‘Yes, go on then,’ Alex said, settling himself in a chair, one ankle crossed over his knee.
Lucia turned to face him and a small seductive smile crossed her face. Christ, she wasn’t going to make this easy, was she?
‘Nate,’ she said breathily. ‘It’s been way too long.’
She hugged him, turning her face into his neck and pressing her body against him. Nate patted her awkwardly on the back. What was she doing? She never hugged him like this, usually it was a brief squeeze and then she’d move on as if she had something better to do.
‘Lucia, hi,’ he said, extricating himself. ‘How are you?’
He was polite and gave her a tight, if slightly confused, smile.
‘Really good thanks, so nice to be back in England for a little bit.’ She flipped her curls over her shoulder and looked at Laurel as if she’d only just noticed her. ‘Oh, you’re new.’
You’re new?What was that?
‘Hi, I’m Laurel.’
If there was one thing about Laurel, it’s that she was a people pleaser, but he knew she was nervous, especially with Lucia’s frosty greeting.
‘Hello.’ Lucia draped herself on the arm of Alex’s chair, his arm resting lazily around her hips, a teasing smirk playing on his face. ‘I’m Lucia, Nate and I go way back.’
Nate sat down a little closer than was absolutely necessary to Laurel, a buffer because his ex-girlfriend was being really weird.
‘Yes, I remember, I went to university with you. I was a couple of years below you,’ Laurel said.
‘I don’t remember you at all,’ Lucia said, accepting a glass of wine from Owen. ‘What did you do? Archaeology? Are you an archaeologist now?’ Taking a sip, Lucia’s eyes widened in mock realisation. ‘Oh, no, no, no! Alex said you work on a farm!’
Alex snorted into his drink.
‘Yes,’ Laurel said easily, but he could feel the tension building. ‘I do.’
‘That’s interesting,’ Owen said, leaning forward, oblivious to the snideness coming from the other end of the little coffee table. ‘Sheep, cows, pigs? Or do you grow crops?’
Laurel smiled at him in relief. ‘All of the above.’
‘But it’s not just that,’ Nate jumped in. ‘It’s a massive business with a cafe and farm shop, a conference centre, a lake, they do weddings, Pick Your Own, and of course that’s where I’m digging. Laurel runs all of that.’
She looked up at him, unreadable.
‘Thank you, Nate,’ she said pointedly. What? ‘Yes, Little Willow Farm isn’t just a working farm anymore.’
‘But regardless, everything still stinks of shit,’ Alex said, guffawing like he was hilarious.
‘Alex,’ Nate warned.
‘You get used it, being around it all the time. You get that, don’t you, Alex?’ Laurel said blithely.
It was silent for just a second too long. Jess laughed, breaking the awkward tension. Lucia flicked through her phone. Paul stared wide-eyed between Laurel and Alex, whose face was thunderous, but Nate couldn’t help but smile.
‘I hate to bring up work, but I just wanted to say thank you for endorsing Little Willow Farm, Alex. We very much appreciate it.’
Good on Laurel, holding out the olive branch. Hopefully Alex would be big enough to accept it.
‘Yeah, well,’ he took a swig of his beer. ‘It wasn’t a given, you nearly didn’t. I mean, it’s not an ideal site, is it? It’s not an ideal anything really.’
Nate rolled his eyes. Couldn’t Alex keep himself in check? Paul frowned at Nate, clearly sensing the change in their relationship. He shook his head slightly in the universal signal for ‘I’ll tell you later’.
‘You’ve found bones, I presume?’ Lucia piped up. Laurel opened her mouth to say something, but Lucia carried on. ‘When I was in Cambodia…’ she started but Nate tuned out.
