It took five knocks at the front door and a handful of stones at Dylan’s bedroom window to finally rouse him.
‘What the hell?’ Dylan stood at the front door in his boxer shorts, hair sticking up at odd angles and his eyes gummed with sleep. ‘It’s still the middle of the night.’
‘Don’t be such an arse,’ Jasmine said as she pushed past him. ‘And get the kettle on.’
Dylan closed the door and padded after her, yawning and scratching his belly. ‘I don’t know how Rich puts up with you. Tyrannical, that’s what you are. Genghis Khan would have quivered in his furry boots at one look from you.’
‘It’s a beautiful day and you should be up,’ Jasmine admonished. ‘Life’s passing you by as you lie rotting in that pit.’
‘Jeez…’ Dylan went to the sink and filled the kettle. ‘Something’s rattled you this morning. Have you and Rich had a row?’
Jasmine thought about their parting words that morning. Perhaps her current agitation did have something to do with that, and not just what she had witnessed between Millie and Rowena. The arguments at home had been more frequent; the loaded comments, skirmishes at the sink, disapproving looks and bitten-back insults. Something was off-kilter in their marriage these days, and Jasmine wished she could get a handle on what it was, but it was like smoke, and as fast as her hand closed around the answer, it was gone again. The stubborn part of her brain refused to acknowledge it and she could do nothing but push the thoughts aside and hope things would work themselves out.
‘Millie’s friend…’ Jasmine uttered the word with sarcastic emphasis as she took a seat at Dylan’s dining table. ‘You didn’t like her?’
‘Dislike is maybe a bit strong.’
‘I know. But I’ve just been over and she’s there now. I have to say that I completely agree now I’ve met her. And Millie doesn’t seem to be very comfortable with her around.’
‘Yeah… What’s even weirder is that she came over here last night.’
‘Rowena?’ Jasmine asked, leaning forward.
Dylan nodded. ‘Just came over, stood at the door asking me loads of questions, and then handed me that…’ He angled his head at a bottle of wine sitting on the kitchen worktop.
‘Why would she do that?’
‘I don’t know – to be friendly? Some people are like that. Perhaps she’s been enchanted by the wonder that is Honeybourne and wants to relocate.’
Jasmine’s gaze was drawn to the bottle again. ‘I don’t think you should drink it.’
‘Why on earth not? You sound mental.’
‘I know…’ Jasmine replied, her tone defensive. ‘I can’t help it.’
‘I nearly downed it last night, actually. I was going to ask her in, just to be friendly, you understand, but then…’
‘What?’ Jasmine prompted.
‘I don’t know. Millie was at the window of her place and I just felt like… like I shouldn’t. I can’t explain it.’
‘Aha! So you do think there’s something up with Rowena!’
‘I thought it might look like I was into her,’ Dylan said. He suddenly looked deadly serious. ‘I mean, Rowena is attractive and I didn’t want Millie to think I fancied her… or that anything was going to happen between us…’
‘You really do like Millie, don’t you?’ Jasmine’s voice was softer now. She gazed at her brother and her heart went out to him. She could nag him to keep his house and finances in order, she could do his washing when he was too lazy, she could clean his cupboards out when the bacteria reached plague proportions, she could cook him the odd meal… but there were some things that were entirely beyond her power to do anything about. More than ever, she wanted him to find the right woman to finally settle down with. Since their parents’ death he had been rudderless, anchorless and cast adrift on life’s unpredictable seas. She had been lucky to find Rich but Dylan… He had gone so hopelessly off course that he couldn’t stay still long enough to get close to forming those sorts of ties with a woman.
Without reply, he pushed himself from his chair and reached into the cupboard for two mugs.
‘Dylan? Sit down.’
He turned to her. ‘It doesn’t matter now, anyway. She told me that there was no future in a relationship. I don’t know why I was bothered about what she thought. In fact, I probably ought to shag Rowena.’
‘You’re too good for that,’ Jasmine said. ‘And deep down, you know that version of Dylan Smith is not who you are. Maybe if you let the real you come to the surface occasionally your princess might be able to find you.’
