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and joking around with the bartender like they’d known each other for years.
    It was only as I came to stand by Jack’s side that I realised how tall he was, his domineering frame hunched over the bar in a pleasant, brooding way.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘It’s my friend, she get’s a little, uhh… Enthusiastic at bars… And I didn’t mean that you weren’t cute or anything, I just…’
    ‘Relax,’ Jack said abruptly, looking over at me again, ‘I know what you meant. It’s okay, don’t worry about it…’
    His voice was deep and husky, the kind that made you understand that he was measuring his words before he spoke them… And the kind that masked any overt emotion that might accidentally come creeping through.
    ‘So what’s your story?’ He asked, passing my second double whisky over to me that had just been poured thanks to Rory.
    ‘My… My story?’ I asked simply.
    ‘Yeah. What I mean is you don’t really look like you’re from round here.’
    ‘Oh…’ I said, briefly thinking that he knew who I was, ‘Yeah, we’re just up here from the city for a week or so, maybe. Just trying to get away from the noise and stuff…’
    The noise and stuff? I thought, taking a sip of my drink and trying to relax, Smooth…
    ‘Fair enough,’ he smiled, taking a sip of his beer, ‘Seems like an odd place to come to for a holiday, though.’
    I bit my lip, smiling as I looked up at him, he looking back at me, feeling a little relaxed… And a little intimidated by his domineering presence.
    ‘Well… That’s beside the point. I mean, you’re here too, aren’t you?’
    ‘True, but I’ve got a reason for being here.’
    ‘Which is?’
    ‘I work here.’
    ‘Oh…’ I said, ‘Where?’
    A brief smile came to Jack’s face, a grin, as if he was holding something back from me as he took another sip of his beer and set the bottle back down on the table.
    ‘Down at the logging commune,’ he said, nodding at me. ‘Not exactly the most glamorous of places, but it’s good work, and I keep myself busy.’
    ‘Yeah…’ I said, ‘No, that’s… That’s cool.’ What I said next I didn’t mean to in the slightest – but in my flustered state, having a drink with this strange guy, it sort of just spilled out in a mess of words. ‘So do you have a girlfriend-wife… A-a family? Or anything?’
    I cursed myself internally for asking something so ridiculous… But in all honesty I had no idea what I was doing right then. It had been so long since I had had a normal conversation with somebody who treated me as just Emma, rather than Emma Clarke, actress extraordinaire. It was like trying to ride a bicycle for the first time in years, and I felt like a prize idiot for being this way.
    But what caught me more was Jack’s response to my question. I expected him to laugh or smile or something. But that never happened. I could literally see his face fall flat as I went quiet, his eyes focusing in harshly on the bartop for a moment that I couldn’t explain.
    ‘I’m sorry…’ I said quickly, ‘That’s kind of a personal question… I hardly know you, I shouldn’t be asking those kinds of things…’
    ‘No,’ he said, forcing a smile, ‘No, it’s fine, really. But no, no family. Mom and Dad, back in the Midwest, but no, uhh… No girlfriend to speak of.’
    I nodded, knowing that there was something he wasn’t saying but deciding not pursue it any further. I watched as he stared absent-mindedly at the drink in his hand, frowning a little, running my eyes over his profile. Now that I had a second to see him in the dim light of the bar, his face drenched in shadow, it was evident how handsome Jack really was. Usually guys like this would be falling at my feet, crowding around me like I was some kind of new fairground attraction… But here he was, coolly distant, wholly detached.
    Around me the patrons drank and laughed, indulging in their conversations while Casey and Jack continued to chat