Free Vision In Love (Legends of The North Book 1) by Liz Bower

or"
    "Jess."
    Her head snapped round to look at Matt. "What?"
    "Should we go get our table? I'm starving."
    Emma followed them both, wondering what Jessica had meant and why Matt seemed so upset by it.
    ***
    Matt was happy to sit quietly through dinner. As the wine flowed, Jess and Emma got to know each other. For some reason, he felt unsettled and was content to let Jess take over. But as they made their way down Green Street, Jess walked on ahead of them only to stop outside Emma's house.  
    Emma stole another glance at Matt, but he seemed engrossed by his feet. Nudging him with her elbow, she said, "You okay?"
    He flashed her a brief smile. "Yeah, fine. Just a bit worried about Jess."
    "She seems happy enough."
    "Drunk enough, you mean." It wasn't a complete lie. He was worried about Jess, but mainly he was worried about Emma, and he wasn't used to that. Normally, he didn't care what people thought. Everyone knew who his parents were, and that he didn't really speak to them. If people tried to get to his parents through him, they didn't get very far and soon lost interest. But Emma probably didn't have a clue about who his family were. He hadn't lied to her as such, but he'd never given her his full name or said where exactly in the village he'd grown up. Emma walked past Jess, opening the gate to her garden.
    "Oh, my God, you've rented Gran's old place?"
    Emma nodded. "Want to come in for a drink?"
    "Sure. I'm curious what the place looks like now. It's been years since I was last here."
    Emma turned to Matt. "You coming in, too?"
    "Think I better. Otherwise, you might end up stuck with Jess for the night."
    "Hey! I heard that. Don't use me as your excuse."
    Emma left Jess to wander around while Matt opened a bottle of wine and she saw to an excited Barney.
    "This place looks so different. It's amazing, like a completely different house," Jess said as they all sat down in the living room.
    "How many have you had to drink Jess?" Matt asked.
    With a smile, Jess just waved her hand in his direction, but less than ten minutes later she was softly snoring.
    "Sorry about Jess, she's not normally like this."
    "Don't worry about it. Sometimes, we all need to blow off a little steam."
    Emma looked like she was about to say more but before she could, he said, "Jess still relies on our parents for money."
    Emma watched as the red stain crept up his cheeks and reached the tips of his ears. She knew him well enough by that point to know he was nervous about whatever he was going to say, so she said nothing, just slid her ring on and off her finger.
    "Well, that's not entirely fair. She'd probably still visit them, even if she wasn't. She still cares what they think."
    "But you don't?"
    Something in her tone made him look up at her. She seemed as though she understood, not like she was judging him.
    "Not for a long time now. But what Jess said earlier was true. People do like to talk about our family. You said it yourself. They're like royalty in this village." He watched her face as she absorbed his words. Shock. Then anger?  
    "Your parents are the Altenburys? You're an Altenbury?"
    He watched her stand and turn away from him. "Does it matter?"
    "Yes. No, I don't know. Yes, because I feel like you kept it from me. I mean, we talked about your family, but you didn't say they were your family." With a sigh, she pushed her hair back. "No, it doesn't matter. You can't choose your family, can you?" She looked at him as she paced across the room, stopping abruptly and folding her arms across her chest. "What did you think I was going to do?"
    "Nothing. I just ... the way you spoke about them, I thought it might scare you off. I just, I wanted to get to know you before I told you."
    ***
    She felt like she should be mad at him, but she realised he didn't have to tell her anything. She wanted him to, but he didn't have to. She knew herself what families could do to a person, so how could she be mad at him? "Why would your family scare me