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“I just watched you and Bailey Jones talk out there, and the tension between you was obvious, even from here. There’s something between you and her, and I want to know what.”
“It’s complicated.” He couldn’t deny it, not to someone who knew him as well as Pip did.
“Most things are, but in getting them uncomplicated it helps to share.”
“When did you grow up?”
“Stop stalling, Joe.”
He went for an abbreviated answer to appease her. “Bailey lived here for thirteen years of her life. Her parents owned the property we now live on.”
Pip whistled. “You tell her that?”
“I haven’t, no, and my guess is neither has Maggie, as she didn’t bring it up.” But he should have; she deserved to know the truth.
“Is she your age?”
“Three years younger.”
“How old were you when she left?”
“Sixteen.”
“So if she was thirteen….” His cousin’s sharp brain was moving with its usual speed, trying to connect the dots. “Surely you guys didn’t have anything going on between you?”
“No!” The word exploded from Joe’s mouth. “Nothing like that, we were just friends.”
Pip frowned. “Was her home life crap? Was she a bad girl or something?”
Joe wished he’d just kept his mouth shut. “No, she was the only child of two uptight, rich parents.”
“Then how the hell did you two become friends?”
How indeed.
“Can we just leave it that we knew each other?”
“No.” Pip raised a hand to stop him saying anything else. “Sarah, I’m taking a break, call if you need me. You,” she pointed at Joe, “go find a table, I’ll join you.”
“I don’t have time for this, Pip. The story is an old one that doesn’t need airing again. Plus, it’s personal, between Bailey and me.”
“You know I’ll make your life hell if you don’t tell me, and what’s more, you know I can keep secrets.”
“I really don’t need this now.”
“Sure you do, now go and sit.”
He found a table and sat drinking his coffee, thinking about Bailey. She had secrets and shadows in her eyes. Why was she no longer performing? What course had her life taken since she’d left here? He knew she’d gone with her mother and grandfather when her parents separated, but nothing else.
“So, I have food, and coffee. I’m ready when you are.” Pip took the seat across from him.
“Well of course, like my brothers, I live to serve you.”
She smiled, flashing him a row of neat white teeth that had been cemented into braces for two years.
“I like her, FYI. She seems nice. Kind of timid, but nice.”
“You’ve had what, a total of one conversation with her?”
