Learning to Love

by Sheryl Browne

  ‘Stop what?’ David shrugged helplessly.

  ‘Looking.’ Andrea folded her arms over her breasts.

  Damn. ‘I’m not,’ David pointed out. ‘I’m half looking.’

  ‘Ho, ho.’ Andrea looked away from him, po-faced.

  ‘Come on, sit down for a second,’ he said, taking her hand. ‘I’m sorry. Scaring you, after all you’ve been through, was the last thing I wanted to do.’

  Andrea slid her eyes back towards him, then, still maintaining po-faced, she sat down on the edge of the sofa next to him. ‘Does it hurt?’ she asked, finally focusing on him through her understandable fury.

  ‘What, my pride or my eye?’

  ‘David …’ Andrea sighed.

  David smiled. ‘Yes and yes,’ he answered. ‘But don’t worry. I know a very good doctor.’

  Andrea glanced down, but she was smiling, too.

  Yep. David dipped his head to glance up at her. Her mouth was definitely twitching up at the corners.

  ‘So do I.’ Andrea peered amusedly up at him. ‘Thank you, David, for coming to my rescue, even though I didn’t actually need rescuing.’

  ‘Flying doctor, at your service.’ David saluted … and winced. Ouch! Definitely a bad move.

  ‘Idiot.’ Andrea laughed.

  That was better. David much preferred her laughing than crying.

  ‘That looks really sore, David.’ Andrea studied his face sympathetically. ‘Let me get you some ice.’

  ‘No, stay.’ He caught her hand again as she stood up. ‘You’ll spoil the view if you move.’

  Andrea looked at him askew, then cottoned on to the view he was referring to. ‘You are bad,’ she scolded him.

  ‘I’d like to be.’ David sighed, which had Andrea blinking at him wide-eyed.

  ‘Best behaviour, promise,’ David assured her. ‘Come on, sit with me, please? Just to talk. I don’t think we’ve actually managed more than two minutes on our own.’

  Andrea nodded and seated herself back down, demurely, lack of clothing demanding it. ‘David, I …’

  ‘Andrea …’

  ‘Damn,’ they both said together. Then both laughed at the same time, reinforcing David’s belief that they were meant for each other. He hadn’t expected it to happen. Couldn’t explain it. But he was damned if he was going to lose this woman without a fight.

  Andrea glanced back down, blushing again under his all too obvious scrutiny – and David’s heart constricted. He loved her, absolutely. He wanted her, but he wouldn’t force it. To do that would only push her away.

  ‘So, how are things?’ Andrea asked awkwardly. ‘With you and Sally, I mean.’

  Ah. David winced again, this time on the inside. ‘I, er … I’m not actually sure how to answer that, without knowing how much you know?’

  ‘All of it.’ Andrea looked at him, bemusement now in her eyes. ‘And yet you still manage to be nice to her.’

  David drew in a breath. ‘She probably needs all the friends she can get right now.’

  ‘I know. I’m aiming to try to be one, despite …’ Andrea trailed off, plucking thoughtfully at a loose strand of terry towelling.

  Despite what? David wondered. That Sally’s untimely announcement had interrupted something between them? He hoped it was interrupted, rather than finished.

  ‘So, are you going to stay in Hibberton?’ Andrea asked him, after a pause.

  Which surprised David. He’d had no intention of leaving. ‘Yes, definitely. There’s no reason not to, is there?’

  ‘You’re not worried about the gossiping neighbours making your business their business, then?’ Andrea teased him.

  David blew out a sigh, immensely relieved she hadn’t given him a reason not to want to stay. ‘I never thought I’d see the day,’ he smiled tolerantly, ‘but I think I’m learning to live with them.’

  ‘Good.’ Andrea looked at him, a twinkle back in her eyes.

  Much better, David thought. Those dancing green eyes should never be clouded with worry. Grazing a thumb lightly over the back of her hand, he held her gaze, wished he could hold all of her. Touch her. Make sweet love to her; slowly this time, savouring every second and every inch of her.

  ‘You’re going to take the shop, then?’ he asked conversationally as Andrea – as if reading his thoughts – looked away.

