Breaking Routine

by Melissa Tereze

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  Though it was dark, Harper noticed a blush spreading up Cait’s neck. It’s the lighting…or the lack of! It was ridiculous to even think of Cait in that way. Yes, she was sweet and very pleasant company, but Harper wasn’t looking, and Cait was in no way interested. Why would she be? Cait was entirely different to Harper, and though she was generous and friendly, Cait probably saw everything Callie had seen in Harper. Precisely nothing.

  Single. That’s how it should be.

  “Okay, well, I’ll just wait here while you do what you need to do.” Cait broke Harper from her thoughts, her eyes shining from the sliver of light present in the space. “I’d say I’ll take a seat, but…”

  “Come upstairs. I just need to grab some shoes and blow out the candles.”

  Cait’s smile widened. “Can I? I haven’t seen the upstairs in here yet.”

  “You really did want this place, didn’t you?”

  Cait chewed her lip, shoving her bobble hat in her coat pocket. “I did. Jude suggested another B&B, like I told you, but I wanted to buy this place for myself.”

  “Oh.”

  “But it’s gone to the right person. I know you’ll look after it.” Cait touched Harper’s arm lightly, sending a sensation throughout her body. “And, if I really miss it, I’ll just call in for a cuppa.”

  “Well, you’re always welcome here.”

  Cait loved this. The spontaneity she suddenly felt she possessed. Jude and his outburst earlier today had been the final straw for her, but she didn’t have the luxury of leaving the B&B like Harper did. No, Cait had to return there tonight, and if she wanted to avoid any sort of fallout, she would have to creep past Jude’s level of the house.

  It’s been so long since I crept.

  And it was true. Cait hadn’t had the chance to come home late from a night out since last summer. But she knew the potential coming into this industry, and most of the time, she wouldn’t change it for the world. While Jude was quite content going out with friends to the same place at the same time every week, Cait had always strived for more. Evening walks along the lake, a random boat trip even though she’d grown up around here and knew the lake like the back of her hand. Just…something more than sitting around the B&B, expecting a call from a resident downstairs.

  That was the extent of an “unexpected” night for Cait. Would a guest need something? At 41, she wanted more than that. She wanted to leave the B&B behind at night and live life. Not exist in her beautiful guest house. And that’s all she was doing. Existing.

  “I’m glad we decided not to go to a restaurant,” Harper said, licking the salt and vinegar from her fingers. “And this is the best fish & chips I’ve ever had.”

  “I’m glad I impressed you.” Those words held a little more than they should have. Because while Cait had gone to Harper’s to invite her out for a few hours, she did want to impress her.

  Harper linked her arm through Cait’s, shoving her hand back into her bag of chips. “Seriously, this place is gorgeous at night. I mean, it’s gorgeous in the day too, but night is when it really captures me.”

  “It’s a very captivating place. Why do you think I’ve never left?” Cait relaxed her shoulders, enjoying having Harper on her arm. Even if it didn’t mean to Harper what it did to Cait. You’re out of your mind. You’ve known her for a day!

  “I don’t think I could leave a place like this, even if I wanted to.” Harper sighed, her breath visible in the air. “And the air is so crisp. So fresh. I bet you don’t get sick out here like we do in the built-up areas.”

  “I suppose not. I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about anywhere else. This is my bubble. My happy place.”

  Cait stopped outside a small shop halfway up the hill, blowing out a deep breath as her calves burned. For all the years she’d been here, the main hill up to the B&B still took the wind out of her. “Wait here; I’ll be right back.”

  “Sure.” Harper leant against the slate garden wall of the house next door, crossing her legs at the ankles. “Not going anywhere.”

  Cait watched her for a moment, taken aback by just how comfortable she felt around Harper. And then she caught those devastating eyes, her pulse quickening ever so slightly.

  She rushed into the shop, taking two four packs of beer from the fridge. “Evening, Bert. Business doing okay?”

