Primary Source by Sharon St. George

Author:Sharon St. George
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: camelpress
Published: 2019-03-07T14:53:09+00:00

Chapter 22

“Shall I talk to him?” James asked. “Explain this wasn’t what it looked like?”

“No.” Hell, no. “It’ll be fine. I’ll make sure he understands.” I wasn’t sure I’d succeed, but I was certain that letting James defend my honor to Nick would be worse than doing it myself.

“You’re sure?”

“Really. It’s all right. Nick is reasonable. He isn’t the jealous type.”

James winced. “Could have fooled me,”

“You should probably go. It’ll be awkward to talk to Nick while you’re still here.”

“I do have to leave.” He looked at my mouth and frowned. “You’re going to have a sore lip for a while.”

“Good,” I said. “It’ll remind me to watch where I’m going.”

We both managed a half-hearted laugh.

“Aimee, are you sure you’re okay? You and Nick I mean?”

“We’re better than okay,” I said. “It’s just that we’ve had a difficult week because of a work-related conflict. We’ve been under more stress than usual, but it’ll pass.”

“Okay, then. I hope the two of you will come up to Ashland for the opening of Fiddler.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said. “Grandpa and Tanya would be disappointed.”

Back in the kitchen, James said goodbye to Amah, apologizing for leaving early and thanking her for inviting him.

“Our pleasure,” she said. “Jack and I will drive Tony and Tanya back to your motel later this evening. You go ahead and take care of your business calls.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Amah took me by the shoulders. “All right, young lady, are you going to tell me what just happened in the laundry room?”

I explained, pointing to my damaged lip.

Amah’s mouth twisted in a sympathetic smile. “Oh, dear. No wonder Nick came out of there looking like he’d been clobbered by a foul ball.”

“He isn’t usually jealous, but he’s always been edgy around James. I need to go explain what happened.”

“Well, he should take your word for it. You definitely have a fat lip to prove it.”

“Good, do you see any blood?”

Amah laughed. “A little, but maybe you can squeeze out a bit more.”

Nick and I walked back to the barn side by side with a cloud of silence between us. I wanted to wait until we were alone before I brought up the laundry room incident. Inside our apartment, I took a stab at it.

“Nick, I think you got the wrong impression when you walked in on James and me.”

“Not now, Aimee. Ginger needs to go out.” The poor dog was standing at the door whining.

“When you get back, then.”

“Soon enough.” He and Ginger headed down the steps and out into the llama pasture.

I looked at my lip in the bathroom mirror. It looked puffy to me, but my lips are naturally full, so I took Amah’s advice and gave the sore spot a little squeeze, coaxing out a few crimson droplets. There, clear-cut proof that James had been inspecting my injury. There was nothing else on his mind, or on mine.

Back in the kitchen, I watched Nick and Ginger out the window, thinking what a disaster the day had become.

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