Accepting that pain was the price of love.
I’d accepted it.
Jacob had not.
And standing in the corridor of the Wild’s household, a firework of understanding crashed over my head, cascading me in compassion.
That was why he was so closed off. That was why he was so cold and short-tempered and prickly.
He had everything anyone could ever want. A loving family. A happy home. A successful business.
And it petrified him.
“Oh, Hope!” Della clutched her chest, blonde hair sailing over her shoulder as she slammed to a stop. “God, don’t lurk like that, you’ll give me a heart attack!” A dirty tea-towel dangled in her hands, ready for the laundry where she’d no doubt been heading.
“Sorry!” I ducked around her into the living room, moving out of her way. “I just had a shower. Didn’t, um…want to interrupt.”
“You’re not interrupting.” Della smiled, rubbing her chest a little before dropping the tea-towel onto a side table and turning toward the kitchen. She waved at me to follow. “Come and have breakfast, then we’ll go for a ride. Sound good?” Before I could agree, she tugged me toward the breakfast bar where Jacob sat perched on a stool, his mostly empty plate showing remnants of mushrooms, an omelette, and spinach.
He tipped his chin in my direction. “Afternoon.”
Della swatted him around the head. “It’s nine a.m. Don’t make her feel bad.”
He’d already succeeded as I sat on the remaining stool and dangled my feet like a child. “I guess it was jetlag that made me sleep so late.”
“Nine a.m. is not late, Hope.” Della placed a plate of delicious looking goodness in front of me, then grabbed the salt and pepper grinders from the pantry. “Jacob just doesn’t sleep, that’s all.”
Jacob smirked as if it was a super-power. “Being in bed annoys me.”
I swallowed at the thought of him in bed. Did he sleep naked or in shorts? Did he lie spread-eagled on his back or curled into a ball on his side?
Why am I even thinking about this?
His mom was right there.
Tearing my gaze from his, I speared a mushroom and bit into it. The flavour exploded, earthy and salty and yum. “Wow, these are super good, Mrs Wild.”
“Please.” Della waved a clean tea-towel in my direction as she dried a frying pan. “Call me Della. And they’re good, aren’t they? Jacob grew them.”
My eyes widened as I looked at her son. “You grew these? How do you even grow mushrooms?”
“Depends on the species.” He finished his final mouthful, drained the rest of his orange juice, then stood. His height meant his eye level rose, looking down at me with cool assessment. “Google it.”
Glancing at his mother, he gave her a rare smile. “Thanks for the second breakfast. I’ll make dinner tonight to repay you.”
“You don’t have to repay me for every meal I make you, Wild One.”
“I know.” Grabbing his well-used cowboy hat from the end of the countertop, he positioned it just so over his dirty blond mess and bowed in my direction.
I couldn’t tell if it was condescending or some strange goodbye, but his voice was deep and kind rather than chilly and mocking. “Have a good ride, Hope Jacinta Murphy. My mother will take great care of you.”
And once again, like all my interactions with Jacob, he left well before I wanted him to.
* * * * *
“So…”
I squinted into the sun where Della sat framed by its golden glow atop a grey mare called Stardust.
“So?” I fisted both reins in one hand, shielding my eyes so I could see her better. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No.” Della laughed softly. “Not at all. I was just going to ask how you’re enjoying being home from Scotland.”
“Oh.” I nodded, dropping my hand and doing my best not to look down the hill to where the growl of a tractor occasionally found us on the breeze.
Jacob was down there.
He’d waved at us as we’d ridden from the stables and followed a well-used track around the perimeter of Cherry River.
I’d been given a bay gelding called Cody, and so far, he’d been grouchy about being woken from his midmorning nap and had strong opinions on traipsing up a hill with me on his back.
“Yeah, the weather is nicer for sure.” I smiled. “The horses are fierier too. The highland ponies are pretty bombproof and unfazed by much.”
Della nodded. “Yet you fell off and broke your arm, right? Was that pilot error or horse spook?”
I laughed before I could stop myself. How did she pick the one question I didn’t have a straightforward answer to?
“What’s so funny?”
Shaking my head, I stroked Cody’s neck. “Nothing really. Or at least, nothing that will make sense.”
“Try me.” She pulled Stardust to a halt and turned to look down the gentle hill we’d climbed. Below us, Jacob was a miniature version of himself, sitting in the cab of a rusty red tractor as he dragged some contraption behind him, leaving a white residue on the grass.