  “Jam-packed, Cait. Those tourists don’t stop.”

  “No, they don’t.”

  Bert cleared his throat. “Saw you going into Park Lodge earlier. Did you decide to buy?”

  “Oh, no.” Cait handed over a ten-pound note, taking the carrier from Bert. “We have a new neighbour. Harper.”

  “Interesting.”

  “She’s a graphic designer, and she’s staying at the B&B for a while. Had a leak before she moved in.”

  Cait made a mental note to enquire about the leak. Darren hadn’t said much about it, but he must have given Harper an idea of how it happened.

  “Graphic designer. In this town? Ludicrous!”

  “I’m sure she’ll be in at some point,” Cait said, giving Bert a knowing look. “And when she does, please make her feel welcome.”

  Cait threw her hand over her shoulder as she left the shop, stepping onto the street to find Harper scoffing down the last of her fish.

  “Enjoying that?”

  “Absolutely.” Harper eyed the bag. “Buy anything nice?”

  “Fancy a bit more spontaneity?” Cait narrowed her eyes, expecting to be shot down by Harper. She’d already spent a few hours with her, and she probably wanted to get home.

  “Depends. If it’s beer, you can count me in.”

  “Would you look at that! I know you so well already.”

  Harper grinned, pushing off the wall and taking the bag from Cait. “Let me carry that. You’ve already bought dinner.”

  They linked arms once again, taking the last of the incline up the hill.

  “So, where to? You’re not going to drag me to some creepy graveyard, are you? I know I passed one on the way into town yesterday.”

  “Nope, no graveyards. I may know my way around here, but I draw the line at creepy stuff.”

  “Okay, well, we can go back to mine if you wanted to…”

  Under other circumstances Cait would have loved to, but it was far too cold to sit around in a house with no heating or electricity tonight.

  “Actually, I was thinking maybe we could go back to the B&B.” She felt Harper tense beside her, clearly not keen on the idea. “Don’t worry; I’m not asking you to take a room. We can go up to my place.”

  Harper stopped on the edge of the pavement. “Jude doesn’t like me. I don’t think he really wants me hanging around you guys.”

  “Oh, you think I live with him?” Cait barked a laugh. That really would be torture. “No. He has his own level. I have mine. The house is huge; you won’t believe the size of it as you go up to the next level.”

  Harper chewed her lip, scrunching her chip wrapper in her hands. “I mean, some heat would be nice.”

  “Why don’t you grab what you need from your place, and then we’ll go back to mine, drink some beer, and talk about absolutely nothing?”

  “I could get on board with that.” Harper’s eyes sparkled as the streetlight caught them, taking Cait’s breath away for the millionth time tonight.

  Cait cleared her throat. “Besides, you still haven’t told me how the leak came about.”

  Harper held up a hand. “Let’s not go there. I don’t have the mental strength for that this evening.”

  Cait nodded, noting Harper’s discomfort. Talk of the house could be saved for another day, because after this evening, Cait was determined to take time away from work more often. And if she had the chance, it would be in Harper’s company.

  Steady, now. Don’t make a fool of yourself.

  Chapter Five

  Harper made herself comfortable on Cait’s couch, her eyes wandering around the living
room she’d somehow landed herself in this evening. She was supposed to be at home, alone and miserable, but Cait had once again come through for her—something she would always be grateful for.

  They’d snuck past Jude’s level of the house, giggling like schoolgirls as Cait stumbled up the stairs. The more they tried to stay quiet, the noisier they seemed to be. But Cait had assured Harper that Jude wouldn’t have anything to say. After all, this was Cait’s private space, not the B&B.

  “You know, I can put you in that bigger room I mentioned if you want me to.” Cait handed a beer to Harper over the back of the couch, her coat and hat discarded, fluffy socks now in place of her shoes. “You really do need electricity.”

  “No. I’m not getting between you and Jude. I don’t know why he has such an issue with me, but he does, and that’s that.”

