Free Revive (The Revival Series Book 1) by Claire Thake Page B

Carrie took a seat on the bench and examined the boxes of food he had unpacked. The smell of Chinese food hit Carrie’s nostrils and her stomach growled, as she realised how hungry she actually was.
    “So, the thing here is I’m not a good cook at all! So I decided the best thing for me to do was to order take away and pack it to keep it as warm as possible, so please tuck in before it’s totally cold”
    Carrie laughed, helping herself to a selection of Chinese food; there was enough to feed them both 4 times over.
    “Drink?” Daniel offered. Pulling 2 water bottles from the basket, and cans of fizzy drinks.  Nodding with her mouth full, Carrie gestured towards a can before swallowing and thanking him, feeling rude for not being able to answer with food in her mouth.
    Daniel popped open the can for her and passed it across the table, before taking a big fork full of food and washing it down with water.
    “So are you enjoying your stay down here?” he asked, tucking into his plate of food
    “I am, but it’s hard for me if I’m honest. I haven’t really been around everyone for a few years now, after…erm, after my husband passed away”
    Carrie took a big swig from her can, trying to think of way to divert the conversation away from her.
    “Can I ask how he died? I mean I know it’s none of my business of course, so I understand if you don’t want to tell me”
    “It was a car accident” She answered quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them. “It was his 30 th birthday and I was driving back home from his party, and another driver jumped the lights at a junction and slammed into the side of the car, his side of the car, and before you think anything as most do, I was sober, I hadn’t had any alcohol that evening”
    “Wow, Carrie, I’m so sorry, that must have been a terrible thing to go through. And don’t worry the thought never crossed my mind, I don’t like to make assumptions on people”
    Daniel reached over and placed his hand comfortingly over Carries and gave it an affectionate squeeze. Carrie knew she should remove her hand but she was enjoying the comfort, and it didn’t feel hard talking to Daniel. Somehow it actually felt good to be getting it all out and to talk about it all for the first time in over 2 years.
    “I woke up a day later in hospital, with several broken bones and scratches but apart from that I was fine. My husband Ian, he had died on impact from head injuries” Carrie swallowed suddenly feeling nausea in the pit of her tummy, and pushed away her plate of food.
    “Sorry I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable” Daniel said, feeling the unease coming off her in waves
    “You didn’t, to be honest it’s strangely nice to talk about it all, it’s been a while, yet it’s all still so fresh in my memory”
      “What was your husband like?” he asked wondering if the question would push her too far, but a small smile crept across her lips and her face lit up as she was thinking
    “He was wonderful. We met when we were in the last years of college. He was a friend of a friend and we met at a party. He was such a goof ball and just made me laugh the whole evening. We swapped numbers and met up the next day and were inseparable after that” 
    “Sounds perfect, I wish I could say I had met someone I felt such a strong connection with” Daniel said, taking another big mouthful of food.
    “So no one has ever caught your eye?” Carrie questioned
    “Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint when it comes to women, but I’ve never found anyone I would want to settle down with and now to be honest, I don’t get the opportunity to meet anyone, the farm takes up too much time”
    “How did you get into farming?” Carrie questioned “I mean I’ve never really come across a young farmer before, they all seem to be older and married with kids”
    Daniel chuckled; he started packing away the leftover food back into the picnic basket, and