Chapter 25 #2
Jack frowned. ‘Let me go and check. There might be some left over from the opening night. Other than that, I’ve not really had the time to do much catering for myself of late.’
‘I remember what it was like when I was trying to get the Oxford Bookship ready to launch,’ I said.
‘If it hadn’t been for Nana Rose forcing me to join her at the care home for lunch every day, I think I’d have ended up pushing through without a break, which probably wouldn’t have helped me be my most efficient. ’
Jack grinned. ‘Yep, I’ve certainly been guilty of that.
I’ve actually been really missing cooking.
I won’t pretend I’m particularly talented at it, but preparing food is always a good opportunity to find some head space.
Picnicking on scraps in the middle of doing work isn’t the same, although at least it’s not as bad as eating cold takeaway at my desk, like I used to do all the time in my corporate life.
Give me two secs, I’ll take a look and see what I can find. ’
He retreated into the cabin and emerged a short while later with a small block of cheddar.
‘Will this do?’ he asked.
‘Hilda’s favourite,’ I said with satisfaction. ‘If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.’
Jack broke off a chunk and held it up to Hilda, who was now lying down, the tips of her front paws hanging over the edge of the roof, while she looked sadly at us with a mournful expression which said, ‘Save yourselves, leave me to my fate.’
Her nose twitched as she smelt the cheese, and she shuffled forward an inch or two, opening her mouth for the treat.
‘That’s it, good girl, if you come down here, you can have this yummy snack,’ coaxed Jack.
‘You might want to take a step back…’ I started to say, but it was too late. Hilda had delicately snaffled the cheese from his grasp and then quickly shuffled out of reach to polish it off.
‘Schoolboy error,’ said Jack with a shamefaced grin. ‘You’d think I’d know better. Do you reckon we should try again, or will the appeal of the cheese have worn off now she’s had a chunk?’
I raised an eyebrow, and he laughed. ‘You’re right, what am I saying? Dog Husbandry 101, cheese will never be boring. Here, you’ll probably have better luck with her.’
He broke off a few more chunks of the cheddar, snaffling one himself, then passing the rest to me.
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ I said, following his example. ‘One for Jack, one for me, but what am I going to do with all this leftover cheese?’ I added in a sing-song voice which I knew would attract Hilda’s attention.
She raised her head and put it on one side, tilting a giant ear in my direction, listening closely. I pretended to be debating my options.
‘Hmm, maybe I should throw it in the bin.’ I took a couple of steps closer to the gunwale, and Hilda sat up. ‘Actually no, that would be a waste, wouldn’t it, Jack? Perhaps I should feed it to the ducks?’
I walked slowly to the other side of the boat, moving the cheese from hand to hand as if I was warming up for throwing it into the water. Hilda let out a whuffle of disapproval.
I stopped just out of her reach. ‘Maybe Hilda would like it. What do you think, girly? Would you like some cheese?’
She stood up and leaned forward, trying to get it from my hand. I took a step backwards and trod on Jack’s foot.
‘Oh gosh, sorry, I didn’t realise you’d moved there.
’ I twisted round to address him, which turned out to be a mistake.
Because Hilda decided it would be the perfect moment to get over her fear of the not very big distance between the roof and the deck and jumped down.
Only in classic Hilda fashion, she overestimated the amount of effort she needed to put into the jump and overshot, colliding squarely with my back, sending me tumbling forward in a domino effect.
Thankfully my fall was broken, although as it was Jack who broke it, he’d probably disagree with that assessment.
‘Ooooffff,’ came his muffled cry from under me. I felt the movement of his chest where it was compressed beneath mine.
‘I’m so sorry, are you okay?’ I forgot that I was still holding the cheese and instinctively reached my hand up next to Jack’s head, trying to get some leverage to push myself back up.
Hilda took the movement as invitation to join in the game on the deck and flumped down on top of me, the front half of her body sprawled across my shoulder blades as she swiped the cheese from my hand and started chomping on it.
I normally liked to think my upper body strength was fairly decent, honed by regular weightlifting, otherwise known as shelving books in the shop and carrying supplies along the towpath.
But doing a press up with a fully grown Irish wolfhound casually hanging off my shoulders was another thing altogether.
‘Hilda, move,’ I tried to say, but it was difficult getting the words out given that I was the human filling to the Jack-Hilda sandwich.
