Chapter 14
WE’RE HAVING LUNCH a thirty-minute drive up the coast at a restaurant on a pier with gorgeous views over the water.
We’ve all opted for fish and chips. Amelia has complained about the smell of the fish about a hundred times and, after happily munching on a bowl of chips smothered in tomato sauce, is now sitting out on the pier watching people cast rods into the water.
She dragged Adam with her, pestering him with questions about everything from his first pet (a guinea pig called Walter) to his favourite movie (The Sting).
‘Has Adam decided where exactly the book will be set?’ Gabi asks. A loud scrape follows as her knife slices through her cod. ‘I was shocked when Mum said it was set in England. New York was so deeply entrenched in The Sleeping Bones. It’s a huge departure to set the sequel in another country.’
His book is set here? Well, that explains why he accepted Mum’s invitation.
‘If it was purely in London it could make sense, but a beach setting seems odd,’ Gabi continues. ‘Mum says he’s struggling with it so maybe if he ditches the beach and focuses on London, he’ll get over his writer’s block.’ She scoops up a piece of fish and looks at me, waiting.
‘He knows what he’s doing,’ I say.
‘How much has he told you about it? Spill. We won’t tell anyone.’
Squirming under Gabi’s intense stare, I flail for an answer. ‘I don’t want to ruin it for you.’
She frowns, the cod still on her fork as she points it at me. ‘You don’t know anything.’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Pfft.’ The fish drops to her plate, landing in a mound of mushy peas.
‘You’re a terrible liar, Sabrina. He hasn’t told you a thing about the sequel.
’ She retrieves the lost cod and pops it into her mouth, chewing slowly as she watches me.
I can see the lawyer wheels turning in her mind.
She’s digging through my responses, searching for the truth.
She was like this even when we were teenagers and I swore that I didn’t borrow her favourite pair of jeans.
She bombarded me with questions, sifting through my answers, coming back with more questions until I folded and admitted to not only wearing them, but also owning up to dousing myself in the expensive bottle of perfume she’d saved up to buy.
‘It’s odd that he hasn’t shared anything with his girlfriend. Isn’t that the one person a writer would talk to about this stuff?’
‘Gabi,’ Reese says, a warning ringing in her tone.
‘What?’ Gabi sits back, her smile anything but innocent. ‘Couples share things.’
‘Gabi,’ Reese says again.
‘It’s just very interesting, the timing of all this. You’ve been single for years and it’s only when the clock is ticking on your contract clause that you announce you’re in a relationship.’
My stomach clenches as I try to arrange my features into a picture of calmness.
‘Do you really think I’d lie about having a boyfriend and drag him across the world on a Fogerty family holiday?
That’s ridiculous.’ Terrified she’ll read the blatant lie on my face, I push away from the table and storm off to find Adam. Holding hands isn’t enough.
Amelia darts inside as I push open the door, promising Adam that she’ll be back. Clenching my fists at my sides, I march towards him, pulse racing.
‘What?’ he says.
My arms slide around his waist and I pull myself against his body, his heat seeping into me. ‘I need you to hug me,’ I say when his arms remain glued to his sides. My family are watching us. ‘Please, Adam.’
He takes a deep breath, sighs and slips his arms over my shoulders. He holds me tightly to him, his heart thumping in his chest, a fast, heavy beat that tells me he hates this.
‘Why—’
‘Gabi isn’t buying our relationship.’ My voice is slightly muffled by his jumper. A jumper that smells divine and I take a moment to nuzzle my nose into it and hope he doesn’t notice.
‘Apparently, you’re supposed to have told me all about your book. Couples share shit.’
I feel a low rumble of dissent in his chest. I guess sharing is not going to be a part of this arrangement.
‘Hand-holding and hugs then,’ I offer instead. ‘Can you manage that?’
He takes an eternity to answer, but at least he keeps me in his embrace while he ponders his response.
Eventually he speaks. One word. It’s all I need.
‘Yes.’
After an hour on the bus, passing farmland and rolling hills while Mum and Aunt Carol gush about the beach, we return to the manor.
Adam heads straight into the cottage and yanks open one of the two drawers I let him have.
He snatches up a change of clothes and disappears into the bathroom before I’ve even shut the front door.
