‘You sure you don’t want anything stronger?’ Linc asked her, feeling guilty it was his round and she’d opted for the free tap water.
‘Definitely not. I was in here last night – one too many with the girls, remember.’
‘Ah, yes. How can I forget? Jade really wasn’t happy with me this morning but Harvey said he’d apologise on my behalf. I’ll do it again myself too.’
‘Jade’s lovely,’ Melissa assured him, ‘just not a morning person after a night out. I get it, I’m not either, although when she’s at work she doesn’t seem to have a problem getting to the bakery on time.’
‘I suspect that’s different.’
‘You’d think so, but when she told me she was going to have a bit of a break over the next three weeks, I did laugh. The girl doesn’t know the meaning of down time. She’s always busy, even when she’s not supposed to be. She’s still fulfilling cake orders, running a bit of the business from right there in the cottage. She needs a proper rest, if you ask me.’
‘I’ll apologise when I next see her,’ he reiterated as they squeezed past punters to join Harvey, now at the back of the pub ready for the quiz. Linc didn’t know Jade well enough to start talking about why she wasn’t taking a proper break or whether she truly needed one.
Harvey had found a corner for them to sit in, pretty much the only remaining space, and Linc thought again about the guy in the photograph he’d found after it had fallen out of Jade’s bag, Mediterranean-looking with thick dark hair, tanned skin and an expression that said he was a heartbreaker, and he wondered what the story was. Etna’s summary of everyone who lived in the Cove had included marriages, divorces and relationships but there’d been no hint of anyone lurking in the background for Jade. Perhaps it would be better if there was, though, because as much as he’d teased Jade this morning, her company hadn’t been completely unappreciated – and Linc wasn’t sure he wanted another woman in his life, at least not for a while.
Linc’s best mate, Toby, thought Linc’s ex-girlfriend had ‘done a number on him’, but then Toby was all about the love-them-and-leave-them approach. That was another reason Linc didn’t want to be available this summer – so Toby couldn’t rope him into going on the lads’ Ibiza trip he’d organised with a load of his work buddies from the building site he was managing. Although Linc had been hurt and he’d lost his trust in pretty much all females other than Etna, part of him had begun to see why his ex, Orla, had behaved the way she did. As far as Toby was concerned, everything was black and white when it came to women, but Linc knew there were plenty of shades of grey in there too. And Orla wasn’t a bad person for what she’d tried to do, just mixed up. Then again, he wasn’t a bad person for walking away either.
Linc was about to sit down but managed to whack his head on one of the overhead beams and stifled a swear word the best he could.
‘Did that hurt?’ he heard a voice mock from behind him.
When he turned, he was face-to-face with Jade. And she looked quite pleased. ‘Happy?’ he asked, taking his hand away from his still-throbbing head where he’d been rubbing the skin beneath his hair. ‘I guess that’ll teach me to look where I’m going.’ Only modern pub ceilings were built for anyone on the tall side.
‘Yes, I suppose it will,’ she grinned. ‘Let’s call it payback for waking me this morning.’
With the quiz about to start and Harvey and Melissa looking as though they were in this for the win, Linc whispered to Jade, ‘They take this seriously.’
‘Those two are known around here as the ones to beat. It’s a legacy from their teenage years.’
‘Their teenage years?’ He had a vague recollection of Etna talking about Melissa and Harvey but he couldn’t recall all the details, she’d fired so many at him at once. ‘Wow, that’s a long time to have been doing this. What kind of village have I come to?’ He didn’t mind at all how close they had to be to stop anyone overhearing their conversation. He could pick up a light scent of something either from her hair or worn as a perfume and he wouldn’t have minded talking to Jade all night rather than feign an interest in a local quiz he didn’t have a hope with. He might want to avoid getting hurt again in any way and not get involved in a relationship, but it was hard to resist a woman who was intriguing, never mind attractive.
‘One where people look out for each other,’ Jade answered and it took him a minute to remember he’d asked about this village.
‘Sounds like a good place,’ he said.
Despite the daggers she’d given him this morning, her green eyes danced now as though assessing him. She had on cropped white jeans and a midnight-blue shirt that tied at her midriff much like the pink shirt she’d been in that morning. She wasn’t wearing a lot of make-up but she’d done something around her eyes that complemented their shape and shade, her hair looked a slightly neater version of its earlier style and her skin was just as delicate but not quite as drawn as it had been after her rude awakening at the crack of dawn.
‘Truce?’ he suggested hopefully as they squeezed in, her next to Melissa and him the other side of Harvey. Perhaps he should try to shake off the temptation to think of Jade as someone he might get to know better. Etna was thought of highly around here and the last thing she needed was him having a fling with one of the locals.
‘Truce,’ Jade agreed.
For the duration of the quiz, which contained many themes other than local knowledge – he could answer some of the music questions when the others couldn’t, earning him brownie points – he found himself relaxing enough to enjoy it. Once again, Etna was right, the best thing he could’ve done tonight was integrate himself into a bit of village life and be around people his own age. He’d spent a long time caring for his mum when she got sick, then the worry and care of his dad had forced him to grow up that little bit more. His dad said he’d missed out on much-needed carefree years but Linc hadn’t seen it that way. It was the hand he’d been dealt and nothing meant more to him than family. He’d like his own one day too – one day, when he decided the time was right.
With round one over Harvey and Melissa went to get the drinks in, both girls on fruit juices and water rather than anything alcoholic. ‘I’m assuming Linc is short for Lincoln,’ Jade asked him the moment they were alone.
‘You’d assume correctly.’
‘Ever use your full name?’
‘Nope.’
‘Your family don’t either?’
‘Etna did earlier, she forgets sometimes, but apart from that, nobody. For some reason I hated anyone shortening it when I was younger, but once I got into my teens I became a Linc and never went back.’
‘I saw Etna earlier, she’s glad to have you here. She’s a strong woman with a big heart, for sure.’
‘You get on well with her?’