‘The real me? You mean that monumental loser who can’t even hold down a job?’
‘You choose not to hold down a job. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. If you know your faults, why do you continually play to them?’
‘I don’t even know the answer to that myself. I wish I did. It’s like I’m programmed for self-destruct or something and there’s nothing I can do about it. I had thought… Millie, working on the bakery… It was something to focus on…’ He rubbed a hand through his hair and glanced at the worktop. ‘Maybe I’ll open that wine now. Fancy a drink?’
Jasmine got up and put the bottle on the floor by the back door. ‘Don’t you dare! When you clean up – next millennium or whenever it is – you have to throw this wine out. And if you want Millie then you’ll need to work a bit harder, quit this defeatist attitude.’
‘She doesn’t want me.’
‘She does. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. Something is holding her back and I’ll bet that something is Rowena. You said yourself that Millie suddenly went cold when she arrived.’
‘Yeah, but—’
‘No buts.’
Dylan was silent for a moment as he appraised his sister with a thoughtful expression. ‘You’ve changed your tune,’ he said finally. ‘I thought you were dead against me and Millie. If I recall correctly, you more or less threatened to disown me if I so much as breathed in her direction.’
‘That was before I realised that you were actually serious about her.’
He gave a lopsided smile. ‘So, now that she doesn’t want me I finally get your blessing? A bit ironic, that.’
‘More than a bit,’ Jasmine agreed with a rueful smile of her own. ‘Isn’t it funny how life can turn on a sixpence?’
‘So it is…’ Dylan replied. He stretched and yawned again. ‘Now, I do believe you were making me a cup of tea.’
Rowena had taken some getting rid of but had finally gone, leaving Millie a nervous, emotional wreck. That was a couple of hours ago. Millie had no idea where she was heading next, and the idea terrified her. She had watched her head across to Dylan’s the previous evening, exchange words and hand him a bottle (relieved beyond measure that he hadn’t invited her in), but there wasn’t a lot she could do about that, despite the urge to race across screaming for him not to get involved. She wasn’t going to give credence to Rowena’s lies by presenting herself as a dangerous loon. The best she could hope for was that Rowena would head back to her own accommodation, if only for a short while, so that Millie could get a brief respite from the emotional bombardment.
Rowena was sneaky and she was smart. Even when they had been friends, Millie had been a little afraid of her. There was no end of mischief she could cause should she choose to and Millie knew she hadn’t even started yet. It was becoming increasingly and depressingly obvious that she couldn’t stay in Honeybourne. But in order to leave, she had to at least try to salvage something from the financial mess she had landed herself in. The bakery was in no fit state to sell on as it was. Rowena would be well aware of Millie’s options, and would go out of her way to make things as difficult as possible, but it was up to Millie to try and do what she could before the axe fell.
All these thoughts ran through her mind as she hauled the ingredients for a batch of beef and ale pies to the Dog and Hare for the day’s supper trade. The last thing she wanted was to be locked up in a kitchen with Colleen, but it was jus
t another torture she would have to bear if she wasn’t going to go under completely. Rowena was trying to ruin her life, and it seemed as though the world was conspiring to help her, and maybe Millie even deserved it… but that didn’t mean she had to accept it just yet.
Millie knocked at the back door of the pub. A few seconds later a beaming Colleen greeted her and waved her inside.
‘Oh, Millie, I’m so happy to see you!’
‘Really?’ Millie replied, slightly bemused.
‘Yes, yes! Doug and I…’ Colleen hesitated, blushing slightly. ‘Well, let’s just say that, whatever you gave to me, it worked.’ She lowered her voice and continued in a breathy giggle. ‘He couldn’t keep his hands off me last night.’
‘He couldn’t?’
Colleen grabbed Millie’s bag and dumped it on the table. Pulling her arm, she led her into the bar area. ‘This calls for a celebratory drink.’
‘It’s a bit early for me…’ Millie began, but Colleen waved away her excuse.
