Jake shook his head. “But it would’ve taken you longer, and you’d have ended up even more frozen than you are now. And let’s face it, I wasn’t going anywhere. Not without abandoning my car and walking.”
He saw her nod in the gleam from his headlights.
“I hope I didn’t cockblock you, or anything.”
Jake didn’t respond. “I’ll reverse back. I need to change.”
“Sure.” She didn’t move. “Thank you for helping. I owe you a drink.”
“Whatever.” He walked back to his car, hoping to fuck the battery was still good, given how long his lights had been left on for.
The phone on the passenger seat lit up with a message. From Sonya.
Sorry about tonight. I’ve bumped into my ex – what a coincidence – and I think we’re going to give things another go. Hope you have a good evening.
Fucking typical. He turned on the engine and headed home to change. Looked like a night in the pub with whichever brother wasn’t on baby duty was the closest he was getting to a date tonight.
Forty-five minutes later,Jake was sitting in Scott’s bar with Alex, a pint of the guest beer, and a burger. Football was on the TV, although the sound was muted. Some girly boy band music played, appeasing the bulk of tonight’s clientele which were all women.
One of the things that Jake loved most about his hometown was the sense of community. Farming could be a lonely job; small towns could be lonely places. The residents of Severton seemed to have decided centuries ago that their town wasn’t going to let anyone be lonely, not even if they wanted to, and Veronica Davies – known to most as Gran, even if they weren’t related – had personally decided a few decades ago that no man, woman, sheep or juniper berry should ever go unspoken to.
The juniper berries were currently mixed with some other stuff to make what was passed as gin, but Jake figured was moonshine that was somehow legal.
And there was a testing party taking up most of the bar.
“Tell me about this date that didn’t happen.” Alex sat back and smiled.
Jake rubbed at his neatly trimmed stubble. “I was running late, and while I was changing my new neighbour’s tyre, she bumped into her ex. They’re giving it another go.”
Alex smirked and sipped his beer, glancing over at where the woman Jake was pretty sure Alex was hankering after, Abby, was standing behind the bar. “That’s two good deeds you’ve done today then.”
“Yeah, well. Maybe I’ll get some of it back. Not from Lainey Green though; she didn’t even say thank you.” It was still pissing him off.
“I wouldn’t say thank you to you either. Another beer? You can leave your car here and ask Abby to give you a lift home. I’ll drop it off in the morning if you give me your keys.” Alex looked far too relaxed.
“You not on shift?” His youngest cousin was a police sergeant, working locally.
“Four days off. I can give you a lift in the morning too, if you want. I’ve not got much to do apart from walk the dogs.”
The door to the bar opened and two women walked in, one wearing a pair of boots that made Jake swear.
Alex turned round. “Be nice.” He used the same tone a parent would do with a child.
Jake fought the urge to argue back, trying to content himself with sending a look of death to his cousin and then Lainey.
Lainey looked at him at exactly the same time. The wish of a sudden and painful death was clearly mutual.
“Stop it.” Alex used the same voice he did with his police dogs.
“She could say 'thank you'.”
The beer glass was placed down on the table with careful precision. “Maybe she’ll send a drink over. Maybe she thinks you’re a complete twat with a god complex. Maybe you should buy her a drink and welcome her to the town. Who knows, Jake. Who knows?”
“You’re no fucking support.” Jake didn’t bother looking at Alex. His eyes were too fixed on Lainey as she went to the bar.
He figured she’d probably gotten changed since he’d last seen her on the access road as there was no sign of any mud anywhere, just long legs clothed in tight denim and a pair of knee-high boots with high heels that looked like they should have a licence to be worn. Her hair was down, dropping almost to her waist and bone straight; the sweater she wore showing lean muscle that Jake knew you only got from riding and hard graft.
“You do know you’re staring like some creepy stalker.” Alex’s voice was purposely low. “If you’re intending on scaring her the fuck out of the town, this is exactly the right way to go about it.”
