Just a Little Fling (Landscape Lovers Book 1) Page 11

  Blake: Awesome. Can I see?

  Sweet Cheeks: Yeah, I guess? But not tonight. I’m already in bed and the light sucks for taking photos. I’ll take some when it’s daylight.

  Blake: I’ll hold you to that, gorgeous. I want to see what you’ve made.

  Sweet Cheeks: You don’t have to say that. It’s fine if craft is not your thing.

  Blake: Grr! I don’t need craft to be my thing to want to see what you made, sweetness. You better not chicken out on showing me or I’ll have to show up unannounced and see them for myself.

  Sweet Cheeks: No! Promise to never show up unannounced! You cannot see this place mid craft-splosion. It will kill your neat heart. I can’t let you.

  Blake: Then send the photos, gorgeous. Or I’ll be visiting when you least expect it. That is my promise.

  Sweet Cheeks: I will. I will. Just give me 24 hours to get some good shots.

  Blake: The clock is ticking.

  Sweet Cheeks: Eep! How can I sleep under all this pressure?

  Blake: I distinctly remember you liking being under my pressure? You certainly made noises to suggest that. Though there might not have been much sleep happening...

  Sweet Cheeks: *blushing embarrassed emoji*

  Sweet Cheeks: That’s quite enough of that! Good night, bear arms. xx

  Blake: You’re skating on thin ice calling me that, sweet cheeks!

  Sweet Cheeks: I said what I said. *shrugs emoji*

  Blake: Grr! Photos tomorrow or I’ll bring these bear arms and show up when you least expect it.

  Sweet Cheeks: I’ll behave! I promise. Photos tomorrow. x

  Blake: Sleep well, gorgeous. xx

  TWENTY-TWO

  CATE

  Tuesday goes by in a blur that’s so stressful that, by lunch time, I was on the work intranet booking a mental health day for Wednesday.

  That’s one of the strange things about a company like the one I work for, they work you into the ground, but you can book a mental health day—up to four times a year—with less than 24-hours notice, if it’s not in a black out period.

  Management grumble about you taking them, but as it’s their own policy they can’t really say much.

  Because it was such a bad day, I got home and got straight into my pjs and ate ice cream from the container. I took myself to bed at a ridiculously early hour.

  I didn’t even take those photos for Blake. I’m sure there will be repercussions for that. But I was too over it to care. I know it’s a bad day when I can’t even craft my way out of it.

  I wake at 10am feeling lighter. It’s mostly knowing that I don’t have to go to work today and that when I return tomorrow it’s only two days until the weekend. I get up and take some cutely styled shots of my cards for Blake and text them to him. I apologise for them being past deadline.

  He must already be on morning break because he texts back immediately.

  The Man: These are amazing, babe! I love seeing your talent shine.

  The Man: I might forgive the lateness because these are fantastic. But maybe I’ll still surprise you.

  Cate: I’m sorry. I had a bad day yesterday so I got into bed almost as soon as I got home. Can I get special dispensation for extenuating circumstances?

  The Man: I’m sorry to hear that, gorgeous. You need me to come over sometime and make it better?

  Cate: Maybe. Just not without notice. Lots and lots of notice!

  The Man: I make no promises, but I’ll see what I can do. xx

  I eat my breakfast and check my texts. I messaged Lottie last night to tell her about my mental health day and to ask if she was free to hang out. I passed out not long after, so I didn’t see her reply.

  Lottie: Aw! I’m sorry you had such a shitty day. Glad you have tomorrow off.

  Lottie: I can’t hang out with you though. Big client meeting. Can’t skip this one.

  I reply as though it’s been ten minutes and not 12 hours.

  Cate: Good Luck today!! You’ve got this! xx

  My phone flashes with Lottie calling. She never calls so this must be important.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Catie, you’re still home today right?”

  “Yeah…Why?”

  “I need your help desperately. I can be at yours in ten minutes. Is that okay?”

  “Okay sure. Are you going to elaborate?”

