“So, it was nothing, eh?” Yolanda said.
“Aiden offered.” Grimacing, I added, “I needed some help after going a little bit overboard with some online shopping.”Reallyoverboard.
Receiving my pay was like winning the lottery.Mymoney. Inmyaccount. To spend any wayIwanted.
I didn’t miss the crisp white envelope of money Chris had shoved at me. The small allowance he’d trusted me to manage had barely been enough to cover our food. My stomach had grumbled more than once, and some weeks, I’d been so very grateful there was a complimentary fruit basket at the clinic where I used to work. After paying for everything Chris needed, there had never been much left over for me.
“Nice man, that Aiden McKinnon,” Yolanda was saying. “Strong. Proud. Built like a soldier.” She took another drag of her cigarette and smirked. “Not much to say for himself, though.”
That was true. Aiden rarely said much, but he was always watching. Thoughtful. A blush crept up my neck as I absently traced the neckline of my dress. And thoseeyes. I could drown in his stormy grey eyes.
“Fancy him going out of his way like that,” she added.
I spluttered a protest, reassuring her, “It was on his way home.”
“No, pet. It’s not. He lives up there”—the cigarette cradled in her fingers pointed in the opposite direction of the cottage—“in the hills.”
“Oh.” My heart fluttered against my ribs. He’d driven me home for no reason other than wanting to?
“Oh, she says.” Yolanda smirked. “Easy on the eye, isn’t he? A man like him catches the attention of the tourists coming through. He’s never shown much interest, though. Prefers keeping to himself, that one.”
“Perhaps he enjoys a simple kind of life?”
She croaked a laugh. “A man like him needs a woman. He’s rattling around in that big house with no one to share it with. And don’t you listen to any stories about Aiden and Ruth Wilks. She’s a beauty, make no mistake, but nothing you’ll hear is true. They’re friends. That’s all.”
I bit down on my lip. Who was Ruth? One of Yolanda’s friends from the church? Someone else I’d wandered past in town and never realised? I’d never seen Aiden talk to anyone except Harry… And he grunted his way through most of those conversations.
“That’s…nice,” I said.
“Nice, she says.” Chuckling, Yolanda blew a puff of smoke into the air.
“I’m sure Aiden will find someone.”
That comment got her eyebrow up again, and her steely eyes narrowed on me.
I pressed my lips together, but my chin still trembled. I knew what Yolanda was doing. Matchmaking.Interfering. And yet, I could imagine sitting next to Aiden on a hundred drives home without ever growing tired of the comfortable silence.
But whoever that sweet man found to share his big house in the hills wouldn’t be me.
Fear stamped a black patch over my new life. Love was out of the question for someone like me. I was flawed. Useless. Too stupid to do anything right. And as much as I tried to blot out the words Chris had roared at me too many times, his cruelty drowned out any whispers of hope when I dared to dream about something more.
And I dared to dream about Aiden more than I should.
Brooke flipped the lockon the clinic door. “I thought today wouldneverend,” she moaned. “I’m going home to drown my sorrows in a bubble bath, a glass of the sparkling wine you brought over for our pedicure day, and binge-watch too many episodes ofSoccer Mum Socialites.”
I tugged my tote higher on my shoulder. “Today wasn’tthatbad, was it?”
“Rose Parker almost had a heart attack!”
“She most certainly did not.”
Despite Rose declaring her impending doom to the waiting room, my official diagnosis was heartburn from indulging in too much chocolate. A good way to go, if you ask me. After some extra fussing, an antacid, and sharing a cup of ginger tea, she’d pottered out of my room an hour later, as good as new.
Brooke grinned. “Did she convince you to meet her grandson yet?”
“She may have suggested catching up for a coffee with him.”
“He’s one of the firefighters in town, you know.”