  Andrea glanced back at him, puzzled. ‘I am?’

  ‘Rent free for six months to see how things pan out, so Eva …?’ David stopped, and furrowed his brow. During which time, he could see how other things pan out? ‘I don’t believe this.’ He shook his head, stupefied. ‘I think our gossiping neighbours may very well have been making our business their business.’

  Andrea continued to gaze at him, baffled.

  ‘Eva,’ he elucidated. ‘I suspect she might have been … manipulating us.’ Along with one or two other people, David suspected.

  He sat forward to peer at Andrea closely. ‘Are you ill?’

  ‘No.’ Andrea blinked at him, alarmed. ‘Do I look ill?’

  ‘No. No, you look fantastic. It’s just …’ David shook his head again, recalling Jake’s mischievous expression as he’d come out of the lounge. They were all in on it, he realised, incredulous, Jake included, the little … David flopped back and laughed out loud.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ Andrea was now most definitely alarmed.

  ‘They have all been bloody well manipulating us.’ David wiped a tear from his eye – and winced, ‘Eva, Ryan, Sophie, Jake, Dee probably.’

  ‘Would you like to share?’ Andrea said, now sounding miffed.

  David held up a hand. ‘Don’t shoot the messenger,’ he pleaded, trying to straighten his face.

  Andrea folded her arms, making David laugh all the harder. She really didn’t communicate furious very well dressed in a postage stamp towel, even with the scowl.

  ‘Eva,’ he finally managed, ‘she tells me you’re taking the shop, knowing full well I’ll ask you about taking the shop, yes?’

  Andrea didn’t look any the wiser.

  ‘They were all there, at my house, the Kelly Committee, plus Ryan, plus Jake.’

  ‘And?’ Andrea cocked her head to one side, and puffed a loose tendril of hair from her face, making her look like the cutest, annoyed woman dressed in a towel David had ever come across.

  ‘So, having imparted the news about the shop, they then leave. But then Ryan comes scooting back, saying Sophie’s rung saying you’re ill, so here I am.’

  ‘And here they’re not.’ Andrea glanced bemusedly around an apartment obviously bereft of bodies but theirs.

  ‘I, er, suspect Sophie hoped you might be out of the bath by the time I arrived,’ David hazarded hopefully. Either Andrea was going to find the whole thing as amusing as he did, or else she really was going to be furious. David hoped it wasn’t the latter.

  Andrea didn’t say anything. She just looked at him, her expression bewildered. Then she glanced down, again, wrapping her arms about herself as she did. Possibly not a good sign. ‘They’ve been matchmaking, haven’t they?’

  ‘That looks about the gist of it, yes.’ David sat up, foreboding running through him. If she was going to show him the door, now was the perfect time. ‘You’re cold,’ he said, noticing as a little shiver shook through her.

  Andrea looked back at him. ‘Do you think they know something we don’t?’

  ‘I think it’s more likely they know something we do,’ David said, his tone now deadly serious. ‘At least, I do.’

  It was now or never, he realised, feeling as naked as Andrea, but on the inside. He had to know. He’d be lost if she said, she liked him, but … He had to know though, because sitting here next to her, not touching her, imagining they might never share the intimacy they’d had, physically, emotionally … David wasn’t sure he could cope with that.

  Tugging in a breath, he mentally crossed his fingers. ‘I’m not sure you know how I feel about you, Andrea. I mean, I hope you do. That what happened betwe
en us … before … well, that it wasn’t … ahem.’

  So far so good, he thought, loosening his collar and wondering whether he should go out and shout it through the front door. That way at least he wouldn’t have to read what was in her eyes, if she didn’t feel the same.

  He sucked in another fortifying breath.

  ‘I love you, Andrea,’ he said determinedly, finally. ‘I’m not sure it was from the first time I saw you but it was pretty damn close. I, er, just wondered if you, erm … ahem.’

  ‘I know,’ Andrea said quietly as David dropped his gaze and debated whether to go and drown himself in the cast iron bath. ‘People keep telling me.’

  David’s eyes shot back to hers. ‘The joys of living in a small community.’ He smiled, uncertain.

