laughed. ‘She’s got hidden depths, that one. She’s probably on her way back right now to get another eyeful.’

‘Well, who can blame her with such a prime specimen of manhood on display?’

‘And so modest too…’

Dylan grinned. ‘Naturally. So, now that we’re up why don’t we grab some food? I don’t know about you but I’m starving. We can go out for a late lunch if you like, my treat.’

‘It’ll be more like supper by the time we’re ready. How about we grab a quick bite here and then call the hospital to see how Spencer is? We can always go out later.’

‘Jasmine will phone to update us,’ he said airily, ‘she’s good like that.’

‘I wonder how she and Rich and the kids are,’ Millie said. ‘Whatever happened last night seemed like it was serious. Has anything like it happened before?’

‘Not to my knowledge. But if there is one couple on earth who are meant to be together, it’s them. I’m sure they’ll be just fine.’ He planted his hands either side of her face and kissed her forehead. ‘I could do with picking up some clean clothes from across the road. I might just grab a shower while I’m there… Care to soap my back for me?’

‘No chance. I think you can manage.’

‘Ooh…’ He clutched a hand to his chest in a melodramatic display. ‘You know how to break a man’s spirit.’

‘Shut up,’ she laughed.

With a quick grin, he sprinted through the main room to the stairs. Millie heard the echo of his footsteps above her. It was strange, the evidence of someone else in the bakery, but it was nice. It was something she could get used to.

A moment later he returned, bare-chested, with a dressing gown draped over his arm. ‘Swap you?’

‘Sorry, I forgot,’ Millie said, trying not to blush as she handed the shirt back and pulled the gown on. In the light of day and not in her bedroom, she felt embarrassed to be naked in front of him.

‘Will you be ok?’ he asked as he buttoned his shirt.

‘You’re only going across the road,’ she smiled.

‘You know what I mean.’

She nodded. ‘I think so. Thank you.’

‘No… thank
you
.’ He pulled her close and kissed her tenderly. ‘Thank you for coming into my life. Thank you for being such a rock last night and thank you for being generally amazing.’

‘Wow!’ Millie stepped back and regarded him with raised eyebrows, a wry smile about her lips. ‘I should be awesome more often.’

Dylan gave an easy laugh as he kissed her again and then headed for the door. ‘Don’t you go anywhere, I’ll be back shortly.’

‘I won’t. In fact, I might not bother getting dressed either.’

‘Suits me… less for me to rip off when I get back.’ With that, he headed out into the sun that had, once again, banished the storm of the previous night. Millie squinted as she stood at the door and watched him cross the street. The irony of the weather was not lost on her. It seemed to be the way in Honeybourne these days, that every silver lining had a big, fat, demon cloud just waiting to swallow everything in darkness. She wondered when it would be back to take Dylan from her.

D
ylan returned
two hours later with a bottle of good Shiraz, a large dish of piping-hot lasagne, foil-wrapped garlic bread and a bowl of fresh salad. When Millie asked him delightedly where he had got it from, he merely tapped his nose, ordered her to sit down, and set about rooting in her cupboards for the things he needed to lay the table. Millie suspected that he had got Colleen to make it all for him, but it was a gesture that made her face ache from smiling. For a long time she had not been able to believe that a man would want to treat her with anything but contempt and certainly didn’t think she deserved more than that. But Dylan seemed to really care. Even if it didn’t last, or turned to shit weeks down the line, she promised herself that she would have this memory and not let anything taint it as she had all the memories of Michael.

Millie had just started her second helping of lasagne when the text message came through. Dylan licked his fingers clean of garlic butter and reached for his phone.

‘It’s Jas. She says Spencer has been given the all clear. They’re taking him home now.’

Millie smiled. ‘That’s fantastic news.’ She had spoken to Jasmine on the phone earlier and now understood a lot more of what had happened last night and why. Her heart went out to Spencer, a man who deserved more than the hand life was dealing him right now. Spencer was a good man – beautiful, kind, funny and sweet, the truest friend a woman could hope to have. He would find his princess one day, of that she was sure. Maybe he just needed to run around with that glass slipper a little while longer.

Millie’s smile faltered a little as she wondered how much Dylan knew about what Spencer had said and done the night before.

‘I’m not going to set on him again if that’s what you’re thinking,’ Dylan said, breaking in on her thoughts.

‘How did you…?’

‘Jasmine told me a bit. She phoned me just after she’d finished talking to you and gave me a very stern warning.’

‘You’re ok with him? What he said to Jasmine?’

‘I don’t know… I can only say that up until now I didn’t know what it meant to be crazy about someone and what it could do to you. I despised him; I thought it was somehow a weakness, a failing, something a good slap would knock out of him. But now I just feel sad for him. It must be so hard to love someone and know that you’ll never be able to have them… harder still to live in their shadow every day and still be a decent person. He went out after Rich last night, to save his marriage to Jas. I’d say that’s an alright bloke.’

‘High praise indeed,’ Millie smiled. ‘I’m glad you see it like that. I think he’s had enough pain for one lifetime.’

‘As have you…’ Dylan reached across the table and squeezed her hand. ‘If you’ll let me, I’d like to at least try to make you happy.’

‘You already have.’ She leaned across and kissed him.

‘Hmm,’ he said as he broke away. ‘You taste garlicky… just the way I like you.’

‘Cheeky!’ Millie laughed.

‘I could be…’

He got up from his chair and in seconds had raced around the table and scooped her up into his arms. ‘The bedroom, milady?’

‘What if Jasmine and Rich come to see us when they’ve taken Spencer home?’

‘Then they’ll have to knock extra loud…’

‘You’re terrible!’ Millie giggled. ‘What about this dinner?’

‘Great idea, we could get kinky and eat it off each other!’

‘You’re such an idiot!’ Millie cried, her giggling saucier still.

Swinging her around, he began to march towards the doorway that led to the stairs. He had barely got halfway across the room when there was a knock at the door.

‘You have got to get a doorbell!’ Dylan said with a mock frown. ‘And some kind of camera system so we know who it is and when to ignore it.’

‘I bet it’s Jasmine and Rich.’

‘It could be Ruth. Shall I strip for her again?’

‘No! I’ll just peep out of the window and if it’s Ruth I won’t open the door… Promise.’

With a theatrical sigh, he set Millie down and she went to the window. Her expression when she turned back to face Dylan told him everything he needed to know. His jaw tightened.

‘Let me get the door,’ he growled.

‘No! You’ll only make it worse,’ Millie whispered.

‘I’m going to end this once and for all. You can’t live in fear like this, not any more. Whatever debt she thought you owed you’ve paid it ten thousand times over.’

‘It’s not that simple… She’ll do something. She’s clever and she can turn the whole village against me with a click of her fingers. If you stand with me that puts you in danger too.’

He strode over to her and took her by the shoulders to face him. ‘After what you did last night? You saved Spencer’s life and you probably saved Rich and Jasmine’s marriage too just by doing that. Nobody in this village is going to be turned against you, no matter what she says.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘Because I’ll make it so if it’s the last thing I do.’

‘Dylan… No!’

But he opened the door and Rowena looked him up and down with a sly smile.

‘What do you want?’ Dylan asked.

‘Aren’t you going to let me in?’ Rowena sidled past him. ‘Well, well…’ She looked theatrically between Dylan and Millie. ‘I had heard rumours but I had no idea how voracious your appetite was. Two of us in the space of two days… I thought Millie was a little pickier than that but… I don’t mind sharing if she doesn’t.’