The House at the Bottom of the Hill by Jennie Jones Read Free Book Online

‘Can’t, or so I believe.’ He and Jamie were good buddies. The guys of a certain age in town stuck together when the opportunity arose. Exercise, the odd boys’ night out at Kookaburra’s. Same as the women did, when they got a chance.
    ‘So they’re bringing a baby home?’ she asked.
    ‘No. A young teenager. A boy.’
    ‘Good for them,’ she said softly.
    Dan happened to agree. He’d guessed a fair amount over the last few years, and had seen—as had everyone in town—the pain of disappointment in his friends’ eyes as each year went by with no child appearing for them, but Dan had never pushed either to tell him their business. Neither was he going to gossip about them.
    ‘I saw a little animal that looked like a mouse the other day,’ Charlotte said suddenly.
    He turned to her. ‘A pygmy possum? You actually saw one?’
    ‘If that’s what it was. I thought it was injured at first, it just sat there and didn’t move when I walked up to it.’
    ‘Do you carry your mobile phone when you’re out running?’ He scanned her torso but couldn’t make out anything beneath the oversized sweatshirt.
    ‘Do you?’
    Dan looked up. ‘I asked you first.’
    ‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t.’
    ‘Well, you might want to.’ He could see her now, lost and sunburnt with one small drink bottle. Someone was going to have to look after her; give her a few pointers on surviving an Aussie summer.
    ‘Why do you keep telling me what to do?’ she asked.
    ‘Don’t get prickly, Charlotte. I was only making an observation.’
    ‘It was the way you made it.’
    Dan laughed and put a hand on his thigh. ‘Why is it we can’t have a normal conversation without bickering?’
    ‘No idea, but you start it. Every time.’ She cricked her neck and rolled her shoulders.
    Dan wasn’t convinced the squabbling was entirely his fault, and if she looked at him he was pretty sure he’d see the vulnerable look in her eyes. The one she tried to cover up. Maybe she was trying to be tougher than she was.
    ‘If you find an injured animal and you want to save it you’d need a phone to call someone, wouldn’t you?’
    ‘Like who?’
    Dan studied her to make sure he wouldn’t miss her reaction. ‘Like Ethan.’
    The blush already on her cheeks from the exercise spread to her throat.
    So Ethan was on her mind. ‘Or if you don’t want to call Ethan for some reason—’ like because she had the hots for a married man and didn’t want his wife picking up the telephone ‘—you could call someone in the wildlife rescue group.’
    ‘I don’t think the mouse animal was injured, it was just quiet.’
    ‘It was a pygmy possum. They hibernate beneath the snow through winter. But they’re nocturnal. I’m surprised you saw one.’
    ‘So it was probably sleepy,’ she said, tilting her head.
    ‘Or simply mesmerised by you,’ he said quietly, thinking that any creature would be dazzled by Charlotte Simmons.
    She stared at him, blinked a few times as she sussed him out—he could tell, her emotions sat on her face, readable for anyone who was interested. She wasn’t about to give him a flippant response though, not if he read the sudden spark of laughter lighting her eyes correctly. She bit her cheek and looked away.
    Dan grinned. ‘You almost smiled there, Charlotte. Careful. Next thing you know, you’ll be falling for all the small-town charisma and magic.’
    She huffed a derogatory laugh. ‘Don’t hang around waiting for that to happen.’
    Dan stood. If she wanted to get a decent footing in town before she started her business, she’d have to fall for the town because if she didn’t, she’d never fit in.
    He jogged on the spot, mindful of keeping his body warm. ‘Might want to do the same thing, Red. Keep warm.’
    ‘I’m boiling hot. And don’t call me Red.’
    ‘Stay focussed. Keep your concentration on the task at hand—exercise.’
    She swept a hand along the crest of the hill. ‘Feel free to jog