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‘Yep.’

‘Josh, I—’

‘Listen, Vera—’ His voice was low, and he stood to the side so the other mourners could bypass them and head up the wooden steps into the community hall. They were alone now.

‘You first,’ she said.

‘I’m not going to pressure you anymore about seeing me. You’ve made it clear I’m not what you need right now, and I respect your decision. I just hope this—you and me thing, whatever it is or isn’t—won’t affect Poppy in any way. She loved working at the café, and I’d love it if she could keep doing that when she’s here. There will be zero awkwardness from me, I promise.’

What? Josh was done with her?

‘But I adore Poppy!’ she stuttered out.I adore you, too. She opened her mouth to tell him so, but the screech of tyres on the wet road nearby drew her gaze away from Josh’s face. A navy sedan slid into a car park. Out of it, looking as neat and pinstriped as a Bunda Street banker, stepped Aaron Finch.

CHAPTER

34

‘Vera, I had to come when I heard.’

Josh scratched his head. Who the hell was this guy? Whoever he was, Vera didn’t seem pleased to see him. She’d gone stiff as a board the moment the guy stepped out of his car.

‘What are you doing here, Aaron?’

‘I had to see you.’

‘You just saw me last week. In court. Where I had to answer to an alleged crime thatyoudobbed me in for.’

Thiswas Vera’s old boss? He rested a hand on Vera’s back. ‘You want me to get rid of him?’

The guy—Aaron—shot him a look. ‘Who the hell are you?’

‘The name’s Josh. I’m Vera’s friend. And if she doesn’t want to talk to you, then I’ll be the one assisting you and your pinstriped suit back into your vehicle.’

Aaron ignored him. ‘Vera, look, this has all got way out of hand. Can we just talk?’ He reached out for Vera’s arm in a way that had Josh’s caveman instincts rising to the surface.

‘I’ve got nothing to say to you, Aaron. Not now, not ever. Go home.’

‘Come on, honey. You know I think you’re a wonderful person. It’s not too late to fix this. To fix us.’

Honey?Us? Josh looked at Vera, her pale face, her strained eyes. She was in no condition to be fielding more drama today, especially the thousand and one questions he wanted to ask her. Because describing her boss as someone who might call her ‘honey’ and ‘us’ had been singularly lacking from her recital of her problems back in Queanbeyan. Maybe he should have turned to page six and read the rest of that damn article. Everyone in town must know more about the woman he was in love with than he did himself.

Woah. Had he just thought the love word? He needed a minute, damn it, and he needed this city suit with the grabby hands to be gone. ‘Kev will have the urn boiling by now. Let’s go find that cup of tea.’ He could check out his last-minute paint job on the ceiling in the light of day and hope like heck he hadn’t missed anywhere. Standing on a ladder late at night wasn’t his ideal time of day for finicky paint jobs in ornate plaster ceilings, but it had sure helped him keep his mind off fretting over why Vera had been ghosting him.

Vera shrugged away from him. ‘Stop telling me what to do, both of you.’

‘Vera, you’re a little pale,’ he said. He wanted to bundle her into his arms and carry her inside, but she was looking as prickly as she had when he’d first tried to chat with her in the café—as brittle and fragile as one of her own brandy snaps.

She didn’t meet his eyes.

‘I can find my own cup of tea,’ she said, then turned to the other guy. ‘You’re not welcome here, Aaron.’ Then she turned and bolted up the stairs to the hall, Aaron at her heels, and slammed the door so both men were stuck outside in the rain.

‘Nice job, mate,’ Josh said, eyeing the man standing next to him. He wondered how Kev would feel about him punching a stranger in the nose among his lovingly tended rose bushes. He fought back the urge.

‘Your car’s that way,’ he said. ‘Do us all a favour and get lost, will you?’

He never did get that cup of tea from Kev’s urn. After staring down the man who’d called Vera ‘honey’, he’d felt the grip on his temper come loose.

Josh didn’t lose his temper often, but when he did, he lost it like a champion bull. He decided to channel his massive desire to punch the crap out of something into the burned inner walls of the clinic. The fire chief had given him the all clear to rip it down, and now was the perfect time for some destruction. Or it would be, once he’d torn his way out of this damn suit and tie.