  “I don’t know what’s going on with him. He seems really short tempered lately and for the strangest reasons.”

  Harper lifted a shoulder. “Maybe I just have one of those faces.”

  “You have a beautiful face.” Cait didn’t bat an eyelid as she said that, but Harper did. “And he’s just a miserable bastard.”

  “Well, thanks.” Heat crept across Harper’s chest, spreading up her neck. “But I suspect I’m not many people’s cup of tea lately. My fiancée left me, and Jude really doesn’t like me. I must be doing something wrong.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “It may sound that way to you, but I’m obviously doing something. I really thought me and Callie would be together forever.”

  “Do you still love her?” Cait sat opposite Harper, a slight sympathetic smile playing on her mouth. “I know she hurt you, but that love doesn’t just disappear.”

  “I did. But after this morning, the thought of ever seeing her again makes me so angry.”

  “That doesn’t mean you don’t love her anymore.” Cait rested her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands under her chin. “Maybe you just need time.”

  “Time for what?” Harper asked. “I got to the house this morning to discover she’d brought her new girlfriend to my house and shagged her in my bed.”

  Cait winced, her eyes fluttering closed. “I’m so sorry. That must have been awful.”

  “And then I came back here to have Jude pounding on the door.”

  “I thought something had happened when you got back here this afternoon. You seemed a little…off. But then I realised that I don’t know you, so it really wasn’t my business to feel offended that you didn’t stop to chat.”

  “I needed to be alone. She also caused the leak downstairs. Not intentionally, I don’t think, but still.”

  “Harper,” Cait said, getting to her feet, and rounding the table separating them. She dropped down beside Harper. “Look, I know we’ve only known each other for, what, 48 hours? But I want you to know that I’m here if you ever need to talk or vent or if you just need a friend.”

  Harper welled up. Cait was definitely someone she wanted as a friend. “And the same goes for you.”

  “Oh, I’m just in a never-ending routine now.”

  “So, break the routine.” Harper smiled, taking Cait’s hand. “Break it and do what you want to do.”

  “It’s not that simple when you run a B&B. I wish it could be, but it’s a full-time job. Day and night.”

  “You seem like you’ve had fun tonight.”

  “I have. So much. And it may have only been a walk into town for fish and chips and then back here to drink beer with you, but it’s been so long since I could do that.”

  “Don’t just exist, Cait. You’re really great and amazing company, but you deserve a night off. You’ll burn yourself out and come to resent this place otherwise.”

  “I really don’t want to resent it. I love the B&B, but it’s my entire life. Perhaps I should have realised that coming into this.”

  “Everything seems like a good idea at the time.” Harper knew that all too well. She was beginning to wonder if she should have seen the signs with Callie. But then again, there really weren’t any signs. “I could have been living on the next block to you with a woman who was cheating on me. Because I just wanted to see the good side of things.”

  “I’m really sorry she did that to you.”

  “Me too. But now I can move forward, and like you said, this place is great for doing that.”

  Cait looked around the room, the soft glow of the lamp in the corner giving the space a beautiful, cosy, ambience. “It really is.”

  “And I have you, right?”

  “You do have me.” Cait squeezed Harper’s hand. “I’m just a knock on the door away. Or a call, whichever.”

  “I’m going to need someone to show me around this place.”

  “I’m your girl. Anything you need to know, and anywhere you want to explore…just ask.”

  “Well, I can’t really explore alone.” Harper grinned. “So, you’d better break that routine sooner or later. You wouldn’t want the guilt of knowing I’d fallen and broken my leg only to be eaten by some mysterious creature.”

  “That hasn’t happened too often lately. We had a spate of mysterious creature eating deaths in 2017, but it settled down.”

  Harper laughed from deep within her belly. She could get used to this. Someone on her level. Someone who made her smile, her insides warm and swirly. “You’re good company.”

  “Makes a change for me, all of this. I’m usually up here at night talking to the four walls.”