I throw myself on the bed with a sigh. I knew that hug wasn’t a great idea and the dark cloud hovering over his head since we untangled our arms is growing stormier with every minute. He didn’t have to agree to the addition of hugs. I would’ve accepted his refusal and only sulked a little bit.
I sigh again. I feel like I’ve run a goddamn marathon and it’s only day one. Well, day two if I count our arrival yesterday.
Adam emerges from the bathroom and my eyes immediately zero in on his legs.
Who knew it was possible to have calf muscles that toned?
And how did I not notice them during my sleuthing of him back in Melbourne?
He drops his runners on the floor and lifts a leg, holding his knee to his stomach.
That thick, muscled thigh. If a girl were to be straddled by a pair of thighs as strong as those…
I gulp but it does nothing to wipe the indecent thoughts coursing through my mind.
He moves into another stretch, one that pulls his shorts tight over his buttocks and…
oh lordy. I try to focus on the fronds of the fern on the table and not the heat in my stomach or urge to grab him and pull him onto the bed.
He sits on the bed and his elbow nudges my thigh, setting off a flurry of goosebumps along my skin. He scoops up his runners.
I sit up so quickly my head spins and point at the sofa. ‘Put your shoes on over there.’ Or I’ll forget how infuriating you are and crawl onto your lap.
He doesn’t pause the tying of his shoelaces as he glances over his shoulder. ‘All you had to do was ask nicely but now that I know it bothers you, I think I’ll stay right here.’ His fingers move achingly slowly as they loop the laces together. ‘Do you want to come for a run?’ he asks.
‘Absolutely not.’
‘Fake relationships are a two-way street, Sabrina.’ He rolls his eyes when I glower at him. He pockets his phone as he heads for the door.
‘Wait,’ I say, staring at the phone in his pocket. ‘Give me your phone.’
His hand hovers over the doorknob. ‘What?’
‘Your phone. Give it to me so I can add my number. In case you fall over on your run.’ He doesn’t know the area or the terrain. If he has an accident I’d hate him to be alone out there and get eaten by a wild animal. I’m not completely heartless when it comes to Adam Whittaker.
‘If I fall you want me to call you?’
‘I am your fake girlfriend, aren’t I?’
He hesitates and then pulls it from his pocket. ‘Okay,’ he says slowly. ‘Should I give you my number also?’
I slap my phone into his palm and we enter our numbers. It shouldn’t feel like a momentous moment and yet it somehow does. Like we’re really cementing this thing. Before that has a chance to sink in, he’s taken his phone back and disappeared out the door.
I check my watch. There’s enough time for me to go for a walk or head over to the manor and see what everyone else is doing or I could sit in the garden with a glass of wine.
It’s a no-brainer. I pour myself a chardonnay and wrap myself in a thick jacket.
I step outside, and the country air rustles my hair in greeting.
The clouds that hovered over us all day have dispersed and left behind a smattering of wisps that stretch towards the horizon like tendrils of smoke.
I inhale slowly, relishing the symphony of smells melding together from the garden and the chirping of insects and gentle whisper of rustling leaves.
I open the Kindle app on my phone and click on The Sleeping Bones.
I may have started reading this again on the flight here and I may not be hating it as much as I did the first time.
Not that I’ll admit that to Adam. Yes, his main character broods too much.
And the descriptions are a lot. However, it’s not as bad as I remember.
I’m so engrossed, and slightly buzzed from the wine, that I don’t notice Adam return until he joins me outside and I quickly close out of his book.
He doesn’t say a word, he simply looks out over the garden as his breathing slows.
A deep flush stains his cheeks. His skin is glistening with sweat.
He rakes a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends as he tilts his head back with a deep exhale.
The main character in The Sleeping Bones runs the streets of New York to clear his head. I’m thinking Adam does the same thing.
‘Is the sequel really set in England?’
‘It is.’
‘Then why did you knock back my offer to research for you?’ I ask. ‘I could’ve done that and you could be at home finishing the book.’
‘I prefer to do my own research,’ he says. ‘Plus, I really wanted that parking spot.’
I glare at him. ‘You are infuriating.’
He sits up and tries to flatten his hair. ‘Right back at you.’ He taps his knuckles against his jiggling knee. ‘I hoped that coming here would spark…something,’ he finishes with a sigh.