And I like to know what’s going on. Jesse calls me the self-appointed arbiter of everyone’s business in Dolphin Bay.’
She regretted the words as soon as they’d slipped out of her mouth. Why, why, why did she have to bring up Jesse’s name?
But Sam just laughed. ‘That sounds like something Jesse would say. You must be good friends for him to get away with it.’
‘We are good friends,’ she said.
And that was all they ever should have been. When they’d been still just kids, they’d shared their clumsy, first-ever kiss. But it hadn’t happened again until three days ago when she’d provocatively asked her old friend why it had been so long between kisses. A suggestion that had backfired so badly.
‘What Jesse says is true,’ she continued. ‘He calls me a nosy parker. I like to call it a healthy curiosity about what’s going on.’
‘Necessary qualities for all your various occupations, I would think,’ he said.
‘Thank you. I think so too. I particularly need to be on top of the details of Ben’s wedding which is aaargh...’ she mimed tearing her hair out ‘...only six days away.’ She mentally ran through the guest list. ‘Now I think of it, there is a Sam on the guest list; I’ve been meaning to ask Ben who it was. I don’t know anything about him—uh, I mean you.’
Sam spread out both hands in a gesture of invitation. ‘I’m an open book. Fire away with the questions.’
She wagged a finger in mock-warning. ‘I wouldn’t say that to a stickybeak like me. Give me carte blanche and you might be here all day answering questions.’ What was she saying? ‘Uh, I mean as they relate to you as a wedding guest, that is.’
‘So I’ll limit them,’ he said. ‘Five questions should be all you need.’
Five questions? She’d like to know a heck of a lot more about Sam Lancaster than she could discover with five questions.
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ she said.
Do you have a girlfriend, fiancée, wife?
But she ignored the first question she really wanted to ask and chose the safe option. ‘Okay, so my first question is wedding-menu related—meat, fish or vegetarian?’
‘All of the above,’ he said without hesitation.
‘Good. That makes it easy. Question number two: what do you plan to do in the days before the wedding? Do you need me to organise any tours or activities?’
With me as the tour guide, perhaps.
He shook his head. ‘No need. There’s a work problem I have to think through.’
She itched with curiosity about what that problem could be—but questioning him about it went beyond the remit of wedding-related questions.
‘Okay. Just let me know if you change your mind. There’s dolphin-and whale-watching tours. Or hikes to Pigeon Mountain for spectacular views. Now for question number three: do you...?’
Something made her look up and she immediately wished she hadn’t. Jesse. Coming in late for his lunch. She swallowed a swear word. Why hadn’t she made her getaway while she could?
Too distracted by handsome Sam Lancaster.
Now this first post-kiss encounter with Jesse would have to be played out in front of Sam.
Act normal. Act normal. Smile.
But her paralysed mouth wouldn’t form into anything other than a tight line that barely curved upwards. Nor could she summon up so much as a breezy ‘hi’ for Jesse—the man she’d been friends with all her life, had been able to joke, banter and trade insults with like a brother.
Jesse pumped Sam’s hand. ‘Sorry, I got held up.’
‘No worries,’ said Sam, returning the handshake with equal vigour.
‘Kate,’ said Jesse with a friendly nod in her direction, though she didn’t think she was imagining a trace of the same awkwardness in his eyes that she was feeling. ‘So you’ve already met my mate Sam.’
‘Yes,’ was all she managed to choke out.
‘I see you got the best table in the house,’ Jesse said to Sam, indicating the view with a sweep of his hand.
‘And the best deputy manager,’ said Sam gruffly, nodding to Kate.
‘Why, thank you,’ she said. For Sam, her smile worked fine, a real smile, not her professional, hospitality smile.
Jesse cleared his throat in a way she’d never heard before. So he was feeling the awkwardness, too.
‘Yes; Kate is, beyond a doubt, awesome,’ he said. Kate recognised the exaggerated casualness of his tone. Would Sam?
‘We’re just friends,’ Kate blurted out. She shot a quick glance at Sam to see a bemused lift of his eyebrow.
‘Of course we’re just friends,’ Jesse returned, too quickly. He stepped around the table to hug her, as he always did when they met. ‘Kate and I go way back,’ he explained to Sam.
Kate stiffened as Jesse came near. She doubted she could ever return to their old casual camaraderie. It wasn’t that Jesse had done anything wrong when he’d kissed her. He just hadn’t done anything for her. He was probably a very good kisser for someone else.
But things had changed and she didn’t want his touch, even in the most casual way. She ducked to slide away.
Big, big mistake.
Sam frowned as he glanced from her to Jesse and back again. Kate could see his mental cogs whirring, putting two and two together and coming up with something other than the zero he should be seeing.
It alarmed her. Because she really wanted Sam Lancaster to know there was nothing between her and Jesse. That she was utterly and completely single.
‘Why don’t you join us for lunch?’ Jesse asked, pulling out the third chair around the table.
No way did she want to make awkward small talk with Jesse. The thought of using her three remaining questions to find out all about Sam Lancaster was appealing—but only when there was just him and her in the conversation.
She pointed her foot, clad in a black court pump, in the direction of the table. ‘Hear the ball and chain rattling? Ben would have a fit if I downed tools and fraternised with the guests.’
Did she imagine it, or did Sam’s gaze linger on her leg? She hastily drew it back. ‘Shame,’ he said. He sounded genuinely regretful.
Not only did she want to walk away as quickly as she could from this uncomfortable situation but she also had her responsibilities to consider. She’d spent way too much time already chatting with Sam. ‘Guys, I have to get back to work. I’ll send a waitress over straight away and tell the chef to fill your order, pronto. I’m sure you both must be hungry.’
In
