Second Hand Jane (28 page)

“What the feck
do you think you are doing at the pig farmer’s again?” a voice
shrilled down the line at her.

It was
Nora.

Adopting a
sweetness and light tone, Jess replied, “Yes, I got here without
any problems. Thanks again for letting me use the car. I’ll have it
back to you by six tonight at the latest. Bye and thanks again.”
She thought she heard Nora shriek her name as she hung up but she
couldn’t be sure.

“That’s an
interesting choice of ringtone.”

“What? Oh yeah.
That was my friend Nora’s idea of a little joke. It’s beginning to
wear thin. I can’t bake and I am pretty much a technophobe, so now
you know all my secrets.”

Owen looked
blank but Jess couldn’t be bothered explaining. She suddenly felt
drained by the day’s events and with a sinking sensation, she knew
she’d only be able to avoid Nora for so long before she got short
shrift from her. As for Owen—well, his moods were like the shifting
tides and she had had enough. “Look, like I said, I have to have
the car back for six so I might just go out and say my goodbyes to
Wilbur now before I head away, if that’s okay?”

“Aye, fine by
me,” Owen said, not looking at her as he got up and began clearing
the table.

Jess knelt
quietly next to Wilbur, who despite the amazing ruckus coming from
the pen near the entrance, was sound asleep, making little
snuffling noises here and there. Her heart melted. “I really hope
you make it, little buddy, but I think this time it’s going to be
goodbye for good. I can’t see myself coming back here anytime soon
so you are just going to have to be strong on your own.” Blinking
back the tears that threatened, she got up and turned to walk out
of the barn. Owen was blocking the entrance way with a peculiar
expression on his face.

“Why did you
come here today?” he asked, not moving aside.

“You know why I
came.”

He was studying
her so intently she had to look away.

“I came to see
Wilbur.”

“Was it just
Wilbur you came to see?” His voice was gruff, belying what really
lay behind his words.

It was then
that Jess knew if she were to look up, Owen would kiss her.

The intensity
of feeling that swept through Jess as Owen’s lips connected with
hers took her by surprise and she was glad that his arms had looped
their way around her back, supporting her and stopping her from
falling. The sounds around them faded out and the only thing she
was conscious of was the sensation of his tongue as it gently
explored her mouth. Her arms wound their way over his shoulders,
snaking up to the back of his neck, where her fingers tangled
themselves in his hair. She pressed her body closer to his, feeling
his hardness growing.

The sound of a
cough followed by a cheerful male voice saw her eyes snap open.

“Ahem. I hope
I’m not interrupting anything.”

At the sight of
a kindly looking man with unruly grey hair and a stomach straining
to be freed from his shirt, they broke away from each other like
two cats who had just had a bucket of cold water tossed over
them.

“Um, Jessica
Baré, this is Michael Riordan, our local vet.”

Jess noticed the requisite
All Creatures Great
and Small
brown leather
case; of course he was. Michael Riordan held out his hand and Jess
took it, receiving a firm handshake.

“I decided to
take your advice after all and give him a call just to be on the
safe side.”

The look that
flashed between Michael and Owen didn’t go unnoticed by Jess. She
was fairly certain she was being humoured.

Michael’s
prognosis was just as Owen had said: a common cold. He looked at
Jess with a twinkle in his eye as he told her that considering
Wilbur’s size, he was doing remarkably well. “Aye, he’ll grow into
a fine young boar, mark my words,” he stated as they followed him
out to his jeep and Jess could have sworn she saw him wink at
Owen.

She was
distracted from pursuing this train of thought by the sudden chill
that coursed through her. The sun had dropped low in the sky. It
must be getting on for four, which meant she was going to have to
head away if she was to keep her promise and get the car back to
Brianna in time.

She was tapping
her foot impatiently, not knowing what would happen between her and
Owen now the moment had passed while he and Michael conferred over
by his jeep. Both men suddenly paused mid-conversation, startled by
the burst of song emanating from her handbag once more.

“Sorry, it’s my
stupid phone,” Jess said, retrieving it and in her haste to shut it
up, she quickly answered, wishing she hadn’t as she heard Nick’s
voice.

