Chapter 15

Back from the recycling centre, Stella locked her car away in the garage and headed to the garden at the rear of the building to gather up the washing Andrea had hung out. Her heart sank at the sight that greeted her. ‘Ughh! You've got to be kidding me!' Instead of it being discreetly positioned and tucked away at the side near the hedge – as she'd hoped – the clothes airer had been positioned slap-bang in the middle of the garden, for all the world to see what Stella wore beneath her sober court suits. If that wasn't bad enough, a large herring gull was perched on top of the frame.

On seeing Stella, the bird gave a shriek of consternation, before extending its huge wings and taking flight.

Hurrying over, and desperately hoping she wasn't going to have to contend with any unpalatable seagull deposits, Stella threw the items of washing into the laundry bag she'd had the foresight to bring with her. It briefly crossed her mind that there were far fewer pieces of her underwear than she'd expected as she hooked the clothes airer over her arm. She'd have to make sure she got the message across to Andrea that she'd prefer her washing to be dealt with at the Spick ‘n' Sparkle premises. She treated herself to expensive silk underwear as a contrast to the austere clothes she wore for work and knowing what she had on beneath such a stern exterior made her feel good, but it didn't mean she wanted to share her secret with her neighbours.

By the time she sat at her desk, armed with another cup of coffee, Stella's thoughts had found their way back to the conversation she'd had with her mum. Before she knew it, she was typing the name "Alice Hutton" into the Google search bar. Of course, she'd made half-hearted attempts at trying to track down her father many times before now, but there was something about her mother's reluctance to share even a scrap of information about him that seemed to be driving her on more than ever before. And despite what her mother had said about Rhys not being interested in who he was, Stella wasn't so sure. She'd bowed down to her mum's wishes for too long. This time, she was determined to make some headway into finding the man who caused her mother so much distress every time Stella brought him up. And, she figured, a good a place to start as any would be by delving into her mother's past. Surely there'd be the odd photo of her time at university online, even if it had been brief. And if there was one of her mum, there was a good chance it might even feature a certain man too.

Stella's heart started pounding with anticipation as she scrolled down the results of her search.

Feeling more than a little despondent, with her searches not throwing up anything of any use at all – there'd only been an undated, grainy old photograph of a large group of who she assumed were students, a handful of names beneath, one of which was "Alice Hutton", but it was difficult to make out which one, if any, was her mum – she was ready to call it a day, when a knock at her apartment door startled her. She glanced at her watch, surprised at the time looking back at her and how the light had faded. She'd been so consumed by trying to find even the tiniest nugget of information about her mother – and potentially her father – she hadn't done a stroke of work on any of her briefs. She quickly shut her laptop and headed to the door.

Peering through the spyhole, her heart leapt as she saw Alex standing on the other side.

She opened the door. ‘Hi.' She smiled at him.

‘Hi,' he said back, looking impossible handsome. ‘Okay, so I'm going to start off by saying please feel free to say no, I'll totally understand, but I wondered if you fancied joining Fred and I for a glass of crisp white wine on my balcony? It's such a beautiful evening, and the sunset's brewing up to be a stunner.' The heart-melting smile he gave meant he could have offered her a glass of ditch water while taking in the view of the sewage-treatment works over at Lingthorpe, and she'd have found it impossible to refuse.

‘Fred drinks crisp white wine?' A playful smile danced over her mouth.

‘I'll have you know, Fred has a very discerning palate. That rotting seagull carcass on the beach that he was showing so much interest in earlier today was totally out of character. I promise.'

‘I sensed that about him.' Stella couldn't help but giggle at that.

‘So what do you say? Tempted to join us?'

Those eyes! That smile! Oh my days! Could he get any hotter?‘Sounds great. Give me two ticks to change out of this lot.' She indicated to the grey cashmere loungewear she'd thrown on when she'd returned from the recycling centre. In truth, she'd be glad of a moment to calm herself down, get her surging pulse rate in check.