‘You have to join me. It’s all down to you. Ruth was right, you are remarkable!’
‘I’m really not.’ Millie’s mind was racing. She had given Colleen what amounted to nothing more than a herbal tonic. Whatever had changed between her and Doug was down to them, not her. She had to admit to being a little confused. ‘I’m amazed myself how quickly and how emphatically it seems to have taken effect.’
‘Oh, don’t be so modest.’
‘I’m not. I do believe that you and Doug have worked this out for yourselves, which is wonderful and I’m really happy for you both.’
Colleen tapped the side of her nose. ‘I see. You don’t want people to know what you can do. Your friend said as much.’
Millie stared at her, the blood draining from her face. ‘My friend?’
‘She left not long before you arrived. She said she’d be seeing you later and didn’t want to bother you while you were working.’
‘What did she say her name was?’
‘I don’t actually recall… She was tall, lovely hair, dark skinned…’
Rowena. Millie should have known that she wouldn’t be able to resist raking up some more trouble. But how was she getting people to tell her so much about Millie’s new life in Honeybourne? Was she systematically going through every villager until she had quizzed them all?
‘She came here today?’ Millie asked in a dazed voice.
‘Early doors. I was outside on the front watering the hanging baskets when we struck up a conversation. I noticed straightaway that her accent is like yours. When I mentioned it she said she was from your old town and was visiting you.’
‘What else did she say?’
‘That she knew you very well, practically sisters she said. Naturally I asked her in for a cup of coffee. She could tell that something good had happened to me, said it was in my aura.’ Colleen grinned and Millie suppressed a groan of dismay. ‘So I told her that it had. Doug said a quick hello before he went off to the cash and carry and she could tell by his face that something good had happened to him too.’
‘What did you tell her?’
‘You mean, the problems between me and Doug?’ Colleen looked a little offended for a moment. But then her smile returned. ‘I wouldn’t share that sort of thing with a stranger.’
Millie mused on the fact that Colleen had been happy to share her marital troubles with her and she was little more than a stranger herself, but thought better of pointing this out. What worried her more and more were Rowena’s plans, and how she seemed to be one step ahead of Millie all the time.
Colleen carried on: ‘I said that you were a remarkable person and that you had made a real impact on the lives of people here and that everyone had really taken to you… I think she was very pleased for you. She said that she was sure Dylan Smith had a thing for you and I said that he almost certainly had and that it was about time he settled with a nice girl and I hoped it would be you because he seems very keen on you – if you don’t mind me saying – and that you get on very well with his sister already. And she said that she hoped you would get everything you deserved.’
Millie felt herself go stone cold, even in the heat of the sun-warmed pub. She was certain that Rowena would see to that. The trouble was, Rowena had a very different idea of what Millie deserved than everyone else did.
14
Millie had made up her mind. She had to go and see Dylan, warn him somehow. She had no idea what Rowena was planning and even less idea what Dylan’s reaction would be to such a conversation, but she would never forgive herself if he came to harm and she had done nothing to prevent it. All she knew was that Rowena had issued a warning. She had known that Millie would be calling at the Dog and Hare to make pies – which was why she had deliberately got there early to catch Colleen before Millie arrived. Rowena was one step ahead – no, five steps ahead – all the time. And playing this game was her twisted way of telling Millie that it was only a matter of time before she ripped the heart out of her.
Without arousing suspicion and causing a lot of ill feeling into the bargain, there had been no way Millie could leave Colleen in the lurch, so she’d had to make the evening’s batch of pies before she could get away. Now she was marching towards home, frantic about what the lost hours might mean for her mission. Had Rowena already beaten her to it?
As she turned the corner her gaze settled on the gate of Dylan’s garden, and then travelled up the path. All seemed to be quiet. She started making a beeline for the tiny cottage.
‘Yoohoo! Millie!’
Millie groaned, and turned round, forcing a smile on her face. ‘Hello, Ruth, how are you?’
‘Slow down!’ Ruth panted as she waddled over the road, trying to match Millie’s leggy strides. ‘You’ll give me a heart attack.’
