by Jennie Jones
‘No,’ she said. ‘We’re not.’ She put a hand to his chest as he lowered his face for a kiss. ‘No kissing. You’ll smudge my lipstick and although you haven’t opened the blinds yet, the doors aren’t locked.’
He groaned, deep and low in his chest.
‘I think we can appear reasonably friendly towards each other though. Since you’re my mediator.’
‘Whatever you say.’ Right this moment he wanted to negotiate her out of her dress. He looked down at her legs. They were bare and she wore high-heeled blue shoes. ‘Are your toes red-tipped too?’
‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘I’m fully coordinated.’
Was she now? He looked at the skirt of her dress, hoping for x-ray vision. Red underwear? Somebody tell him no, or he’d bust a gut.
‘Get your mind off my lingerie, Hotshot.’
Dan tipped his head and smiled at her. She was right. There wasn’t time for hanky panky—unfortunately. Josh and Lily would arrive any minute and Dan would be opening the Bar & Grill in half an hour. They had to decide on a story that would put people off the scent of their secret relationship—and this was as good a time as any to take the opportunity of putting the story of what they were doing with each other right.
He’d had an uneasy rumbling of concern inside him since he’d snuck out of her house at six thirty this morning. He hadn’t intended to hit on her that early, but after his run and seeing her back bedroom light on, he’d popped into the B&B. Taking a morning shower with Charlotte had invigorated him so much he hadn’t felt the need for his usual weight-training session today.
‘While we’re sorting out our undercover stories,’ he said, ‘can I ask you something? I mean, I’m not worried about this either way, don’t get me wrong.’
‘You’re worried about us having sex and where whatever it is we’re doing might lead.’
Sharp and smart. ‘I’m not worried, Charlotte. But I don’t want you thinking I’m only coming around you for sex. I mean, what I mean is, I like you too. The person you.’ He paused. ‘And the woman you. All of you. I like all of you.’ And he sounded like a tongue-tied teenager. ‘Do you understand what I’m having trouble saying?’
She smiled. ‘Yes.’
‘And is it … okay with you?’
She took hold of his fingers. ‘Yes. We’re having a fun time.’
They certainly were. He brushed his thumb over her knuckles.
‘Why don’t we look upon our situation as time out?’ she suggested. ‘Me from the B&B renovations and you from building your—apartment.’
Was she taking about a timeframe? A few months? He hadn’t thought it would go longer than that anyway but as he’d given some consideration to their situation this morning, his composure was rattled. After all, he couldn’t speak for Charlotte and he didn’t know what she wanted from this; she might have expected it to lead to the whole deal: dating, making it known around town, having people look at them as though they were a couple. And if Sammy got a hold of the secretive, scandalous news, he’d be in trouble—nesting trouble. That was probably the reason his composure had been rocked. He’d got it back now, thanks to his girl. Their relationship would be fun and bargain-free. The type he liked best.
He put a finger to her chin and tilted her face his way. He gave her mouth a ghost of a kiss, aware of the lipstick issue, and smiled at her. ‘This is good, yeah? We’re on the same wavelength.’
She nodded. ‘Makes it easier all round, doesn’t it?’
Man, he was about the luckiest guy alive. He winked at her. ‘I’ll drive out first, you arrive about ten minutes after me.’
‘Okay, see you there.’
‘Hey,’ he called as she opened the swing door. She looked over her shoulder, impossibly beautiful. ‘Take it easy at the junction of All Seasons Road and Burra Burra Lane. The road needs resurfacing. It’s been wet through spring and all this sunshine we’ve been getting has made the bitumen slippery.’
She smiled. ‘Thanks for the tip. See you there.’
Dan watched her walk out of his bar. Once they got through this dinner, he’d pop over to the B&B. They’d spend a few minutes discussing the events of the evening, they’d no doubt laugh at how sneaky they’d been in covering their tracks. She’d try to tickle him, he’d catch her in his arms, kiss the breath out of her and they’d get down to making each other sigh. Pleasure sank through his muscles and hit bone. Luckiest man alive.
Fourteen
‘Looking a bit awkward there, Hotshot,’ Charlotte said under her breath.