‘You look perfectly fine to me. No need to change on our account. Being comfy is good, especially on your days off.'

‘In that case, I'll grab my keys.' She'd just have to keep her burgeoning emotions under control as best she could, especially when Alex always seemed so laid-back and impossibly chilled. In fact, though she didn't know much about him, she couldn't imagine anything ruffling him.

In Alex's apartment, and after fussing Fred, who greeted her warmly and with much tail wagging, Stella said, ‘So I'm guessing this is pretty much a mirror-image of my apartment?' She glanced around an identical layout to her home, imagining the bedroom/bathroom distribution to be the same. They'd even opted for a similar colour-palette – something that was offered as part of the sale – and the décor was minimal just like hers. He had the balcony doors flung open onto the very same view she enjoyed every day. And he'd been right, from the colours gathering together in the sky, the sunset had every promise of being stunning. She was glad he'd called, she'd been so engrossed in her searches, she'd have missed it.

‘It is, yeah.'

Her eyes went to a vintage architects' drafting table and an array of pens and pencils beside it. The tools of his trade. ‘Oh, and I should have said this before, but you've done a brilliant job of redesigning the place. I could never have imagined how such a shabby, run-down building could end up looking like this. What's so appealing about it is how you've managed to keep the character of the place and yet bring it up-to-date at the same time. I should think that was quite a challenging prospect.' She smiled, her voice filled with awe. ‘It's fantastic. I'm told it's the most desirable property in town, and it's easy to see why. It's greatly improved the kerb appeal of the area.'

‘Thank you. Your approval means a lot.'

She turned towards him, her plait snaking over her shoulder. ‘It does?'

‘Yes.' He nodded, their eyes locking.

Stella's already lively pulse suddenly started stampeding through her body, as her libido surged. The urge to lean in and kiss him hard was becoming increasingly hard to resist. She felt inordinately pleased she'd decided to put her doubts about him living so close to one side; deciding to let their liaison simply run its course.

‘Right,' he said, breaking the spell with an unexpected snap. ‘I do recall I lured you over here with the promise of a glass of crisp white wine.'

‘Indeed you did.' Stella couldn't decide what she felt most, relief or disappointment. Relief at not lunging at him, or disappointment that he hadn't seized the initiative and taken her in his arms and kissed her passionately. Either way, she was glad of having a moment to recover. She glanced down at Fred who was looking up at her, a curious expression on his face. Something told her he knew exactly what was going on in her mind. She raised a finger to her lips and said, ‘Shh. Our secret. Okay, Fred?' She winked at him, hearing movement behind her.

‘Here you go. One glass of Pinot Grigio, chilled to perfection.' She turned to see Alex, a glass covered in beads of condensation in his hand.

‘Mmm. Looks perfect.' She took it, clinking it against his. ‘Cheers.' Her gaze swept over his face, hoping to see a trace of the expression he was wearing just moments ago, but there wasn't so much as a hint.

‘Cheers to new neighbours,' he said, hitching his eyebrows and smiling.

‘Cheers to new neighbours,' she said, her smile matching his.

They sat a while, chatting away and sipping wine as the gentle glow of the sun morphed into the most glorious sunset. It was as if the sky was on fire such was the intensity of colours splashed across it, from blazing orange to rich purple, and numerous shades in between. The wispy, candyfloss clouds had been swirled with colour that reached down and poured its molten ink over the gentle undulations of the sea, the sun slowly sliding towards the horizon.

Stella couldn't remember seeing a sunset like it. ‘Oh, wow! That's stunning.' She breathed out, the glow reflecting in her face as she took in the full display, a sense of calm washing over her. ‘I'm so glad you knocked on my door when you did or I'd have missed this.' The light breeze ruffled the fine tendrils of hair around her face.

‘I'm glad I did too.' His eyes found hers and he leant towards her, his expression changing.

Instinctively, she moved closer to him, her heart hammering in the familiar way it did when Alex was in close proximity. He reached out his hand, cupping her face, his skin warm against hers.