‘Who were you talking to on the phone?’ She finally asked him the question she’d been burning to, then braced herself.
‘On the phone when?’ He squinted at her, mystified.
‘When you came home late on Thursday. Why did you take the call in the conservatory?’
His look was now one of astonishment. ‘Because I couldn’t hear over the kettle boiling.’ He laughed bewilderedly.
Emily glanced down, her stomach churning. She could never hear over the kettle boiling. Several times she’d walked out of the kitchen, her phone pressed to her ear.
‘It was Rachel Brown, Ethan’s mother,’ Jake informed her, now obviously irate. ‘She called to tell me he’d had his surgery, that he was conscious, and to thank me. Are there any more questions I need to answer?’
Ethan.God, where was her mind? Jake had said the little boy had been rushed into hospital. His mother would have been beside herself with worry. As Jake had possibly saved her child’s life, she would have been likely to ring him with an update. He’d probably asked her to. Why on earth hadn’t she thought it through? Her cheeks heating up, she struggled for something to say. ‘No. I’m sorry. I just … It doesn’t matter.’
‘Right,’ Jake said tersely. ‘I don’t have a clue what this is all about, Emily, but when you feel like enlightening me, you know where I am.’ Looking her over, unimpressed, he shook his head and then turned to walk away.
‘I take it you two are still not on speaking terms, then?’ Emily heard Millie ask as he reached the hall, and her heart dropped.
Jake’s reply was agitated. ‘Apparently not.’
‘So where are you going?’ Millie sounded apprehensive. ‘I thought you were out together at the village fair all day.’
‘It ended early,’ Jake answered diplomatically, though his anger was still evident. ‘I’m going into work for a while. I shouldn’t be too long.’
Emily gathered from Millie’s silence that she wasn’t impressed with what was happening either.
‘I’ll bring a pizza back later, shall I?’ Jake suggested, softening his tone. ‘Assuming you’re around?’
‘I’m out tonight,’ Millie answered after a second. ‘Assuming I’m not grounded at weekends as well as during the week,’ she added drolly.
‘Where?’ Jake asked. ‘Assuming you get why we would be worried about you.’
‘I get it,’ Millie conceded grudgingly. ‘I’m going to the Open Air Film and Chill in Hereford with Anna and a few friends. And no, we’re not going anywhere near the pub, before Mum starts going on about me drinking again, as if she never did when she was my age.’
‘It’s only out of concern, Mils,’ Jake said in Emily’s defence. ‘I know you think we go on, but if you’re honest, I think you’d much rather that than if we couldn’t care less where you are.’
‘I suppose so.’ Millie conceded that much too.
‘You know so,’ Jake chided her. ‘What about Ben? Do you know whether he’s home later?’
‘I think so. He’s gaming round at his mate’s this afternoon, but he said they’d be coming back here. I’ll tell him to give you a call at the surgery, shall I?’
‘If you could. Thanks, Mils,’ Jake said, that special fondness in his voice he had for his daughter. ‘Have you heard back from the veterinary practice about the job yet?’
‘No.’ Millie sighed disappointedly. ‘I think I messed up my application form, to be honest. And then I was so nervous I was talking rubbish.’
‘That sucks,’ Jake sympathised.
‘Yeah.’ Millie sighed again, heavily. ‘I should have prepared better, I suppose,’ she admitted – and Emily felt even more guilty. She should have gone through her application with her, and made time to coach her. If only she hadn’t been so preoccupied with convincing herself Jake was cheating on her.
‘Did you make enquiries at MacDonald and Gibbs?’ Jake asked. ‘They’re moving premises, looking at expanding, apparently.’
‘Are they?’ Millie sounded hopeful.
‘So I heard from Phil MacDonald. I tell you what, why don’t you come in with me? We’ll draft an email together, and I’ll give Phil a ring and let him know to expect it. What do you think?’
Millie took a second to answer. ‘That you’re pretty cool,’ she said, careful not to sound overly gushing.
‘As dads go,’ Jake added, amused.
