Divorced.
Ryan prowled to the window of Logan’s consulting room and stared across the fields. Remembering the white circle on her ring finger, he was willing to bet the divorce was recent. Was that why she was so pale and drawn? Divorce did that to people, didn’t it? Was that why she jumped when a man touched her? ‘Was her ex-husband abusive?’
‘I have absolutely no idea. This is her CV, not a police statement. Are you sure you’re not going a little over the top here? You seem very concerned about someone you only met a few hours ago.’
Ryan turned. ‘She’s a colleague,’ he said evenly. ‘It’s in our interest to make sure she’s happy here.’
‘And that’s all that’s going on here?’ Logan closed the file. ‘You seem very interested in her.’
‘I didn’t say I was interested. I said it was in our interest to make sure she’s happy.’
‘Good. Then I’ll leave it to you to make sure she is.’ Logan pushed the file back in the drawer. ‘Plenty of people get divorced, Ryan. It’s a fact of life in our society. It doesn’t mean she has problems. You could be barking up the wrong tree. Has she seen the cottage yet?’
‘I’m taking her at the end of morning surgery.’
‘Let’s just hope she likes isolation, otherwise we’ll be looking for a new practice nurse. Ted Walker has a flat vacant in the village if you think that would be better.’
‘I know she’s going to like the cottage.’ He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.
She was running—wounded—looking for a place to hide and recover.
And the cottage was the perfect place for her. Whether her teenager daughter would survive the isolation was another matter.
Chapter Three
IT WAS the prettiest house she’d ever seen—one of four fishermen’s cottages facing the sea, their front gardens leading straight down to a sandy beach.
The iron gate was rusty and creaked as she pushed it open, but Jenna felt a sudden feeling of calm and contentment. No more endless traffic jams and road rage. No more rush hour. No more litter on the streets and graffiti on the walls.
Just open space, fresh air, and the sound of the sea.
It was perfect.
Lexi gave a whimper of horror. ‘This is it? It’s the smallest house I’ve ever seen.’
Jenna felt the tension return to her stomach. ‘Small, yes, but it’s ours.’As long as she kept the job. The house came with the job. They had a home again. And it would be cheap to run.
Lexi was gaping at the tiny cottage. ‘A whole summer here?’
‘Yes.’
‘You can’t swing a cat.’
‘We don’t have a cat.’ But they might have a dog. She’d been thinking about it ever since Ryan McKinley had mentioned the idea.
Lexi closed her eyes. ‘Just kill me now,’ she muttered, and Jenna searched for something to say that would cheer her up.
‘Don’t you think this is better than London?’
‘Tell me that isn’t a serious question—’
Jenna sighed. They’d come this far. They had to keep moving forward.
She walked up the path to the front door, her eyes scanning the pretty garden. She noticed a few weeds and her hands itched. It would be fun, she mused, to have a proper garden.
Lexi stared desperately at the house and then at the beach. ‘Where’s the nearest shop?’
‘Walk straight down the road and you reach the harbour. If it’s low tide you can walk along the beach.’ Ryan strode up the path behind them, carrying both suitcases. He deposited them on the ground, gently removed the key from Jenna’s hand and opened the door of the cottage.
‘Sorry—I was miles away.’ Jenna gave a smile of apology. ‘It’s so long since I had a garden. Our house in London just had a courtyard. I’m not used to so much outdoor space.’ Enchanted, she stooped and touched some of the pretty pink flowers that clustered by the door. ‘Armeria maritima.’
Ryan raised his eyebrows, apparently amused. ‘You’re quoting the Latin names of plants at me?’
‘My mother was a botanist. I grew up hearing Latin names. Some of them stuck.’ She touched the flower with the tip of her finger. ‘Sea pinks. They grow well in this climate, by the coast.’
Lexi rolled her eyes. ‘Gosh, Mum, gripping stuff.’
Jenna flushed and stood up. ‘Sorry. It’s just so wonderful to have a garden.’ Despite the knot in her stomach she felt better, and she was in no hurry to go indoors. Instead she breathed in the sea air and watched the plants waving in the breeze. The grass needed cutting, and there were weeds in the borders, but somehow that just added to the charm. She imagined herself lying on a rug on a warm Sunday morning, listening to the gulls and reading the paper.
When had she ever done that? Sundays were normally so busy, what with making a traditional Sunday roast for Clive and his mother, and then being expected to produce tea for the cricket club…
Aware that Ryan was watching her, Jenna flushed. She felt as though he could read her every thought, and that was disturbing because some of the thoughts she’d been having about him were definitely best kept private. ‘When Evanna told me that the job came with a house, I never imagined it would be anywhere as perfect as this. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to leave here. Who owns it?’
‘Kyla—Logan’s sister. Her husband, Ethan, was offered a job in the States. They’ll be back at some point.’
But not soon. Please don’t let it be soon.
A warm feeling spread through her, and for the first time since she’d left London Jenna felt a flicker of hope. Excitement. As if this might be the right decision after all.
She felt as if she belonged. She felt at home.
It’s—so peaceful.’ A gull shrieked above her and she laughed as she caught Ryan’s eye. ‘Well, not peaceful, perhaps, but the noises are different. Good noises. No car horns and revving engines. And everything is slow. I’m looking forward to just being still.’ Realising that she probably sounded ridiculous, Jenna shrugged awkwardly. ‘In London everything moves so fast. You get swept along with it so that sometimes you can’t even take a breath—I hate the pace of it.’
‘That’s because you’re so old, Mum.’ Lexi fiddled with her phone. ‘London was exciting. And our house was lovely.’
‘London was noisy and smelly and our house was far too big for the two of us.’ It was what she’d told herself when she’d realised that their house had been sold and she and Lexi no longer had a home. It was the only way she had coped.
Pushing away that thought, Jenna stepped into the hallway of the cottage. They had a home now, and she loved it. Light reflected off the polished wooden floor, and through an open door she could see a bright, cheerful kitchen. ‘We lived right next to an underground station and every three minutes the house shook.’
‘Yeah, it was so cool.’ Lexi tossed her hair away from her face, her eyes still on her mobile phone. ‘I was never more than ten minutes from the shops.’
But Jenna wasn’t thinking about shopping. It seemed far away. And so did Clive and the whole sordid mess she’d left behind. ‘This place is wonderful. We can have our breakfast outside on that little table.’ She turned to look at the pretty garden, eyes slightly misty, imagination running free. ‘Lexi, you can go for a swim, or a run on the beach.’