The Legacy: Trouble Comes Disguised As Family (Unspoken Book 2) by T. Belshaw (the best books to read .txt) 📗

Sam dropped six rashers of bacon into the huge cast iron skillet.

‘Blimey, this thing weighs a ton.’

Jess laughed. ‘It’s been in the family for generations, it’s an heirloom.’

‘It’s a bloody wrist breaker,’ her best friend replied. ‘I’ll tell you what. Back in the day, if the old man came in late from the pub and got clobbered with this, he’d think twice before he stayed out again.’

Fifteen minutes later, Jess transferred one of the bottles of wine from the freezer to the fridge and carried the other one through to the lounge.

‘I’ll call Sky to get my TV and broadband account switched over tomorrow.’ She picked up a remote control and turned on the 32-inch flat screen TV. ‘Until then, I’m afraid we only have a choice of five channels. Nana wouldn’t even have Freeview installed.’ She flicked through the channels before settling on an episode of the detective series, Vera. ‘It’s like the dark ages, isn’t it?’

‘I can’t remember not having broadband,’ said Sam. ‘I must only have been a kid when we first had it installed at home.’

‘Mum and Dad found other things to waste their money on,’ replied Jess. ‘I seem to remember a lot of squealing and squawking when Dad used the internet back in the nineties.’

Sam’s phone pinged. She picked it up, read a text message, then sent a reply. ‘Jamie, checking in to see how things are going. I sent him a wine glass emoji in reply.’

‘He’s a nice bloke, your Jamie, you’ve really landed on your feet there, Sam.’

‘He’s all right,’ Sam replied. ‘He’s the marrying type though, and I’m not really sure that I am.’

‘Don’t let him slip away,’ Jess advised. ‘Nice men like that are a rarity these days. He’s a keeper.’

Sam looked up from scouring WhatsApp. ‘I know, I’m just not ready to be tied down yet, that’s all. I’m not daft, Jess. I know I have a good one.’ She looked back to the phone again. ‘So, are you ready to get back onto the saddle, so to speak?’ she gave Jess a wicked grin, made a semi fist with one hand and moved it up and down over the index finger of the other.

Jess rolled her eyes heavenwards.

‘Not for a long while yet, Sam. I was just saying the same to Ewan Drake, outside of Tesco’s this evening.’

‘Ewan? That lanky, skinny, lad? The one who followed you around like a lost sheep at school?’

‘That’s him, only he’s not so skinny these days, he’s built like a rugby player. He went to Africa to do charity work.’

‘Ooh, do tell. What was he after?’ Sam sat bolt upright.

‘He asked me out to dinner. But I refused,’ Jess added quickly.

‘Why? What’s wrong with him? Fred West would be a breath of fresh air after Calvin.’

Jess pulled a face as she thought. ‘He’s a bit too clean cut, if you know what I mean? He’s very serious all the time. For all his many faults, Calvin could at least make me laugh. I’ve never seen Ewan laugh in all the time I’ve known him.’

‘I suppose you’re right, you need a shared sense of humour, love. Jamie can tell some right dodgy jokes when he’s had a few.’

‘Ewan would take serious offence at a dodgy joke,’ said Jess, sadly. ‘He’s on the woke side of things.’

‘Oh, God, that’s worse than finding religion,’ said Sam. She looked up at the TV. ‘Blimey! this is awful. Remind me never to slag off Netflix ever again.’

‘I’d try to get Netflix on the laptop, but honestly, Sam, even tethered to the phone for internet, the speed would be so poor it would be buffering all the time.’

Sam pulled a face. ‘I’m getting WhatsApp messages, but even the smaller videos aren’t working.’

‘It’s like the back of beyond out here,’ laughed Jess. ‘Luckily the houses just up the road and the farm beyond this one, have broadband connections. It would have cost a fortune getting the fibre optic cable to me if they’d had to run it from the junction box outside the Old Bull pub.’

‘Well, you can afford it now, Mrs Moneybags,’ Sam said with a laugh. ‘I’m sure your nice lawyer would have paid for it had you asked. What is he like, anyway? Is he cute, or is he an old duffer?’

‘He seems very nice. He is rather good looking, a couple of years older than me, single… at least I think he is. He was married for a short time when he was in his early twenties but it didn’t work out and they got a divorce. He has a flat down the Gillingham Road.’

‘Blimey! You got all that from a will reading appointment? I shudder to think what you’d get out of him on a date. It would be like the Spanish Inquisition.’

Jess laughed. ‘It wasn’t like that at all. It came up in conversation when we were sitting outside Café Blanc, that’s all.’

‘Hang on a minute.’ Sam put her glass on the floor and twisted around so that her face was only a foot away from Jess’s. ‘You didn’t say anything about romantic meals at the Café bloody Blanc.’

‘We’d both missed lunch… and it wasn’t romantic at all… well, the setting was, but our meal wasn’t. We just had a late lunch and a chat about things in general and that’s it.’

Jess dragged her eyes away from Sam’s intense stare.

‘I see. So, when are you seeing him again?’ Sam twisted her head so that she could see Jess’s face.

‘I’m not… at least… I’ve got to call him soon to get the repairs and improvements started on the farm. He gave me his personal mobile, so I can reach him…’ Jess tailed off realising how it sounded.

Sam leapt on the pause and clapped her hands in delight.

‘Well, it didn’t take you long to get over Calvin did it? Listen here you, I want a full report on my desk within an hour of you either seeing, or speaking to him.