  “Can’t now. See you soon! You’re the best!”

  She hangs up before I can say anything else. Whatever it is must be important because she only calls me Catie when she really needs something.

  I get dressed in a loose-fitting tee and some high waisted shorts. My plan is to play with my crafts all day, so I don’t need to be fancy.

  Lottie knocks heavily, moments later. It wasn’t even 10 minutes.

  I open the door to let her in. “Hey what’s going on?”

  “I need a huge favour. My big meeting is in an hour and I forgot that my niece has a curriculum day and I apparently volunteered to look after her.”

  She pulls an 8-year-old girl into my apartment by the hand. “Maya, this is Cate. You get to hang out with her whilst I go wow my client. I promise you the junk food of your choice when I get back.”

  Maya waves shyly but doesn’t say anything.

  “Hi Maya! Head on in and sit on the couch, I just need to speak to your Aunty Lottie for a second.” I give Maya a smile and as she walks past me and drops her backpack at the table. I give her aunt a death stare.

  I whisper, “Are you serious? I love you, but I need notice for this. What do I do with an 8 year old that I’ve never met before?”

  “You’ll be fine. Show her how to craft or something. Put a movie on. I have to go. I owe you big time.” She runs to the door, pulls it open and shouts to us both, “Love you! Be back later!” And she’s gone.

  Shit! What on earth do 8-year-olds like? Come on, Cate. You’ve got this!

  I look over to the couch where I suggested Maya take a seat. She’s not there. Instead she’s standing at my craft/dining table staring open mouthed at all the things on it.

  “Hey Maya. I’m Cate. I know Aunty Lottie introduced us, but I wanted to start over.”

  “Hi. What’s all this stuff? Did you make it?” Her eyes are wide with wonder.

  Maybe she’s a kindred crafty-spirit?

  “This is my craft table and yep. I made this.” I wiggle a foil card so it catches the light. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “So cool!” She pauses for a second or two. It looks like she’s deciding if she’s willing to ask her next question. “Can I try?”

  Did she just give me an ‘in’ to make this day fun for both of us?

  “Sure! Let’s set you up a seat next to me and we can have a go at making them together. How does that sound?”

  “Awesome! My mum always tells me that I have to wash my hands before I can play with crafts. Is there somewhere I can do that?” She holds her hands out in front of her as though they’re suddenly filthy.

  I show her to my ensuite bathroom, so she can wash up. I got to the kitchen to check that I have unopened bags of chips for snack time, and decide that we can order pizza if we get hungry later, if Lottie still isn’t back.

  If I know Lottie—and I really do—‘a couple of hours’ really means she’ll be back at dinner time. She can owe me.

  I set up a chair next to mine and grab a scatter cushion from the couch for Maya to sit on to give her some height at my table. She comes back from the bathroom and shows me that her hands are clean, in that way that little kids do.

  “Good job. Ready to give this a go?” She nods. “I just have some rules and promises first. “Can you listen to them and tell me if you agree?”

  “Yes, Aunty Cate.”

  Wait. I’m Aunty Cate now? That feels important! I might be blushing.

  Get back on track, Cate!

  “Okay. The rules first: One, scissors are not toys and we need to use them safely. Two, there are some things that I need to help
you with that are not for little hands. Don’t touch them unless I say you can help me. We don’t need to send you home with sore fingers, okay?”

  She nods after both points and gives me a double ‘thumbs up’.

  “Three, if it’s hard and you need help, you have to tell me; and four, if it’s not fun anymore you have to let me know. We can try something else. All right?”

  “Yes, Aunty Cate. I can do that.”

  “Okay. Now to the promises and then we’ll get started.”

  She nods repeatedly. I put a hand on her head lightly to stop her before she gets a headache.

  “Do you Maya, promise that nothing you make here today is a failure? That we’re here to try and mistakes are funny parts of trying.”

  She nods again. Her little body wiggles with excitement as she nods. It’s the cutest.

