Bella Osborne - Wildflower Park – Part Two

‘Heads down, and paddle as hard as you can, team,’ said Hudson. ‘Go, go, go!’ which was exactly what they did. Hudson was at the back, his powerful strokes doing the lion’s share of the work. They sailed over the finish line with the other canoe on their tail. Hudson turned the canoe at speed and with a few neat flicks of his paddle soaked the occupants of the other one. Karl stood up to protest, wobbled dramatically and in an attempt to right himself, lost his balance further and fell in. Liam threw down his paddle in temper. It bounced off the canoe and into the water, making him swear.

Once out of the canoes there was lots of congratulatory blokey back slapping, a few playful remonstrations and lots of Karl shaking his wet head over people like a naughty puppy. When he knew Liam was watching, Hudson leaned into Anna’s ear. ‘Nice job, honey,’ he whispered, making her shudder. She hoped Hudson assumed her squirming was all part of the act. If you weren’t gay, you would make an excellent boyfriend, she thought. If she wasn’t careful she’d soon be suffering from Sophie’s complaint.

As the victors they were first to eat lunch, which was a barbecue by the water’s edge.

‘You okay?’ Anna asked Sophie who was munching down a large hamburger overflowing with salad.

‘Starving and a bit knackered but I had fun this morning and the lie-in was bliss. It’s lovely not to be woken by someone jumping on your bladder.’

‘You should stop Dave doing that,’ said Anna drily and Sophie gave a smirk.

Sophie’s gaze drifted over to Hudson in his tight white T-shirt. ‘Do you think if I paid him he’d re-create the Mr Darcy scene from Pride and Prejudice for me?’

‘You are aware you said that out loud?’ said Anna, rolling her eyes. ‘He’s gorgeous but you know he’s gay. You need to have a word with your hormones.’

‘I noticed you two seemed a bit cosy on the bus earlier,’ said Sophie, with a suspicious look in her eye.

Anna checked around her like an amateur spy. ‘I was going to explain on the way home away from the others, but Hudson is pretending to be my boyfriend so we can …’ Why were they doing this again? Anna was no longer sure. ‘Get closer to Liam.’

Sophie frowned hard and inclined her head. ‘Makes no sense to me.’

‘I’ll explain later,’ said Anna, as Liam strolled over.

‘Hiya, Sophie, how’s Dave and the kids?’

‘Great, thanks. How are your scruples? Oh, I forgot you don’t have any,’ said Sophie, and went to get another burger leaving him somewhat shell-shocked by the snub.

Anna avoided eye contact and followed Sophie into the salad queue. ‘Don’t piss him off, Sophe, he has the fate of our jobs in his hands.’

Sophie shrugged. ‘I’m not sure pretending you’re Hudson’s girlfriend isn’t going to do that anyway.’ Anna could already see she wasn’t happy about it but they could hardly backtrack now they’d come this far.

The afternoon whizzed by and Anna was thrilled that, with a bit of help, both teams managed to complete their sections of dry-stone wall and have their photographs taken next to their masterpieces. She was pleased Roberta bothered to show up for a final wrap-up and motivational send-off liberally scattered with feminist quotes. After everyone had dispersed Roberta took Anna to one side.

‘Nice job with this team event, Anna, I’m impressed.’

‘Thanks.’ Anna was quickly buoyed by a little praise.

‘I’ve just found out about you and Liam. I’m not sure what to say. Obviously, he didn’t mention it otherwise I would have objected.’

‘So, you didn’t hire him?’ said Anna, her left eye twitching slightly.

Roberta shook her head. ‘No, this has come from on high. But I’m fully supportive obviously.’ She gave an expression that said she wasn’t.

‘Obviously. Thanks for the heads-up, I’ll make sure he only sees what he needs to but to be honest I think Hudson and I are working far better together now than we were. There are no holes for him to pick on the project.’

‘If you want something done, ask a woman. That’s what the late, great Margaret Thatcher told us,’ said Roberta. She straightened her dress and went to speak to someone else.

Hudson sauntered over and made sure his bicep brushed Anna’s shoulder. ‘Hey, girlfriend, how you doing?’

‘Really?’ said Anna in a mocking tone but the truth was she was enjoying their play-acting. She was seeing a whole new side to Hudson and it was one she liked.

‘I forgot I don’t need to try to win you over, you’re already dating me.’ He gave her another nudge.

‘Careful or you’ll be filed in the same section as Karl.’ They both watched as he chased after Priya whilst swinging his wet T-shirt around his head. Roberta was looking unimpressed.

‘I was wondering if you fancied grabbing something to eat?’ he said. Anna stared at the hot dog she was holding. Hudson seemed to go a little pink. ‘I figured we’d be hungry again later and I’d like to hatch a plan of attack now we have Liam snooping around the project.’

‘Good call. And it’d be a chance to get our whole girlfriend, boyfriend story straight. I’m not sure I feel like going out though.’ Anna was looking forward to a shower and an early night but Hudson’s suggestion made sense and she liked to be on the front foot. ‘How about a takeaway at mine?’

‘Takeout? Great. About seven thirty?’

‘Perfect. Here’s my address,’ she said pulling a Post-it Note pad and pen from her bag and jotting it down.

‘Always prepared. You’d have made an excellent Scout.’

A few hours later Hudson and Anna were sitting at her small dining table munching pizza. They had drawn up a list of everything they needed to check to ensure Liam couldn’t find fault with the project governance and had now moved on to their fake relationship.

‘We know how we met,’ said Hudson.

‘At work. Very clichéd but also very common.’

Hudson nodded. ‘I asked you out and—’

‘I could have asked you out.’ Anna was slightly put out because she wasn’t keen on gender stereotypes.

Hudson’s mouth tweaked at one corner. ‘Okay, but I warn you, I play hard to get. How would you have got me to say yes?’

Anna’s smile reached her eyes. She liked him challenging her. ‘There’s my cute British accent.’ She started to tick things off on her fingers.

He screwed up his nose. ‘Everyone here has one of those. Even Karl.’

‘Fair enough.’ Anna had a think. ‘You were missing America and I invited you to a breakfast meeting with … Pop Tarts, bagels and syrup.’

Hudson was giving her an odd look. ‘It’s a nice thought but Pop Tarts?’

‘Yes. Pop Tarts, you thought it was adorable and we laughed about it and I promised to make you a proper breakfast next time we went out.’ She gave him her best flirty expression.

Hudson nearly choked on his drink. ‘You floozy. But you’ve got yourself a date.’

This was fun – all the flirting with none of the consequences. She thought to herself that she should probably date gay guys more often. They clinked glasses and got back to demolishing the pizza. Anna put a few more turns of black pepper on hers.

‘You like black pepper huh?’

‘On everything.’

‘I make a mean pepper sauce to go with steak.’

‘Mmm, sounds good. Old family recipe?’

‘Err, yes and no. My ex’s old family recipe actually.’ Hudson broke eye contact and seemed to be studying her laminate flooring in great detail. The mood had changed quickly.

‘Bad break-up?’ She had to ask.

‘You could say that. I got unceremoniously dumped by someone I thought was the one.’