Daniel shifted on the dining room chair, his body rippling like the folds of a warm blanket, his arm curled around little sleeping Lochie. ‘Be good, would you?’ he whispered. ‘We’re guests, remember.’
‘Just making an antsy observation.’
He shot her a look. The sleeping toddler in his arms was snuggled into a dark blue baby blanket, a toy koala clutched in his plump hand, sleepy and fragrant in the crook of Hotshot’s long, muscled left arm. A cute picture and one Charlotte hadn’t expected would make her like Daniel any more than she already did. How could she not like him? He’d charmed his way into her life and her bed. Well, they hadn’t made it to the sheets yet, but Charlotte had hopes.
‘How are you getting on?’ Sammy asked as she came into the room with a stack of dinner plates in her hands.
‘We’re fine,’ they said together.
‘I meant Daniel with Lochie,’ Sammy said, switching her focus to her two guests, like a judge evaluating leading witnesses in a courtroom.
‘He’s fine,’ they said together. Daniel gave her a frown and Charlotte pressed her lips firmly closed. She smiled at Sammy as Sammy put the dinner plates onto the table.
Warmth and welcome enveloped the house, which was old in parts and still under various forms of renovation but scrubbed and glossed in love nonetheless. It almost breathed with the Grangers, as though it drank every move the family made. The affection in the air surrounded Charlotte immediately when she stepped through the door—fifteen minutes after Daniel. Sammy had painted a mural of wildflowers in the hallway so it was like stepping into a spring field. Maybe she could persuade Sammy to paint a mural in the hallway of the B&B. Once she’d found the time to steam the flocked peonies off.
‘Alright, then,’ Ethan said as he walked into the room carrying a large plate of roast leg of lamb. The aroma of rosemary and mint settled over them in a delicious cloud of expectation.
Charlotte glanced over the laid table. Six places. ‘Are you expecting other guests?’
Sammy sniggered. ‘Julia and our new veterinary assistant, Ira.’
‘Ah.’
‘Yes, ah,’ Sammy responded with a smirk. ‘One dinner, four lovebirds.’
‘Okay, time out.’ Ethan spread his hands. ‘It’s obvious that my wife has a fixation with matchmaking and I’m sorry to say it’s unlikely she’ll back down any time soon—so it’s best if we all acknowledge it now because I don’t want it to ruin our evening.’
‘Puh,’ Sammy said, but she was grinning.
‘So you think Ira has a thing for Julia?’ Charlotte asked.
‘Absolutely.’ Sammy sat and picked up a linen napkin. She nodded at the windows behind her. ‘They’re out in the kitchen garden.’
The bay windows in the dining room, which had apparently once been the living room, looked out onto the gardens at the side of the house and the lawn at the front. It was twilight now, so only shadows played outside but Charlotte could imagine Sammy in this room in the daytime, looking up from her sketch pad, glancing out the window and down the driveway to the people who drove up, tooting horns in welcome, dropping off the children who worked at Ethan’s stables, or who came for art lessons with Sammy.
‘Julia arrived unexpectedly,’ Sammy said. ‘And Ira turned up within three minutes of her arrival.’
‘Three minutes?’
‘More like two and a half, actually. Said he’d seen her turn into the driveway while he was closi
ng the gates in the lower paddock and thought he’d wander on over to see if we needed a hand. I invited them both for dinner.’
Daniel leaned forwards and lifted the lid off a china dish. The wafting fragrance of roast vegetables made Charlotte’s stomach rumble. ‘I’m starving,’ Daniel said, putting the lid back on the dish. ‘Why can’t we eat while your two lovebirds get cosy in the garden?’
‘You’re always hungry,’ Sammy said, picking up her glass and sipping her wine.
‘Yeah but I’m extra hungry today.’ Daniel gave her a grin. ‘Did an additional bout of exercise this morning.’
Charlotte picked up her wine glass and studied the merlot, willing the image of herself tumbling from the hot shower to Daniel’s bare chest to disappear.
‘Are you all set for Grandy’s arrival on Monday?’ Ethan asked her. ‘If there’s anything you need a hand with, just let me know and I’ll set Dan onto it pronto.’ Ethan smiled. ‘Give you both a chance to get to know each other better.’
