AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Yeah, I know. It’s ironic, but... Actually, that just about sums it all up. We started talking, and laughed about it a bit, and I dismissed the idea that she’d actually rather I was Jon. But, looking back, I think she always wondered if he might be a bit more exciting than I am.’
‘That’s not very fair. You’re exciting.’
The way she flew to his defence was nice to hear. ‘Not quite in the way Jon is. Gill liked to go out a lot, the fancier the place the better. She didn’t have a lot of time for the work I do with the charity, she rather felt that got in the way. She made no bones about the fact that I could be a bit boring about it sometimes.’
‘She sounds a bit boring herself.’ Anna winced at her own reaction. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I don’t even know her.’
‘I appreciate the vote of confidence. Gill and I were just different. I had what I really wanted, and when there were conflicting claims on my time, I chose the charity over her. She was right to leave me.’
‘Not in that way, Jamie.’
‘No. Not in that way.’ He shrugged. None of that seemed to matter so much now. ‘So what about you?’
‘Me?’ Anna was suddenly uncomfortable, and it struck Jamie that she was just pretending not to know what he meant.
‘I’ve appreciated the way you’ve encouraged me to talk. Can’t I return the favour?’
Anna shook her head quickly. It seemed she wasn’t even going to consider the idea. ‘It is what it is. I’ve nothing to talk about and...so I don’t.’
‘I’m always here. If you change your mind.’
‘Yeah. Thanks.’ Something about the finality of her tone told Jamie that she wasn’t going to change her mind. ‘Oh, look out! You’ve got a hole...’
Jamie looked down at the pastry in front of him, and saw he’d rolled it a little too thin. Anna nudged him out of the way, folding the pastry over deftly so that he could try again and dusting the board with flour. The moment was gone.
Fair enough. If she didn’t want to talk then he shouldn’t press the point. He turned his attention to rolling out the pastry, and together they filled the rest of the foil pie dishes.
‘Perhaps we should mark those three.’ Anna pointed to the pies made with Jamie’s pastry. He chuckled.
‘With a skull and crossbones? Eat at your peril?’
‘No! Your first home-made, home-grown apple and blackberry pies. You need to know when you’re eating them.’ She pulled a face, deftly cutting three capital J’s from the scraps of pastry on the counter, and sticking them down on the top of the pies with a splash of water.
‘Do we get to bake them all now?’ The idea of filling the house with the scent of baking seemed suddenly thrilling. As if he was making a new start, in a new home.
‘No, I think it’s better to freeze them unbaked. We could keep one back to have tonight, though.’
‘Sounds good. I’ll do the washing up and then lay a fire in the sitting room...’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
PICKING APPLES AND making pies. Right now Anna couldn’t think what might make a day better. But in truth it wasn’t any of that which had made her day perfect. It was Jamie.
They sat on either side of the large grate, eating apple pie and cream. It tasted so much better made with apples that had still been on the tree this morning. Jamie laid his empty plate to one side.
‘I’m not sure that even I can manage a third helping.’
‘No. Neither can I.’ Her stomach was full, and she was warm and relaxed after a day’s work. They’d achieved something that might not be as important as the challenges they both met every day at work but it was more clear-cut. A task that had been started and finished, without any of the loose ends that medical treatment had a habit of presenting.
And now... He was so handsome in the firelight.
Anna bit her lip. She had no business thinking such things, it was way beyond the terms of their agreement. And it was that agreement that allowed her to be here, the one that stipulated that spending time together was just that, and not the precursor to something that neither of them could consider.
‘Maybe we should think about making cider next year.’
We. Next year.
That was a promise that couldn’t be kept if they strayed past the boundaries they’d set.
