Free Out in the Country by Kate Hewitt Page A

and I can guarantee that most of them will be behind you.”
    Lynne shook her head. “But they don’t even know me.”
    John’s voice was gentle, and he reached out to tuck a stray tendril of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering for a brief moment. “Perhaps not, but they knew Adam.”
    Lynne felt emotion rise within her, a mix of hope and sorrow. She could still feel the memory of John’s fingers against her cheek. “You really think so?”
    “I know so,” John said firmly. “We can get a town meeting together to discuss it. We want to be here for you, Lynne.” He paused, and Lynne felt a tremor of awareness ripple through her as he added, “ I want to be here for you.”
     

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    “So when should I expect some competition?”
    Jessica looked up from her cup of coffee and the recipe ideas she’d been doodling on the back of her napkin. Mark Sheehan stood by her table at the Mountain Café, a coffee pot in hand, smiling easily. “Competition?” she repeated rather blankly, and he chuckled.
    “This bed and breakfast of yours.”
    “It’s Lynne’s--”
    “You’re doing the cooking, right? So at least the breakfast part is yours. Fifty percent.”
    Jess smiled ruefully. She hadn’t thought of it that way, had barely begun to get her head round the fact that she was staying at all. “Yes, I suppose...”
    Mark’s eyes twinkled as he refreshed her coffee. Jess glanced at him as he poured. He was friendly and attractive in a a self-assured way that was so similar to Rob. Jess knew Mark was a city transplant, and it showed. Even after several years in Hardiwick, he hadn’t lost that urban edge. Now he gave her a sidelong glance, making her blush because she’d been so obviously studying him.
    “So what made you decide to up sticks and move out here, anyway?” he asked. Jess’s fingers tightened around her mug and she took a fortifying--and stalling--sip.
    “I suppose I could ask the same question of you.”
    Mark shrugged. “I got tired of the city’s rat race. I had a restaurant there and it did fairly well. I didn’t exactly take Manhattan by storm, but it was a thriving business.” He lapsed into silence for a moment, and Jess wondered if she should ask. Press. She didn’t want people nosing into her life, her failures and mistakes, so why should Mark? Yet the intimacy of the nearly deserted restaurant--it was in the slow period between breakfast and lunch when the only sound was the rattle of the window panes in a sudden gust of October wind--compelled conversation.
    “And?” she finally asked, keeping her voice light. Mark shrugged again.
    “A failed marriage made me wake up a bit. I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing for twenty more years, and Linda and I had come up here for holiday a few times. I saw this space was for sale, and there was a niche in Hardiwick’s bustling economy...” His rueful grin didn’t quite cover the pain of loss in his eyes. “So I sold my restaurant in New York, and it was enough to get going with this place and buy a house for myself. Start over.”
    Jess nodded slowly. So Mark had a Linda, and she had a Rob. And they were both starting over.
    “Your turn.” Mark straddled the chair opposite her, resting his elbows on its back, the coffee pot forgotten on the sideboard. “Why did you decide to move here, Jessica?”
    “I haven’t moved yet,” she protested instinctively.
    Mark raised his eyebrows. “Is it still in question?”
    Jess shrugged. She could feel a blush creeping up her neck and staining her cheeks. She wasn’t ready to answer these kinds of questions. There hadn’t been enough time to develop Mark’s careless insouciance to cover the pain. “Same as you, really,” she finally said, inwardly wincing at how brittle her voice sounded. “Except for the marriage bit. We never got that far.”
    “Ah.” Mark was silent, and Jess kept her eyes on her coffee, turning the colourful mug round and round in her