Page 76 of Never Gonna Happen

‘Really?’ said Jamie. ‘Anna didn’t say when she came over to unpack.’ His voice sounded high and slightly musical, like he was fudging a response. He did a final lap of the sofa, then headed back into the kitchen, wincing at the pain in his ribs as he landed heavily in the chair.

‘But you’re not surprised?’ said Emily.

‘Louisa’s an expert in this kind of injury; she offered to come but I said it wasn’t necessary. I’m sure she just wants to help.’

‘I’m sure she does,’ said Emily with a thin smile, trying not to sound snippy. ‘How did she even know you were injured?’

‘I messaged her when I was in the hospital,’ he said airily. ‘It seemed like a good idea to get her advice.’

‘You never said.’ Emily thought of all the conversations they’d had about his injury, the treatment, the set-up he’d need at home, the plan for his recovery. Not once had he mentioned Louisa.

Jamie sighed, blowing out his cheeks. ‘I guess I didn’t.’

‘I get that Louisa is an expert,’ said Emily tightly, ‘but I’ve spent over three weeks running back and forth to the hospital, reading every bit of information I could find about your injury, talking to your doctors, liaising with the private hospital in Norwich. If you were getting advice from somewhere else, it would have been nice of you to mention it. Perhaps I could have saved myself some time and effort.’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ said Jamie, anger flaring briefly in his eyes.

‘It was like that for me,’ said Emily. ‘But we’ll have to talk about it later. I need to get back to work, there’s a month’s worth of post to sort through.’

‘Adam’s coming over tonight,’ Jamie said moodily. ‘He’s staying in Wedmore Cottage and wants to play devoted brother for a couple of hours.’

‘Well, tomorrow then,’ said Emily. She leaned over and gave him a light kiss. ‘Let me know if you need anything.’

Jamie gave her a bleak look as she turned to leave, feeling like all the warmth she’d carried home from Mauritius was slowly draining away.

‘Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Sunshine,’ sneered Adam, blocking the path through the walled garden. ‘Enjoy your month-long holiday grift?’

‘What do you want, Adam?’ asked Emily, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She was reasonably sure that he wouldn’t dare touch her, and she was determined not to get upset about his verbal abuse. He’s just piss and wind.

‘I’d like a lot of things,’ said Adam, looking her up and down like he was deciding where to stab her first. ‘But mostly I’d like you to leave this house and never come back. I don’t think you’re good enough for it.’

‘Well, that’s interesting,’ she said, feeling overwhelmed by tiredness and jetlag and absolute fury that she had to put up with this obnoxious wanker on top of everything else. ‘Because your father doesn’t agree, and neither does your brother. So that just leaves your opinion, which I don’t give a flying shit about.’ She stepped up on to the hard soil of the raised planter and walked around him, then strode off down the path without looking back. Her heart remained in her mouth until she was on the main driveway, when she finally breathed out slowly, leaning forward with her hands on her knees.

‘Are you OK?’ called Leon, jogging over from the garage.

‘I’m fine,’ she said with a weak smile, never more glad to see her friend. ‘Just ran into Adam. He doesn’t like me very much.’

Leon’s brow furrowed with concern. ‘Did he do something?’

‘No,’ said Emily quickly. ‘Nothing physical. Just the usual insults, a reminder to know my place.’

‘He is mean bastard,’ said Leon, clenching his fists. ‘We have many words in Croatian for men like him. Does Mr Hunter know?’

‘No, and nor does Jamie. Please don’t say anything, I can handle Adam.’

‘OK,’ said Leon with a gentle smile. ‘I am glad Jamie is OK, and I am glad you are back.’

‘Me too,’ lied Emily, very much wishing she was back on the beach in that first week in Mauritius with Jamie, snorkelling and horse riding and having sex. But in the absence of that, she’d settle for lunch, a cup of tea, and tackling a mountain of post in the quiet solitude of Mr Hunter’s office.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Emily walked the road way round to the pool house at lunchtime the following day, just in case Adam was lurking in the walled garden waiting to strangle her with a rubber hose. There was no sign of him, but the trill of laughter from the kitchen when she knocked and opened the door was more than enough to dull her enthusiasm for hanging out with Jamie for half an hour.

‘Hi,’ said Emily, smiling half-heartedly. Louisa was sitting at the kitchen table, tapping away at an expensive laptop. She was wearing a kitten-soft green cashmere rollneck that was very similar to the one Emily had worn on her first visit to Bowford, but probably fifty times more expensive. Emily clocked the piled-up hair and immaculate make-up, which was artfully done to look entirely natural, but had very likely taken hours. Only another woman would spot this, but it was obvious to Emily that she’d made a huge effort to look like she’d made no effort at all.

‘Hey,’ said Jamie, ‘you remember Louisa? She’s here to help with my physio.’ Obviously Emily already knew that, so this conversation was clearly for Louisa’s benefit, to make her feel less awkward. Jamie hadn’t messaged or called following their conversation yesterday – no apology, no explanation, no nothing. His face begged for mercy, but she realised she was furious with him. Couldn’t Jamie see how upsetting it was to walk into his kitchen and find his ex-girlfriend sitting there like she owned the place?

Emily said nothing, so Jamie turned to Louisa. ‘This is Emily, she’s dad’s assistant.’ Emily waited for and also my girlfriend, just as he’d introduced her to Jessie a month ago, but there was nothing but silence and tumbleweed.