Ella frowned. 'When was this?'
Mia grinned and sat down. 'This evening. I popped round while you and Gill were in the shower. Together, if I'm not mistaken.' Mia raised her brows and gave Ella a pretend look of disapproval.
Ella blushed and laughed. 'Well tonight is officially our third date. Even though we spent last night in, with you, we still counted it as a date.' She winked. 'You didn't mention visiting Hettie.'
'Because both of you would've lectured me, so I thought I'd wait till now. Anyway, she says she doesn't want everyone staring at her as she walks down the aisle and it's just as much Hector and Prince Gustav's day as hers and Fred's, so Prince Gustav and I are going several paces ahead, followed by her and the invisible Hector then you and Mum. I didn't want to at first, because it was supposed to be my wedding day and walking down the aisle like that might be too close to the day I had planned, but I realised it's important to her and besides, I'm over Garrick, so it would've been churlish to say no.'
'I wasn't going to tell you this but he almost got in his van and drove down here when I told him about the break-in. He was going crazy. I managed to calm him down and get it through to him that turning up back here wouldn't be his wisest move. The last thing any of us wants is for you two to decide you've missed each other and fall back into one another's arms. Not that you would, of course, now that you've realised you're in love with Jet. Still not wise to tempt Fate though, in my opinion.'
Mia was astonished. 'Was he really worried? So he believes it then?'
'Of course he believes it. He knows you wouldn't make it up. And he saw the warnings, remember? He was furious the police aren't taking it seriously and said that on top of the toy frog, dead flowers and the card, they should be giving you the benefit of the doubt. He's glad Gill's here though. I didn't mention anything about Jet. I'm not as convinced Garrick's over you, as much as you're over him. That's not a dig at you. That's just a fact.'
Mia linked her arm through Ella's. 'I know. That's why I still can't speak to him yet. It'll stir things up for both of us and we need more time and space until either of us is ready for that.'
Ella smiled as she stretched her back and neck and scanned the pub. 'Where's Gill with those drinks? Oh. Finally. And he's talking to Jet. Look.'
He was. He and Jet were ambling towards the table, deep in conversation. A serious conversation judging by the expressions on their faces.
'Hi Jet,' Mia said, when they arrived.
He cast a quick glance over her. It was like being kissed by moonlight.
'Hi. How are you?'
She grinned at him. 'Still alive. No thanks to you.'
He frowned and stared her in the eye.
Ella gave a little cough, got to her feet and grabbed Gill with one hand and the drink he'd placed on the table for her, with the other. 'Time to mingle,' she said, dragging Gill away, his pint of beer slopping over the rim of his glass as she did so.
'Was that sarcasm?' Jet asked, the furrow in his brows growing deeper by the second.
'Merely an observation. For someone who was so worried about me on Thursday – before you thought I'd imagined the whole thing of course – you've hardly been concerned for my welfare since, have you?'
'I've been concerned, believe me. But you were so cross about what the police said and then flatly refused to come home with me, or to let me stay, accusing me of not believing you either, that frankly, I didn't think I'd be that welcome. Besides, Lori, Gill and Ella have all been at your side virtually every minute, not to mention Hettie and Fred. I think you've been in safe hands, and so do you, so why are you still spoiling for a fight with me? If I'd thought you were in danger, you would've needed a crow bar to prise me from your side.'
'So you do think I imagined it?'
'No. But there was no sign of a break-in, so it does seem odd. I don't think whoever it was, will try anything again so soon after. The police may be sceptical at the moment, but added to the things left on your doorstep and the business with my car, if something else happened now, the police would intensify their investigations. What I'm trying to figure out is why I was targeted. I don't benefit from Mattie's will and if that's what the threats on you are about – and I can't see what else they could be – then was someone sending me a warning to stay clear?' He smirked. 'As if that would work.'
'Well, it sort of has. You've haven't been near since Thursday.'
