“Would you miss me?”
Yes. “We haven’t known each other for long.”
“Susan.”
“Yes, I’d miss you.”
“Thank you. Stay,” he said, grasping her hand. “You only have another week.”
Braced for fallout on her return, it took hours for Susan to relax. She interrupted Jasmine and Lucy in a huddle a couple of times, and finally retreated to the kitchen to make dinner.
“I want to interview you on camera about Mrs. Penrith’s allegations,” the cameraman said on entering the kitchen.
Susan stirred her pan of onions. “No.”
“Mrs. Penrith is correct. The forum is full of gossip.”
“Leave her alone,” Nolan said.
Susan flinched. Bother, she hadn’t heard him enter the kitchen.
The cameraman lifted his camera and zoomed in on Nolan. “Don’t you want to know if the gossip is true?”
“Susan has said it isn’t true, and that’s enough for me.”
The camera shifted to her, and Susan grasped for innocent-woman-done-wrong.Please let her pull this off.Admitting the truth now would mean she’d have to leave. Was it so wrong to want a few more days with Tyler?
“Do you have any comments, Susan?”
Susan lifted her chin and stared into the camera. “No.”
And wouldn’t that just stir the gossip pot,she thought. Another gross understatement.
The next few days were free of Mrs. Penrith, free of nosy questions, free of drama. While Jasmine and Lucy lazed in bed or visited the local hair salon during the afternoons, Susan took long walks. Apart from helping out with Katey’s birthday party—a huge success thanks to Christina’s help via Skype—and taking part in the reality show activities, she kept to herself and her thoughts.
Tyler.
She couldn’t resist the man. Their snatched meetings, hurried kisses…
Today, the sun fought the cloud cover, piercing the sullen gray to cast bright patches of light on the mud landscape—a decided improvement from the last days of intermittent rain. Susan splashed through a puddle in her new red gumboots—her recent purchase after becoming tired of cold, wet feet and muddy runners.
Laughing, she jumped into the next puddle. The rumble of an approaching vehicle had her scurrying behind a nearby bush. She grasped a branch and let out a yelp when stupid prickles bit into her palm, but maintained her secretive crouch.
“Lucky escape.” Her gaze narrowed on the rear bumper of the vehicle. Mrs. Penrith was about to inflict herself on Jasmine and Lucy. No problem for them, since the woman adored both girls, and they liked her back. Stupid rose-tinted glasses.
The growl of the vehicle faded, and Susan rose. A nearby sheep let out abaaand Susan’s world righted. She might miss the city and her friends, her daily bowl of latte and the local library, but the country had its charms.
Sexy red gumboots.
Cute animals.
Hunky men.
She turned off the road onto the narrow sheep trail that led down the hill to the dam. A fantail flitted around her, snatching up the tiny bugs she disturbed with each step.
Susan spied Tyler first. “Hey.”
Nice ass. Very sexy farmers in the country.
