Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
The feeling hangs over my head the rest of the afternoon. I stay at the coffee shop for a while then I bundle myself back up and head down toward the grocery store. Martin is behind the counter watching football. He nods at me when I walk in.
“Alright?”
It’s like we’re old friends now.
I nod and make my way to the candy section where I grab a Cadbury chocolate bar off the shelf. Then I think better of it and grab four more. Can I afford to go on an all-out chocolate buying spree? Not exactly, but I need something to help smooth the waters with Nate when I get home.
CHAPTER 11
SUMMER
I’m the first person to arrive for dinner after killing time in Sedbergh all day. I popped into every shop that was open on Main Street, met a few locals, and, not to brag, but I could now give tourists newer than me semi-accurate directions if prompted.
The Dalesman Country Inn is exactly as its name promises. In the summertime, you can stay in one of their ten rooms. This time of year, they only open their small restaurant and bar once a day for the dinner crowd. It’s decorated like a country pub, a lot of wood and low lighting, candles burning on the tables. There’s a rustic charm to it that I immediately love. Aside from a few tables crammed close together, the room is dominated by a long bar. Two men occupy one end of it, sitting on stools and talking animatedly with the bartender behind the counter. He nods at me and I wave.
“Meeting friends,” I tell him.
“Nab any table.”
I’m not sure how many people will be joining Alice and me, so I get the biggest table there is just as she walks in alongside a couple.
“Summer! You made it.”
I’m relieved that she seems happy to see me. I wasn’t sure if her invitation earlier was born out of pity. I worried she didn’t really expect me to take her up on it, but she gives me a warm hug then introduces her friends.
“This is Freya and Mike. Guys, this is Summer.”
“Summer, hi.”
Freya reaches me first, wrapped up in a lovely camel-colored sweater that looks nice and cozy. She has beautiful hair, wild red corkscrew curls that bounce any time she moves. Her face is freckled and sweet. Mike is a huge guy with buzzed blond hair and a rugby sweatshirt that I suspect belongs to a team he used to play for. He definitely has the build for it. He proudly introduces himself as Freya’s boyfriend, which earns a big smile from Alice.
She looks to me and jokingly rolls her eyes. “Took them forever to get together. I’m still getting used to it. Have you ordered a drink yet?”
“No, just got here and I was going to claim this table. Is it big enough?”
“It’s great.”
We each take a seat, and Alice suggests sharing a bottle of wine. Mike opts for a lager, and the bartender has just come around with a bottle of cabernet and three glasses when we’re joined by Oliver, Mike’s younger brother. He claims the seat to my left. He’s the antithesis of Mike, tall and spindly, though their hair matches down to the ultra-short buzz cut.
“Where were you studying?” I ask him once I find out he just graduated from university.
“London.”
I’m sure my face betrays my envy. “I can’t imagine going to school in London. I doubt I’d even manage to go to class.”
Oliver scrunches his nose. “It was alright. None of my mates were there. Hated the whole scene, really. I’ve lived up here my whole life and couldn’t wait to get back.”
“Mike and Oliver help their parents,” Alice supplies, helping to guide me so I don’t feel lost among all the new faces. “They own a massive farm, lots of sheep and cows. You might have seen part of it, actually—”
Alice stops talking when something catches her attention over my shoulder.
I turn to check and lock eyes with Nate coming in out of the cold. He’s still wearing his cream cable knit sweater and navy pants, though now there’s a green hunter-style jacket layered on top and nice brown boots. I feel his presence immediately, in the tugging in my stomach, in the sudden lurch of my heart in my chest. He sees me and freezes, frowning as he makes sense of the scene he’s walked in on.
The gang all greets him like they were expecting him, which maybe they were. Maybe I’m the only last-minute addition.
“Nathaniel, you know Summer, I assume?” Alice asks, her voice full of sarcasm, once Nate passes by without addressing me.
He gives me a curt nod as an afterthought, which makes Alice raise her brows at me like, What’s up his butt?
He walks to the other side and claims the seat at the head of the table across from me, between Alice and Freya. Though to be fair, there was no room for him down here with Oliver and Mike on either side of me.