Page 23 of The Fall I Fell

I take it without hesitation and he pulls me out of the boggy earth. We head for his truck. ‘I’m filthy,’ I say before climbing into the seat, ‘and soaking.’

Jacob shrugs. ‘I had one of the sheep in here last week. Escaped out at your grandad’s farm and I had no other way of taking her back. I’m sure it will survive a five-minute journey with your wet arse.’ I flush, but climb into the seat anyway.

As though he can read my mind, we head for Hope Farm. Neither of us says a word for the duration, either from suspense, or comfort, I can’t quite figure out, but only the sound of the heater pumping out hot air on full blast floats between us, and I don’t bother to hide my smile. A rainbow hangs in the distance, one village over, where the sun is beginning to re-emerge. Jacob notices it too.

Pulling into the driveway of his family home, he is the first out of the truck, before he runs around the other side to help me down too.

‘What on earth happened to you two?’ Sian Thorogood calls from the kitchen door as she ferries us in with a look of shock. ‘I’m having flashbacks to when you two horrors were ten.’ She covers her face with her hands and throws us each a tea towel.

‘Sorry, Sian,’ I say with a cringe, dripping onto her kitchen tiles. ‘We got caught in the rain.’

‘I can see that, duckie.’ She shakes her head. ‘Stay here, I’ll get you some spare clothes.’

We both do as we’re told, Jacob’s leg tapping underneath him as he waits. It isn’t long until his mum returns with a stack of clothes.

‘Now, as I am sadly only blessed with boys—’ she gives the same pained expression that she always gave me when she’d beg to plait my hair before dinners at Hope Farm ‘—you’re going to have to wear a couple of Jacob’s bits, if that’s okay?’ I flush again and look to Jacob for permission. He doesn’t look at me but nods, his neck turning red. It is very warm in this kitchen; the Aga must be on full whack.

Slipping off into the downstairs loo, I peel off my clothes and replace them with the t-shirt and jogging bottoms. They fit almost perfectly, except I have to roll up the legs of the bottoms so they don’t drag on the floor. The smell of Jacob lingers in ever fibre, hay mixed with aftershave into a heady cloud of him, and I have to emerge from the small cubicle before it overpowers me completely.

Jacob waits for me outside, his fingers drumming on his now dry thigh, his eyes searching across my face for any sign of emotion. When he allows his eyes to wander, they scale my body up and down, as though he’s only for the first time seeing his own clothes. I cough before plonking myself down at the dining table as if it is my own.

My phone has connected automatically to their wi-fi. The password hasn’t changed in all of these years, and as silly as it is, there’s something comforting in it.

Ignoring all of the messages finally pinging through from Mum, I go to my emails, refresh the page, and click on the email without wavering for a second.

Congratulations is all I need to read in the first line before the look on my face gives it away, and Jacob is at my side, my head pressed against his torso so tightly I can feel his heart hammering in his chest almost as quickly as my own.

When Sian sets down two mugs of tea on the table in front of us, Jacob releases me with such speed that it wouldn’t be silly to assume that the embrace had sent an electric shock through him. Coughing awkwardly, he looks between me and a spot on the floor, his mind evidently racing over what has just passed between us. Is he thinking about Pen? Would she be annoyed to see us so friendly? So intimate?

Not wishing to fuel his guilt or mine any more, I get to my feet. Thanking Sian for the tea, I try and make my excuses: ‘I should probably head home, Mum will be worried.’

Jacob nods, but doesn’t meet my eye and all of the progress that today had brought in our friendship fizzles out on the kitchen tiles between us. We are back to this awkward inbetween.

Waving one last time, I scurry out of the kitchen, ‘Kitty?’ His voice reaches me as I swing open the door. ‘Congratulations.’ He smiles, genuinely, before turning on his heel and hurrying out of the room.

Chapter 14

Three years ago

AvaMatthews_xo:

welcome to the 21st century…

JacobThorogood7:

I still prefer sending messages via pigeon.

AvaMatthews_xo:

Come on, it’s not that bad Grandad!

AvaMatthews_xo:

Just think about it like leaving notes in the treehouse.

JacobThorogood7:

I just clicked on something on this computer and it flashed up with a shirtless photo of my brother.