Matilda Next Door - Kelly Hunter Page 0,38

never found before and that he’d want to stay and build his life here. With her. That was the big one. The one that seemed impossible.

Because London, for all its charm and bustle, would never hold her heart. She was addicted to blue skies and red-dirt sunsets. And maybe there were drawbacks to living in a place where memories were long and most everyone knew her name, but Wirralong was growing ever more vibrant and innovative. Maggie’s destination wedding venue drew people from far and wide—people with fat wallets and a love of good coffee and fancy sweet treats that Tilly was more than happy to provide. There was an emerging fine-dining scene, a tiny antique store and a vibrant arts-and-crafts co-op. Tilly wanted to be part of it all for a long time to come. What did Henry want? Could he build a career here? One based on the type of statistical risk analysis work he’d been doing for years? Could he collaborate from afar with others just like him? Be part of a virtual think tank and stay right here in Wirralong. It wasn’t an impossible ask. Was it?

She patted down her hair, took a deep breath, and then headed towards Henry’s bedroom. She knocked on the door, and it opened, and … ah.

Because a shirtless Henry Church had muscles any gun sheep shearer would be proud of—and if fantasy could become reality with the snap of her fingers, breakfast from this day forward would involve her wearing one of Henry’s fancy shirts and him wearing no shirt at all. Just those groovy pyjama bottoms with the elastic round the top that barely hid the tempting cutaway to—

He cleared his throat, a handy reminder that his face was way up there. She’d knocked on his door for a reason, and there were words to speak and possibly hopes to be dashed. Way to kill a relationship before it even began, she thought grimly, but she had to be straight with him. ‘My last relationship failed because Wirralong’s my home and I wouldn’t move away when he asked me to. In the end, that just wasn’t a decision that made sense to me. Maybe I didn’t love him enough, and I don’t quite know how I got on to mentioning that, but Wirralong is where I want to live. You should know that about me before we begin anything.’

For some reason he seemed just as enamoured with Tweety Bird as she’d been with the elastic on his pyjama pants. ‘I do know that. Your family’s here, your roots run deep, and London’s not for you—although I know I could find you a rooftop view that would take your breath away.’ He reached up to run his hand across the back of his neck as if uneasy, but his gaze was direct and clear. ‘Although the farm holds little of interest to me, my family’s here and they need me. Perhaps I need them too. I figure I can be here and care for the farm, my grandparents, and a baby, and start a new business as well. Get into statistical environmental modelling. I can do that from here. There are plenty of questions out there that need answering.’

‘You’re not Superman.’

His smile turned wry. ‘I do, however, have something that’s going to help me achieve those goals.’

‘The ability to exist without sleep?’

‘Money,’ he corrected her. ‘It helps.’

‘So you’re staying in Wirralong?’ She could barely believe he’d made such a decision so quickly. Where was his agony of indecision? The big bit of paper divided into columns of pros and cons? All those checks and balances that he was famed for? ‘For how long?’ Until Beth and Joe passed on? Until Rowan needed better schooling than she would get in a small country town? ‘Because all that modelling you do for your work is about predicting the future, right? Will you be here in ten-years’ time? How about fifty? What happens when you get bored with it again?’ With me.

‘What’s to say we can’t make a traveller out of you yet?’ he countered. ‘With Wirralong as your base. Do you discount it?’

Did she?

‘I’m not saying don’t ask these questions of me, and more,’ he continued quietly. ‘I’ll give you the best answers I can. The way I see it, I’m here until the people that took me in and raised me no longer need me. After that, it’s something we’d have to nut out between us if we were together. There