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‘Pleeeaaaase,’ Charlie whined.
‘OK. Thanks.’ He hit the release for both his seatbelt and mine and then removed the keys from the ignition. ‘Shall we?’
A frisson of excitement made my heart beat out a faster rhythm. I’d never invited anybody to the house before; no friends, none of the girls from my old boarding school, and most definitely no boys. ‘Let’s go.’
We all piled out of the car at once, with Charlie jumping out from the driver’s side to save me having to fight with the lever to collapse the front seat. Zac walked around to the boot to retrieve my rucksack and the picnic blanket before trailing Charlie and me to the front door. Keys still in hand, Zac used the only available option since I only kept one door key on my keyring then pushed the door open.
‘After you,’ he said, extending his free arm.
‘Why, thank you.’ I led Charlie into the playroom then, with Zac’s help, we got Charlie settled on the picnic blanket with a plate full of food in front of Cars 2.
‘So?’ Zac said, turning away from the TV to face me.
‘My turn now, huh?’ I said, too scared to turn my hands over to see if they looked any better. Judging from how much they hurt, I suspected worse.
‘Yep. Do you have tweezers?’
I nodded. ‘They’re in my room. Do you want to come up—er…’ My stomach plummeted to my toes. Oh, puh-lease. I sounded no better than a stranger inviting someone to see their puppies. ‘Give me a sec and I’ll pop up and get them.’
‘Why? Is your room a pigsty?’
‘No.’ I shot him a glare but then noticed the crinkle around his eyes.
‘Then what’s the problem?’
‘I just thought that after…’ Stop talking, Alice. My mouth finally caught up with my brain. After the debacle in the park, I’d been given another chance. ‘Never mind. The tweezers are in my bathroom.’
‘Even better. I’ll need running water too.’ He hauled my bag back onto his shoulder and quirked his eyebrow at me. ‘Lead the way.’
‘There’s a better first aid kit in the utility, and antiseptic—’
‘No antiseptic. It might damage the tissue.’
‘Really?’
‘It can slow down healing too.’
‘Oh.’
‘You might want some painkillers though.’
‘Again…bedroom cabinet.’
‘Then what are we waiting for? You point out where everything is, and I’ll do the donkey work.’
Yep, he’s definitely too good to be true.
‘This way,’ I said, not stupid enough to look a gift-horse in the mouth, not even a donkey version. I got as far as the doorway before I stopped and turned back. ‘Charlie, we’ll just be in my bedroom cleaning my poorly hands if you need anything.’
‘OK,’ Charlie replied without taking his eyes off the screen.
‘He’ll be fine,’ Zac murmured beside me.
I hesitated a moment longer and watched Charlie take another bite of his sandwich before I nodded. ‘We won’t be long,’ I said to the room at large and then set off for the stairs.
Zac followed closely behind, his head turning this way and that as he took everything in. ‘Your house is massive.’
‘I’ll give you the full tour after lunch, if you like, but I tend to stick to my floor.’
‘Your floor? As in an entire level?’ Thank goodness somebody couldn’t actually trip over their jaw otherwise Zac would be tumbling down the stairs and in a worse state than me.
‘Pretty much, although it’s a bit different to the main part of the house.’ We reached the first landing with its wide hallway and white panelled doors. ‘Charlie’s room is on this level, along with his mum and dad’s and the guest rooms.’
‘So you live with your aunt and uncle?’
Shit. I’d set myself up for that one. ‘Something like that,’ I said, falling back on the cryptic answers as I led Zac to one of the many doors on the family floor. ‘I’m up here.’
‘Up?’
I opened the door to reveal another staircase. Zac did some weird upside-down smile and nodded his approval, then fell in behind me. We reached the top of the much narrower staircase which spilled onto the landing with its three doors leading off.
‘So these rooms are all yours?’
‘Yep.’
‘But the rest of your family are on the floor below?’
‘It’s quite an old house so I think this floor must have been designed for a housekeeper or live-in nanny.’
‘Right.’ Zac held my gaze longer than I’d anticipated, intrigue burning in his eyes, but I couldn’t be the one to look away first. ‘So which one of these doors leads to your bedroom?’ he asked finally, directing his gaze to each of the closed doors ahead.
‘That one,’ I said, pointing to the middle one. ‘The other ones lead to my home gym and my dressing room.’
‘Your home gym?’
‘Poke your head in if you like. I kitted it out last year with a treadmill, rowing machine, cross-trainer, and a punchbag.’
‘A punchbag? Wow, remind me not to get on your bad side.’
‘I need to let off steam sometimes.’ Putting it mildly. ‘Pity I can’t take any of it with my when I leave.’ Damn it, I’d done it again.
Zac picked up on my blunder straight away. ‘Are you moving out?’
‘No plans as yet, but I’m saving up. I suppose you think I’m crazy for wanting to leave this house?’
He tilted his head and studied me until it bordered on uncomfortable. ‘I’m sure you have your reasons. So is the other room crammed full of clothes?’
‘And shoes. You mustn’t forget those.’
‘Heaven forbid.’ He faked a shudder before setting off for my bedroom. With his back turned, I closed my eyes and let out a discreet sigh of relief. ‘Are you coming?’
I opened my eyes mid-exhale and saw him looking back at me with his eyebrow raised. Too embarrassed to answer, I slipped underneath his arm that was holding the door open and led the way through my bedroom to my bathroom.
Zac immediately turned on the tap over the basin. ‘Keep your hands under the running water to clean all that gunk off.’
