Page 51 of Suddenly Single
It had left him feeling quite vulnerable.
Nevertheless, he’d gone on to work as men do, just as he always went to work when Audra was unhappy. He’d seen the Pettimores off and had closed that account, then had closed the door of his office and tried to concentrate on the mounds of paperwork he’d let slide as he’d worked to close the inn.
He’d lost track of time when Rosalyn poked her head in his office. “You canna go without food, lad.You’ll make yourself ill.” She presented him a plate of fish and chips.
“Thank you,” he muttered, and pretended to be concentrating on his work.
But Rosalyn lingered. She wandered over to the window, from where she could see the front drive and courtyard. “Ah, there’s Jenny and her friends,” she announced.
Edan assumed Rosalyn meant Lorenzo and perhaps his brothers. “Friends,” he repeated.
“Aye.Girlfriends come up from the city.”
Now he glanced up. “We’re no’ open.I’ve no rooms ready for them.”
“They’re staying at the resort,” Rosalyn said.
“Of course they are,” he said a little darkly.That resort had been the bane of this inn.It was impossible for quaint to compete with luxury amenities.
“Tsk tsk, Eddy.In a mood again, are you?” Rosalyn said, and thumped him on the back of the head as she went out.
When she closed the door, Edan dropped his pen and leaned back in his chair, rubbing the place she’d thumped him.Maybe he was in a mood again.He’d been stewing in his juices all bloody day.
He stood up and paced around the office.What in hell are you doing?Fretting over a woman he scarcely knew? Thinking of holding on to an inn he’d worked so hard to close? All because she’d filled his head with a lot of flowery ideas?
But they were good ideas.So were his.
Edan sat down and tried to work again.But after thirty minutes of that, he gave up.He needed to clear his head. He went outside, Wilbur and Boz trotting along behind him.
And then he watched his dogs trot right past him, all the way down to the first tee box, where Jenny was standing with a golf club in her hand.He heard her exclaim with delight when the dogs appeared, watched her dip down to greet them.
Lorenzo was there with his clubs, too, naturally.So were two women.Tall and slender, the both of them. Pretty. The four of them were laughing, and Lorenzo teed up his ball and took a swing at it, they all cheered for what was obviously a good drive. Next was Jenny’s turn.She teed the ball, then swung her club in a haphazard manner.Lorenzo moved in behind her, his body folding over hers, his arms showing her how to swing a golf club.
Edan’s blood raced.Had she gone back to that fucking Italian? What was between her and Lorenzo anyway, and why hadn’t he bloody wellasked?
The sudden, piercing shriek of a woman caused Edan to jump a good foot in the air. It sounded as if someone had discovered a body. A sudden commotion and a lot of shouting in Italian followed that when a woman appeared on the walk that went around the inn.She had long, flaming red hair and was wearing a skirt so short that it looked impossible to actually sit.She teetered in heels that made her tower above Ned, who followed along with her bags.
Lorenzo dropped his club. He babbled in Italian, gesturing to Jenny, who was shaking her head, and then raced toward the redhead and grabbed her up, even while the both of them shouted over each other in Italian.
Edan looked back to the women on the tee box.To his surprise, Jenny was clapping.She was laughing and smiling, clearly happy that this woman had come. And then she was running to where Lorenzo was now kissing the redhead.Incredulous, Edan watched as Lorenzo introduced Jenny, who threw her arms around the woman. And then around Lorenzo.And then around the both of them, pushing them together.
The scene was chaotic and confusing, but Edan was certain of one thing—Jenny was not sleeping with Lorenzo.She wasn’t playing both ends against the middle. He turned and walked back to his office, his step a little lighter.
Fifteen
Elizabetta was beautiful.A goddess.And a bitch.
She and Lorenzo alternately fought and made up for the rest of the afternoon while Jenny translated for Brooke and Vanessa as best she could. But Lorenzo and Elizabetta’s speech was so fast and angry at times that she couldn’t keep up.“She’s telling him he is as stupid as a cow, and that he thinks with his dick, and he said that she is beautiful and he would do anything for her.”
“Like what?” Brooke asked. “I need specifics.”
Jenny shook her head.“They’re talking too fast.Anyway, I think he’s begging like a dog now.”
“It’s working,” Vanessa said, nudging Jenny.The lovebirds were kissing.
“How does that work?” Brooke asked curiously. ”How does any of that work?”
Lorenzo seemed happy and loopy in love in spite of the bickering. Elizabetta looked like she wanted to stomp on him some more, but Jenny could see she was warming up to him. There was no question those two belonged with each other.
