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She wanted to, and it was easier than dealing with
the other demands of her life … packing up her father’s things, or thinking
about her own future, or wondering about Jacob Wolfe.
                 She
spent an inordinate amount of time doing the latter. She wanted to ask him
where he’d been, what he’d done, why he’d come back. She never got the chance.
In the week she’d been back at Wolfe Manor, she’d hardly seen Jacob since she’d
walked out of his study.
                 Emails
from Annabelle didn’t clarify the situation too much. Now that the electricity
was working in the cottage, she’d finally managed to check her email. There
were at least a dozen from Annabelle, detailing Jacob’s arrival at the manor,
warning Mollie that he didn’t know she was at the cottage. Wryly Mollie wished
she’d thought to check her email while in Italy. Access had been limited, and
frankly she’d been happy to escape the world and all of its demands for a
little while.
                 It
felt good to work hard with her hands all day, to get sweaty and dirty and covered
in mud. She came back to the cottage every night to shower and fall into bed,
too tired even to dream.
                 And
yet still, in her spare and unguarded moments, her thoughts returned to Jacob
again and again. She wanted to ask him questions. She wanted to know what he’d
been doing all these years, and what he was doing now. She wanted to see him
again. Just to get some clarity, Mollie told herself. And some closure.
Explanations that would justify why he’d left everyone in such a lurch. Nothing more.
                 Except
even as she told herself that was all, she knew it wasn’t. She thought of the
darkness of his eyes, the crisp scent of his aftershave, and knew she wanted to
see him again, full stop.
                 A
week after Jacob gave her the commission Mollie was still removing all the
weeds and dead wood in preparation to actually begin the landscaping and give
the garden new life. She’d hired a tree surgeon from the neighbouring village
to come to the manor and cut some of the larger trees down, yet when he didn’t
arrive and the hours ticked on, annoyance gave way to alarm.
                 She rung the man’s mobile, only to have him explain without
too much apology, ‘Sorry, but I called the manor to check on some details, and
was told to cancel.’
                 ‘What
…?’ Mollie exclaimed in an outraged squeak. ‘Who told you that?’
                 ‘I
dunno … someone there who picks up the phone, at any rate. Sorry.’
                 And
Mollie knew who that would be. There were only two of them here after all. And
she wasn’t supposed to feel vulnerable .
Well, she didn’t. She felt bloody cross. She’d wasted a whole day waiting for
someone who had no intention of coming, and Jacob had not even had the courtesy
to inform her he’d cancelled her arrangements. She was operating on a tight
schedule already, and she certainly didn’t need his interference.
                 After
rearranging a time with the tree surgeon, she stalked to the manor. If Jacob
Wolfe was going to interfere with her job, she wanted to know why. And she’d
also tell him to butt out. She looked forward to the sense of vindication. Yet
when she knocked on the manor’s front doors so hard her knuckles ached she
received no response. She peeked in the windows and rattled the doorknob,
uselessly, for the house was locked up. Above her the sky was heavy and dank,
and she felt as if its weight were pressing on her. It looked ready to pour,
and she was too annoyed and out of sorts to head back to the gardens in this
weather.
                 Mollie
decided to return to the cottage. She’d take the opportunity to start sorting
through her father’s things, something she’d put off for far too long already.
As she headed down the