Page 20 of A Thistle Beyond Time
Jenna seemed to realize he was worried, and reassured him. “It’s a lot of fun. You’ll have a good time, I’m sure.”
“Lots of beer and babes, my friend,” Dylan chimed in.
“Beer and babes?” Cormac repeated.
“Mmhmm… you’ll see. We have to get home in time to let the caterer and party planners into the house. We’ll be there in no time.”
“I dinna doubt it. This carriage travels verra fast,” Cormac observed.
“This is nothing. You should ride in the Porsche, if you really want to see fast,” Dylan boasted.
“I hate to break up the bromance you two seem to have going on, but Dylan, I don’t want any trouble tonight. I hope you told your friends they’re going to need to behave themselves. I don’t want the neighbors calling the cops.”
“Don’t worry, I invited them,” Dylan announced cheerfully.
“The cops? Or the neighbors?” Jenna retorted smoothly.
“Funny, Jenna.”
“Dylan, what is a bromance?” Cormac asked. From the way Jenna had said the word, he couldn’t imagine it being anything good.
Dylan laughed. “It’s just what they call it, when two guys enjoy each other’s company. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.”
Jenna was snickering in the back seat as they pulled into the driveway of a large house, set at the very top of a hill on a narrow and curving road. There were other houses close by, but this house was, by far, the grandest of them all. As they were getting out of the truck, a heavy set, dark haired man walked up the driveway and waited to speak with Jenna.
“Hi, Jenna.”
“Hey, Travis, what’s up? I hope you’re coming to the party tonight.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. I just thought you should know that Jonathan has been hanging around here. I’ve seen him coming out of the driveway, a couple of times. I don’t know if he’s been in the house or not, and I wasn’t able to stop him before he left, to ask what he was doing here.”
Jenna looked worried. “I knew I should have changed those locks.”
Cormac came over and stood by her side. He put an arm around her waist and surprisingly, she didn’t resist.
“Thanks for letting us know,” Dylan offered. “We’ll see you later, Travis.”
The man waved as he walked down the driveway and returned to the house next door.
“I can’t believe Jonathan’s been here. What are we going to do, Dylan?” Jenna anxiously ran her fingers through her hair.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get a locksmith out, first thing in the morning and change the locks. In the meantime, I guess we should go inside and see if he’s done any damage to the house.”
Cormac kept his hand on the small of Jenna’s back as they mounted the steps to the front door and entered. To Cormac’s eyes, everything looked very neat and orderly, but there was no way he would know if anything were wrong.
* * *
Jenna and Dylan made their way from room to room, checking to see if anything was missing.
Relief swept through Jenna when they found everything was exactly as it should be.What is he up to?She had a very uneasy feeling about the situation. Jonathan had been extremely angry with her when she got the marriage annulled, and he’d walked away with nothing. He obviously wanted her money and when he hadn’t gotten it, he’d made his displeasure known in lots of different ways. The events at the karaoke bar paled, in comparison to some of the stunts he’d pulled since their divorce.
She didn’t have too much time to worry about it however, as the doorbell rang and Dylan opened the door to the caterer and party planners. An army of people made their way into the house, to prepare for tonight’s celebration. Food, decorations, flowers and serving trays made their way from the front door to the kitchen in the arms of the catering staff. The DJ arrived and set his equipment up, out on the back patio by the pool and the people who would be serving the food were getting lengthy instructions from the caterer.
“We should probably get out of their way and let them do their thing,” Jenna suggested. “Dylan, why don’t you showMacBaynearound.”
“Jenna, ye can call me Cormac,” he responded, with a twinkle in his eye.
She ignored him, “Dylan?”
