Page 70 of A Vineyard for Two

The dog barked at the sound of his name.

‘Sure, it’ll be good to have him as company.’ She patted him on the head and he nuzzled his snout against her thigh.

‘I’m just going to shower, then I’m out.’

She nodded and headed for the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water. He gave her a quick rundown, left her the internet password and instructions if there was an outage. She hoped there wouldn’t be one. Then he disappeared behind a door and a few moments later, she heard the shower running.

Harper stared at her laptop screen, but instead of focusing on the emails, she was thinking about Brookes standing underneath the running water; the water sliding down his skin; the soap gliding down his body. She even pictured herself getting in behind him, slipping her hands across his chest…No, that was enough of those thoughts. She sipped the water and realised she was getting hot. Now was not the time for dirty thoughts about Brookes. She had work to do, and in a week, she’d be gone again.

Ten minutes later, he appeared changed and smelling delicious. He didn’t look like he was going to work. Instead, it looked like he was heading out on a date, and given that he was leaving Rover…her imagination slipped into overdrive again.

Stop it, Harper. You’re being an idiot.

And yet the pang of jealousy persisted.

She watched as he left out the front door. For a moment, Rover stood looking at the closed door before finally retreating to the kitchen and placing himself comfortably beside her. She gave him a pat and returned her attention to the screen.

When she looked at the clock again, three hours had passed, and she was no closer to catching up on her work. She wiped her eyes. A week from the screen and they were no longer used to the glare. Harper got up and stretched, startling Rover. He was on his feet now, nudging her on the knee.

‘You want some fresh air?’

He nudged her again, then ran towards the doorway.

She followed him and opened the front door. The sun was setting and there was a lovely hue of orange, pink and purple across the sky. In a matter of minutes, the sun would set, and darkness would fall with the stars covering the sky. That was something else she missed living in the city. Starry nights, a solar system too large to comprehend. In the city, when she looked up in the sky, the stars were hidden by lights of the skyscrapers. Here, they didn’t have anywhere to hide, and they were beautiful.

Shivering, she called out to Rover, who came running back immediately.

Back inside the house, she boiled a pot of water and poured the steaming liquid into a cup with a peppermint tea bag she found, then she wandered around the property. Her fingers grazed against countertops, her eyes wandering across every wall that had a picture. There were no portraits downstairs, just paintings; different artworks on the walls. The inn had a different feel to it in the evening, and she pictured candlelight and moonlight streaming through the windows with guests sitting around the long table that would be there in a few days.

Harper paused in the doorway of the downstairs room. The bed was neatly made, two bedside tables–one on each side–housed a lamp. There was a book on winemaking on one of them and a pair of reading glasses. It gave the inn a cosy ambience. The room had been recently used; it seemed that Brookes had been staying here while working. It made sense. Cut out the travel time and allowed him to work longer hours. His commitment was admirable.

Her mind wandered again, and she had to remind herself why she was here. If she wasn’t going to do any more work, then she might as well go home. Feeling peckish, she opened the fridge to see if there was anything she could munch on. The fridge contained ham and cheese which she didn’t really feel like. In the fruit bowl beside it, there was a bunch of bananas. She grabbed one and ate it. In the cupboard she found some opened chips and ate a handful, then she heard Rover beside her. ‘You’re hungry too, boy,’ she said, scratching him between the ears. ‘Let’s find you some food.’

Looking around the kitchen, she couldn’t find any dog food. She located the dog bowl near the door and then his bag of biscuits in the laundry. Harper grabbed a cupful and poured it into the bowl. Rover remained seated as if waiting to be allowed to eat. As soon as she said the word, he rushed to the bowl and started guzzling down the food. In the meantime, she changed his water and by the time she put the fresh water down, his dinner bowl was licked clean.

There was no way she was going to get any more work done, so she closed her laptop and spent the next hour working on the to do list for the house. Brookes had completed and organised the majority of the structural changes and she noticed the trades had updated the grouting, among other things. With two more days left, there were only a few things that needed to be done, and so she busied herself with dusting and sweeping and rearranging throughout the inn.

Two hours later, she was ready to look at her laptop again, but when she did, her eyes started drooping. Checking her watch, she found it was already past nine and Brookes wasn’t back yet. She couldn’t leave Rover here by himself, could she?

Maybe a bit of fresh air would do her good.

‘Stay here, Rover. I’ll be right back.’ Harper left the dog in the house and went outside. She didn’t want him outside in case he ran off and didn’t come back when she called out for him.

Rubbing her hands against each other, she walked towards the cellar door. The moon and stars were the only things lighting up the sky. There was an almost eerie feeling about the evening. She looked around, but all she could see were trees beyond the driveway. An owl hooted in the distances. The rustle of leaves caused her to speed up her pace. She could swear there was a crunch of twigs somewhere close by. Her gaze shifted, but she couldn’t see anyone around. She was reaching for the door handle when she thought she saw a silhouette in the distance. Her hand froze on the handle. No, she was being irrational. It was just the shadows of the branches dancing in the wind. But when she looked again, she could swear she saw a set of eyes staring straight at her.

Harper was about to scream when the pair of eyes disappeared as headlights appeared in the driveway from behind. Turning, she recognised Brookes’ car, but she didn’t dare take a step until he was parked beside her car and opening his own door. It was only then she realised that she was shaking and it wasn’t from the cold.

THIRTY-THREE

‘Brookes, oh my god, I’m so glad you’re back.’ She ran towards him and into his arms as soon as he was standing outside his car. Her heart was still beating at a million miles an hour as he pulled her close and ran his hands through her hair.

‘What happened?’

She averted her gaze towards the house. ‘There was someone there.’

‘Where?’

‘By the side of the house, hiding in the shadows.’

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