  Could she love him? Could she forgive him for being the biggest idiot ever to walk the earth? Probably not. He swallowed, glancing back down. Then swallowed again as Andrea leaned in and kissed him, a soft fleeting kiss, a tender sweet brush of her lips. A brief hesitation and then she pressed her mouth hard against his, her eyelashes closing over her mesmerising green eyes, her delicate tongue sliding into his mouth.

  Nothing between her exquisite nakedness and him but that towel.

  Closing his eyes, David kissed her back hungrily, his tongue seeking hers, quietly exploring, his hands desperate to do likewise. ‘Shall we, er, go somewhere warmer?’ he suggested, after possibly the most palatable cure for a headache ever.

  David spun around as the apartment door opened behind him. ‘I’ve been trying to ring you,’ Ryan said, eyeing him suspiciously as he came into the hall.

  He had? David ferreted in his pocket. ‘Damn,’ he said, extracting his definitely malfunctioning mobile.

  ‘What happened?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘Must have smashed it when I—’

  ‘To your eye?’

  ‘Oh.’ Hell. He hadn’t realised it was that obvious. David looked up to see Ryan squaring up to him, looking most definitely menacing, despite the hip-slung skinny-fit jeans. ‘I, er … Andrea … Your mum … She was in the bath when I arrived.’

  Ryan rolled his shoulders. ‘Oh, yeah?’

  He looked about ready to black his other eye. ‘I tried to force the door.’ Ryan took a step forward. David took a step back.

  ‘It was locked,’ he said quickly, his hands raised defensively. ‘You said she was ill, Ryan. I had no choice but to force my way in.’

  Ryan eyed him rather less suspiciously.

  David shrugged. ‘She was plugged into Sophie’s iPod. Couldn’t hear me. The bath broke my fall.’

  ‘Right.’ Ryan nodded, his gaze thawing a few degrees. ‘So, she’s all right, then?’

  ‘Perfect,’ Andrea piped up from behind the bedroom door. ‘Goodbye, Ryan.’

  ‘Bye, Mother.’ Ryan’s eyes disappeared under his Emo fringe. ‘Be careful with him,’ he said, twirling around to head back the way he came.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Andrea opened the door and twanged David inside. ‘He’s in safe hands.’

  ‘Ouch!’ David squeezed his good eye closed as Andrea rather over-enthusiastically body-slammed him against the closed door.

  ‘Oops, sorry,’ she mumbled through lips now busy with his.

  ‘The course of true love never did run smooth,’ Ryan’s voice floated from the hall as he made a big show of closing the front door.

  * The End*

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  Thank you

  Thank you for reading Learning to Love. I really hope you enjoyed David and Andrea’s journey as much as I enjoyed writing it. There’s nothing quite like that feeling you get knowing that a reader has connected with your characters, laughed with them, cried with them, screamed at them, or even totally despaired of them. I think all authors would agree, that’s why we write, to connect emotionally with people, hopefully leaving them with that all-important feel good factor. All authors, too, really value reader feedback. The road to publication can sometimes be a little bit bumpy and seeing your book finally ‘out there’ is truly amazing. Knowing people are reading it, though, and taking the trouble to leave a review on a book review site or the retail site where you purchased this eBook, is equally amazing. Reviews can do so much to up a book’s profile, along with that of the author, but they do sometimes truly inspire the author to keep writing and improving.

  If you have time therefore, a one line review, or two, or more if you’d like to, would be hugely appreciated.

  Please do feel free to contact me anytime. You can find my details under my author profile. And if you like the book enough to go in search of any of my other books, well, there’s that amazing feeling again. Meanwhile, I’ll keep being inspired and I’ll keep writing!

  Happy reading all!

  Lots of love,

  Sheryl

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  About the Author

  Sheryl Browne lives in Droitwich, England with her family. Working part-time in her own business, Sheryl is a mum, a foster mum to disabled dogs and super-pleased to have completed her Masters Degree in Creative Writing at Birmingham City University. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and was shortlisted for Innovation in Romantic Fiction by Festival of Romance in 2012.

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