In His Eyes

Secret Recipes...

Beth smiled and closed the oven door.  Looking up at the kitchen clock, she knew she'd have plenty of time.  Tom wasn't due for a couple of hours. Plenty of time to get the cake out of the oven, cool, and decorate it.  No special occasion, just her way of showing him HE was special.

It was a Victoria sponge, Tom's favourite. But this had been her mum's recipe.  She'd been baking it all her life. For her family, her friends.  This time, for the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, if he'd let her.

She walked through to the living room and sat down, flicking on the tv.  Finding nothing but children's tv, depressing news, and some of the usual soaps, she opened one of the streaming services that she subscribed to but rarely actually used.

This time, however, she was glad she had.  One of Tom's films was being shown as part of a cult season.  Vampires always seemed to be in vogue, she mused.  She wondered how he would respond in real life if she said "bite me"!

Settling down to watch, she'd no sooner put her feet up when a little wet nose rubbed her hand.  Looking down, the brown eyes of the real love of her life stared at her.  She smiled and tenderly ran her hand through his soft, silky curls. 

"Don't you dare tell anyone, but YOU'RE my darling. You know that, don't you, Bobs?"

The little dog yipped and licked her hand.  He'd been her best friend from the minute they'd met. Tom had stood and watched in amazement as his previously loyal companion had figuratively and literally rolled over and surrendered.

"So that's how it is, Bobby? One whif of a pretty girl and I'm toast eh?" Tom had laughed. "Well, since you two seem to be getting along so well, maybe I can ask a favour....?"

So that was how Beth became a mother.  To a small, cute, loving, and very loyal little Spaniel.

Now that Spaniel was demanding her attention.  He tugged at her sleeve, and she swung her legs over the edge of the sofa and stood up.  "Come on then, trouble, what's up?"

He trotted through to the little boxroom she used as storage / office / spare bedroom. Snuffling in one corner, he yipped again.

"What you got there, Bobs?" She crouched down.  As she did so, she looked inside a couple of old plastic bags she had filled with old files and correspondence she was going to shred.  There was a half chewed packet of toffees that she must have forgotten about, which was what he'd found.

Realising he was just being mischievous, she grabbed the sweets and went to stand up.  Then she saw it.  A small, almost new manilla envelope, about A5 size.  Sitting on the floor, fending Bobby off, she pulled it out. 

The phrase hidden in plain sight was never more apt.  On the front was handwritten "Tyrell Bay" and inside, a set of what looked like house keys.  She had absolutely NO idea where Tyrell Bay was, or indeed, who they belonged to.

There was really no one else other than Tom to suspect unless Bobby had suddenly made an astounding evolutionary leap!  Had Tom been planning on moving away? Had she disturbed him, and he'd had to hide them quickly, hoping to retrieve them before she ever saw them? Suddenly, her perfect world didn't seem quite so perfect anymore.

The timer on the oven pinged, and with a guilty start, she shoved the keys back where she'd found them. She was still sure the Tom she knew would tell her in the fullness of time.  She just had to make the most of what they had left.

Walking through to the kitchen, she took the now golden brown cake out of the oven to cool.  Well, if she was losing him, she would leave him with good memories, not the kind she had of Rob.

Rob.

It was barely a week since he'd been thrown out, broken nose and all, but it felt like a lifetime. Of love and hope and feeling like she belonged. Rob had, to all intents, slunk off to oblivion again, and she'd realised she was finally free.  Free to love. Free to live.  Just not with Tom after all, it seemed.

Tom sat on the Tube, his mind far away. 3500-odd miles away. Tyrell Bay.  The house had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It was almost 150 years old and came with a plot of 2 acres of fruit trees. Oranges, mangoes, and one or two lemon trees.  Ben and Sophie loved it.  A complete hideaway from all their schedules and meetings and the million different demands on their time. 

They'd bought it about five years previously, and now, the West Indies had become their secret slice of paradise.  One, they were more than willing to share with Tom - and his potential partner for life.  Yes, despite the fact it was "too soon", despite the fact he was still working "too hard" and exactly because he loved her "too much" to lose her, he'd decided.  To ask her to be his wife.

He'd gotten Luke to arrange a "fake" trip with a "fake" itinerary.  He would ask her to come with him.  Pack for a warm country and tell her no more.  The rest? Would be a surprise. He just hoped it would be a welcome one.

As he walked from the station to her flat, he smiled to himself.  She was cooking something up for tonight. She'd insisted on him being home on time, and he'd been happy to oblige.  The last thing he wanted was to upset his little kitten. 

He was oblivious to the fact that, thanks to his dog, he'd already done that.