“Jess, hi. I am
sorry I had to head away so early this morning. I’m on my way back
from Cork now and I thought if you were still at my place, I’d stop
off and grab us some Thai from the place I was telling you
about.”

Oh shit, Jess
thought, taking a few steps away; of all the times for him to
phone. “Um, I’m not at your place, actually. I’m in
Ballymcguinness,” she squeaked.

“Where the hell
is Ballymcguinness?”

“It’s in the
North, County Down to be exact. I, uh, I am following up on a story
I have been working on.” She tried to ignore Owen, who was staring
over at her with a perplexed frown. Luckily, Michael Riordan hadn’t
finished bending his ear and she was relieved when he focused his
attention back on the affable vet.

She lowered her
voice. “Nick, my friend Brianna has invited us around to their
place for dinner on Saturday night. It’s short notice, I know, so
if…”

“What was that?
Jess, can you speak up? I can hardly hear you—Jaysus, you really
must be in the back of beyond with reception like that,” Nick
interrupted.

Jess repeated
herself, raising her voice only marginally before adding, “If you
can’t make it, I understand.” She was half hoping he would say he
was busy, allowing her to delay the inevitable confrontation
between him and Brianna but he didn’t. Besides, after what had just
happened outside the barn, she no longer knew how she felt about
him.

“There’s
nothing I can’t cancel on Saturday. I’d love to come but is there
any chance of seeing you tonight? I’ve meetings in Dublin tomorrow
then I’m staying overnight in Cork tomorrow night because I’ve got
some serious schmoozing with potential investors around the golf
course first thing on Saturday morning. I was kind of hoping we
could finish tonight what we didn’t really get to start.” He gave
an apologetic laugh.

Jess cringed.
She couldn’t believe it had been less than twenty-four hours since
she’d been in his bed and that less than half an hour ago, she’d
been snogging someone else! What was that saying, feast or famine?
And what did that make her? No, she wouldn’t go there, she decided,
shaking her head; she had to focus on the fact he was going to come
to Brie’s for dinner. That meant she would have to come clean with
both of them. It wouldn’t be fair to put either of them on the spot
like that. Jess rubbed at her temple. Her head had begun to throb
and the one thing she did know for sure was that she couldn’t face
seeing Nick tonight. She needed to sort out how she felt.

“I won’t be
back until late and then I have to type up an assignment I’ve been
working on; it’s due first thing tomorrow.” The lie tripped easily
off her tongue and she noticed that she was once more the focus of
Owen’s shrewd gaze. The vet had climbed into his jeep and with a
wave and a clunking of gears was heading off down the drive.

“What’s all
that noise?” Nick asked.

“It must be my
phone. You’re right, the reception is bad. Look, I’ll have to go.”
She didn’t give him a chance to say goodbye, hanging her phone up
and tossing it in her bag as if she had been handling a hot potato,
only to fish it back out to switch it off. She didn’t want to talk
to anyone else.

Looking at
Owen, she felt suddenly self-conscious at the thought of what would
happen now. It was kind of like the nervous anticipation she’d felt
as a teenager on a date at the movies, waiting for that arm to
slide along the back of the seat to rest on her shoulder. She also
felt rather silly at his having dragged the local vet out just to
appease her.

“Important
call, was it?” He raised an eyebrow and his stance with his hands
in his pockets was one of feigned indifference.

“No, it was
nobody.” She knew he knew she was lying and the awkwardness in the
air between them grew palpable. Jess decided to change tack. “You
didn’t need to do that, you know—call out the vet. It probably cost
you a fortune just to be told what you already knew. I would have
trusted your judgement.” She inclined her head in the direction of
the retreating jeep as it turned on to the main road.

“Aye, well,
Michael’s an old family friend. He doesn’t charge through the nose
and the problem is I don’t trust myself.”

What the hell
was that supposed to mean? Jess wondered, looking at the ground and
scuffing at the loose shingle with her sneakered toes. She was
suddenly aware of what she was wearing—hardly the femme fatale,
dressed in her elephant suit and trainers, but then she hadn’t
expected to be accosted at the barn door either. Or had she? Was
Brianna right about her real motivation for coming here today? And
what about Nick? She suddenly felt overwhelmed. She didn’t know
what the heck she was doing or what she was playing at. All she did
know was that she had to put some space between her and Owen.

