Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,23

her. ‘You’re upset, and I honestly have no idea why. Please talk to me.’ He ventured closer, placing an arm tentatively around her shoulders.

Involuntarily she tensed, and he immediately snatched his arm away. ‘I take it we’re not talking then?’ he asked wearily.

Hearing his hurt and disappointment, Emily desperately wanted to turn around, rest her head on his shoulder, apologise and have him hold her. Pretending it wasn’t happening wouldn’t make it go away, though, would it?

Jake waited a minute. Emily didn’t move. ‘Right. Message understood,’ he said with a sharp intake of breath. ‘I think I might do better to be elsewhere for a while. I’ll call you. Later.’

What did he mean, ‘elsewhere’? Fear gripping her, Emily whirled around as he walked to the door. ‘Where are you going?’

He stopped and turned back. ‘To the surgery.’

‘To catch up on paperwork?’ Her voice sounded small and uncertain even to her own ears.

‘There’s a fair amount to do.’ He shrugged disconsolately.

She nodded. ‘I gathered that, from the amount of time you spend there.’

A frown crossed his face. He was clearly wondering where this was leading.

‘Who were you talking to on the phone?’ She finally asked him the question she’d been burning to, then braced herself.

‘On the phone when?’ He squinted at her, mystified.

‘When you came home late on Thursday. Why did you take the call in the conservatory?’

His look was now one of astonishment. ‘Because I couldn’t hear over the kettle boiling.’ He laughed bewilderedly.

Emily glanced down, her stomach churning. She could never hear over the kettle boiling. Several times she’d walked out of the kitchen, her phone pressed to her ear.

‘It was Rachel Brown, Ethan’s mother,’ Jake informed her, now obviously irate. ‘She called to tell me he’d had his surgery, that he was conscious, and to thank me. Are there any more questions I need to answer?’

Ethan. God, where was her mind? Jake had said the little boy had been rushed into hospital. His mother would have been beside herself with worry. As Jake had possibly saved her child’s life, she would have been likely to ring him with an update. He’d probably asked her to. Why on earth hadn’t she thought it through? Her cheeks heating up, she struggled for something to say. ‘No. I’m sorry. I just … It doesn’t matter.’

‘Right,’ Jake said tersely. ‘I don’t have a clue what this is all about, Emily, but when you feel like enlightening me, you know where I am.’ Looking her over, unimpressed, he shook his head and then turned to walk away.

‘I take it you two are still not on speaking terms, then?’ Emily heard Millie ask as he reached the hall, and her heart dropped.

Jake’s reply was agitated. ‘Apparently not.’

‘So where are you going?’ Millie sounded apprehensive. ‘I thought you were out together at the village fair all day.’

‘It ended early,’ Jake answered diplomatically, though his anger was still evident. ‘I’m going into work for a while. I shouldn’t be too long.’

Emily gathered from Millie’s silence that she wasn’t impressed with what was happening either.

‘I’ll bring a pizza back later, shall I?’ Jake suggested, softening his tone. ‘Assuming you’re around?’

‘I’m out tonight,’ Millie answered after a second. ‘Assuming I’m not grounded at weekends as well as during the week,’ she added drolly.

‘Where?’ Jake asked. ‘Assuming you get why we would be worried about you.’

‘I get it,’ Millie conceded grudgingly. ‘I’m going to the Open Air Film and Chill in Hereford with Anna and a few friends. And no, we’re not going anywhere near the pub, before Mum starts going on about me drinking again, as if she never did when she was my age.’

‘It’s only out of concern, Mils,’ Jake said in Emily’s defence. ‘I know you think we go on, but if you’re honest, I think you’d much rather that than if we couldn’t care less where you are.’

‘I suppose so.’ Millie conceded that much too.

‘You know so,’ Jake chided her. ‘What about Ben? Do you know whether he’s home later?’

‘I think so. He’s gaming round at his mate’s this afternoon, but he said they’d be coming back here. I’ll tell him to give you a call at the surgery, shall I?’

‘If you could. Thanks, Mils,’ Jake said, that special fondness in his voice he had for his daughter. ‘Have you heard back from the veterinary practice about the job yet?’

‘No.’ Millie sighed disappointedly. ‘I think I messed up my application form, to be honest. And then I was so nervous I was talking rubbish.’

‘That sucks,’