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Chapter 16
Mia
“I’m so wet,” a woman griped across the group of children.
We were huddled under the shelter outside the school, rain pattering down around us. Spring had arrived in a rush of mixed-up weather. The snow had melted everywhere apart from the mountain, and rain alternated with the first glimmers of sun.
Her friend snorted. “Ye dirty B.”
The first woman cracked up. “Ye know what I mean. There’s been no let-up all day.”
“It’s all that time ye have bored at home.”
Both snickered again.
I hid a smile at their banter. Today, the school was celebrating with a Spring Sing at the local village hall, and we were queued up outside the school, waiting for a gap in the weather to walk the kids across the village.
I’d taken the afternoon off to see Tobi with her friends after hearing her practice the songs all week. She’d had Avery over fora playdate, and the two of them had been adorable as they tried to remember the words and actions. Today, after the singing, she was going to Avery’s house in exchange, and I planned to get a few things done at our cottage.
At the end of the line of people, the headmistress stepped forward, a hand raised to indicate that we were going. Beyond her, I spotted a familiar figure I was trying to ignore.
Valentine was here again, standing in the rain like it didn’t bother him, his black hair loose, and his high-visibility jacket the same as the ones the kids all wore. Except on him, it looked like a uniform, and all of a sudden I had a whole new fantasy going on. Not that I’d tell him.
After my drunken question, I’d been too embarrassed to talk to him. Equally, he hadn’t replied to my request. Our friendship had been broken already, and I’d just succeeded in killing it dead.
“Ooh, have a gander.” The second woman elbowed her friend. “The bodyguard guy. He’s…” She mock-wiped her forehead.
“I asked him out,” the horny one answered, her tone pitched low.
“Did ye!”
Her friend gasped, and I inched closer, in sudden desperation to hear what he’d said. Had she been the one in the hangar with him? She was pretty. Taller than me and probably mid-thirties, so experienced. If she was bored at home all day, why not have a little afternoon delight?
Nausea gripped my stomach.
In equal parts, I did and didn’t want to know.
“He turned me down,” she confessed. “Said something about not mixing work with pleasure, whatever that meant. Pity. Bet he’d be fun.”
I sagged, utterly relieved and with no excuse for how I felt.
The women chattered on, stepping forward as the headteacher moved off. I trudged after, resolutely not looking at Valentine.
Luckily, the bodyguard crew were leaving next week, going on tour with their rock star. Daisy had been talking about it at work this morning, and I felt bad for how much she was going to miss Ben. Ariel was the same with her boyfriend, another one of the team named Jackson.
I had no such justification for how I’d miss Valentine, too.
The crocodile of kids and escorting parents set off from the school. There were no footpaths, so the parents spread out, walking on the outside to protect the kids from any passing cars. It wasn’t a long walk, and the country lanes were quiet, but I knew from one of the other moms that they’d had problems with drivers zooming too close in the past.
What moron drove like that around kids? It made my blood boil.
Stepping over puddles, we traipsed down the road, passing the occasional house, the main cluster of streets with the village hall approaching.
Up ahead, an engine roared.
At the front of the queue, the headteacher called out for us to halt. We were at a junction where we needed to cross the road to reach the safety of the pavement which led all the way to the hall. Already in the road, she held up a hand to stop the traffic so the kids could walk safely.
A grey delivery van revved at her, the driver laying on his horn.