‘Now who’s being the matchmaker?’ Charlotte asked. If they were all going to gang up on her and Daniel about getting it together, it might be best to let their banter roll on down the street and into every shop or house in town. Let them try to figure out if anything was going to happen between the newcomer and the mediator. It was unlikely they’d grasp the truth.
‘So Grandy knows about my offer?’ she asked Ethan.
‘Yes, he does. In fact, he had a few things to say about you.’
‘Oh, like what?’
Ethan shrugged. ‘Not really sure what he was talking about, but he said something about having expected you.’
‘He probably meant he expected someone to buy the B&B at some stage. He hated it being empty.’
Ethan looked from his wife to Charlotte. ‘How are the renovation plans going?’
‘Great.’
‘What have you done so far?’ Sammy asked.
‘I’m in the middle of taking the flocked wallpaper off.’ Had been ‘in the middle’ of that task for over three days.
‘What else?’
Charlotte sipped her wine. What had she done? Nothing. Dear God, she’d done nothing yet. ‘According to Mr Charm next to me, I need to get the banister fixed on the staircase.’
‘Ask Josh. I’m sure he’d do that job for you.’
Charlotte nodded at Ethan and put her glass onto the table. ‘I plan to take the old lino up and sand the floorboards.’ If this conversation continued they’d realise she hadn’t done any work yet. That would appear odd—and was odd; she hadn’t done even the smallest of jobs. She’d been distracted by the attentions of the man she’d been bickering with and was now sleeping with. No—correction—the man she was having sex with. They were unlikely to spend an entire night with each other.
‘Josh—again,’ Ethan said. ‘He’s your man for those carpentry jobs.’
‘That would put money in his pocket too,’ Daniel said.
‘At this rate he’ll have enough money to leave town by the time the B&B is up and running,’ Sammy said. ‘Not that I want to see him go.’
‘He’s planning to leave town?’ Charlotte asked.
‘That’s been the only thing on his bucket list for the last few years,’ Daniel told her, angling his left arm around Lochie and wiggling his fingers. Perhaps they’d gone to sleep, along with the toddler. ‘He’s had an argument or something with Gemma. They’re not talking.’
Sammy poured more wine into Charlotte’s glass then her own. ‘That’ll be something to do with his mum taking over Cuddly Bear. Gemma probably feels pushed out, especially if she has to leave town with her mum.’
‘I didn’t realise the toy shop was up for sale,’ Charlotte said.
‘Gemma’s mum is getting divorced and moving to the city,’ Daniel told her. ‘Gemma doesn’t want to go and her mum doesn’t want anything to do with the shop, that’s why it’s hardly ever open for business.’
Charlotte had only been into Cuddly Bear’s once—to get a better understanding of why the townspeople thought her yellow weatherboard would interfere with the lemon and royal-blue colours of the toy shop. ‘It’s a shame it hasn’t been trading well.’ Another loss for the town.
‘Josh’s mother, Pat, will get it up and running again,’ Ethan said. ‘I’m sure of it.’
‘And Josh will be run off his long legs,’ Sammy said. ‘Keeping the craft centre going, working for his mum in the toy shop at the weekends and for Dan in the evenings.’ She looked at Charlotte with an apologetic smile. ‘I don’t think he’ll have much time for the jobs you want done at the B&B.’
‘We’ll all help, somehow,’ Ethan said as he stood, picked up a carving set and sliced into the meat.
Daniel drummed the fingers of his free hand on the table. ‘Shouldn’t someone nip out and tell the lovebirds dinner’s ready?’
Sammy held up her hand. ‘We wait.’
‘But it’s going cold,’ Daniel said.
‘We wait,’ Charlotte said.
Dan looked at Ethan. ‘What am I missing?’
‘Does it matter? We’re not in charge, remember?’
Daniel indicated Lochie with a nod. ‘This poor little guy doesn’t know what he’s got in front of him. Why don’t you let me put him to bed, Sammy? I can tell him a story—one about how to handle women.’
Sammy tutted. ‘As if you’d know. Anyway, we have to wait until he goes well and truly under, otherwise it’ll take me an hour to get him back to sleep.’
Daniel sighed. ‘How am I supposed to hold him and eat?’
‘I’ll cut your food up for you.’
‘That’s overwhelmingly generous of you, Charlotte,’ Daniel said. ‘Wanting to make me look vulnerable in front of everyone?’