The need to
clear her head and get some perspective on what had transpired that
afternoon and how it had made her feel was overwhelming. She
couldn’t face pussyfooting around Owen and his cryptic mixed
messages. “I, um, I have to get going.” Fishing her keys out of her
pocket, she jangled them purposefully.

“Aye, I suppose
you do.”

So he wasn’t
going to make this easy for her then, she thought, not knowing why
she was surprised. When in the short space of time that she had
known him had he made anything easy?

“Right, well,
let me know how Wilbur gets on, won’t you? I’ll send you a copy of
the paper as soon as it’s gone to print.” She was playing the
professional, deliberately re-building the wall between them before
he could do the same to her.

He nodded and
Jess turned away, cutting a slow path over to the Golf, half hoping
to feel his hand on her shoulder stopping her—making up her mind
for her. But as she slid into the driver’s seat, she saw that he
was still standing in exactly the same spot he had been a moment
earlier, with his hands still shoved in his pockets.

Well, stuff
you! she thought, wrenching the key and, as the car roared into
life, she felt as though she had imagined the whole scene in the
barn entrance. Pushing her foot down hard on the accelerator and
haring off down the drive and out of Owen’s complicated and messy
life in a hailstorm of loose shingle, she wondered whether perhaps
she had. Jess didn’t see the girl with the black hair rest her hand
gently on Owen’s shoulder before he turned and walked heavily back
inside the house.

***

The drive back
to Dublin was non-eventful and Jess pulled into Brianna’s driveway
at five fifty-five, pleased to have kept her word in getting the
car back on time. Despite heading out to a meeting that evening,
Brianna invited her in for a glass of wine, eager to hear how her
day had gone.

“Do you want to
stay for dinner? Sure, I don’t have to leave for over an hour yet
and we’re not having anything fancy—just Spag-Bog but there’s
plenty to go round. I always make enough to feed an army.”

Jess wasn’t
hungry and she wasn’t really in the mood to talk about what had
happened, not even with Brianna. Besides, truth be told, she was
the teensiest bit peeved that she’d blabbed to Nora about her
whereabouts for the day. “No thanks, Brie. I’ll have this and get
going.”

Brianna had
poured them both a glass of red from the bottle of pinot noir she’d
had opened on the bench. She liked a drop while she cooked and they
were sitting at the dinner table, the smell of onion and garlic
heavy on the air. The relaxing scene was shattered by a
bloodcurdling scream permeating the house. It had come from
upstairs and Jess’s eyes swung toward the stairs in alarm.

Brianna rolled
her eyes. “Oh, pay no attention. It’s Harry’s bath time; poor old
Pete will be drowned, so he will.”

Jess managed a
small smile but tonight not even Harry’s shenanigans could lift her
mood and she quickly downed the rest of her glass. She didn’t want
to intrude on the Price family’s weeknight routine. What she really
wanted to do was head home, change into her pyjamas, and open up a
bottle of red of her own. She pictured herself curled up on the
couch with a large glass with which to sip away on while she
watched a mind-numbing TV show she would eventually nod off in
front of.

Brianna
interrupted her thoughts. “So come on, then, don’t be holding out
on me—how did you get on today? How was your pig?”

For a moment,
Jess wasn’t sure which pig Brianna was referring to—Owen or
Wilbur?

“Is he going to
live?”

Ah, Wilbur
then. “Yes, I think he probably will.”

“Why so down
then? Did something happen with your man?”

“He’s not my
man and I’m not down. I’m just tired and I had best be leaving you
to it,” she answered, standing up and pushing her chair in just as
another scream shrilled. Both women looked toward the stairs this
time. “That sounded serious—you better go and give them a hand up
there.”

“
Harry’s developed this fear of the water
since he snuck down the stairs and saw
Jaws
on the telly a few weeks ago. It’s all Pete’s
fault; you know how he loves his old horrors, so he can bloody well
deal with it.”