Page 25 of Wild About You

‘Okay, okay.’ He passed a hand over his brow. ‘We’ve got off on the wrong foot, Anna.’

‘Do you think?’ I cried.

‘I guess Callum’s had the conversation about the reporting line?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Understood. Just—’

‘What?’ he said quickly.

‘I don’t know how we’ve got off on the wrong foot,’ I said. ‘I didn’t intend to annoy you, or make you not like me.’ It sounded so pathetic as it came out of my mouth. But I was honestly perplexed. I’d been ruder to this man in the space of a few days than I ever had to any other colleagues, put together. Was it my fault? Was he really as grumpy and pig-ignorant as I thought? No one else seemed to dislike him as much as I did. Maybe the whole upper-class thing really was skewing my judgement. Plus, I was second-guessing myself. Everything that had happened in London made me question everything that had happened since – I doubted my instincts.

‘Hey.’

I looked up. He was staring at me, steadily. My breath caught as our eyes met.

‘I don’t dislike you,’ he said. The words were said with effort. ‘I rub people up the wrong way sometimes. It’s just the way I’m made. That’s why it’s better you work with Callum.’ He smiled tightly. ‘It’s obvious you get on better with him.’

I stared at him, nonplussed, feeling heat rising in my cheeks. There was so much energy in his gaze. The truth was, his eyes were hypnotic. Especially when he was glaring at me with such intensity.

‘Right… You know,’ I said, trying to keep the mood light, ‘my mum always said, you can’t put a hot pan on a cold stove. That’s probably why we don’t get on.’

‘I’m sorry, what?’

I looked him in the eyes. His super-intense blue eyes. ‘We’re from very different backgrounds,’ I said. ‘I’m working class, and pretty proud of it, to be honest.’

‘And you think I’m what? Super-privileged?’

‘I think you’re from an entirely different world,’ I said carefully. ‘A world I haven’t really experienced. We come at things from completely different perspectives.’Plus, you’re a bit of a dick, I thought. A thought that probably relayed itself to my face.

‘I see.’ His expression was shuttered. ‘I’ll let you go then. Feed everything through Callum, and I’m sure we’ll get on like a house on fire.’ But it didn’t look as though he was going anywhere, and he was staring at me in a way that made it hard for me to tear my eyes away, mixing annoyance with other feelings that I couldn’t quite identify. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. ‘I—’

And, cut, as Hugo started barking.

My whole body felt full of adrenaline. What was goingon?

Jamie sighed as though he was releasing a whole lungful of breath. ‘Excuse me. He wants his second breakfast.’

I choked back a laugh. ‘Is he a hobbit?’ I looked down at Hugo’s enormous eyes.

‘He gets very hungry. It’s a beagle thing.’ He stared at Hugo for a moment, his face softening a little. Then heseemed to steel himself, and turned away, taking the little dog with him. ‘See you, Anna.’ He threw the words over his shoulder as he strode away, without even a glance behind.

‘Bye, then,’ I managed. I turned and stalked back to the house.

As I sat back down at my desk, I couldn’t shake my feeling of unease. We both wanted the same thing, didn’t we? A better future for Stonemore. So why on earth was it impossible to have a civil conversation?

I got home from work at just past five, when it felt exactly like midnight. The afternoon had passed calmly enough on the surface. Tally had even made me a cup of tea and given me one of her cereal bars as a peace offering. But there was a sour feeling in the pit of my stomach. Had I made a mistake, coming here? I’d been feeling warm and fuzzy about Stonemore as my escape hatch, but some of that pleasure had curdled. If Tally was right, a bunch of people at the WI had hated me, and my boss seemed to be disliking me more each day. Was this really the right place to recover from the past?

I opened the fridge door. One red pepper stared out at me, a faint air of apology about its shrivelled appearance, reminding me I hadn’t had time to go grocery shopping. I slammed the fridge shut. Toast for dinner, then. I’d got way too used to the London habit of ordering takeaway in, and I was suffering for it now.

I had more than one Achilles heel, it seemed. I really didn’t like it when people disliked me. I knew I had to kissgoodbye to my people-pleasing past, and I knew I had to grow a thick skin, but it was still difficult to know there was a bunch of people who disliked me just for being myself. But this wasn’t time to cave – I was not going back to yes-to-everything Anna.

I opened the bread bin and took a breath before inspecting the contents.

Plink. My phone trembled on the counter. I closed the bread bin and picked it up.

Hey. Are you busy?

It was Fi. I smiled at the idea of being busy.

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