I could feel Jesse’s eyes burning into me even before I tilted my head to meet them. His arm had dropped away and, in a change from his usual annoyed-with-me stance, his hands were now rammed in his pockets.
‘Please don’t tell me you went back into that house to get shoes.’
‘No, I didn’t.’
He let out a breath of relief.
‘I went in to get underwear and a few other clothes as well as shoes.’
‘Felicity.’ It was almost a growl. Before he could say anything else, another couple crunched their way up to the door and I hoped we might all enter together, but Jesse nodded to them as he moved us both to the side. The door closed on the cosy inn, the smell of woodsmoke teasing my nostrils. I wrapped my coat tighter and waited.
‘I expressly told you not to go back in there until it’s checked over. The whole bloody thing could have come down on you!’
‘As it could have last night and you still charged in so I’m not sure you’re in any position to lecture me.’
‘That was different. You were in there!’ He was still close and I could see the frustration boiling in his eyes.
‘Then you could have called the fire brigade! Anyway, I would have got out. I was just… waiting for the right moment.’
His lips disappeared into a thin line and he tilted his head fractionally to the right. ‘You must think I’ve just come up from nearest cabbage patch if you think I’m going to believe that one. And yes, maybe I should have called them, but I didn’t think about it at the time. You had all day to think about going back in for…’ he looked back down at my feet ‘…shoes.’
‘Look. I’m sorry, OK? But as much as I like your sister, I’d really rather wear my own underwear! Surely you can understand that. You’d been banging on about the roof all morning and nothing had shifted so I thought it’d be OK just to grab a few things. I swear I wasn’t more than three minutes. As reckless as you think I am, I don’t actually want my house to fall on me either!’ I let out a tense huff through my mouth, the breath turning into a cloud in the cold night air.
‘I understand why you’d want to do that. Just, please, don’t do it again until we know it’s safe.’ His voice was calmer now, deep and rich in the low light.
‘I won’t.’
Without replying, he placed a hand on the small of my back and guided me towards the door. ‘Come on. Let’s get inside. You’re freezing. And as pretty as those shoes are, I imagine you’ve long since lost all feeling in your feet.’
We hurried in through the thick wooden door, and quickly closed it again to keep in the heat. I wrapped my arms around me and stamped my feet a couple of times in an effort to go home with the same amount of toes I arrived with.
Clearing a way through the surprisingly busy Sunday evening crowd in the bar area, Jesse took my hand and led me through in his wake, his fingers wrapped firmly around mine.
‘Jesse, love!’ the woman at the bar greeted him warmly. ‘Lovely to see you, especially out in this weather.’
‘Nothing stops me from coming here, Janet, you know that.’
‘Ah, you’re just saying that,’ she teased.
‘I’m here, aren’t I?’ He spread his hands as far as he could in the cramped space.
‘You are, indeed. And what are you here for?’ she asked, casting a smile and an interested glance in my direction.
‘My neighbour’s got some house problems so she could do with a decent meal. I knew just where to suggest.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to hear that, love, but Jesse’s right. If it’s a good meal you need, then he’s definitely brought you to the right place.’ She gave us both a wide smile and I saw the twinkle in her eye. Time to quash that particular avenue of gossip.
‘Jesse forgot to mention the storm also flattened my car, hence he was kind enough to be my taxi tonight.’
From the corner of my eye, I saw my neighbour’s head turn towards me a fraction.
‘Oh, goodness! You are in the wars, aren’t you? Let’s get you both sat down and warming up, then.’ Janet came around from behind the bar and bustled us through under a low beam, which Jesse automatically ducked, into another room, quieter than the bar with tables laid more elegantly than I’d expected for a country pub, many of them already filled.
‘This one here?’ she asked.
‘Perfect,’ Jesse replied as I pulled out my chair and sat down.
‘Right, here’s your menus. Gabby will be your waitress tonight and she’ll be along soon. Can I get you some drinks in the meantime?’
