Page 83 of Escape to the Country

Chapter 27

Eleanor woke up mid-morning in Tom’s empty bed at Willow Tree Hall.

At some point, she had wearily let Dylan out to head downstairs but had staggered back to bed after arriving at some late hour in the middle of the night.

She lay there, still feeling in a dreamlike state. The hangover didn’t help, of course. But most of all, it was the fact that Tom had kissed her.

Tom had kissed her! In front of everyone! Well, in front of her friends anyway. It had only been an accidental meeting of lips and had lasted a second or three. But at the time it had felt like hours.

And she hadn’t wanted it to end.

That, to her, was the most shocking realisation of all. But she was desperately brushing it off. It was a crush. He was a talented, good-looking superstar. That was all.

She felt embarrassed about what had happened. And suddenly uncomfortable about sleeping in Tom’s bed. She quickly got up and dressed, meeting Annie as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

‘Morning,’ she said, wincing slightly as she spoke.

‘Morning,’ muttered Annie, looking as rough as Eleanor felt. ‘Coffee? Tea? New head?’

‘No, thanks,’ said Eleanor. ‘I’d better head back to Mum. She’s been on her own for a few days.’

‘Of course,’ said Annie, rubbing her temple. ‘Megan text to tell me that she’s never drinking ever again.’

Eleanor grinned. ‘She says that every time.’

‘I know.’ Annie gave her a hug. ‘I had such a great weekend with you. It was so lovely to have you stay with us.’

‘I really enjoyed it,’ said Eleanor, giving her friend a squeeze.

‘Dylan’s going to miss you,’ said Annie.

‘And I’m going to miss him too,’ said Eleanor. And she meant it, having spent so much time with the dog over the weekend. ‘Just don’t tell anyone I said so.’

‘I won’t. I think Tom’s back later so he’ll settle down again.’

Eleanor gulped and immediately made her exit. She headed back to The Forge shortly after, desperate to get away before Tom arrived back.

How could they have ended up kissing? And how could something so brief feel so good?

But the chances were that he wouldn’t stay long at the hall anyway and would be gone soon. Then things would settle down in Cranley again, she told herself.

Her mum was sitting at the kitchen table with the newspaper when she finally made it home.

‘Did you have a good time?’ asked her mum. ‘I looked out for you on the TV, but I couldn’t see any of you. Apart from that nice Tom, of course. Wasn’t he amazing?’

Eleanor nodded, still thinking of their kiss. That had been pretty amazing too. She stroked the braid that she still had in her hair as she replayed it over and over in her mind.

‘I bet it was incredible to be there,’ carried on her mum, putting down the newspaper with a heavy sigh.

‘It was,’ said Eleanor, staring down at the huge photo of Tom on the page. She wondered whether she could cut out the photo and then realised that her crush was perhaps worse than she’d thought. ‘You’ve never seen so many people. It was like…’

But she stopped as her mum’s face crumpled into tears.

‘What is it?’ she asked, rushing over to crouch next to her. ‘Is it your foot?’

Her mum shook her head. ‘I’m just being silly,’ she replied. ‘Tell me about your fun evening.’

Eleanor shook her head. ‘Not until you tell me what’s made you cry.’