'I told you, I didn't think I'd be welcome. I thought you needed time. But just because you haven't seen me, it doesn't mean I haven't been near.' He grinned. 'You see. I've even got on board with the whole Mattie being a spy, thing. I've been keeping an eye on you, I can assure you. And now you'll probably shout at me for that.'
Mia grinned up at him. 'Are you going to sit down? I'm getting a crick in my neck looking up at you.'
He sat, but he kept his distance and neither of them spoke for several seconds. Mia sipped the wine Gill had bought her and Jet sipped his pint. When they finally did speak, they both did so at the same time.
Jet grinned. 'You first.'
'No, no. You go ahead.'
'I was just going to say how great it is to see Hettie so happy. I know she's a gossip and doesn't understand the concept of privacy but her heart's in the right place and Fred seems like a really good guy.'
'Yes. And both Hector and Prince Gustav have given their blessings, so Hettie's over the moon. Although what she would've done if either of them had been against the match is beyond me.'
A huge grin spread across Jet's face. 'You don't believe they actually do talk to her, do you?'
She grinned back. 'I believe she believes it, and that's good enough for me. She also believes in Destiny. All this was meant to be. Mattie leaving me the cottage, Mum coming to stay and starting the book club, which is where Hettie met Fred.'
'Do you believe in Destiny?'
She tipped her head to one side. 'Yes. I also now believe in fortune-tellers. Because so far that fortune-teller at the Fête has been virtually spot on.'
'Oh? I know she was right about Tiff and the engagement. What else has she been right about?'
Mia shrugged. 'Everything. About Ella meeting Gill. About Mum and Franklin. About Justin. And definitely about Garrick and the baby.' She took a quick breath. 'Oh, and several bits about me. But not all of it has come true yet.'
'Yet? So what has and what hasn't?'
'Um. The bits that have are, me overcoming a fear. She saw water. And I've overcome my fear of that. Someone leaving and something not meant to be. That's Garrick, obviously. Autumn bringing many changes. It has. Mum and Franklin, Garrick leaving. Gill arriving. Ella and Gill. Hettie getting engaged, etc. Um. About love not being where I was looking for it. That's Garrick again. I thought at first it might be … someone else, but I'm pretty sure it's him. She said I had to choose Love wisely and that I'd have happiness and joy behind my wildest dreams. Oh and a love that's black and white. That's not Garrick, that's Tom, of course. And I also think Tom's the one …' she leant forward and was about to continue in a whisper but she didn't get a chance.
'Tom? You're in love with Tom? Since when?' He glared at her and got to his feet. 'Was what you said at the beach a lie? Just a game to get back at me for rejecting you?'
'What? No. I'm not in love with Tom. I'll admit I thought I could be after that night of the fireworks when he came back to the cottage with me.'
'Tom? You spent that night with Tom. You never mentioned that. You asked me and I said no so you slept with him instead? So all that stuff on the beach definitely was a lie. Jesus, Mia. First Bear, then Garrick then me and now Tom. Exactly how many men have you got to fall in love with you in five months? And you have the nerve to criticise me.' He thumped his glass on the table and stormed off.
What the hell had just happened?
Mia watched Jet shove his way through the crowded bar, going over in her head how he could've possibly thought she'd said she was in love with Tom. And then it hit her. He'd on
ly heard her say Tom was the one. He hadn't let her finish and say the one she thought she couldn't trust. And when she'd mentioned him coming back to the cottage, Jet had put two and two together and made sex. He'd thought she was so lonely and sad that she'd have sex with anyone that night. He'd said that on the beach. How dare he?
She banged her glass down on the table, got up and went after him, edging her way in the same direction he had gone and out of the door into the lane.
'Jet!' He didn't stop. The lane outside was silent save for the sounds coming from the pub. 'Jet. Stop. Jet! You're behaving like a child. Stop and listen to me.' To her surprise, he did.
She hurried to him and looked up into his face.
'What's on earth's got into you? I'm not in love with Tom and never have been. And I didn't sleep with him that night. Or any other night before you ask. Not that it should matter if I did. You've slept with half the county, so I heard.'
