‘But it’s serious. I can tell from your face. You’re hesitating because you don’t want to admit how strongly you feel about this someone in particular.’
His stomach churned. ‘That’s true ...’
‘At least tell me her name? We’re friends as well as colleagues, and you were at my engagement party – even if it was virtually, and only at the start.’
‘Her name?’ he murmured, panicking. A string of female names galloped through his mind. Anna, the pub landlady. Robyn, his best mate James’s wife. The postmistress, Mrs McIntyre. She was seventy-odd. His childhood friend, who owned a café and gave Lachlan free chocolate milkshakes ...
‘Iona,’ he blurted out, ‘but, um, please don’t share that with anyone. It’s all – very early days.’
Jenna sighed. ‘Iona? Oh, that’s a beautiful name. So – evocative. I can just picture her.’
Cam could too. He could picture Iona roaring with laughter if she ever found out he’d invented a bogus girlfriend to avoid coming across as a saddo to the woman he was madly and hopelessly in love with.
He imagined Iona – kind, helpful and always up for a laugh – telling her partner, Laura, the village pharmacist, that he’d made up this pitiful story. And the nudges and sniggers every time he popped in for a packet of plasters or his isotonic energy drinks.
‘She sounds lovely ...’ Jenna prompted again.
To his horror, he realised Jenna might be hoping for reciprocal photos.
‘I – er – yes, she is. Very nice.’ Cam hastily changed the subject. ‘Um ... um, let’s chat about the Kilt Challenge, is it all one hundred per cent confirmed? I got your email, but I was waiting for the green light before contacting anyone.’
‘Oh, yes. It’s going ahead ...’ Jenna’s voice sounded a bit strangled and then, to Cam’s horror, her eyes filled with tears. ‘Sorry, sorry. This is so unprofessional of me. I probably should’ve mentioned it earlier ... but there’s something you should know about this challenge.’
Chapter Three
Jenna
A– a-tishoo!’
Jenna grabbed a handful of Kleenex from the box. She’d decided to do the meeting from home, to avoid passing on her germs to her colleagues. She’d missed a week of Cam-cam calls because she’d been on holiday to Crete with Nate. If she was honest, she’d felt guilty about swanning off on holiday, but Nate had booked a suite in a top hotel as an engagement present.
At least she could trust Cam to get things rolling with the Kilt Challenge.
‘Soddy, soddy. I must look and sound disgusting. Bloody summer cold. Thank your lucky stars we’re so far apart.’
‘You don’t look disgusting,’ Cam said. ‘But I must admit, that sneeze was probably picked up by the Scottish Geological Survey. How was Crete?’
‘Oh, nice ...’ Jenna said, and she blew her nose again, remembering how Nate had kicked up a huge fuss over their hotel room and a taverna meal one evening. She wouldn’t be sharing that with Cam. Wasn’t an engagement-moon (or whatever Kerry kept calling it) supposed to be romantic?
‘I probably caught this from the plane.’ There were raised voices from outside the room. ‘Soddy about the mess too. I’m in my bedroom because Nate’s on the phone to the builders in the sitting room.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes, it’s about the Glass House, our new home. The builder can’t get the bifold doors we want. But that’s boring ... you don’t want to know.’
‘Bifold. Sounds fancy.’
‘Oh, they’re only big doors,’ she said, enjoying the way Cam said ‘bifold’. And ‘fancy’. And most of all, the way he said ‘Jenna’. Immediately, she felt guilty, aware a newly engaged woman shouldn’t find her colleague’s voice so attractive. Clearly, her stinking cold was affecting her judgement.
‘Is your house completely made of glass?’ Cam said, cutting into her uncomfortable thoughts.
‘No. No.’ She laughed, embarrassed. ‘It’s just designed to let in as much light as possible and showcase the views over the coast.’
‘At Land’s End?’
‘No, near St Ives. It’s wild there but—’ She almost said ‘a lot posher than here’ and checked herself. ‘It’s a nice area and there’s a little village below but we’re on our own up on the cliffs looking down on them. Not literally looking down, though I suppose we do. Anyway, you don’t want to hear about it.’ Meaning she didn’t want to talk about it.
On holiday, ‘wed-min’ had been pretty much all she and Natehadtalked about. He’d already been suggesting venues and photographers, even hinting at a style of dress that he knew she’d look great in. It was far too early in Jenna’s eyes.
