Different Worlds Ch. 03

"And Kevin's right, this would be the perfect place for a log pile," she met his stare and held it, daring him to contradict her.

He didn't reply and Ivy was suddenly worried that she'd overreacted. why did Richard always seem to bring out such strong emotions in her?

The meeting ended, but more than once Ivy had forgotton herself, she'd found it hard to break eye contact with Richard and she was always stumbling over her words. Why couldn't she control herself around him? A quick glance over to Sara confirmed she seemed happy enough though, so maybe Ivy was keeping a better lid on things than she'd thought.

As they began to walk over to the walled garden, Richard stopped and faced both Ivy and Kevin.

"It's great you're on board with this. I'll need to discuss it with Terence and the rest of the team before we can finalise, but I'm excited by your ideas."

Ivy felt a rush of excitement, she was pleased that the meeting had gone well but also - despite herself -- about the idea of working with Richard, of seeing him again. Smiling, she thanked him. Kevin didn't say much, he just made a gruff sound that was probably a thank you and nodded, but she could tell he was pleased too. She was keen to get back to work, to be alone with her thoughts again, but she felt obliged to accompany them. A quick tour and then hopefully they would go.

Well, that was the idea anyway.

Sara was full of enthusiasm about the garden and their plans, and she had lots of questions. Tim was making them all laugh as he reminisced about the house and coaxed stories out of Kevin. Richard was mostly silent. Ivy wondered if he was finding the tour tedious and she was more upset than she should have been by the idea he wasn't interested in what she spent her days doing. She sighed, was this ever going to end? She just wanted to get away, to be able to process everything that had happened.

At last everyone seemed to have run out of conversation and they parted company. Richard and Sara needed to set off if they were to get back to London at a reasonable time.

Sara kissed Ivy on both cheeks and told her she would like to revisit the garden again when it was completed. Ivy was too baffled by her friendliness to respond but thankfully Kevin told her she would be welcome to come and see it again anytime.

Richard shook hands with Tim and Kevin and then said goodbye stiffly to Ivy. His parting words seemed brief and impersonal and she wondered why he hadn't kissed her on the cheek, like Sara had or at least shaken her hand.

She painted what she hoped was a polite smile on her face as they waved goodbye to Tim and the departing couple as they walked back to their cars When they were alone in the garden again Kevin asked if she was okay. Was she so easy to read? She wondered

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," she told him.

"You seem a bit out of sorts, Ivy."

"I'm okay, I'm just a bit knackered."

"Take the rest of the day off."

"Don't be silly Kevin. I'm okay, really."

"Its four o'clock now, too late to start anything and you look a bit pasty to me."

She smiled gratefully. "Okay, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow then."

They parted company and she could see Kevin heading off towards the woodman's cottage presumably to tell to Seph about the meeting. She smiled to herself, happy that this was all working out for him.

She wandered back to the Dodge, feeling lighter than she had in days. She was disappointed to discover Richard was most likely in a relationship, but it wasn't really surprising, it was a relief in a funny sort of way. She could put this away now, get over it and hopefully he would stop dominating her thoughts.

As she wondered what to make for dinner she put the kettle on, she hadnt' eaten very much for lunch. She knew Alex and Ruth were out for the evening, but she could see the lights were on in Roger's bus. She ought to go and say hi, find out what he was doing for dinner. She would normally, but she just wasn't feeling all that social. She looked around her tiny kitchen, there wasn't much in, she needed to go shopping, but for now she'd make pasta. She started pulling out the ingredients, she realised that she didn't have any garlic.

She could do without it, but she was looking for an excuse to go to farm shop and to check in with Sally. She wanted to tell her about the meeting. If she could come up with a way of casually dropping Sara into the conversation without seeming too obvious, maybe she could figure out who she was to Richard, whether they were an item. Then again, she thought as she absently chewed at her thumbnail, maybe not. Sally seemed to have this uncanny ability to read minds. Ivy was worried that if she asked about Sara and Richard, Sally might work out why she was asking and she wasn't sure that she was quite ready to admit to anyone else that she had these feelings for him.

She walked the short distance to the farm shop while her curiosity and her desire to keep her feelings to herself continued to do battle in her mind. She was excited about the project but confused about Richard. She was still getting mixed messages from him and she felt guilty for responding to them. She shouldn't have these feelings about someone else's boyfriend and Sara seemed so nice. But perhaps they were not together, perhaps they were just work colleagues, or friends. She groaned, why was she doing this to herself, over this arrogant, smug man. She wasn't even sure she liked him very much, why was he consuming her thoughts.

*

Richard and Sara stopped off at the farm shop to grab some water, and so Richard could say a quick hello to Sally before they started the drive home.

Sara had been happily distracted at the meeting but now she was faced with the prospect of returning to the office and she was fretting about seeing Simon. "Oh God, I'm so pathetic, I'm dreading the conference next week. What if he brings his new girlfriend?"

Richard could see she was about to cry, so he pulled her into his arms and resting his chin on the top of her head, he scanned the woods for signs of Ivy or her van which was parked in the small clearing just beyond the trees.

