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‘Did James like the last gift you made for him?’ Eveline asked.
She shrugged, not wanting to admit that he’d seemed delighted.
Getting to his feet, Jack went back to the Aga, whistling ‘Love is in the Air’.
‘Bugger off, Newton,’ Estelle muttered at him.
Eveline reached across the table and gave her unbandaged hand a squeeze. ‘Do you think it might be time for you to bury whatever hatchet you and Henry have been wielding since you were children, and make an effort to get on with James?’
‘It’s pointless.’
‘How come?’
Estelle threw her hands in the air. ‘Because he doesn’t want that either! Whenever I ask him anything personal, he shuts me down. He’s like a professional tombstone.’
‘But surely that’s a good thing? It means you can just get on with the job?’
‘It’s miserable. I don’t know if he lo—likes or hates me.’
Jack changed the tune he was whistling to the Beatles song ‘He Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.’
Estelle ignored him.
‘So, you’re unhappy because you can’t get a rise out of him?’ Eveline asked.
‘I dunno. I can’t get a handle on him. Sometimes I think a tiny part of him might actually be nice, but then he blows it by being an arsehole.’
‘In what way?’
‘Saying we have to have cheap and crappy burger vans feeding people at the festival. Making me run every tiny expense past him. Not giving me any updates on hiring staff. Hiding his girlfriend—’
‘I thought he told you he didn’t have a girlfriend?’
‘Then who’s the “beautiful blonde” living next door?’
‘Have you actually seen her?’ Jack asked, placing a pile of bacon sandwiches on the table.
‘No, but Max has.’
‘This is the bloke left behind when the rest of the Excelsior staff ran away?’ Jack continued. ‘The one who you said was, and I quote, “shifty AF”.’
‘I actually said “shifty as fuck”. If you’re going to quote me, Newton, get it right. Although props for not swearing.’
Jack rolled his eyes.
‘The point is, my lovely friend,’ Eveline said, ‘you have no way of knowing she actually exists. And why does it matter if he has a girlfriend or not? You’re there to work with James, not date him. Isn’t that the case?’
Estelle took a huge bite of a bacon sandwich to avoid answering.
Jack brought mugs of tea to the table, then dropped a kiss on Eveline’s head and sat next to her.
Eveline gazed at him as if he’d just cured all known diseases and all future ones as well. ‘Thank you.’
Jack’s smile was so broad, Estelle thought it might split his face in two. She glanced between the two of them as they stared at each other, their eyes becoming liquid.
Holy shit. She placed her sandwich down. ‘You’re pregnant.’
Eveline turned, her eyes sparkling with happy tears, and nodded.
