‘Talking’s boring.’
Adam smiled at Jonas, the humour not quite reaching his eyes. ‘It sure is. So just stand there and don’t move, OK? We’ll be back soon.’ He turned to Kitty, the smile disappearing from his lips. ‘A word, please?’
He stalked past her, his feet kicking up snow as he walked. Kitty felt his arm brush against hers. She took a deep lungful of air, trying to ignore the way her heart was hammering against her chest. By the time she turned towards him, he was ten yards away. She walked over to join him.
‘Hi,’ she said, reaching her hand out. ‘Maybe we can start this again? I’m Kitty, Jonas’s nanny.’
‘I know who you are,’ Adam said, pointedly ignoring her hand. ‘What the hell were you thinking, letting Jonas run toward the lake on his own? Did you hear what happened the other day? The kid nearly drowned, I had to fish him out before he sunk right under. What kind of nanny lets a child run into danger like that?’
His verbal onslaught felt like a slap to her already sensitive skin. She recoiled, taking a step back from him, needing the distance it gave. ‘I took my eyes off him for a second,’ she protested. ‘As soon as I realised he was in the forest I ran after him. And look, he’s fine, all right? He knows not to go sledding without me.’ She pointed at Jonas, who was staring at them both with narrowed eyes. He wasn’t silly, he must have known they were arguing.
‘No, it’s not all right,’ Adam told her. ‘It’s far from fucking all right. A minute is all it takes for somebody to get hurt. He’s just a kid, he needs looking after. And if you’re too busy doing your lipstick, or talking with your friends on your phone to do it, maybe you should just leave.’
A surge of anger washed through her. ‘I don’t know who pissed in your cornflakes this morning, but you’re being completely over the top. Yes, he ran off when he shouldn’t have, and yes, I’ll be having a word with him, but you’re way out of line to be talking to me like this.’
He shook his head vehemently. ‘I’m not the one out of line.’
‘Yes you are. I’ve no idea what I’ve done to make you so angry, beside kill a deer by accident, but every time I’ve seen you, you’ve bitten my head off.’ She stopped to take in a deep breath. He was still staring at her, those deep brown eyes narrowed to slits.
‘Yeah, well just do your job and we’ll all be OK. That kid gets neglected enough, he doesn’t need to add you to the list of people who ignore him.’
She straightened her spine. ‘I don’t ignore him, and I never would. And I resent any suggestion otherwise. Now perhaps we can end this discussion and I’ll go and give him the attention he deserves.’ She folded her arms in front of her.
He looked at her for a moment longer, his gaze flickering from her face to her crossed arms, and then down to her cinched waist. She really hated this damn outfit. Finally he gave her a slight nod. ‘OK.’
Letting out her mouthful of air, she turned on the heel of her snow boots and walked back to Jonas, ignoring Mr Angry-Yet-Beautiful as he stayed motionless behind her. Twisting her lips into a smile just for Jonas, she blinked back the furious tears that threatened to spill over if she let them.
‘Come on, let’s go sledding.’
7
This above all: to thine own self be true
– Hamlet
‘How angry did you get?’ Martin asked, crossing his legs, the movement making his grey pants crinkle up. ‘On a scale of one to LA.’
Was that supposed to be a joke? Adam wasn’t sure. Marti
n was always so deadpan, he couldn’t tell the difference between a joke and a pointed remark.
‘I got pretty angry. The kid nearly drowned in the lake, for Christ’s sake. She was being negligent.’
‘You said she was only a few seconds behind him.’ Martin scribbled something down on his pad. ‘Maybe you could have given her the benefit of the doubt. Why didn’t you?’
Adam licked his lips, dry from the heated air. ‘I guess I saw red. It only takes a minute for an accident to happen. She shouldn’t take her eye off him for a second.’ He leaned forward, his expression intense. ‘If something had happened to him, I’d never forgive myself.’
Martin’s lips twitched as he wrote on his pad again. Adam wondered if he’d ever get to see those notes. ‘I notice how agitated you get when you talk about this girl, Kitty, is that right? What is it that triggers you?’
‘She doesn’t trigger me. She just aggravates me.’
This time Martin allowed a small smile to break out. ‘OK, so what aggravates you about her?’
Adam leaned back on the easy chair. ‘She nearly hurt my nephew.’
‘But by your own account he was in more danger before Kitty arrived in Cutler’s Gap. And I don’t remember you getting so aggravated at your sister-in-law for letting Jonas run free around the lake. Did this Kitty say something that hit a nerve?’
Adam closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the events of the previous day. He couldn’t get her hurt expression out of his head no matter how hard he’d tried. She’d tried to be friendly, even offered him her hand, and he’d pretty much chewed her out as soon as he opened his mouth.