  “I know you said you had plans next weekend, but I heard a rumour that you love the Mediterranean on the lake…”

  “I do. The food is to die for.”

  Harper chanced her luck “Let me take you to dinner on Friday night. I’ll make the reservation; you just have to show up.”

  Cait lowered her eyes, sighing. “I’d love to, but Friday is actually the night I have plans with friends.”

  Damn. That stung. Saturday was a no-go; she had a conference call in the evening with a new client she was working for.

  “Never mind. Maybe some other time. It’ll be good for you to get out with your friends, and I’m sure I have a crap tonne of stuff to do at home.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be daft,” Harper said, brushing off her disappointment. “You have a life here; I don’t. It’s no biggie.”

  “I could book you on with our table for Friday. You can meet my friends.”

  “No, I shouldn’t. It was a silly thing to suggest in the first place. I have far too much to be getting on with. And you can’t hold my hand forever.”

  “I’d love to take you up on the offer another time.” Cait’s eyes smiled; this woman was genuine. No doubt about it. “You just give me a date and time, and I’ll make sure I’m free.”

  Harper decided to play it cool. She may feel a connection with Cait, one she hadn’t quite explored or had the time to think about yet, but Harper was fresh out of a relationship. She wasn’t in any sort of position to woo a woman yet.

  “Sure, yeah.” She relaxed into her seat, sipping her beer. “So, tell me…best place to check out around here.”

  “I guess it depends what you’re looking for. If it’s a potential love life, I really can’t help you. I wouldn’t have a clue where to go.”

  “Right. We really need to find you a lady, Cait. You’re in your prime. I may be hopeless with relationships, but I can be a great wing woman.”

  Cait furrowed her brow. “You’re the one who needs to get back on the horse.”

  “All the horses bolted. I’m happy to be single. But you, I mean…you could really make someone happy.”

  “You don’t know the first thing about me. I could be a complete bitch.”

  Harper’s eyebrows rose. “You really expect me to believe for one second that you could be a bitch? Nope. I’m a very good judge of character, and you’re going to have women lining up for you. I’ll make it happen.”

  What the hell was Harper doing? Willingly helping Cait
look for a significant other. Surely that would only come back to bite her in the arse when she realised that Cait was off the market. Harper may not be ready for a relationship, but that didn’t mean it would always be the case. And when that day did come, Cait would be engaged or moving in with the love of her life.

  Harper wasn’t stupid, she knew she was looking at Cait this evening in ways she shouldn’t be, but did Cait feel even a hint of that? Probably not, so it really didn’t matter if she found her a date or not.

  “I can’t commit to a relationship, but thanks for offering to be my lookout.”

  “You can commit. Because you’re going to break that routine, right?”

  “Mm.” Cait kicked her feet up onto the coffee table, relaxing beside Harper. “According to you, yes.”

  “And you should know…” Harper leaned towards Cait’s ear. She hadn’t expected the subtle perfume Cait wore to have her mind spinning, but it definitely was. “I’m usually always right.”

  Chapter Six

  Cait took the stairs gingerly, fully aware that she was way out of line this morning. Jude had handled breakfast alone while she had a lie-in. The first in many years. As guilty as she felt, Cait really was better for it. She’d never made it a habit to climb into bed late, and that hadn’t happened last night either, but just some time to unwind was definitely what she’d needed. Now, it was back to work.

  Harper stayed over last night, taking Cait’s couch when the idea of sleeping in a cold house didn’t appeal to her having sat in the warmth all night. When Cait woke this morning, Harper had already left. She was sure Jude would have probably bumped into Harper on her way out, and now she could only hope that he hadn’t had words with her. It really wasn’t his business who Cait had over, even if it rarely happened.

  The sound of fingers on a keyboard caught her attention, her guilt coming back tenfold as she peered into the office. Jude sat with his eyes glued to the screen, the scent of fresh coffee from downstairs wafting towards her. “Hey.”