Chapter Sixteen
“We – I – need to tell you something.”
Those were never words you wanted to hear from your stable manager. Lainey froze, still holding the feed she was sorting out.
“Okay.” She looked up at Holly. “Please tell me this isn’t that you’ve found another job?”
Holly laughed. “No. Although you might want me to when you find out what I’m about to ask.”
Lainey put the feed down and gave Rex a pat on the nose. He was itching to go for a ride, she could tell, and tomorrow afternoon was already booked for a little him and her time, only with Jake and one of his horses joining them. She had a feeling it would also involve a blanket and them getting naked somewhere they wouldn’t be seen, too.
“Does this need coffee?”
Holly nodded, looking a little sheepish. And worried.
Lainey braced herself. Holly had been an amazing find. She was reliable, flexible, crazy about all animals, not just horses, and had settled in Severton. She’d asked to stay in the cottage that had been first renovated, and offered extra hours working to cover the additional rent. Lainey had refused the extra hours – Holly already put in the extra; it didn’t need formalising – and was happy to have a really good tenant in there. This conversation sounded ominous.
They went into her kitchen, finding a rogue alpaca in there which had become the norm. Lainey ground coffee beans while Holly found clean mugs and heated milk. The noise from the kettle and grinder meant that conversation was impossible, at least for a couple of minutes, which gave Lainey too much time to stew.
She finished the coffee, giving hers an extra shot, and passed the weaker one over to Holly.
“Spit it out.”
Holly went red. “I don’t if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been seeing someone.”
Lainey frowned and sat down on her favourite chair, the one she used to sink into with a glass of wine. Clearly, the amount of focusing on sneaking around with Jake had meant she’d missed some things that were under her nose.
“I haven’t. You didn’t say and…” They’d been out in Severton a few times recently, but Holly hadn’t given any indication that she was either dating someone or interested. Lainey knew she’d been married very briefly when she’d been in her early twenties, and the marriage hadn’t been successful. But Holly hadn’t shared what she was doing now.
Neither had Lainey.
Holly breathed what sounded like a sigh of relief. “That’s good, because we’ve been trying to keep it quiet, but we decided last week that it isn’t just fooling around anymore and we want, well, we want people to know about us.”
This sounded a little too close to home.
“Who is it?”
Holly bit her lips together. “It’s Josh.”
Lainey took a sip of coffee even though it was far, far too hot, but it helped cover the shock that had just punched her straight in the face.
“I know he’s a lot younger.” Holly looked up at the ceiling. “If it was the other way round and he was eight years older than me, no one would blink an eye, but it’s me who’s older than him and…”
“It’s also no one else’s business, Hol.” Lainey managed to recover enough to speak. “I’m just shocked because I had absolutely no idea there was anything between you.”
“Really?”
“Really. I guess I’ve been a bit pre-occupied.” Sneaking around herself with Jake.
“So you didn’t see us in the barn the other night?” Holly looked even more relieved. “Thank God for that.”
Lainey started to smile, trying her best to hide it and failing very miserably. “I was trying to be sneaky near there myself.” She’d been worried that Holly was still working, having seen her around the stables. She hadn’t noticed Josh. “I had no idea. How long…”
“Since the second week we both worked here.”
Lainey’s jaw dropped pretty much to the floor. “Have you been on a date or…”
“We’ve been to Manchester and Leeds a few times. I’d make sure we had the same weekend’s off, which I probably shouldn’t have done, but…” She shrugged again.
