I stare glumly at the backs of their heads. They have the same dark, glossy hair and the same taste in jokes, apparently, if the merriment in the front of the car is anything to go by. A match made in heaven!
I check myself. What’s wrong with me? I should be really grateful to both of them. Theo is doing me a big favour, giving up his afternoon off to take us to meet Jake, and Paloma is coming along to provide support and give me her opinion. The only reason she’s sitting in the front seat is because Theo happened to pick her up first. Not that it makes any difference whatsoever!
I suppose I’m still confused about Theo’s behaviour towards me. His passion tells me he’s attracted to me, but then he says it’s best ‘for both our sakes’ that we stay friends. This irritates me – and it’s not because I’m interested in getting involved with Theo. Not at all. I’d just like to make my own mind up about what’s best for me, thank you very much!
Mind you, would I actually want to be with someone who describes himself as ‘bad news’?
I think of how he is with Olivia. Has he told her that he’s ‘bad news’? I get the feeling that even if he did, it wouldn’t stop her flirting with him every chance she got. Would Theo repel her advances? I’d like to think so, because then I could stop thinking that the reason he backed off was because I’m not attractive enough …
‘Okay in the back there?’ Theo asks, and I jump, thinking he must have been reading my mind. Or my expression, at least.
‘Yes, I’m fine, thanks.’ I paste on a smile to prove it. His deep blue eyes seem even more intense because I can only see the top half of his face. ‘It’s really nice of you to do this.’
He shrugs. ‘It’s a pleasure. I haven’t seen my old mate, Jake, in years. It’ll be good to catch up.’
We drive through a small village and then here we are, turning off the road at a sign saying, Jake Fellows, Wood Creations, bumping along a short track to our destination.
We head for a small visitors’ car park at the side of what is clearly Jake’s workshop, and as we’re getting out, a man in a pair of khaki green overalls emerges from the cottage, which is just a hundred yards or so from the workshop. Theo walks over to greet him and they shake hands and pat each other’s backs in that very male, slightly self-conscious way. They turn to Paloma and I, and Theo does the introductions.
Jake has green eyes, longish auburn hair and a rugged, square jaw that hasn’t seen a razor in a few days. He doesn’t look in the best of moods.
‘I gather you’re looking to build a treehouse café?’ he says, turning his cool gaze on me.
When I smile and concur, he murmurs, ‘Interesting concept,’ and I can’t tell whether he thinks it’s a good or bad idea. ‘I’ll show you some of my work and you can see what you think.’
‘Okay.’ I nod cheerfully, and Jake indicates where we’re going with his thumb before striding off, Theo alongside him.
Paloma calls after him, ‘It would be a real first for the area, don’t you think? A café in a treehouse. I don’t know of anything similar, do you?’
‘No, I don’t,’ says Jake without turning round. ‘But maybe there’s a reason no one’s done it before.’
Paloma and I are hurrying to catch up.
‘Perhaps they haven’t thought of it?’ she ventures.
He grunts. ‘A treehouse is quirky by nature and “quirky” doesn’t necessarily translate into the most practical of business premises.’
We’re walking by the side of the house to a field at the back and, breaking into a little jog, Paloma finally manages to walk alongside our rather less than welcoming host. ‘But surely,’ she says, trying to make eye contact with him, ‘if the concept is sound, you can find ways to work around any physical obstacle?’
I can tell she’s needled by his brusqueness. I’m quite surprised myself. I would have thought the prospect of a big new commission would make him happy. But perhaps this is Jake happy!
‘Only if the end result is worth the hard work,’ he says.
‘But how can you know that unless you’ve tried?’ she persists, and I smile at her determination as I follow on a few steps behind.
‘Experience,’ he says flatly, before turning his back on her to open a gate into a display area.
I glance at Paloma, intending to grimace in amusement. But she’s glaring at Jake’s back. If looks could kill …
The creations before us take my breath away and are a complete contrast to the surliness of their creator.
There’s a cute log cabin with three rocking chairs on the front porch and a sign carved over the door that says The Three Bears Playhouse. And next to it is an amazing structure, built entirely of wood, which makes you smile just to look at it. Everything about it is lopsided – from the shape of the windows and the door, to the higgledy-piggledy writing on the sign that says, The Crooked Playhouse.
‘Oh, I love that. It’s stunning,’ I say. ‘They all are.’
‘Yeah, you’ve got some talent there, mate,’ Theo says, laying his hand on Jake’s shoulder and shaking his head in wonder at a house in the shape of a huge shoe with three rows of windows, and a slide emerging from the top level.
I nod in agreement. I’d have had huge fun as a kid, scrambling up the wooden stairs inside the shoe then sliding right down to the bottom. This man has some imagination! ‘What do you think, Paloma?’
She gives a stiff little smile. ‘They’re great. Although they’re not quite what you’d want for a café.’
‘Well, obviously not,’ says Jake, walking over to
