“No. She’s helping out with some of the horse care in return.”
“You’re missing a trick there.”
Jake focused on the omelette.
“She’s also letting me use the field she doesn’t need.” They really needed to finalise all this.
“You’re getting on well then, now. You don’t hate her anymore.”
Jake tossed Zack’s breakfast onto a plate and slid it over to him. “I never hated her.”
“You did. She took your farm.”
Jake added veg and pancetta to the pan, the resulting sizzle satisfying. “Yeah, well, you have to move on.”
Zack nodded. “I was like that with Sorrell. She stole my builders.”
The jug holding the rest of the beaten egg almost toppled over as Jake moved suddenly, remembering how Zack and Sorrell had started dating.
“Sorrell didn’t steal your builders.”
“She did. She offered them more money. Left Sunrise with serious issues.” Zack still looked slightly pissed off.
“How often do you remind her of that?”
“Rarely. She just ignores me.”
“Sensible woman.” Jake stirred the veg and pancetta. “Although not that sensible if she married you.” He saw the grin on Zack’s face, and smiled himself. Zack was so goddamn happy that it was almost not quite believable. He’d always been grumpier than a bear whose hibernation had been disturbed far too early.
Jake added the eggs, preferring his omelettes a bit runnier than he knew Zack liked.
“You know, I think there’s more to you and Lainey just being neighbours than you’re letting on.” Zack pointed his fork at Jake. “You’re too quiet about her.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Lainey. You. When she moved in, you didn’t stop going on about how she’d pissed you off and how she was never going to make next door work. Now we don’t hear a word about her.”
“Has Sorrell sent you down here for gossip?” Jake knew exactly what Sorrell was like. When she’d first moved to Severton, she’d been unaccustomed to small town life, especially the gossip. Now she’d settled there, she was a trainee member of the Coven, and knew almost as much about what was going on as Gran.
“Is there any gossip?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. Your wife’s hellish good at knowing what I do before I even do it.”
Zack didn’t argue the fact. “She mentioned that no one had seen you with a woman other than Lainey. There’s been no rumour about you going home with anyone – in fact, Sorrell said someone had told Gran they thought you’d found religion and had taken a vow of chastity.”
“Really?” Jake didn’t rise. “Interesting what people come up with when there’s nothing to talk about.” He tipped his own omelette onto a plate and sat down on one of the breakfast bar stools.
Zack tipped his head at Jake and eyed him, making it seem like he knew something. “Sorrell also heard that Lainey was out on a date with Harvey McKay from Underwood.”
Jake focused his concentration on the taste of his food. “I wouldn’t know if she has or hasn’t.” He hoped she hadn’t.
He’d thought their one night together had been pretty fucking earth shattering. They just fit together so well. What if she hadn’t found it the same?
Jake Maynard didn’t do confidence crises. He didn’t second guess himself or question too much about what choices he made. He considered himself to be a decent bloke who wouldn’t hurt someone on purpose, because the one time he kind of had, he’d never truly gotten over it.
This wasn’t going to be something that bothered him. He knew he had skills in bed; that was the main reason most women wanted a repeat of a one-night stand, not because they were desperate to pin him down to marriage – who wanted to marry a farmer who lived in a small town anyway, and he kept it very low key just how successful his businesses were.
Had Lainey not thought they’d clicked like he had? Had he broken whatever dry spell she’d had and then she'd moved on quickly, and that’d been his purpose?