  “Good, good!” I point to myself, “Then, I Cate, promise that we can fix almost everything and what we can’t fix we can throw away and start again. Deal?”

  I put my hand out for her to shake.

  She climbs up onto her chair, gets seated like it’s a class and shakes my hand and smiles. “Deal!”

  TWENTY-THREE

  CATE

  We start by discussing what shapes and colours she likes and what her favourite things are.

  We talk about favourite foods and that the summer holidays are coming up and what her favourite things to do in summer are. I share some of mine too. It’s a nice bonding moment.

  “All right, Maya. What should we design first?”

  “A star!”

  “Sure!” What colour will your star be?” I pull up the star shape on my computer. Would you like it on a card or on a small poster?”

  “A Gold Star! And a poster, please!” She’s practically bouncing on her cushion.

  “Would you like your name in the middle of the star? It will come out white and the gold star will be around it. Does that sound good? Which font do you like?”

  “Yes, please! That sounds amazing!! And that one.” She points out a bold font that is one of my favourites. It’s less 8-year-old-girl than I would have expected.

  “Okay. So first we test the design on normal paper. If it’s in the right spot on the page and we like, we put the thick paper in. It will come out black and white, but don’t worry, the colour comes later.”

  She directs where she’d like the design and is very polite with her requests. We print it on the card stock and it’s time to foil it up.

  “Okay. Now comes the fun part.”

  “This is fun too!”

  “Yes, it is. I mean the extra fun part. Sorry! Now don’t touch the laminator once I turn it on. It gets very hot and we don’t want sore fingers.”

  “Okay. I’ll just watch.” She sits on her hands so she’s not tempted to touch.

  This child is a gem. I can see why people have them now. A little angel.

  “Let’s get the foil ready. It has to cover all of the star but we don’t want to waste the whole foil sheet, so we cut it so we only use what we need. Do you want to try?”

  She nods and I get her some scissors. We measure and she does a great job of carefully cutting the foil. Probably better than me.

  “Great job!” I explain how we layer the foil over the inked part and fold a protective cover over the two so they don’t get caught in the machine whilst it’s working its magic.

  “Are you ready to see the finished design?”

  “YES!!” She squeals. I place it in the laminator and feed it through slowly until it pops out the other side.

  “Ready?”

  She nods vigorously. I remove the cover and slowly peel back the excess foil.

  “THAT’S SO COOL!!”

  I twist the gold star, with MAYA in the negative space in the middle, so that it sparkles in the light. I hand it to her to inspect.

  “You like it?”

  “Yeah! I LOVE it!” Then she whispers, “Can I keep it?”

  “Of course! You can take it home and ask Mum if you can hang it somewhere. Or, we can see if we can get Aunty Lottie to put it in her spare room, so we know it’s really your room? That could be fun?”

  “Yeah! I need a room at Aunty Lottie’s! I love staying with my Aunty.”

  “She’s pretty cool, hey?”

  Maya nods and plays with the foil catching in the light. She’s enamoured.

  My heart is singing. This is so much fun.

  “Let’s stop for a snack and some lunch. Do you like pizza?”

  We order kid friendly pizza and drink water and eat it as a ‘picnic’ on the floor in front of my coffee table. She tells me about her life and eats happily before heading off to wash up again.

  We head back to the table after lunch.

  “Want to make one more thing before Aunty Lottie returns?” I checked my phone and Lottie is on her way. Which means we have about 45 minutes before she gets here.

  “Um, how about a watermelon card? I love watermelon!”

  “Sure. I have one designed already. Let me just pull it up and we can print it to size. What colour foil do you think we need for watermelon?”

  She chooses pink and green. She points at both rolls of foil. I pull up my watermelon design that has the half circle shape with a white gap and then a semi-circle underneath for the rind. It also has white teardrops for the pips.

  “Perfect! Great choices! You’re very clever, Maya!”

  “Thank you!” Her olive cheeks turn pink. “This is so fun!”