‘Sorry…’ Millie glanced back at the cottage and then at Ruth again, biting her lip. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘It’s more what I can do for you. I’ve got some help for you. Diana at the WI knows a carpenter in the next village. Actually I think she knows him a little too well… must be all that HRT… and she was never the same after Derek left her… Anyway, she says that Russ… that’s his name… can do you a very good deal for any woodwork…’
Millie listened to her ramble on, feeling more desperate with every passing second.
‘Ruth,’ she interrupted when she could stand no more, ‘maybe we can have a cup of tea later and you can tell me all about this then. I’m sort of in a hurry now…’
Ruth glanced across at Dylan’s cottage and then gave Millie a cheeky wink. ‘Oh yes. I’m not surprised you’re in a rush to see that bit of rumpy pumpy.’
On any other occasion, Millie might have laughed at Ruth’s choice of phrase. But she simply nodded. ‘Just about the renovations.’
‘Of course…’ Ruth said in a very deliberate voice. ‘The renovations…’ But then she looked back at the cottage again and smiled and waved at someone. Millie turned to see who it was and froze.
Rowena gave a mocking wave to Millie before heading up Dylan’s path.
‘Isn’t that your friend?’ Ruth asked.
Millie nodded vaguely as she watched Dylan answer the door. He glanced up at her with a puzzled expression, before Rowena spoke to him. Millie wished desperately that she could hear what they were saying, and that she could get rid of Ruth and race over there to put a stop to whatever Rowena was planning. But it all seemed such a mess now and she didn’t know what to do next without looking like a loon or a psycho to Dylan, which wouldn’t do much for her cause at all. Ruth, prize town gossip that she was, would take great delight in spreading the rumour of any strange behaviour too.
‘Looks like she’s a bit sweet on Dylan Smith too. Ooh, he does like the ladies, that one,’ Ruth cooed.
Millie watched as Rowena sidled up to Dylan and whispered something to him; a moment later he stepped aside to let her in and the door shut behind them. She hoped it wasn’t what it looked like and she wish
ed she didn’t feel quite so wretched about it. A woman who was the ultimate seductress and a man with a reputation as a major player – as far as Millie could see, there was only one way that was going to end. But the thought of Dylan’s betrayal wasn’t the thing that cut the most; it was that Rowena was using him as a puppet to exact her revenge on the woman she believed had killed her brother that really plunged the knife into Millie’s heart.
‘Didn’t you want to go over and see him?’ Ruth asked as Millie turned to the bakery.
‘Not now,’ Millie said in a dull voice. ‘It can wait.’
‘I’m sick of your moods!’ Jasmine yelled.
‘And I’m sick of your bloody hormones!’ Rich snarled back.
‘Don’t you dare bring hormones into this!’
‘You seem to think that having a bad day is exclusively your territory. I can have bad days too, you know.’
‘Bad days are all you’ve had since you landed that stupid contract. If I’d known what it would do to you I would have nailed the front door shut so you couldn’t go to the meeting!’
‘Maybe if my wife was a bit more supportive instead of running around fussing about every waif and stray that happens into our village I wouldn’t have quite so many bad days. It’s nothing to do with my contract!’
‘You twat, Richard Green!’
‘You’re a bitch, Jasmine Green, so we’re well suited.’
An anxious little face appeared at the kitchen door. ‘Reuben says he can’t sleep,’ Rebecca whispered as they turned to her.
‘I’ll be there shortly,’ Jasmine said, trying to level her voice. ‘Tell him to try and settle and I’ll come to tuck you all in when I can.’
‘That’s if she isn’t out doing her agony aunt bit to complete strangers,’ Rich cut in.
‘Millie is not a complete stranger!’ Jasmine fired back as Rebecca raced back down the hallway to the stairs. ‘I don’t understand why you have such a problem with her.’
‘Because she’s all you seem to talk about since she arrived.’
The Little Village Bakery: A feel good romantic comedy with plenty of cake (Honeybourne Book 1) Page 16
