‘Says me.’
Jen poked her head around the door. ‘You sound like a couple of eight-year-olds. And, by the way, Dan, there’s nothing you can do about this. Lucy did the same with me and had me working here within days of my arrival.’
‘And it worked out, didn’t it?’ said Lucy defensively.
Jen grinned. ‘Yes, it did. I’m still here, aren’t I? Even though the writing is going well enough for me not to be.’
Dan sighed. ‘You both seem to have missed the important point that I’m not looking for a job.’
‘Well you should be.’
‘Lucy’s right,’ added Jen. ‘Aside from our selfish reasons that it would mean you stay here, I think you’d find it helpful.’
‘Helpful?’ he said, watchful now. ‘In what way?’
‘In the usual way,’ said Jen evasively.
He narrowed his eyes and his more sensitive sister responded with a shrug.
‘We all need to work, Dan,’ said Lucy. ‘You can’t spend all your time mooning over the local librarian?—’
‘I’m not?—’
‘Or hanging out with Mum’ — interrupted Jen as if he hadn’t tried to speak — ‘and researching Lucy’s boyfriend and the history of MacLeod’s Cottage. It’s just not enough.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend!’
Jen and Dan ignored Lucy.
He blinked, stung by the truthful summation. He opened his mouth to protest but realised he couldn’t, not without lying. And he didn’t want to go there. ‘I don’t intend to go back to my previous kind of work.’
‘Then tell Moana that. See if there’s anything else around that might suit.’ Lucy slid out a sausage roll and a pie, strangely decorated with pastry parrots, obviously rewarding her brother for listening to her. ‘It wouldn’t hurt,’ she said, popping it into a paper bag for him.
From the smug looks on his sisters’ faces, he knew he’d been out-manoeuvred.
‘OK,’ said Dan, needing to be on his way. ‘Give me her number and I’ll get in touch.’
Lucy rummaged in her apron pocket, tapped her phone, and then slipped it back into her apron. ‘You’ve got it. But you don’t have to use it.’
‘I thought you wanted me to see her.’
‘I do,’ she said, as if speaking to a child. ‘And that’s why I’ve made an appointment for you to visit her this morning. She’s working from home. Here. Just down the road.’
Jen burst out laughing. ‘She’s got you, Dan.’
‘Don’t I know it.’
‘I laid a bet with her that she wouldn’t get you. What was it? What tipped the balance?’
‘Hm?’ he grunted, knowing full well what the question was about.
‘What was it that swayed you? Lucy’s insistence, or my truthfulness?’
‘Her sausage rolls,’ he said, without turning around, just waving. He walked outside the café and into the sunshine. He stood for a few moments, grinding his teeth, frustrated, and proceeded to his car.
Sisters!
Once in his car, he glanced at the time. He’d have to go home to MacLeod’s Cottage and change into something a bit smarter — maybe not the full suit and tie, but not the jeans and ‘I’m with Stupid’ t-shirt he was wearing. He’d have to hurry up. He didn’t want to miss seeing this cousin he couldn’t remember because, as it happened, his sisters were correct. He did need a job.
