Page 23 of Wild About You

‘Anna.’ Fi stared hard at me. ‘You’ve been through a lot. I don’t want to see you get hurt again. And you said my face looks weird? Well, you’ve got that slightly dreamy look onyourface that tells me you’re in the early stages of an infatuation.’

‘No, I’m not!’ I cried, so loudly that the people at the next table looked over. Sometimes it was inconvenient having averybest friend. They don’t let you get away with anything.

She sighed again and gazed at me.

I leaned close to Fi. ‘I mean it,’ I said. ‘I don’t need commitment right now. I need a bit of fun. To get my mojo back. I don’t want to be moping around the cottage thinking about the past.’

‘The only way out of that is through,’ said Fi, crunching a handful of crisps. ‘Callum’s not your shortcut through heartbreak, I can promise you that.’

‘Come on, you have to tell me more than that.’

Sadly, Fi wasn’t a gossip. She shook her head and I made an internal vow to get her drunk one day and get all of thedetails about Callum out of her. She sat there, in a faint air of disapproval and concern. I squeezed her hand.

‘He did rescue me the other day,’ I said. ‘He was a bit of a hero, if you ask me.’

Fi swallowed a mouthful of her drink with a frown. ‘Jamie rescued you, more like.’

I paused, a crisp halfway between the packet and my mouth. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Exactly that. Jamie was watching the Land Rover on the GPS and told Callum they had to go and get you. Callum didn’t have the foggiest idea how long you’d been gone. Loses all track of time.’

Recalibrating my vision of Callum coming to my rescue, I pushed the crisp packet away. Perhaps Mr Relaxed was a bit too relaxed.

‘So,’ said Fi. ‘Who’s the hero now?’

‘I wasn’t after a hero,’ I said huffily. ‘According to my therapy books, I’m perfectly capable of saving myself.’

‘I’ll raise a glass to that,’ said Fi.

‘Finally, something we can agree on,’ I said, raking another crisp out of the packet.

CHAPTER 9

If I’d felt I was starting to settle into life at Stonemore, the following morning corrected that opinion. It started with Tally complaining that Jamie wasn’t being communicative. She had been muttering for some time and I’d sadly forgotten my headphones to block out her tuts.

‘The earl won’t get back to me about the painting conservation,’ she muttered eventually, some sense resolving out of her murmurings. ‘And he’s giving me one-word replies about other things.’

‘We have to be careful with that conservation budget,’ said Fi, who was in the middle of attempting to edit the website. ‘We might need to divert some money away to essential maintenance. And I think Jamie wanted a quiet day – he has lots to consider before the financial year-end.’

Another half hour, and Tally started again.

‘I bet it’s your fault, Anna,’ she said sulkily. ‘You’ve said something to upset him.’

‘Come on, Tally,’ said Fi.

‘You think I said something upsetting about wildflowers?’ I carried on typing, my eyes not leaving the screen. But I had to stifle a sigh. Ahere we go againfeeling rose up in me.

‘I hear you got a lot of people’s backs up at the WI meeting,’ she said, narrowing her eyes.

I took a breath, trying to ignore the dagger-like sensation in my stomach. ‘I thought we were playing nice. And I don’t think I got anyone’s back up.’

‘Stonemore is a delicate ecosystem, Anna,’ she said, as though speaking to a small child.

‘I’m not sure you’re the right person to be talking about ecosystems,’ I said.

‘I mean socially.’ She twirled her pen in her hands. ‘Also.Callum. A little birdie told me you’re getting a bit too friendly.’

I looked up sharply.

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