Page 17 of Vine

“Fine, thanks. It could have been worse; we could have signed up for the cage fighting.”

On his own, which rarely happened, Leigh could be quite reasonable, occasionally reminding me why I fell for him in thefirst place. If life were fair, he might still be mine, but life, as usual, wasn’t, and his periodic kindness only underlined that fact. No amount of pleasantness would ever be enough.

I bet Jonas didn’t know he was up here.

He pointed to my arms. “Why on earth have you started doing that again?”

“Um… let me think. Husband and best friend fucking each other under my nose? An acrimonious divorce? Having to be civil to both?”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Jonas is right. You really need to try to move on, Casp.”

I reached for a clean, long-sleeved T-shirt. “Gosh, what an excellent idea. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“What were you doing wandering about outside anyhow? In the middle of the night?”

I rubbed my neck. “Couldn’t sleep with this bloody sore throat. Decided to get some fresh air and tripped on the gravel in the dark.” Dropping the towel, I took my time pulling on a pair of boxers. I wasn't hiding anything he hadn’t already dined on. He used to love my thin, supple body, even with the scars. No harm showing him what he could no longer have.

“Yes, but…” He sounded distracted. Good.

Bending at the waist, deliberately sticking my little arse out, I rummaged around in the drawers again for a pair of socks.

“The bed,” I said shortly. “It’s lumpy. And I’m dripping with snot. Either I’ve caught a shitty cold, or something annoying in this house is setting off my allergies.”You and Jonas, for instance.

I snivelled loudly to back up the story. No way would Jonas get the satisfaction of hearing the truth. He’d set an alarm for sex at three and five a.m. just to fucking spite me.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I’ve probably got a packet of antihistamines somewhere.”

As I turned to face him, hauling on a pair of jeans, Leigh studied his feet. “You could always sleep in the empty gatehouse. A chap was moving stuff in and out of it as I drove into the village earlier. One of the techs who spoke to him said a snake had been hibernating in there.”

“A snake? Really?” A memory of dry scales crawled over my skin, and my stomach curdled. “That’s creepy.”

“Fuck, yeah. Only a tiny thing, apparently. Under the sink, but they move about once they’re inside. Imagine finding it curled up in the toilet cistern! Mind you, it would sort my bowels out. Totally jammed since we left England. It’s because I can’t stop scoffing this bloody delicious bread.”

Way too much information.“Um… you know we’re not married anymore? So feel free to keep those details to yourself?”

“I’m trying to be helpful, here, Casp!” He gave me his annoyed face, which was not too dissimilar to his constipated face. “Anyhow, this afternoon, it looked like the guy was giving the place a clean, turning the electrics on, that sort of thing. So if you want to use it as a crash pad, I don’t think anyone has bagged it yet.”

Assuming he was right about the snake extraction, that sounded like a very happy coincidence. In spite of my throat and injuries, my mood fractionally brightened. “Okay. Um… thanks for letting me know. I’ll check it out.”

He stood to leave. “Oh, and Libby phoned. She’s got a couple of proposals. Some solid work for the two of us for when this thing’s all tied up.”

The two of us?I pulled a face. “Over my dead body.”

“Don’t be like that. It wouldn’t be Jonas producing. He’s not involved.”

Resurrect my dead body.My flat in Chelsea came with a hefty mortgage. London shoeboxes didn’t come cheap, and I had no other obvious career options. Perhaps by the time this jobfinished in the autumn, I might be in a better state mentally.And pigs might learn to fly. “I’m happy to hear what she has to say, I suppose. Just you I’d have to look at every day, yeah?”

“You’ve seen worse.”

I tried to envisage working on a TV set without Jonas. My nerves could possibly handle Leigh on his own. “Did you know Emma didn’t sign a non-disclaimer? I’m not worried about her— she’s golden—but it’s a bit of a slip, isn’t it? Bearing in mind we’re trying to keep our personal mess quiet until it’s over.”

Considering it, Leigh tilted his head to one side. “No, I didn’t know. But I agree. She’s not one to tittle-tattle. So does it matter?”

“Do you know if the rest of the crew have?” I wasn’t too keen on being fresh meat for the hyenas working for theMail Online.

Leigh shrugged, already half out the door. “Nah, Jonas manages all that shit. Chill. I’m sure he’s got it under control.”

CHAPTER 7

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