It really hadn’t been brief. A lot of things, but not brief.
Jake didn’t respond.
“Will I need an extra person to help keep up with all the bids?” She pushed, wanting a response. Needing one.
“I guess we'll have to see who fancies that experience.”
“Maybe I should do the same. Offer a date as a lot.”
“Not in Severton.” He sounded definitive. “Too many weirdos.”
“Like you? Or do you mean Olly or Will?”
He laughed. A bird fluttered out of a tree at the sound.
“Olly and Will would probably bankrupt themselves to win.”
She hadn’t expected that. She’d thought there would’ve been something about telling her not to bother, that there would’ve been no bidders.
“I wouldn’t have thought I was Olly and Will’s type.” She’d met them both several times. They were both attractive, both seriously fit from being the outdoorsy type which everyone seemed to be around here, and both part of the community. Olly seemed to be everyone’s accountant and made tax returns a pleasure, while Will was the chief at the fire station. “Unless for that you just need to be female and breathing.”
“Now if that had been – I don’t know. I can’t think of any man who just takes what he can get. Not in the people I know.”
She saw Jake side-eye her.
Her head dropped. There were days when that little nugget called self-esteem was a fairy playing in someone else’s garden.
“I only have friends with taste.”
She looked at him, hoping he really could read the expression she knew she was wearing.
Accept the compliment he’s trying to give.
“Are you trying to set me up with one of them?” The words fell out of her mouth without any warning.
Her brain that worked at a hundred miles per hour had just gone through the whole theory that Jake was trying to palm her off to one of his friends then there’d be no repeat of the situation in her ex-bathroom.
“Absolutely not. You’d be bored of them in about ten minutes and they wouldn’t be creative enough in the bathroom for you.” He sounded more certain than if he’d told her they were horse riding through a forest.
“I thought we weren’t going to mention the bathroom.”
“So I can’t mention how I like your choice of tiles? Brave, but they work.” He broke into a trot.
Lainey followed. The path they were on was opening up into an area that was sparse of trees, more like a meadow but without any trees. She knew from the research she’d done into treks in the area that once they’d passed through this the path became wilder, the trees less dense and the incline steeper.
“I think it’s best if we just pretend you don’t know anything about my bathroom.”
Jake shrugged. “That’s fine. As long as you don’t go showing it Will or Olly.”
“You’re saying I couldn’t date them if I wanted?” Indignation flared through her. She knew she was tying herself in knots here and she knew exactly why.
“Do you want to?”
It wasn’t the response she’d been hoping for. Or expecting.
“I don’t know.”
Jake slowed his horse down, bringing her almost to a stop. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”
