Holly snorted. ‘Don’t let your opposition hear you calling it that.’
‘Fair point,’ Charlie replied. He glanced at his watch. ‘I should be getting the train back in about an hour.’ Willowbury station had been reopened around ten years previously as an experiment into reconnecting some of the smaller towns in Somerset to the mainline between Taunton and Bristol Temple Meads. It had worked wonders for the job prospects of local people, and been a boost to the local economy as well, bringing in tourists to the town and increasing the trade of businesses such as Holly’s. Holly, of course, was hugely in favour of anything that got more cars off the road, and the increase in trade was a definite bonus.
‘That’s a shame,’ Holly said, looking up at him from underneath her lashes. ‘I was going to suggest you came back and spent the night with me.’
Charlie groaned. ‘Don’t give me choices like that.’ Then, his face brightened. ‘Unless…’ He whipped out his phone and tapped the screen for a moment or two. ‘Yes!’ he said triumphantly. ‘I haven’t tried it before, but there’s an early train from Willowbury that connects at Bristol Temple Meads and then direct to London Paddington. It means I’ll have to get to the station by six o’clock tomorrow morning, but that’s no big deal, it’s only a ten-minute walk from either your place or mine.’
‘Sounds perfect,’ Holly said. ‘And it means we can have another drink if we want one.’ She finished her glass of red. ‘Can I treat you to something to settle that food?’
‘Sure,’ Charlie replied. ‘If you’re sure you can manage it?’
Holly laughed. ‘I’m a Somerset girl – I grew up drinking Scrumpy cider behind the cricket pavilion. What about you?’
‘Had to keep the Yorkshire winters out of my bones somehow,’ Charlie replied, affecting a slightly broader accent.
‘Is that what you really sound like?’ Holly teased. ‘Before you were forced to iron out your accent to appeal to the electorate?’
Charlie looked affronted. ‘I don’t know what you mean. I don’t sound all that different now, do I?’
Holly prodded him in the ribs playfully. ‘I remember, back when we first met, you sounded like a cross between Matt Lewis and Geoffrey Boycott! Your vowels were so broad, I could have canoed the River Thames on them. I think it’s fair to say that you’ve put a little bit of the Estuary into your English since then.’
Charlie shook his head. ‘For someone who claims to have only the vaguest memories of that night we met, you suddenly seem to be a lot clearer on it.’
‘Well, you know, it’s coming back to me gradually,’ Holly said. ‘But it might explain why I didn’t recognise you straight away when you came into the shop that first time – you’re far less geeky and a lot less Yorkshire than you used to be.’
‘Whereas you’ve gone the other way and I can hear the Somerset far more now,’ Charlie replied. ‘Perhaps I’ll end up with a weird combination of both accents if I stay here long enough!’
‘That would be funny,’ Holly teased. ‘You’d have to make sure you really thought about how you said bath, buns and footpath, then!’
‘Our kids would sound really interesting,’ Charlie said, then coughed nervously. ‘Sorry, that’s jumping the gun a bit, isn’t it?’
‘Gun or goon?’ Holly teased, but she was touched by his sudden reticence. ‘I’ll grab us another drink.’
Without waiting to see what he wanted, she headed to the bar, ordered and then returned with two glasses of a medium brown oaky colour liquid that looked suspiciously like doubles.
‘Dare I ask what this is?’ Charlie took the glass and sniffed it cautiously. ‘Smells good, whatever it is.’
‘It’s Somerset cider brandy,’ Holly said. ‘Produced a few miles away from here. This is the ten-year-old version, but there’s a five and a twenty, too. It was the only spirit served at Harry and Meghan’s wedding breakfast, so I suspect it’s good enough for us.’
‘Well, if it’s good enough for HRH,’ Charlie said wryly.
Holly took a sip from her glass and let out an appreciative breath as the warming liquid slipped over her tongue and down her throat. Rich and complex, it had a spicy bouquet and a smooth finish. She wasn’t a great brandy drinker, but she’d made an exception for Somerset cider brandy since she’d become a permanent resident in the county.
‘Wow,’ Charlie said as he set his glass down on the table, half of it gone already. ‘That’s quite something.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Holly agreed. ‘Slightly Christmas puddingy, I think.’
‘Yes, that’s definitely it.’ Charlie drained his glass. ‘Another?’
‘Oh, go on then,’ Holly laughed. ‘But be careful – this stuff is stronger than you think.’
‘It’s at least eight hours until I have to catch the train,’ Charlie said. ‘I’m sure I can have another one.’
‘If you’re sure, then yes please,’ Holly replied. She’d developed a tolerance for brandy over the years she’d been living in Willowbury, but something told her, from the sudden sparkle in his eyes, that Charlie had yet to build his own. It was a wonderful-tasting spirit, but, like a lot of apple brandies, the effects crept up on you. She was glad neither of them had to drive home.
As Charlie brought over the second round of doubles, Holly smiled. It had been a wonderful weekend, and even if both of them were going to feel the effects of the booze in the morning, it had definitely been worth it.
33
‘Ugh… what time is it?’ Holly rubbed a hand over her eyes and reached across to her phone to turn off the alarm, which she’d set last night alongside Charlie’s to ensure that he would make the 6 a.m. Willowbury to Bristol Temple Meads service, and not miss his 6.45 connection from Bristol to London Paddington.
‘About five o’clock,’ Charlie murmured sleepily. He turned over and tapped his phone to turn off the cacophony of his own alarm and chucked it back on the bedside table. ‘This seemed like such a good idea last night.’
Holly smiled, despite the thump in her temples that reminded her of the double apple brandies after their meal at The Travellers’ Rest last night. They’d wandered back to her place, half-cut, and tumbled into bed, both of them rather too full of food and decent drink to do more than cuddle up. However, from the way Charlie was pulling her close now, Holly knew he’d made a pretty full recovery.
‘You don’t have time for any of that sort of thing,’ she murmured as he wrapped one of her thighs around his. ‘You’ve got that train to catch.’
‘Surely we’ve got time for a quick one,’ he murmured into her ear, sending tingles down her neck with his breath. ‘Lying beside you all night has got me halfway there already.’
‘You’re the one with the schedule,’ she replied. ‘I don’t have to open up the shop until nine.’
Needing no further encouragement, Charlie made good on his word.