‘OK.’ While I did as I was told, Zac pottered around my bathroom. Talk about odd. I wasn’t used to other people in my space, let alone my private bathroom, and especially not a guy.
‘Where are your tweezers?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Your tweezers. Where are they?’ he asked, not seeing the instruments of torture amongst the rest of my crap.
‘Oh, they’re just there, in front of my eyelash curlers,’ I said, nodding towards them.
‘What the hell are eyelash curlers when they’re at home?’
‘You obviously don’t have sisters.’
‘Nope. Just a brother.’
‘Right. Do you see the metal thing at the front there, the one that looks a bit like a pair of scissors but without any blades.’
‘Oh right, yeah. Got them,’ he said, brandishing the tweezers in the air.
‘Great.’ My stomach flipped at the thought of what was coming next. ‘Could you do me a favour, Zac?’ I asked, still stuck with my hands in the basin.
‘Try me.’
‘Could you grab a chewing gum out of my toiletry bag please?’
‘Hang on. Isn’t a girl’s toiletry bag, like, forbidden territory?’ Again he managed to put a smile on my face.
‘I’m prepared to make an exception for you, just this once, so long as you don’t report me to the authorities.’
‘Your secret is safe with me.’ Zac words resonated on so many levels but it was probably me reading too much into them.
‘Thanks.’
He reached for the bag and rooted amongst the various bits and pieces I kept in there. Nothing too incriminating. Usually travel-size bottles of shower gel and shampoo; baby wipes; a spare toothbrush and toothpaste; and my emergency packet of gum. ‘Nicotine gum?’
‘Yep, they’re the ones.’ I sounded monotone compared to the surprise in Zac’s voice.
‘Are you trying to give up smoking?’
‘Nope, although I probably should. I just don’t like smoking around Charlie.’
‘I see.’ From the way Zac spoke, I got the unnerving impression that he really did see, but then he seemed to see an awful lot that he wasn’t supposed to. ‘Open wide.’ As soon as I’d opened my mouth enough, he popped the gum onto my tongue, then looked around. ‘Where do you keep your clean towels?’
‘In the cupboard in the corner.’
‘Ah.’ He set off and accidentally brushed against me when he walked past. The effect was instant and I damn well nearly choked on the stupid gum. ‘Whoa! Are you OK?’
I nodded, unable to stop coughing.
‘That’s all right, then.’ He smirked, then assembled his supplies into the towel and left me free to ‘not’ choke to death. With the bundle in one hand, he tipped out my toothbrush from its glass holder with his other hand, then washed it out before filling it with cold water. He lifted the glass to my lips and I drank greedily.
‘Thanks,’ I said, my throat soothed by the icy cold water. ‘You’re a lifesaver.’
‘And I didn’t even have to get wet this time,’ he said, grinning at my rubbish pun. ‘Are you ready then?’
‘Er… Sure.’ I presented my hands to him. ‘Just be gentle.’
‘Of course.’ His touch did the weird tingle thing to me again. ‘Um…this could take a while, Alice. Is there somewhere you’d be more comfortable?’
Not bloody likely!
I had a fast developing crush on the totally awesome guy in my bedroom—well, en-suite bathroom—and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it…except get out of the bedroom perhaps. ‘Is the balcony OK with you?’
Zac did a brilliant job of cleaning me up, giving me plenty of opportunity to admire his long, dexterous fingers. He successfully removed every single splinter from my palms, dropping each bit of tree onto a sheet of tissue. Put at ease by his gentle bedside manner, I didn’t freak out at all when I had to lie down on my sun lounger so that he could get to the splinters in my calves as well.
It took ages.
Charlie’s film finished and he came up to join me and Zac on the balcony, chatting away merrily while Zac finished up. After a bite to eat and a quick tour of Charlie’s room, Zac set off for his run home, but not before leaving me with strict instructions to see my doctor or go to a walk-in centre if there was any sign of infection. I’d rather he’d left me with his contact details since all I knew was his first name.
Sure, I knew where he worked but I couldn’t exactly rock up at the swimming baths with my hands all bandaged up. They stung like hell at the mere thought of chlorine. If I turned up and asked for him without some kind of brilliant excuse, it would either make me look desperate or veer dangerously towards ‘friendship’ territory. No, it was up to Zac to make contact if he wanted to stay in touch.
Unfortunately.
One silver lining of the whole ordeal was that it gave me the ideal excuse to miss work. No way could I carry hot plates around, nor clear tables and I definitely couldn’t polish cutlery, so instead of having to beg for unplanned holiday to look after Charlie, I simply called in sick. A good thing too, it transpired. Mum called and informed me they’d be away an extra night, having been invited to another function.
She didn’t check it with me first, she just stated their plans and then left me to deal with the ramifications but I was used to it. Charlie didn’t seem to care either and I had a fabulous time chilling out at home with my favourite man.
Normal routine resumed within a few days, with Mum and Derek home from their trip and me back at work.
In a bid to lie low, I spent more and more time out of the house to avoid another run-in with Mum forever. On the morning of Hallowe’en, I found Mum waiting for me at the breakfast table and my good mood evaporated.
‘Didn’t you go to college with her?’ Mum tossed me a newspaper with a huge picture of Caroline smiling up at me.
I cast the paper aside. ‘Yes, I did.’
‘She’s pretty,’ Mum said, shoving the paper back under my nose.
I shrugged. ‘I guess.’
‘And smart too.’
Intrigued, I skimmed over the article and saw that Caroline had won a maths tournament. With me out of the way, she’d finally claimed my top spot. Whoopie-do. ‘Whatever.’
