Fragrance of Violets Read Online Free PDF Page B

and last Christmas he was complaining there was nothing for kids here to do over the winter. I suggested a drama club and he asked his friends. That’s how it started.”
    “What do you do with them?”
    “Mainly improvisation and role play. Some of them are good actors.”
    “What happens to them when you go back to London?”
    “I’ve no plans to do that at the moment.”
    “Really? I thought you’d be in constant demand.”
    Abbey feigned nonchalance. She didn’t intend to admit that her last audition had been unsuccessful. “Lulls happen in the business when you’re waiting for the right part to come up, so I decided to come back here for a while.” She peered around the lounge. “Nearly everyone’s left, and I ought to go home now.”
    “Yeah, me too.” Jack drained his pint and put it on the counter. “Mind if I walk with you?”
    “Oh!” She didn’t want to prolong their conversation, but it would be churlish to refuse. “Okay.”
    Her nerves tightened as she moved around the bar to join him, and watched him reach across the counter to shake Mike’s hand. His boyish good looks had matured into a rugged handsomeness that caused her pulse to quicken.
    As he held the door open for her, he gave her the quirky grin which reminded her of the teenage Jack, but this wasn’t the same boy. He was a stranger, a different person, and so was she. No longer the naïve trusting little soul she’d once been.
    They set off along the main street and she kept her distance from him, walking a few feet away and listening to the echo of their footsteps. The darkness was illuminated only by the dim streetlights and the lights from some of the shop windows on both sides of the narrow street. The same street where they’d walked and run as kids, laughed together, bought drinks and crisps at the village grocery, stood talking outside the post office.
    “What are—?” he started.
    “I never thought—” she said at the same time.
    They looked at each other.
    “You first,” he said.
    “I was thinking about how strange this is. Yesterday, if anyone had told me I would be walking through the village with you, I’d have—actually, I don’t know what I’d have done. Laughed? Told them they were crazy? I don’t know. That’s what I mean. It’s kind of surreal.”
    “True. I had no idea you were here, you know. I assumed you’d be in London, or filming somewhere.”
    Oh, if wishing made it so , she was tempted to reply, but held onto her pride. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of being able to say he’d been right. “I’m enjoying life here at the moment.”
    Even as she said it, she wondered what life would be like with Jack back in the village. Before today, it had been predictable and placid, but now?
    As they walked, she was intensely aware of his physical nearness and his masculine scent, both of which were doing weird things to her. Part of her wanted to reach out and catch hold of his hand, as she used to do when they were kids. She often linked her arm through his when they strolled along the lake shore, or grabbed his arm to draw his attention to something, and even buried her head against his shoulder during a scary film at the cinema or on TV. But that was then and this was now, and she needed to suppress the inexplicable yearning that was both uncomfortable and disquieting.
    “How long are you intending to be here?” she asked, keeping her voice casual.
    “I’m not sure.”
    In the dim light, she could see his lips had tightened and he was looking straight ahead of him. She matched his pace as they continued to walk.
    “You told me earlier that I wasn’t welcome,” he said eventually. “And I understand the reason, but—”
    “But what? Do you expect everyone to forgive and forget?”
    “No. I realise why some people here won’t forgive me. Most of all you.”
    She stiffened at the way he’d turned their conversation into their own personal issue. Determined to keep