‘What’s wrong?’ Laurel asked, tapping away at her computer, not even looking at him.
He leaned back in his chair and stretched a leg out. ‘What makes you think something’s wrong?’
She cut her eyes to him, before looking back at her screen and deleting whatever she had just typed.
‘You sound like The Little Train Who Could.’
What the hell was she going on about?
‘You’re huffing, sighing, expelling breath loudly,’ she said, turning to face him.
He crossed his arms over his chest.
‘Oh, so now I’m not allowed to breathe?’
Laurel stilled. She looked hurt.
‘I was just asking,’ she said quietly, lips pinching together.
‘Sorry, it’s just...’ He pulled a hand through his hair, giving her an apologetic smile. ‘Do you remember Alex, my best friend from university? He went to Hadrian’s Wall as well.’
‘Alex Woollard?’ Laurel wheeled her chair away from her desk and assessed him. ‘Yes, I remember Alex Woollard,’ she said crisply, her face blank.
‘Al is my liaison at the British Archaeology Society and he’s visiting next week.’ Laurel’s eyebrows shot up, her blank mask falling off her face. ‘I just thought I’d have more time, you know?’
‘Alex Woollard? Is coming here? To my farm?’ she squawked, hands flat on the desk.
‘Yeah...’ he drew the word out, confused.
Should he have told her, cleared it with her that he was having visitors to the farm? No, of course not. It might be her farm, but it was his dig, and it was up to him who he had on site.
‘But he can’t stay here,’ she spluttered, ‘there isn’t space.’
‘He’s booked a room at the Dog & Gun.’ Nate cocked his head to the side, confused. Yeah, Alex could be a bit of a dick, but what the fuck was going on to make her react like this.
‘What’s with you? What’s all this?’ He pointed vaguely at her.
Laurel looked down at her desk, blinking furiously, wringing her fingers together. When she finally looked up at him, it was with defeat.
‘Alex Woollard is coming to my farm,’ she murmured, resigned.
‘Is that a problem?’ Perhaps if he pushed her, then he’d finally understand what was going on in that messy mind of hers.
‘Is that a problem?’ Laurel repeated. ‘No, Alex Woollard being here, on my farm, is not a problem at all.’
Nate kept looking at her, utterly and completely confused. What had happened? Who was this scared little girl? She’d gone pale, he suspected clammy as well, considering that she kept wiping her hands on her skirt, and obviously had some issue with her hair because she kept touching it.
She noticed him looking at her.
‘What?’
‘What?’ He was incredulous. ‘What’s happening over there?’
‘What’s happening over here?’
Why was Laurel Fletcher repeating everything he said? Was she having some kind of breakdown? She sucked in a breath like she had just come up for air, and rolled her shoulders back, visibly pulling herself together.
‘Nothing, I’m fine. I’m fine. Of course I’m fine. I’m fine with everything.’
