Second Chance Lane (Brockenridge #2) - Nicola Marsh Page 0,110

girls asked in unison, and the three of them laughed again.

But Jane couldn’t give them an honest answer, not when her rationale had been petty and hadn’t worked anyway. Making the decision to leave now might be impulsive but it felt right and she couldn’t wait.

So she changed the subject. ‘Should we get Ruby over here for a drink?’

Louise and Bec hesitated, before nodding.

‘Be right back.’ Jane stood and scanned the diner. She couldn’t see Ruby so she headed towards the bar to ask Aldo, the bartender. However, she’d only made it halfway across the room when an arm snaked around her waist from behind and she jumped.

‘Miss me, hot stuff?’

She spun around, dislodging the possessive arm, and glared at the bleary-eyed guy staring at her with a wolfish grin. She couldn’t remember his name but she recognised him, some smarmy salesman she’d flirted with a few years ago when he’d passed through town. He’d have to be forty-something but dyed his hair too dark, had a fake tan and whitened teeth. A city guy, fake and sleazy, the kind of man she’d deliberately targeted in the past because it would piss off her mother. He made her skin crawl.

‘I have a boyfriend,’ she said, her tone firm. Not that she could class Mason as such, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

The man leered at her, before shrugging. ‘Too bad.’

She breathed a sigh of relief when he lurched away, in search of another clueless woman like she’d once been. But she’d barely taken three steps when another guy waylaid her.

‘Hey there, Janey-Jane.’ He slung an arm across her shoulder. ‘How are you?’

Jane suppressed a shudder. This guy was older and possessive. A sheep farmer from New South Wales, he came through town every few months. She’d liked him because he lavished attention on her. He made her feel special in the same way her father had. Considering his age, no prizes for guessing she had daddy issues and that’s what had attracted her to him in the first place.

‘I’m fine, thanks, but I have a boyfriend now.’

She shrugged off his arm and he looked her up and down, sceptical. ‘Last time I saw you, you were single and loving it.’ He leaned in too close and she gritted her teeth against the stench of his woodsy aftershave. ‘What happened to fun-loving Jane?’

Annoyed he hadn’t got the message, she took a step back. ‘Already told you, I’m seeing someone, so back off.’

He must’ve heard something in her tone because he held up his hands in surrender. ‘Don’t be so touchy, love. See you round.’

‘Not if I can bloody help it,’ she muttered to his retreating back, only to turn and see Mason standing behind her. How long had he been there? Had he heard that exchange?

By his thunderous expression, he had. Great.

‘You okay?’ He touched her arm and she nodded.

‘Fine.’

‘Who were those guys?’

‘Mistakes.’

She expected him to push the issue, and was relieved when he didn’t. The last thing she wanted to do was rehash her crappy taste in men before he came along.

‘Am I the guy you’re seeing?’

She blushed. ‘That was an excuse I used to fob them off.’

‘But what if you were? Seeing me for real, that is?’ He slipped his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers. ‘I know I said I’d be leaving town once I got Mum up to speed with the French side of the baking, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I want to stick around.’ He leaned down to whisper in her ear, ‘See if we can make this thing between us work. What do you say?’

Jane wanted to say ‘hell, yeah’ but she couldn’t. He wanted to stay; she wanted to leave. Brockenridge held nothing for her anymore. She’d confronted her mother, she’d learned the truth about her father and she needed a clean start. Having those two sleazes approach her sealed it. Unless she got away and created a fresh start in a place where nobody knew her, she’d always be misjudged in this town.

Mason obviously took her silence as consideration, because he continued, ‘I’ve given up my lease on my apartment in Paris. So I’m officially homeless, unless you fancy a roommate?’

Her heart gave a funny twang and she clutched onto his hand like she’d never let go. But she had to. She’d wasted enough of her life doing things for other people: making her dad proud; making her mum mad; making herself miserable. Time to start