‘No. Not at the moment, but it looks like there’s some making-up to Maisie to be done.’
‘Which isn’t your responsibility.’
‘It’s not yours either.’
Jesse pulled a face.
‘Just because you’re related to someone doesn’t mean you’re responsible for their actions or attitude. You’re clearly very different from your cousin and it’s obvious that people around here know it.’
‘I hope so.’
‘They do. Stop questioning it.’
Jesse looked down at me. ‘You can be quite stroppy when you want, can’t you?’
‘That’s not stroppy. That’s assuredness. Believe me, if you think that’s stroppy, you’ve led a very sheltered life.’
‘That sounds ominous.’
I flung him a smile. ‘Don’t worry. I wasn’t talking about me.’
He mock wiped his brow and we trudged back towards the house to lock up what it was possible to lock and head back to Jesse’s.
* * *
An hour later, we were in Jesse’s BMW coupé on the way to the pub. The pale-tan leather seats hugged me cosily and my bum was warming nicely thanks to them being heated. Although the car was swankier than the pick-up, Jesse himself looked much the same, only slightly upgraded. A casual shirt had replaced the long-sleeved tee he’d worn earlier and the jeans he wore now were dark indigo rather than the well-worn, faded working pair I’d seen him in prior to this evening. He rocked both looks pretty damn well.
The blue sky had turned hazy with the sunset and clouds bubbled up as darkness fell, bringing with them a fine, steady rain. I sent up my thanks once again that the roof was now covered although, after the storm, I wasn’t sure there was anything in my room that could have possibly got any wetter than it already was. I looked out of the car window but all I saw was my own face reflected back at me. I’d taken my hair down for the evening and earlier, when Jesse hadn’t been looking, I’d shot into the house and grabbed a few items of clothing that were thankfully still being stored in one of the spare rooms. Conversation was limited as we drove along the windy, wet back roads and I had to admit that I was having second thoughts about the evening. Earlier, when we’d been chatting and even got a bit of banter going, it had seemed like a good idea. But now I wasn’t so sure.
‘You OK?’ Jesse glanced over for a fraction of a second before focusing back on the road.
‘Me? Yes, fine, thanks. Lovely weather.’
Being British, I resorted back to the one topic anyone on these isles could be sure to have an opinion on.
To my surprise, Jesse’s opinion was laughter. He paused at a shrinky-dink sized crossroads and looked over at me before pulling out and turning left.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘You’re pretty quiet. I was wondering if you were having second thoughts about wanting to go out tonight. And then you started talking about the weather and I knew for sure.’ There was still amusement in his voice as he asked if I wanted him to turn back.
‘No, of course not. If anything I thought you might be the one regretting agreeing.’
‘Not at all. Just concentrating. There’s a lot of deer around here and they have a tendency to just appear from the side of the road.’
‘Oh!’ I peered at the hedgerow suspiciously. ‘Then, by all means, be as silent as you like.’
‘It’s fine. The pub’s just down the road here.’ He pointed by lifting one finger from the steering wheel towards where a cluster of warm white lights was illuminating a postcard-quaint, thatched-roofed building.
The gravel of the car park crunched beneath the tyres as Jesse pulled in and found a space.
I bent to pick up my clutch as Jesse got out and moments later, he was opening the passenger-side door. I took the hand he offered to exit the car onto the uneven ground and he pushed the door closed and, after two steps, offered his arm. The rain had just about stopped as we started towards the door.
‘Thanks.’ The last thing I needed was a broken ankle on top of a broken house and a broken car! ‘I didn’t realise it’d be uneven.’
‘No, I should have mentioned it, sorry. I didn’t realise Jules had lent you heels.’ We both looked down at my feet as we entered the pool of light cast from the porch lamp.
‘Umm… she didn’t.’
