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Thea:Are you free to chat?

Kitty pulled herself up to a sitting position. She’d been lying on her bed, reliving last night over and over in her head. She’d battled the urge to call Josh, despite her bitter disappointment in his words. Nausea brewed in the base of her stomach. Thea’s message had to be about her brother. Kitty took a breath and dialled her number.

“Hello?” said Thea, her soft voice reminding Kitty of Josh.

“Hi, it’s Kitty. Is everything okay?”

There was a short silence on the other end of the call.

“I was hoping to ask you the same thing. This is a bit awkward, but did something happen last night? Between you and Josh, I mean.”

Kitty bit her bottom lip. How much should she say to Thea?

“I only saw him briefly. Is he alright?”

“Well, he was out at the crack of dawn riding the hell out of Madonna, and now he’s holed up in his place, as miserable as sin. He’s refusing to tell me what’s wrong. If you call that alright, then I guess he is.”

“I don’t know how I can help,” Kitty said, knowing that wasn’t strictly true.

Thea sighed. “Kitty, Josh has talked to me about you. I know how much he likes you.”

Kitty’s heart skipped several beats, and a glimmer of hope ignited in her. He’d told Thea he liked her. But then she rememberedhis words from the night before and his lack of trust in her.

“If something’s wrong, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?” said Thea, an urgent edge in her voice.

Kitty paused, choosing her words carefully.

“We had a bit of a disagreement. We’re still friends, but he needs to sort a few things out. For himself.”

A bit of a disagreement? He’d split her heart in two.

Kitty waited for Thea to respond. She could almost hear her brain cells churning over the phone. “But I want you to know that it won’t affect my helping at the farm. I’m totally committed to you and the sanctuary.”

Thea’s exhalation rattled down the phone. “That means a lot, thank you. I promise not to bring Josh up again.”

There was so much Kitty wanted to say. She wanted to pour her heart out to Thea and get her take on what she should do.

“It’s okay. I’m an adult. It’s not as if we won’t bump into each other in the next couple of weeks. I’ll see you in the morning, boss.”

Kitty hung up the call, and a crushing weight hit her chest. She only had two more weeks in Tottenbridge. Two more weeks of feeling free. Two more weeks of being surrounded by wonderful people and two more weeks of seeing Josh’s face. She didn’t even have a photo of him, and stealing one from the farmhouse was all kinds of wrong.

The likelihood of her returning to Tottenbridge soon after she moved to London was slim to none. Her new job would require focus and commitment. She’d have to travel, meet the right people, and get up to speed. Kitty frowned. She wasn’t remotely excited by the prospect. This was all she’d wanted, all she’d worked for. And now, she felt like a prisoner being led to the executioner.

53

KITTY

The following day,just as she’d promised Thea, Kitty made it to work at the sanctuary. After thirty-six hours, her anger with Josh had fizzled out to a disappointed sadness. Already she missed the excitement of walking into the yard, wondering if she’d see him. The way his smile across the yard made her toes curl and the look of intensity on his face when he talked about his job. She couldn’t excuse his accusations, but she didn’t want to leave their friendship on such a wrong note.

After mucking out the pigs and then going over some final figures for Thea’s business plan, Kitty needed some fresh air. She poured herself a glass of water and wandered outside. Ammy was playing in the sun, digging large holes in the herb garden against the stables. She’d left little piles of dirt on the cobblestones.

Kitty walked over to chat with the little girl. They’d become close, and Ammy had taken to calling herPrettyinstead of Kitty.

“Hello there. What are you up to?” Kitty asked.

“I’m busy.” The little girl waved her plastic spade around her, pointing to the little mounds of soil on the cobblestones.

“Well, I can see that. But what are you doing?” Kitty sat down and crossed her legs, the knobbly ground digging into her bottom.