Page 35 of A Country Kind Of Love

“Behind the toilet in the bathroom.”

Peyton quivers.Even worse.

“You can get down now if you like,” Jesse says confidently. He looks a little more Shawn Mendes than usual today. His chiselled jawline is protruding since his shave, and his hair looks shorter.

“Why do you look...” Don’t insult him, “so niceand clean?”

He definitely takes it as an insult. He turns and swipes the coffee fromthe counter.

“Well, no coffee for you.”

“I didn’t mean it like it sounded. You are clean, but you’ve done something.” She swizzles her hand in frontof his body.

“I had a shave.” He laughs. “One of the women who organises the events at the concert venue last night is also a hairdresser, so she cut my hair.”

“She’s done a good job. I like it.” She’s genuinely impressed.

“Yeah, it’s not bad.” Jesse hands her the coffee back. “You’ve redeemed yourself.”

He’s sweet. A big goof ball really. He’s the type of guy who’s lanky muscle taut body and assured demeanour command attention, she imagines people stop and stare, he’s easy on the eye, slightly intimidating, but his smile is soft, and his heart is pure gold. She isn’t sure she knows of any flaws.

Oh wait, the tarantula.

Choice in pets—100% a flaw.

“How was the gig?”Peyton asks.

“Great. Concert venue was full, which is always nice.”

“You’ve been getting a lot of gigs lately. You’ve got a few lined up at the weekendtoo, right?”

Jesse pulls a can of 100% pure pumpkin down from the top shelf. “Yep, we’re fully booked next week. Playing Tuesday through Saturday.” He removes the top from the can and pulls out a stash of money.

“That doesn’t look like pumpkin,”Peyton says.

“It was the least appealing can of food I could find. When you hide money in your house you need it to be in something nobody’s going to eat. I hate pumpkin, figured it was a good option.” He counts the notes.

“Or you could just put it in the bank.” Peyton raises her eyebrows suggestively.

“I could, but I don’t like the government keepingtabs on me.”

“I don’t think the federal government are concerned about your pumpkin fund.” Peyton chuckles. “What is itfor anyway?”

“A fortieth anniversary Stratocaster.” Jesse beams. He pulls his phone from his back pocket and flicks from one photo to the next. He talks her through theFender Diamond Dealer Custom Shop Limited Edition 40th Anniversary Stratocaster Flames 2-Colour Sunburst with Gold Hardware 1994in detail.

“It looks pretty, but did they have to give it a title that long?” Peyton asks. Her voice cracks from wanting to laugh. Jesse painstakingly repeats the title again in full.

“Special guitars have special titles.” He frowns at the screen. “They’ve put the god damn price up!” He removes the piece of paper from the pumpkin can and adjusts his workings out. “Great, that’s going to set me back a month.”

Considering they’ve only been living together for three weeks, he’s extremely trusting.

“Did you email all the record labels, and artists we spoke about theother day?”

“Yes, many, many emails.”

“Did you get any response?”Jesse asks.

“Nope.”