‘Gee, thanks.’
‘I’m concerned.’
‘There’s nothing to be concerned about,’ she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘It goes with the job. It’s fine. It always is.’
‘Perhaps I could make it better.’
She arched an eyebrow and said in a voice that could freeze water, ‘I’m sure you think
you could.’
Leo grinned. ‘Not like that.’
‘Then how?’
‘You get here practically before dawn and you don’t leave until at least nine. And I get that you have to, but wouldn’t it save time and stress if your commute took five minutes instead of fifty? There are over a dozen spare rooms here. You can take your pick.’
She blinked. ‘Oh. Right. Well, that’s very thoughtful of you, Leo, but my commute isn’t fifty minutes. It’s about ten.’
He frowned, faintly taken aback. ‘What?’
‘I’m staying in a pub in the village.’
Of course she was. Why on earth would she waste time commuting? Hadn’t he learnt anything about her in the months he’d known her? ‘I didn’t know.’ But he wished he had because then they could have had this conversation two days ago and he wouldn’t have worked himself into such knots.
‘Why would you?
‘Which one?’
‘The George.’
‘Any good?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s fine. Not exactly five star but it’s clean and has everything I need. The restaurant’s pretty terrible, though.’
‘OK,’ he said slowly as inspiration struck—at the right time, for once. ‘Then why don’t you come over here for supper?’
Her eyebrows rose. ‘Tonight?’
‘Yup.’
‘With you?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Oh.’
‘We need to talk, Abby.’
‘Do we?’
‘I’d like to.’
‘Hmm.’
If ever there was an advantage to be pressed, this was it, and frankly this was probably his last chance to get her on her own. ‘And, you know,’ he said casually, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans and rocking on his heels, ‘if you refuse I might start to wonder why the pub’s terrible food is more appealing than Mrs Trimble’s legendary steak and ale pie. I might start to wonder if it’s something to do with me.’
Abby frowned. And after the tiniest of pauses, said, ‘Then thank you, Leo. Supper would be great.’