Tam ducked under my arm and opened the door. “Dad, we know.”
We slipped inside. The shop was busier than I’d ever seen it, and I couldn’t see Jude anywhere.
I took Delilah’s hand and crouched to her level. “I told you he might be busy, remember? We might have to take a quick look around and then come back later.”
“Later today?”
“Maybe. There’s a park on the other side of the village. We could go there for a little while.”
“Are you building a play park on the new housing estate?”
For a split second, I thought the question had come from one of my scarily verbose children, then the ever-present tingling that plagued me anytime Jude was near made itself known.
I straightened and turned to face him. “What makes you think the new housing estate has anything to do with me?”
“Your name on the mission statement I read yesterday.”
Fuck. I’d forgotten about that. Damn that fucking ethical PR company who’d advised us, despite Dom’s desire to stay anonymous, to be as transparent as possible. “We have an area mapped out for recreation. It will be finalised after the council have checked the emergency access routes.”
Jude’s gaze flickered, as if he’d expected a bullshit non-answer, and I took his brief moment of…whatever it was, to look him over. If I’d never seen him before, the dark smudges beneath his eyes had faded enough to appear normal, his mussed hair and rapid gaze that of a man who was simply busy, but I’d spent waaaay too much time memorising his face to miss that he wasn’t quite back to himself.
I nudged Delilah in the direction of the only animals I could reliably remember the name of. “Go look at the geckos, kids. I’ll be there in a minute.”
After a longing glance at Jude that I understood more than I wanted to, Delilah dragged Tam to the far side of the shop. I waited for them to be engrossed, then faced Jude again. “I didn’t voice my question too well this morning. How are you really doing?”
Jude cringed and flashed his gaze around the shop before it settled on me. “I’m fucking mortified. Please tell me I didn’t dribble all over your leather seats?”
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t. If I hadn’t known beforehand you had epilepsy, maybe I’d have thought you a restless sleeper, fucked if I know. But if you’re truly worried you did anything embarrassing, you didn’t. I-I knew you weren’t okay, but you still looked like you.”
Jude stared, then a heavy sigh escaped him. “Why do you say such nice things?”
“Nice?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t feel less like myself right now, and somehow you make it all better with something you probably wish you hadn’t said.”
“I don’t wish I hadn’t said anything.”
“Not yet.”
I was officially mystified.
Jude scrubbed a hand down his face. “Fuck, I’m sorry. Ignore me, okay? I’m just so fucking tired I could murder someone to get some sleep. How long are you around for? I’m shutting early today, but I can get the white python out for the kids when everyone’s gone?”
“You don’t have to do that. I never got round to telling them about the milkshake—I mean, snake—from yesterday. They just wanted to see you.” I didn’t add that they’d been almost as desperate to see him as I had been.
Jude caught my slip and a genuine smile warmed his face. “Milkshake, eh? Maybe your interpretation of yesterday is as twisted as mine. Seriously, though, stay? If you can? It’ll give me something to look forward to.”
He squeezed my arm and disappeared, evaporating into the crowd of families who’d entered the shop behind me. For a long heartbeat, I stood frozen, reeling from his unexpected touch. It was probably the least awkward conversation we’d ever had.
And I wanted more. So much more.
I drifted to where Delilah was nose to nose with a bearded dragon, face pressed against the glass hard enough to leave a wet mark. Tam had wandered off to see the snakes, and I trusted him enough to let him go.
Once again, time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. My arm was still burning where Jude had touched me when I glanced up from the African snails to find the shop empty.