'But I've never told anyone I loved them. Ever. I never led any of them on and made them believe there was even the slightest bit of hope that we might be able to have some sort of future together.'
'And you think I have?'
'Let me see. Bear was crazy about you after your first date. You were engaged to Garrick and had a wedding date set. I don't know what's gone on with you and Tom, but clearly something has if you thought he might be The One, and as for me. Well, we both know what you've been trying to do with me, don't we?'
'Do we? Because I think you and I have very different ideas of what I've been trying to do with you. And if you'd let me finish my sentence in the pub before acting like a crazy person, you would've realised that nothing has been going on with Tom and me. And I have never seriously considered a future with Tom. And, not that it matters, but I didn't have sex with Bear either. In the last five months, the only man I've had sex with or said to their face that I was in love with, is Garrick. And if you're the sort of man who has double standards, then I've been wrong about you. If you think it's okay for a man to sleep with lots of women in his lifetime, but not for a woman to sleep with more than one man in hers, then you're a pillock from the dark ages. And not merely a pillock, but a prize pillock with gold knobs on.'
He raised his brows and the tiniest twitch tugged at his mouth. 'I'm not a pillock, of any sort. I don't care how many men you've slept with, but I do care if you sleep with men, string them along with looks and words and promises and then move on to the next one. That's fine if you tell them at the start, that's your intention. It's not fine if you lead them to believe you're the kind of girl who is looking for the love of her life. The kind of girl who wants a long-term relationship. The kind of girl a man can trust. If all you want is sex, then be honest and say so.'
She burst out laughing.
'You find that funny?' He glared at her.
'No. Well, yes.' She reached for his hand as he turned away. 'Don't you dare walk away from me again, Jet Cross. Not until I say this anyway.'
He glanced at her hand on his and turned back to face her.
She took a deep breath. 'First let me say what I was going to about Tom. And don't interrupt. I was going to say that I think Tom might be the one the fortune-teller said I think I can trust, but can't. She also said someone's feelings may not be genuine. I'm not sure who that is but it may be Tom. Or it may be you.'
'Me?'
'Yes, you. One minute you look at me as if I'm some sort of goddess, the next you're walking away and I don't see or hear from you for days. I have no idea quite where I stand with you. But we'll get to that. The reason I burst out laughing was because you said that if all I wanted was sex, I should be honest and say so. I asked you for sex. You said no and walked away. You've got to see why that was funny.'
He frowned. 'Not really. I walked away because I thought it would've been a mistake not to. Because I thought you wouldn't be able to handle a one-night stand. And that was all I could offer. Okay, maybe not just one night, but nothing long-term.'
'So you keep saying. But I think you're wrong. I think you hated the way your dad treated you and your mum and you've let it affect your judgment. Your opinion of yourself.'
'Mia. Stop right there.'
'No, Jet. This needs to be said and I'm going to say it. Everyone tells you you're like your dad. And you believe it. Women are attracted to you but you've only seen one way to treat them, so that's the way you do. You know it's not right, but you do it anyway. You're a man. You can't take after your mum and be loving and kind and gentle and giving because look what happened to her? Your dad betrayed her. Used her. Tossed her aside. So you decided you'll be like him. You'll be the one who walks away, not the one who gets walked on.'
'Mia! I don't want to hear this.'
'Well, you're going to. So shut up and listen.'
He blinked, open-mouthed, as she continued.
'Deep down, I don't think you're like your dad at all. I think deep down you're like your mum. And that when you fall in love, you'll fall deeply and forever. And I think it'll be your mum you take after, not your dad. You'll do everything in your power to love and nurture and respect your wife, and your children, if you have them. And I think you'll be passionate and caring, kind and giving. And whoever that woman is, she'll be the luckiest woman in the world. And I may be wrong, Jet. But I think that woman could be me.'
There was sadness in his eyes, but there was something else. Something she'd seen there twice before. 'Not even you can change me, Mia.'