  We cut the colours out and line them up. I help with the tricky bits, but she’s caught on fast and feels confident enough to make suggestions as we go.

  As it’s coming out of the machine I remember that the pips will be in negative space and I worry for a second that she’ll hate that.

  Crap. How do I explain this without making a little girl sad?

  She peels back the foil whilst I hold the paper steady. I hold my breath. “Hey, the pips are white, Aunty Cate! Just like the watermelon mummy gets me! I don’t like the black pips, they taste yucky and you have to spit them out! These are much nicer.”

  Phew! Also, this kid is an actual angel! Who wouldn’t want a kiddo like her? She should be an advertising campaign for children.

  “Looks great, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes! So great! Thank you!”

  “Let me show you how I use this paper scorer to make the card stock fold nicely.” Her eyes are wide again as I show her how to line it up and score it so it folds. Then I fold it and hand her the card.

  “That’s amazing! You’re so good at this.”

  “Who missed meeee?” The front door flies open and Lottie steps in.

  “Aunty Lottie! Aunty Lottie! Aunty Cate helped me make a poster and a card. Come and see!!”

  “Aunty Cate?” Lottie mouths to me.

  “Not my idea!” I shrug and reply.

  “Let me see, sweetheart! Oh, they are so good! Did you have fun with Cate?”

  “Yes! She’s amazing! She taught me all these things and we made stuff and she was patient with me and gave me pizza lunch and snacks.”

  “Oh yeah? That sounds like a good day. Sorry I got caught up at work.”

  “That’s okay. This was super fun. I wish all my friends could do this with us. That would be the best! I can’t wait to show them what I made! Can you send a photo of this poster to Mum? It has my name on it in a star. Cate says I’m a star. Do you think I’m a star?”

  “Yes, darling. I do! Let’s pack up your stuff and get you back to your mum and you can show her.” They pack up and start to head out the door.

  “Okay. But Aunty Cate says my poster can live in my bedroom at your house, so you have to keep it there!”

  “Does she? Well, your mum might like it at your house more. But maybe!” She raises an eyebrow at me. “Say thank you to Cate for keeping you company today. It was very kind of her.”

  Maya rushes back and near takes me out with a hug to my stomach. “Thank you, Aunt
y Cate. This was so fun! I hope we can do it again some time.”

  “Sure. Maybe another time.”

  “Come on, chickpea. Let’s get you home.” Lottie says. She mouths, “Thank you! I owe you.” As they head out the door.

  I’m so pumped from spending the day crafting with Maya, that I can’t get her idea out of my head.

  What if I could run small craft classes for kiddos? Birthday parties or something. I think I’d be good at that?

  I tuck that thought away and smile to myself. This was a better day off than I could have hoped for.

  Then there’s a knock at my door.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  BLAKE

  I’m standing at her door on a Wednesday night, uninvited and unannounced.

  It’s been two weeks since the party where I first met her, but it feels like longer. I can’t really tell you why I’m here.

  Her texts suggest that she’s had a rough week at work and I feel compelled to make it better. So here I am, knocking on this woman’s door, even though she asked me not to show up without notice.

  I knock and the door flies open. “Did you forget something?” she says, presumably not to me. She was super smiley but now looks stunned.

  “Yeah. I forgot what that smile looked like. I needed to come see it for myself.”

  I’m such a dick sometimes, but I can’t help it.

  “Oh! Blake! I thought you were Lottie back again. What are you doing here?” She’s trying to block entry to her apartment. “I thought we agreed no showing up unannounced?”

  I grin at her. “Oh! But you didn’t stick to your end of the deal and I promised that I would, in fact, show up when you least expected it. I’m glad I did.” I look her up and down slowly. “Because you’re looking hot as sin today.”

  She blushes profusely. I love it. “But, I told you there were extenuating circumstances!” She stomps her foot. “Fine. You better come in then.”

  She goes to step back out of my way, but I’m faster and I step into her personal space and run my hands up from her hips, under her loose-fitting tee, so the palms of my hands are brushing over her bra.