Chapter Thirteen
Jack
‘I hope you’re not like that to everyone who comes in here.’ Jack took offence at Evie’s tone. Then again, he kind of liked it. The women he usually met were far too agreeable, never challenged him. He hoped that said more about them than it did about him.
‘I only behave that way when people have clear attitude problems,’ Evie huffed. ‘And we don’t get many of those types, at least not till now.’
She muttered something he chose to ignore. This was more fun than he’d thought.
When he’d followed Nicole in here tonight, she’d been surprised but welcoming. They’d chatted as she worked, and when the volunteer who’d been washing up finished their shift to rush home to family, he offered to help.
‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ she’d asked him.
‘And how exactly are you intending to manage it?’ He gestured towards her wrist.
‘You know me. I saw a job, wanted to get to it.’
‘Some things never change.’ He smiled at her fondly. ‘I’d be happy to help if you chat with me while I work.’
‘That sounds lovely.’
Whatever argument she had had with his father, he was happy to know the animosity wasn’t aimed at him. ‘How long have you been working here?’ he asked.
They fell into small talk about the shelter and Nicole’s involvement as Jack stacked plates in a dishwasher and washed the enormous pans by hand. They talked about his work and about his friends out on Hollyhock Farm.
‘You’d love it out there at the farm.’ He turned a cooking pot upside down and placed it onto the drainer. Nicole looked around for something to dry it with. ‘Leave it to drip dry and I’ll do it in a while.’
‘If you insist.’ She smiled. ‘And I’m sure I’d love it at Hollyhock Farm too. I saw the photos, remember?’ Jack had shown her plenty of snaps when Nate and Julia first took over the farm. ‘It’s a different life than one in the city.’
‘I can’t imagineyouever leaving the city behind.’
Nicole leant against the stainless steel countertop as Jack took a piece of steel wool to the roasting pans that had been used to roast the last round of beef. ‘I was always in love with Manhattan,’ she told him. ‘Even as a little girl. I grew up in New Jersey, but we moved here before I reached my teens and it was a time of great excitement. I’d walk along the streets mesmerised by the skyscrapers, quite unable to believe I was suddenly living among everything I’d only ever seen pictures of. I was stunned at how, even late at night, Manhattan is so alive it feels like it’s the middle of the day.’
‘And now?’
‘Before I began working with your family, I spent a couple of years in Europe, in Sicily near my family, and I think it’s the first time I’d ever realised what space does to a person. The breathtaking landscapes, olive groves as far as the eye can see, the crystal clear waters. I felt at peace there.’
‘Were you tempted to stay?’
‘Of course.’ She considered it for a moment. ‘Life was easy, laidback, but after a while I missed the energy of Manhattan, the vibrancy of life in the fast lane. Some people hate it, others love it. I think I like the best of both worlds. Now and then it’s nice to escape, go away from it all to make you realise what you’re missing and where you see your home as.’
‘I’d like to see more of Europe, be a tourist rather than attending events for the business.’
‘You should, Jackson.’
He smiled but didn’t admonish her for use of his full name, it’d felt right coming from Nicole, the only other person to use it since his mother died.
He finished washing the carving knife, removed the rubber gloves and picked up a tea towel. This is what he’d missed. Their easy rapport, the way she knew things about him without him ever having to spell it out. What she’d said to him about space and a different pace of life made perfect sense. He felt the same way each time he left the city. He was beginning to realise it was fear of the unknown as well as his mother’s legacy that had stood in his way all these years.
Nicole stacked some of the pots for him as he dried.
‘I know you went to see Dad,’ he said.
She sighed. ‘It didn’t go too well, I’m afraid.’
‘I heard.’
‘We argued about Evie.’
