Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
“Ugh, I feel terrible.” Aisling groaned and sat upright on the bed. A glimpse in the mirror opposite showed a small plaster near her hairline. When did that get there?
“Ash? Oh, you’re awake.”
“Mam, what happened?”
She glanced around. Whose jacket was that?
She swung her legs from the bed, grasped it.
She didn’t recognise it. She lifted it and sniffed it.
Closed her eyes. At once an image of tenderness rolled across her heart.
Wait—was this Andy’s? Why would it be here?
She glanced around her bedroom, embarrassment at the state of it making her stomach queasy.
She really hoped nobody had been here. She so should have cleaned up before now.
She rubbed at her head. Realised she still was wearing her workout clothes from before. “Um, why am I in bed?”
“You don’t remember?”
“No. I know I was at the gym before, but I can’t remember what happened since.” She frowned. “Was Andy here?” Oh, she hoped not.
Her mother nodded. “You had a little accident in the gym—”
“What?” She hoped Mam meant the physical kind and not the kind that happened to children. “You mean I fell?”
“That’s right. And he found you and we brought you here.”
“So he’s seen the mess in here?”
“You know there’s something you can do if you don’t want to be embarrassed by your mess.”
“Pay Rebecca to clean it up?” she suggested.
“Or you could do it yourself.”
“Something you’ve tried to get me to do for years but alas, it rarely happens.”
“Which is not to say it can’t.”
True. She sighed. Maybe it was time to adult up and actually take responsibility for the state of her room, and her belongings.
Her mother studied her. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore, and a bit achy. But otherwise okay. Actually, aren’t I supposed to be on the registration desk today?”
“Yes, but Rory is on it now.”
“But I thought she and Aidan were making the most of things before he goes away.”
“I’m fairly sure he’s down there with her.”
“Distracting her, no doubt.” She mock-rolled her eyes. “Imagine engaged people wanting to hang out with each other all the time. What are you going to do?”
“Well, I know what you’re going to do. You need to take it easy for the rest of the day, Ash, love. No more exercise for you.”
“But I’m not tired. That little sleep I had seems to have done the trick.”
“Well, I still want you to take it easy, okay?”
She nodded. Acquiescence meant putting on the TV, then watching some DVDs of her favourite season of McLeod’s Daughters, a TV show filmed in the Australian outback.
But for once she didn’t find the rugged outdoorsmen appealing.
They could keep their muscles and broad shoulders.
She much preferred the lean, wiry strength of a runner, one whose jacket lay within easy reach.
She picked it up and inhaled it. Was she weird to enjoy this scent? She wished she could remember what had happened, and just why exactly it was here.
The action on the small screen continued, a drought leading to a bushfire, neither of which she could even imagine, let alone relate to. A week without rain seemed impossible.
She closed her eyes. But while she couldn’t relate with the events on TV, there was a lot she could relate to with Andy.
God. Family. A talent for wry, dry jokes, as well as dumb ones.
Even the fact that they were both teachers.
Well, she would be one day. Not that she wanted to admit that, in case he thought she’d done it for him.
Which was ridiculous, considering she’d applied before she’d known him.
But she’d hate for him to think she was the kind of woman who needed to do something because she wanted to impress a guy.
“Ash?”
At Rory’s voice she glanced over. “Oh, hi. What are you doing here and not downstairs?”
“Mam wanted me to check in on you. She said you’re not supposed to be left alone for more than thirty minutes in case you have a concussion, or something like that.”
“Really? I don’t need babysitting. I honestly don’t know what all the fuss is about. And I hate that this means you and Aidan aren’t together. When does he go back to Australia?”
Rory sighed. “Saturday.”
“Then go, be with him. I’ll be fine.”
“But Mam said you should be looked after.”
“She knows I’m tough.”
Rory’s smile appeared. “But apparently someone else doesn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
Rory waggled her eyebrows. “Apparently a cute Irishman told her you needed checking on.”
Her chest thudded. “You mean Andy?”
“It’s so interesting that the first person you think of as a cute Irishman is him.” Rory laughed.
She studied the pink fluffy throw, rubbing it between her fingers as she savoured the softness. “I like him,” she admitted.
“I know.”
Aisling glanced up sharply. “Have I been that obvious?”
