She stayed for breakfast.Wearing a pair of his sweats doubled over at the waist and an old university sweatshirt, she looked untidily beautiful. He cooked poached eggs and bacon, playing a radio station with just music from fifties crooners.
It suited the morning.
“Will your sister wonder where you were?” He wanted to know if she’d tell Imogen where she’d spent the night, or if she was going to keep him a secret just for herself, but he didn’t want to ask outright, didn’t want to seem like he needed anything from her.
Lainey chewed on her food and looked thoughtful. “I doubt she’s even up.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Imogen likes to sleep when she doesn’t have to be at work. When she surfaces, she’ll head straight to the shower and spend at least forty-five minutes in there.”
“Sounds like Rayah, apart from the getting up bit. How’s breakfast?”
Her smile was wide, and her eyes glittered. “Excellent. I’ll have to come over for it again.”
Jake thought for a moment, then decided why the fuck not. “And how about how you built your appetite? Sticking to just one time only?”
“I thought you only did one time only?” She put down her fork, food demolished.
Jake shrugged. He usually did. “I can make an exception.”
She stood up, picked up her plate and cutlery, and took it over to the dishwasher. “I’ll think about it.”
He hoped she would.
A lot.
Three dayslater and he’d figured Lainey had decided that she’d rather forget anything had happened between them. He’d barely seen her and was pretty sure she was avoiding him. There’d only been one joke played by her when he’d opened his car door and found the driver’s seat covered with flour, meaning he’d end up with a totally white arse if he didn’t vac it out.
There hadn’t been the usual snippy conversations over the garden fence and he hadn’t caught her creeping through his yard to steal eggs when she’d ran out of food.
It was off.
This wasn’t how they did things. The routine they’d created over the last few months had gone, evaporated in the space of one night. One sweet, sweet night.
Jake felt fucked over.
Maybe she’d done it on purpose, thinking it would be a taste of his own medicine – one amazing night and that was it. Dead.
He rolled the trunk of a tree he’d felled to end of the garden and picked up the axe he’d already put there. The glamping pods were full, and the demand of using the wood burners installed in each of them was high. Usually, he’d have the logs needed delivered, but he’d ended up having to take down a couple of birches that had become unstable, and too close to one of the barns. They made good firewood, so today’s first task was to chop them up, then deliver them to the store.
He lifted the axe above his head and aimed, bringing it down accurately, something he’d learned after nearly taking his foot off when he’d been a cocky fifteen-year-old and refused to properly listen to what his uncle was saying.
The sound echoed across the garden and beyond, the birdsong momentarily pausing until they realised they weren’t being shot. One of the barn cats dashed out from under a shrub, its sleep clearly disturbed. He lifted the axe again and again, until the first tree was diced and ready to kiln dry, another thing he’d invested in.
He was about to start to pulverise the second tree, when a familiar whistle cut through the peace. Jake dropped the axe, just in case he thought of a different way to use it, and watched Zack stride towards him.
“Keeping busy?” Zack took his hands out of his pockets and stretched.
“Extremely.” Jake eyed him suspiciously. It wasn’t often that Zack visited him during the day. He was either tied up with something at Sunrise, the care home for the elderly he ran, or helping out Sorrell with one thing or another.
“Noticed where your alpacas are this morning?”
Jake shook his head and picked up the axe. Maybe holding onto that right now wasn’t a good idea. Zack had the ability over everyone other than Rayah to push every working button, and hitting the wrong button right now could result in serious injury.
And it would not be his.
“I found Gertrude in the dance hall at Sunrise.” Zack folded his arms.
