Page 65 of Welcome to Pennycress Inn

‘I don’t think Auntie Laura and Jackson will get together, Tammy, sweetie.’ Jenny leaned forward and rubbed her daughter’s shoulder. ‘It’s a good idea, but they’re too much like friends for that.’

‘Oh, friends can marry. I’m friends with Jenson at school and he told me he wants to marry me,’ Tammy said matter-of-factly.

‘They can, but not Auntie Laura and Jackson.’ Jenny glanced across at Laura with a grin as Tammy sat down with a plop. ‘Kids!’

‘Don’t laugh at me.’ Tammy pouted and threw a brick, which landed on Jenny’s foot.

‘Come on now. No throwing. Why don’t you come and help me see if we’ve got any after-dinner chocolates anywhere?’ Laura’s dad stood up and held out his hand towards Tammy.

As Laura watched her dad and niece leave the room, she wished she could tag along with them. Instead, she was stuck here, listening to all the reasons why she and Jackson couldnever be together. She cleared her throat, trying her best to keep her voice light. ‘And yet you’ve literally just tried to get me to agree to go on a date with your mate Dave, Richie.’

‘That’s completely different.’ Her brother chuckled.

‘He’s your friend and so is Jackson.’ She spooned a lump of cheesecake into her mouth and tried not to choke as the biscuit base stuck to the roof of her mouth.

‘Jackson is Jackson. He’s been about forever. You’ve never met Dave.’ Richie looked from her to Jackson and back again. ‘Why? Please tell me there isn’t anything going on between you both?’

‘Of course not, mate. What do you take me for? I know your little sis is off limits.’ Jackson slapped Richie on the back.

Laura felt her stomach plummet. Before Harry had turned up, they’d been going to tell everyone they were dating and now… this? What had changed? Had she put him off by accusing Harry of cheating? Or was he just wary of Richie now he’d said what he had? Forcing herself, she joined in with the laughter despite just wanting to cry.

‘Phew.’ Richie wiped his hand across his forehead and sighed dramatically. ‘You almost had me going then. Almost!’

‘Please don’t go setting me up on any dates, though, any of you.’ Laura looked around the room, trying to keep the wobble from her voice. ‘I’m happy being single for the time being.’

‘Can’t I just bring you up in conversation with the guy I was telling you about? Just a little?’ Jenny held her thumb and forefinger slightly apart.

‘Not at all.’ Standing up, Laura placed her bowl in the pile of used ones on the coffee table. ‘Right, I’m going to head off now. I need to be up early tomorrow. You don’t mind, do you, Jackson?’

‘Of course not.’ Following her lead, Jackson stood up too.

‘Oh really?’ Jenny pushed herself to standing and drew her in for a hug. ‘Can’t you stay a bit longer?’

‘Nope. It’s a fair drive back, remember?’ And she really wanted to be in the dark and safety of her car before the tears began to fall.

She walked out of the living room, averting eye contact with Jackson.

After giving and receiving what felt like a million hugs and having a Tupperware dish of leftovers shoved into her hands, Laura pulled open the front door and looked on as it was Jackson’s turn for the hugs and goodbyes. ‘I’ll meet you out in the car, Jackson. I have a quick call to make.’

‘Drive carefully, sweetheart.’ Her mum rubbed her on the forearm. ‘And we’re okay? Me and you? I didn’t realise that you felt that uncomfortable about Harry coming here, and I certainly didn’t even have an inkling that you were questioning his faithfulness to you when you were married.’

‘I will. Thanks again for dinner. And, yes, we’re fine.’

Stepping outside, the cold air hit her as she hurried down the garden path, frantically clicking her key until the lights blinked to inform her the car was unlocked. Slipping behind the steering wheel, she pushed the key into the ignition. How could he? How could Jackson have spoken about her like that? So easily dismissing the mere notion that they could ever be a couple? He hadn’t even attempted to stand up to Richie. Hadn’t even tried to tell her brother he was being ridiculous by telling Laura who she could and couldn’t date.

She turned the key as soon as she heard the passenger door open, barely waiting for Jackson to sit down and click his seatbelt on before she pulled away.

‘That was a bit intense, wasn’t it?’ Jackson finally spoke.

‘Uh-huh.’ She kept her eyes on the road ahead. She couldn’t even bear to look at him. How little must he think of her? Of what she thought they had together?

‘You’re annoyed with me, aren’t you?’ Jackson reached out and touched her forearm.

Shaking his hand off, Laura swallowed. ‘Yesterday you told me you loved me and then today you’re agreeing with my brother over what a ridiculous idea you and I are as a couple. Which one is it? How do you really feel?’

‘You know how I feel.’

‘That’s the thing, I don’t. Because in one of those conversations you were telling the truth and the other one was just a really good performance.’ And if he could lie so easily to Richie, then what else was he lying about? How he felt about Evie Taunton? Harry had gone back to his ex, what was there to say Jackson wouldn’t do the same? That the feelings Evie Taunton so overtly had for him weren’t reciprocated? How could she trust him now?

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