'No, I can't. The only person who can change you, is you. No one could change me. I changed myself. I was terrified of water because it nearly drowned me. Now I love being in the sea. I had convinced myself I couldn't go in because if I did, I'd drown. But when I saw that little girl, I forgot my fear and in I ran. And look at me now. I go swimming every day – unless it's really rough. I'm not a complete idiot. It may be harder for you, but I believe you like the idea of a relationship. And I believe you want a relationship with me. You're just terrified to try it. You say you only want to have fun. But have you had any fun since I've been here? And don't brush this off with some sarcastic remark about me not doing myself any favours with that comment. I meant, you haven't been with a woman since I arrived. Not one. And yet I've seen women look at you. I've seen you look away. Anna, for example. And I've seen the way you look at me sometimes. The way you looked at me the other day on the beach.'
'I want you. I admit that. I've never denied it. And sometimes I look at you and I can't breathe. Sometimes I want you so much it hurts. But I know myself, Mia. Maybe once I get you into bed, the thrill of the chase will be over and I won't want you anymore.'
'Perhaps. But I'm willing to take that chance.'
'Why? Do you honestly think you're the one woman on this planet who can make me feel what no other woman I've met before has ever been able to? The one woman who can make me fall in love? Deeply and irrevocably in love. So in love that I'll be faithful for the rest of my life? In spite of my genes.'
She shrugged. 'I think perhaps I am. But what is more important is that I think that's what you think. And that's why you're so terrified to go to bed with me. Because the idea of being that much in love scares the living daylights out of you. And I think that's why you blow hot and cold. You make yourself stay away from me. You tell yourself you don't care. You convince yourself I don't mean that much to you. But I think I do, Jet. I really think I do.'
His breathing had increased, his expression flashed from glad to sad to bad and back again. She had never seen him look so unsure, so torn, so cross.
He took a deep breath and pulled his hand from hers. 'And I've told you before, Mia. You think too much.'
And once again, he turned and walked away and once again, she watched him go.
Someone needed to hit the man over the head with a very heavy object because clearly there was no other way to get through his thick skull.
Chapter Fifteen
Mia was feeling miserable. Having the hangover from hell wasn't
helping and neither was the weather. So much for the forecasters predicting the Indian Summer would go on until mid- October. The heavens opened shortly after dawn on Sunday morning and it bucketed with rain all day.
Of course, the reason for her sombre mood was Jet. Had she been completely wrong about him? She had been so certain he was falling in love with her but that he simply wouldn't admit it. Not to himself, and certainly not to her. But the look he had given her when he walked away last night, made her wonder if, in fact, he was more like his dad than she realised. Not that she knew what his dad was like, having never met him. And perhaps that was the problem. She didn't really know Jet either. She just thought she did. She had convinced herself she did.
And her dreams on Saturday night hadn't helped. She'd dreamt she was in the steeple of St Michael and All Angels and the stairs were going on forever. She couldn't reach the top. She couldn't get out. A bell was tolling – just like the fortune-teller had said it would – and it was a mellifluous sound at first, turning to a doom-like warning bell the more she ran. And suddenly, she was falling and falling and calling for Jet. But he was nowhere to be seen. And when she woke up, she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
'You look like death,' Ella said at breakfast.
'I feel even worse,' Mia replied. 'I'm not setting foot outside today. I'm going to the attic and I'm not coming out till bedtime.'
'What happened with Jet? You wouldn't talk about it last night. Ready to today?'
'Nope. I don't want to talk about Jet today, or for the foreseeable future, in fact. I thought Mattie had secrets and liked to keep things hidden but Jet beats her hands down. That man has hidden his true feelings so deep inside he may never find them again.'
'He walked away again, didn't he?'
'Yep. It seems to be his thing.'
She made herself coffee, grabbed a banana from the bowl and a bottle of water from the fridge, and padded upstairs to the attic, only returning to the kitchen at seven that evening when Gill said he had made dinner and insisted she come down and eat.
The Cottage on Lily Pond Lane-Part Four: Trick or treat Page 9
