Out in the Country by Kate Hewitt Page A

then?”
    “As a matter of fact, yes. A student came to see me right before you did,” Molly said, and then told him all about Tonya’s visit.
    “Tonya Foster?” Luke frowned. “She’s got into trouble more than once. Shoplifting, nicking things from other students--”
    “Maybe that’s because she’s frustrated,” Molly returned robustly. “She obviously connected with the poem--”
    Luke gave her a shoulder a squeeze that managed to send shivers straight down her arm. “Good for her, Molly. And good for you--it’s those moments that make it worth it, isn’t it? But,” he added with a glimmer of a smile, “watch your bag.”
     
    “So.” John sat across from Lynne, a packet of papers spread out on the kitchen table before them. “I’ve organised a town meeting to go over the zoning laws this Friday. Will you be able to make it?”
    Lynne smiled, a cautious optimism checking the fatigue of the last few days. “I’d better be, hadn’t I?”
    “That’s the spirit.” John smiled and lightly touched Lynne’s hand, removing it before she even had time to properly register the gesture. “You look tired.”
    “I feel tired. There’s just so much to do, to think about--”
    “You don’t have to tackle it all at once,” John said gently and Lynne smiled in rueful acknowledgment.
    “I know. But it’s hard to keep my mind from buzzing.” She rose from the table, conscious of the strange, new intimacy of being alone in a sun-dappled kitchen with a man. It was silly to feel this way, she told herself as she bustled around the room, putting mugs in the dishwasher and turning off the coffeemaker. John was just being a good friend, for Adam’s sake. Not necessarily for hers. Yet as she wiped the kitchen counter for a second time, taking slow, careful swipes, she was conscious of his considering gaze on her.
    “How is Graham?” John asked after a moment, his voice mild and easy.
    “Doing better than anyone could have expected.” Lynne turned back to John and tried to match his tone. “He came home yesterday, as you know, and it’s hard to keep him down. I think he’d be over here if he could, with a hammer and a hard hat.”
    “It’s good for him, to see this finally happening.”
    “Yes.” Lynne nodded slowly. “Although I would have thought it would be a bit sad as well--this has been the Marshall family home for nearly a century, and a bed and breakfast isn’t quite the same.”
    “True, but Graham and Adam had always had a dream to turn this place into a going concern. It’s wonderful that it finally might becoming a reality.”
    “Might be,” Lynne agreed with a renewed flutter of worry. “I didn’t realise they’d talked about it quite so much,” she continued. “Graham said as much in the hospital the other day, but Adam never spoke of it to me.”
    John shrugged. “It was a bit of a childhood thing, I suppose. Adam always joked his apprenticeship was with this house--he and Graham tackled most of the repairs. I think it was Adam who thought of turning it into a b&b, and Graham was so thrilled at the thought of a father and son business.”
    Lynne stiffened in surprise, her eyes widening. “Did Graham expect Adam to return to Hardiwick, then?”
    John shrugged again, and Lynne saw a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “What parent doesn’t want that?”
    “I just never...” Lynne turned away, pouring herself another cup of coffee even though she’d already turned the pot off and the coffee was growing cold. “I never realised,” she finally said. “We hardly ever came up here, you know. Adam was always so busy.”
    “He had a very successful career.”
    “I suppose I never really considered the cost of it, though,” Lynne said quietly, “at least on Kathy and Graham.”
    John rose from the table, coming to stand behind Lynne, one hand on her shoulder, his fingers warm through the fabric of her shirt. “Don’t mistake me. Kathy and Graham were also thrilled about