Page 45 of The Guest House at Shingle Cove

‘What do you mean?’ Freya walked out of the kitchen, across the hall and into the lounge, listening to Jolene’s reply.

‘You two seem to be getting quite friendly, going out to lunch together.’

‘That’s because the dean asked me to show him the ropes.’

‘If you say so.’

Freya let out an exasperated sigh. ‘About this overtime,’ she said, changing the subject, ‘is that all day today?’

‘Yep. The others are coming in at nine. They are closing the museum for the day.’

Freya didn’t work at the museum on a Saturday, even though it was normally open to the public at the weekend.

Freya was still frowning. ‘The women who work there didn’t tell me about the overtime.’ Why was she acting all surprised? They were civil to her face, but she could tell they didn’t want her there – new, young blood stirring things up, thinking up new ideas and a fresh approach to the displays.

‘Will you be there, Jolene?’

‘Oh, yes. And Tarek too.’

‘I’m not interested in whether he’s there or not.’

‘If you say so.’

Freya ignored the remark, although she did say, ‘I enjoyed lunch with Tarek,’ forgetting to lower her voice. There were no secrets between best friends.But perhaps sometimes there were between partners.She glanced through the open doorway to the hall just as Theo passed by. His timing was impeccable. He threw her a scowl that said he’d overheard.

Freya hastily added, ‘Of course I still hate him for stealing my secondment.’

Jolene said, ‘Of course you do,’ with an amused inflection in her voice.

‘So, why are they asking us to come in?’

Theo stopped in the doorway. He looked at her in surprise. ‘Are you going into work today?’

Freya glanced at him and held up a finger, waiting for Jolene’s reply.

‘There’s a new display we are setting up.’

Freya repeated what Jolene had just said for Theo’s benefit.

Theo frowned. ‘Why can’t it wait until Monday?’

‘I could do with the money, Theo.’ He couldn’t argue with that. But his expression as he turned from the doorway said he still wasn’t happy about it.

‘Is that Theo?’ Jolene asked. ‘How does he feel about you working with the very handsome Tarek?’

Freya shifted nervously from one foot to the other. ‘What doyouthink?’ Aware her response sounded rude, she apologised. ‘Sorry.’

‘No need to apologise. You like him, I get it.’

‘I don’t! That’s ridiculous.’

‘Is it? You enjoyed lunch together.’

‘So what? It was only lunch.’

‘But who knows where that might lead? It could be the start of something, y’know.’

Freya wanted to change the subject. It wasn’t going to be the start of anything– how could it be? She was engaged to Theo.

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