I was also super conscious that every movement I made brought me even more tightly against the firm planes of Jack’s body.
I closed my eyes, not daring to catch his gaze, trapped as we were in a position which would have required an intimacy coordinator on a film set.
This was so not how I’d seen my apology going.
‘May I?’ he asked politely. His words reverberated from his chest to mine.
‘What?’ I asked, my pulse suddenly racing as my fiction-fuelled brain leapt to all kinds of wrong conclusions.
He whistled two cheery notes, the first higher than the second, his breath tickling the left corner of my lips. Hilda thumped her tail. He repeated the whistle, and at last I felt her sit up and remove her paws from my shoulders.
I rolled away from Jack and took a couple of deep breaths, hoping he’d assume that my need to suck in extra oxygen was due to my lungs being compressed by a massive dog. Embarrassed didn’t even come close to how I was feeling right now.
And then I heard Jack laughing. It started as a low rumble, then bubbled up into a full-on roar of infectious humour, which I found myself joining in with, my awkwardness slowly seeping away to be replaced by a tension of a different kind.
‘There’s certainly never a dull moment when you’re around,’ he managed to stutter out eventually. Hilda thumped her tail against the deck as if agreeing with his words.
‘I shall take that as a compliment,’ I responded with as much dignity as I could muster, which wasn’t a lot.
‘It most certainly is,’ he said, his voice suddenly serious.
It would have been very easy to allow myself to get caught up in the moment and continue lying companionably next to him. But then I heard a voice calling my name from the bank.
‘Molls, are you alright? What are you doing?’ demanded Liam.
I sat up straight, automatically trying to smooth my hair down, which probably made me look even more suspicious.
‘Ignore him,’ said Jack softly. ‘You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone.’
‘I know,’ I said under my breath in a defensive tone which unfortunately came out as snappy. ‘I’m just leaving,’ I raised my voice to address Liam, hoping he would carry on his way.
‘You’re very welcome to stay,’ said Jack as he also sat up.
I quickly glanced towards the towpath and realised that Liam was hovering around waiting for me.
I was stuck now. I wasn’t prepared to answer the questions he’d inevitably ask if I started showing him the cold shoulder and stayed on Jack’s boat having just said I was going.
But I knew how it might look to Jack if I walked off accompanied by Liam.
I wanted to explain that by leaving the Jericho Wine Barge I wasn’t making a choice or demonstrating loyalty to one particular party.
But as Jack himself had said, I didn’t have to justify myself to anyone, and right now I wanted minimum towpath drama.
‘I’ve got things to do,’ I said. ‘Thanks for your help and everything else,’ I added sincerely, keeping my words vague, aware Liam was listening intently from the bank.
Jack’s expression was studiously neutral. ‘It’s not a problem. Goodbye,’ he said, a stiff finality to his farewell that made me question where the relaxed, laughing guy of the last few minutes had disappeared to.
Before I could say anything else, he retreated to his cabin and shut the door, leaving Hilda and me alone on the deck.
‘What was all that about?’ asked Liam, his eagerness for gossip evident by the relish in his tone.
‘I was letting him know the date of my next event out of courtesy when Hilda jumped on the roof,’ I improvised quickly.
‘He helped me get her back down again, that’s all, no big deal.
’ I shrugged indifferently as if my insides hadn’t been tingling in a manner which I’d thought would never happen again.
Liam reached out, offering his hand to help me back across to shore.
I cursed the ingrained aversion to causing offence which made me accept his assistance.
A man probably wouldn’t have thought twice about brushing him aside, I reminded myself.
Still, I used the excuse of feigning a sudden need to scratch my neck to break free from him once I reached the shore rather than merely letting go.
Hilda trotted on happily ahead, as if she hadn’t just been at the centre of a drama.
‘I’d better get to work. Monday mornings wait for no woman,’ I said, hoping Liam would take the hint and leave me to it.
He did not.
‘Can I film you opening the shop up?’ he asked, still hovering by my side as we reached the Oxford Bookship. ‘Could be great for boosting custom,’ he wheedled.
‘Not this time,’ I said.
Liam pouted with disappointment. ‘If that’s what you want. I’ll be looking out for you, Molls, don’t you worry.’
I forced a smile, trying to ignore the chill I felt run down my back. Liam’s words had sounded more like a threat than a promise.