"He wouldn't do that Sara, I know he can be an insensitive oaf, but no one's that much of an idiot."

Closing his eyes, Richard wondered how it would feel if this were Ivy he was holding. He quickly felt guilty for having such improper thoughts while Sara was so upset. He looked wistfully into the woods, to where Ivy's truck was parked just beyond the trees. He wanted to go to her, to talk more about the Project - to explain about Sara.

He thought back to the beginning of the meeting, he'd noticed Ivy watching him and Sara when she'd first arrived, as though she was sizing them up, trying to read their relationship. He thought he'd seen disappointment flicker briefly in her face, but then the shutters came down and he couldn't be sure. After that she had worn a detached expression and when he tried to catch her eye again he couldn't.

Later, when she thought there was no one looking her eyebrows had drawn together. He'd wanted to go to her and pull her into his arms, take her face in his hands and smooth the frown that had formed on her forehead away with his lips. He wanted to tell her that they were not together. That Sara was a friend, just a friend and that it was Ivy, he thought about as he fell asleep at night, Ivy who came into his mind first thing when he woke up. But he couldn't, not without sounding presumptuous.

He sighed, he shouldn't have brought Sara.

She had more experience working with landscape architecture than he did and she was very knowledgeable about sustainable building design. They were old friends from uni and he'd picked her brains frequently over the preceding months. He'd thought she'd want to see the project for herself after hearing so much about it, but the real reason he'd asked her along was that her relationship with another of their work colleagues had recently come to an end and Richard had known she would appreciate an excuse to spend a day out of the office.

Would he go over there if Sara wasn't with him? He knew perfectly well he had no real reason to, he didn't owe Ivy any kind of explanation. He sighed. He and Sara must get on the road or they would be back in town late.

He had started with reservations about working with Ivy and Kevin but by the end of the meeting he was sold on her knowledge and her enthusiasm. She seemed so dynamic and creative and brimming with new ideas. It turned out that she had worked with Luke Gladstone, who, in ecobuild circles, was regarded as the [sustainable architect's] landscaper of choice.

And Ivy seemed to grasp the design concept around the building intuitively. She appeared to have good spatial awareness and a good eye for detail. It was admirable that she wouldn't allow Kevin to give her all the credit, even though he had a sneaking suspicion they were mostly her ideas. He was intrigued by this strange, prickly girl. She was full of surprises. But he couldn't bring himself to do anything about his feelings, they were from different worlds, she wouldn't be interested in him and anyway she was a work colleague.

He was still standing in the farm shop's small car park hugging Sara. He pulled away.

"Come on, we should get on with it. Do you want to wait in the car while I grab a bottle of water?"

"I'd like to come in. I haven't seen Sally for ages."

*

It was as Ivy was about to reach the farm shop that she saw them. She ground to a halt just in time to stay concealed, stepping back behind the tree line. She watched as Richard pulled Sara into his arms, hugging her tightly he rested his chin on her head. In turn Sara rested her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his middle.

Ivy felt a sharp stab in her chest and looked away. This confirmed it, they were together, she couldn't kid herself any more, when he had introduced Sara as a work colleague she had felt a small glimmer of hope but that was extinguished now; it was obvious that Richard was officially off limits, despite the mixed messages she'd been getting. She was fine with them being together, she had been coping, but why did she have to see them? Of course Richard would have some one as sophisticated and beautiful as Sara for his girlfriend, but why did fate have to rub it in her face?

She was drawn back to the scene, like some kind of masochist. Sara's eyes were still closed but he was staring right at where Ivy was standing. She panicked, until she noticed he didn't seem to be actually seeing her, she was standing in the shadow of the copse where it was too dark.

Her shoulders sagged. [She couldn't bear to watch], it felt like she was spying on them, intruding uninvited into a private moment. Carefully she moved further back and stepped behind a tree. Turning away from the scene she leaned against the trunk. Hiding from them seemed so juvenile, she felt like a silly little girl as she so often did around Richard.

The next time she looked they were gone, the car was there still so they must be in the shop. Before they could come out again and find her she took a breath and ran.

She got into her van, closed the door, leaned against it and waited for her breathing to return to normal. She'd assumed they were a thing from the moment she had first spotted them talking together quietly before the meeting, this just confirmed it. But having the hopes she had not even admitted she had dashed still hurt a surprising amount.

She was being ridiculous, allowing her emotions to rule her like this. She needed to be thinking about the project, not Richard's relationship status. It shouldn't matter. It didn't matter. There was never any way anything was ever going to come of the frisson [between them] that she'd been sure she felt. They had nothing in common.

She thought back, cataloguing in her mind all the times their paths had crossed. She had been sure she'd picked up on a mutual attraction, there was definitely something there, like an involuntary current or charge that ran between them. She shook her head, she must have been imagining it. Intuitively she knew Richard wasn't a player, he was too earnest. So what had happened? How had she got this so wrong?

Thanks for reading if you have made it this far, I'm planning to upload chapter 4 more quickly than usual, its a bit on the short side so it seems unfair to make you all wait. And thanks again for all the comments and votes, it really makes all this worth it! Until next time...