‘Leave me alone, Dean,’ she warned him, stumbling over the washing rack in her haste to get away from him. ‘Don’t you come anywherenearme.’
Sixteen
Emily
Emily tried to act normally, to ignore the wild palpitations in her chest, the churning in her stomach. Attempting to calm herself, to think rationally, her eyes slid towards Nicky, who was back from lunch and talking on the phone to the medical suppliers.
Catching her looking, Nicky gave her a smile. ‘They’ve admitted they made a mistake,’ she said, placing her hand over the receiver. ‘The new blood pressure monitor should be with us tomorrow.’
‘Excellent.’ Expelling a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, Emily forced a smile in return. She was wrong. She had to be. Please God she was. Nicky was acting naturally, making full eye contact with her. If she was gazing distractedly after anyone, it was Tom. But that was an even more ludicrous idea than her and Jake … Yet Jake hadseenher with Tom. He’d followed Tom. Why? Unless … Had Nicky been involved with Jake and then become involved with Tom? That might explain why Jake would follow him.
Emily’s heart plummeted, her stomach clenching at the thought of what might have been going on. Had Jake been meeting her here? It was perfect, after all, wasn’t it? Nicky had a set of keys. No one would think anything of her coming and going. Dear God, had he …? In his office? Absurd though they were, the thoughts came rapid-fire in her head. She simply couldn’t stop them. She had toknow.
Ask her, a little voice urged her.She won’t admit it, but you’ll know if she’s lying.An averted gaze, angry denials – those would be the signs that would confirm her guilt. But on the other hand, wouldn’t Emily be affronted if someone levelled that kind of accusation ather?
She needed to talk to someone before she did go out of her mind. The alternative would be to storm into Jake’s office, which she was dangerously close to doing, and then her marriage would undoubtedly be over. Jake’s reputation would suffer. Tom would imagine his own deplorable behaviour had been vindicated in some way. The children would be utterly humiliated.
She was about to ring through to Sally and ask her if she had time for a quick chat when her mobile rang.Hell, she thought, checking the number and realising it was Peter, the landlord at the Plough and Dog pub. He would want to know her drinks order for Edward’s party. She’d been so preoccupied; she had no idea how many people might be going yet, and she was clueless about beers and ales. She’d meant to talk to Jake about it, but now it seemed they were incapable of talking without arguing. She needed to get on with organising the arrangements. She’d promised herself she would do this. She couldn’t let Edward down and end up leaving Joyce in the lurch. She had to focus – not that she seemed capable of focusing on anything lately.
Was she overreacting? Might everything she thought Jake was doing be in her feverish imagination? The truth was, shedidfeel paranoid. Her emotions were out of control, her sleep patterns all over the place, which made concentrating on anything almost impossible. It was as if her body were waging a war against her. Shehadto get some perspective. Sally wasn’t exactly the soul of discretion, prone to gossip with the best of them, but she was a good friend, someone who’d known Jake before he’d left the village to get away from the pain of his childhood. If anyone could help her see the wood for the trees, Sally could.
Blanking her screen, she was rising from her desk when Sally emerged from the treatment room, heading towards the kitchen. ‘Won’t be a tick,’ Emily mouthed to Nicky, who was still on the phone, and followed her.
She was passing Jake’s office when she heard voices from inside and realised that Sally had stopped short of the kitchen and gone in there. Realising she would have to catch her later, she turned to go back to reception, but stopped when she heard Jake say, ‘I’m fine, Sally, honestly. I’m sure things will sort themselves out once Emily and I have a chance to sit down and talk.’
Deciding that her eavesdropping this time was justifiable, since she appeared to be the topic of the conversation, Emily frowned and stepped closer.
‘Well, if you ever need a shoulder …’ was Sally’s reply, leaving Emily confused. Wasn’tshethe one Sally was supposed to be offering a shoulder to?
‘Thanks, but I don’t,’ Jake answered brusquely, which went some way to appeasing her.
‘Right, well, I just thought I would offer,’ Sally said, sounding hurt.
Jake blew out a discernible sigh. ‘Sorry, Sally. That sounded ungrateful. It’s just … I really don’t think it would be a good idea for us to … you know, behind Emily’s back.’
Behind her back?Emily’s antennae stood on red alert.
‘It’s fine,’ Sally assured him. ‘I get why you would be a bit edgy. I’m not completely insensitive, Jake.’
‘I know. Ignore me,’ he said apologetically. ‘I’m not in the best of moods lately.’
‘I gathered,’ Sally replied understandingly. ‘You do realise that’s exactly what you said all those years ago?’
‘Sorry?’ He sounded mystified.
‘Before we went our separate ways,’ Sally went on, causing the hairs to rise over Emily’s skin. ‘I knew you were struggling then too, but you just shrugged and said to ignore you and that you weren’t in the best of moods. I got that. I mean who would be after all you’d been through, but I never did understand why you closed up on me the way you did.’
Jake hesitated before answering. ‘I didn’t find what happened easy to talk about,’ he said awkwardly, after a second. ‘It was too painful back then, I guess. Still is.’
‘I know it was. What happened with your mum was unimaginably terrible.’ Sally oozed sympathy. ‘But … it hurt, you know, that you turned away from me. I thought we had something, and the next thing I knew you’d left the village without saying a word. I still don’t know what I did wrong.’
‘Nothing,’ Jake said quickly. ‘It wasn’t you, Sally. It was me. I cared for you, a lot, but …’
Emily felt the blood freeze in her veins. They’d had a relationship? A serious relationship?When?Why hadn’t he told her? Why hadn’t Sally? Why wouldn’t they have?
‘You didn’t love me?’ Sally finished sadly.
‘I was young, confused. My emotions were all over the place. I honestly wasn’t sure what I felt.’ Jake paused. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just …’