“Yes. You told me about him, remember?”
Clearly she did not.
“Well, maybe not in so many words, but at Colin’s wedding you mentioned seeing Andrew, and I put two and two together. It wasn’t hard, especially when you insisted on having him join us for lunch that Sunday.”
Aisling winced. “I was way too obvious, wasn’t I?”
“That’s okay. I think he probably appreciated the attention. And being nice to the man is probably better than trying to suppress your feelings or drown them out with the opposite emotions like I did with Aidan.” Rory grimaced. “I’m amazed he persisted with me after all that.”
“Aidan is a good man.”
“That he is.” Rory studied her. “And I think Andy is too.”
She hoped so. It looked like he was. But still…“How can you ever truly know?”
Rory’s face brightened. “Well, we could always do what we did with Aidan. And Kara, if you remember.”
“You mean research?”
Rory nodded. “Research. The internet is a fascinating place, filled with things you never knew you needed to know until you do. Now, move over, let me sit down, too.”
She did, and her sister drew out her phone as she sat next to her.
“Oh! Do you mind if I ask Aidan to come up as well? He’s probably missing me by now.”
“Sure. Is Mam on the front desk?”
“Yes. She’s okay.”
The next half hour was spent looking up whatever the three of them could find out about one Andrew Scott—“just like the actor!”
“Yeah, not quite like the actor,” Rory said. “This one is straight.”
“And this one is an athlete.” Aidan pointed at Rory’s laptop. “Look.”
She read the screen Rory shoved in front of her. Saw that yes, when Andy had said he was a runner he hadn’t been lying. That— “He was going to go to the Olympics?”
“Until an injury put paid to that.” Rory read aloud an article that explained what had happened.
That Andy had snapped a couple of tendons just prior to the Olympic trials a few years ago.
That subsequent surgeries had never really been able to correct the underlying issues, forcing him from competition and into retirement.
“Poor guy.” This explained so much.
“Oh, and there’s this one.” Rory began to read another article that detailed his engagement but Aisling stopped her.
“I don’t want to know more. That feels a little too much like an invasion of privacy.”
Besides, she didn’t want to see what degree of attractiveness was possessed by the woman he’d once loved. She could bet both feet that his ex looked like a model, and had likely never once over-indulged in chocolate.
“Okay, well if you don’t want to see that one, here’s one of his family.” Aidan passed another article and picture.
She laughed. The picture must’ve been taken when he was a boy, and looking very cute, still with those freckles.
“He’s so adorable,” Rory said.
“Who’s adorable?” Aidan raised an eyebrow.
“You’re adorable, obviously.” Rory kissed his cheek. “Oh, I do love that you’re so secure.”
“Are you saying you’d find me more attractive if I had freckles?”
“You’re attractive enough just as you are, oh so-secure fiancé of mine.”
As they started kissing, Aisling coughed loudly. “Don’t mind me. It’s only me here. Sitting here in my room recuperating. Don’t make me feel ill again.”
Rory laughed and pulled away. “Sorry.”
“You’re not that sorry,” Aisling grumble-teased.
“You’re right.” Rory winked. “But I am glad we found out something about your man.”
She coughed again. “He’s not my man.”
“Don’t you want him to be?”
Well, yes. But admitting that in front of her sister was one thing. Admitting it in front of her sister’s fiancé was another.
“Just pretend I’m not here,” Aidan said.
“That’s a little hard.”
“And honestly, Ash, it’s a little hard for anyone to believe you don’t like him. Not when you admitted as much to him before.”
“What?”
Rory laughed. “I overheard Mam and Andy earlier. Apparently you hit your head and started saying all kinds of things.”
Her chest tightened. Oh no. “What did I say?”
“I don’t really know. But from what I overheard, it sounded like you were telling him he’s so handsome, and stuff like that.”
Mortification scorched her cheeks. “Was I on drugs? That sounds like I was high.”
“The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Aidan smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he was flattered.”
She winced, humiliation rolling off her in heated waves.
Nobody wanted to feel like a fool. And from what had been said, she could guess that Rory had probably edited what Aisling had said.
She huddled under her pink blanket. What on earth must Andy think of her?
And what on earth would she say to him when she met him again?
* * *