‘No problem.’ Charlotte couldn’t hold her grin. ‘Let’s call it a fringe benefit to add to your not inconsiderable mediation charms.’
‘Well, Miss Simmons, I’m sure by the end of the evening I’ll have thought of a way to repay you.’
Charlotte bet he would. She laughed, then stopped when she caught Sammy’s analytical gaze. Ethan had paused too, studying her, the carving knife stilled mid-air.
‘This mediating thing is doing wonders for you both,’ Sammy said.
Fortunately the door opened and everyone’s attention went instantly to Julia and Ira as they stepped inside.
‘Sorry to keep you all waiting,’ Julia said, looking like an enchanted cat.
Ira moved to the table, nodded at everyone and held his hand out to Daniel. ‘Ira Maxwell.’
Daniel lifted his free hand and shook Ira’s. ‘Dan Bradford, I own Kookaburra’s. Good to meet you, Ira. Come in for a beer one night. On the house.’
‘Thank you, Dan.’ Ira sat next to Julia and picked up his napkin.
‘Can we eat now?’ Daniel asked.
‘How’s your dog?’ Ira asked Charlotte as Ethan put slices of lamb onto the plates and Sammy took the lids off the hot vegetable dishes. ‘Lucy, is it?’
‘She’s fine. How do you know Lucy?’
‘She popped into the surgery this afternoon. I checked her collar to see who she was.’
Lucy had run all the way to Burra Burra Lane? Lucy got out of the B&B more times than Houdini had got out of a straitjacket but she hadn’t known the dog wandered this far.
‘She often joins me on the hill when I’m out running,’ Daniel said.
Charlotte took a laden dinner plate from Sammy. Despite the chatting around the table and the anticipation of a wonderful meal, a barrenness settled inside her. The dog wasn’t hers to keep and the kind-heartedness around the table wasn’t hers to bask in. The growth of the town wasn’t hers to remark on. The man next to her would become a memory. The experience of a comfortable moment with them all would be short-lived, because in a month or so, she’d be gone.
Dan glanced at Red but she didn’t catch his eye. Dinner had been excellent, both helpings. The second one easier to eat because Sammy had put Lochie to be
d. He flexed his shoulder slightly. The kid had been in the crook of his arm for so long, he kind of missed him.
He glanced around the table and listened to his friends talk. Laughter and gentle ribbing had flowed all evening. But not so much from Charlotte. He didn’t think she’d gone quiet because she felt out of it, and he didn’t think anyone around the table had noticed she’d withdrawn a little. Especially around the time the renovation plans for the B&B had come into the conversation for a second time.
He lifted his glass and gave her another look. The fun had left her. He sensed it easily enough and wasn’t perturbed by his ability to read her any more.
‘That was the best cheesecake I’ve eaten,’ Charlotte said to Sammy. ‘Did your mother teach you how to bake?’
They’d been talking about the McLaughlin River and how good Sammy was getting at casting a line and catching a brown trout. The unexpectedness of Charlotte’s question made Sammy pause, and Ethan too, Dan noticed.
‘No,’ Sammy said. ‘My mother didn’t teach me to cook. She’s a little difficult, but as the years go by, she’s getting warmer. I taught myself, but I’m not up to your standards.’
‘What about you, Ethan?’ Charlotte asked. ‘Do you cook? Did you mother teach you how to look after yourself in the kitchen?’
Ethan smiled. ‘My mother was a fantastic cook but I didn’t pick up all her skills in the kitchen, no matter how much she tried to teach me.’
‘Was? Your mother died.’
‘Yes,’ Ethan said quietly. ‘A long time ago.’
Charlotte turned to Sammy. ‘What about your father?’
Sammy’s widened eyes showed surprise at the fast-fired question. ‘He died when I was three years old.’
Charlotte took her focus to Ethan. ‘And yours?’
It wasn’t a cold charge in the air but a wary one. It bristled like the brush of an echidna’s quills as it crept beneath the footings of a tin house. Sammy went quiet. She had her smile in place but its effervescence didn’t bubble in her eyes.
Dan glanced around the table. Ira and Julia had the look of wondrous new love on their faces. Charlotte’s remark hadn’t affected either of them.