‘Noah…’ She put a hand against her chest. ‘That’s really beautiful.’
He took a glug of beer and after he swallowed said, ‘Except that I’m not her dad.’
‘To her, you very much are.’
They finished their beers and when it was time for Maya to go, Noah wished he could walk her home. ‘I have Eva so I can’t see you home safely,’ he said. He’d love nothing more than to accompany her through Whistlestop River, along the main street, past the shops closed for the night and the pub with its beer garden likely filled with revellers making the most of the long summer nights.
‘It’s fine, I’m happy to walk on my own and I can handle myself, remember.’
He saw her to the door and wondered whether she was thinking the same as he was, that it had been a great evening, good company, and he wished it could end with a goodnight kiss.
But instead, he watched from the front gate as she walked to the end of the street and turned at the corner, giving him a little wave as she did so.
Maya could definitely handle herself, although not when it came to an overly attentive ex-husband, it seemed. He hoped for her sake she’d find a way of getting him to leave her alone, let her move on in her own way. Clearly a divorce wasn’t enough for the man to keep his distance.
21
With weather conditions making it unsuitable to take the helicopter up, the crew had been out in the rapid response vehicle this morning on three jobs and by the time Bess and Noah got back to the airbase, they were both keeping everything crossed that that would be it. They’d stayed out in the field after the first call, not knowing where they’d go to next, but with a couple of hours left on shift and the cloud lifting, Maya had sent a message to them on the road – any other calls would be responded to in the helicopter – and so they headed back to base.
Luckily for them, the remainder of their shift wasn’t too demanding and it gave them a chance to give the rapid response vehicle a decent clean. It was seriously muddy and Bess explained their last job that had seen them trek into a farmer’s field to get to a patient who had had hay bales topple over onto him. He’d been trapped beneath. Noah and Bess had been there to help with more adequate pain relief using the stronger drugs; Noah had gone with him in the ambulance to the nearest hospital with Bess following on to pick him up.
Maya flicked water from the sponge she’d used on the vehicle’s windscreen in Bess’s direction when Bess moaned that she was too hot as she finished scraping off the last of the water from the glass with the squeegee.
Bess gave a squeal. ‘I shouldn’t yelp. That was nice! But roll on autumn; far too warm to be working in this weather.’
‘What are you on about, girl?’ Noah, who was using a chamois leather for the roof to buff it to a shine, called across the vehicle’s rooftop, ‘Make the most of it, won’t be long before we’re all moaning at how cold we are.’
‘Definitely don’t wish summer away,’ said Maya.
Bess emptied the dirty water from the bucket onto the grass beyond the parking bays. ‘I bet you can’t wait to see Isaac when he eventually gets here.’
Maya smiled. ‘I really can’t. It’s a shame he’ll be home for such a short period before his second year at university starts, but I’m pleased he’s got work; it’s good for him.’
‘Has he talked his dad out of the Ireland idea yet?’
She’d told Bess all about it and Noah knew after the other night, but it still felt weird answering the question in front of both of them. ‘What do you think?’
‘That Conrad is one stubborn man.’ Bess threw the pieces of heavy-duty wiping paper they’d used to clean the rapid response vehicle’s hubcaps into a rubbish bag. ‘Why can’t Conrad do something closer to here? Isaac will get to see you too then, catch up with his friends, everyone is a winner.’
‘But then Conrad wouldn’t get one up on anyone else, would he?’
When Noah stayed behind to vacuum the interior of the vehicle, Maya and Bess loaded up buckets, cloths and as much else as they could take in their arms and went back inside the hangar. Maya dried the bucket with wiping paper before setting it onto its rightful shelf.
‘Why do you let him do it, Maya?’ Bess asked. ‘Not just the games he plays when it comes to Isaac but everything else: the running around you do for him when he’s supposedly still suffering so badly, he can’t manage on his own.’
‘I don’tlethim,’ said Maya. But at Bess’s look, she admitted, ‘All right, maybe I do. I need to start being firmer, I know that.’ She stopped what she was doing and took out her phone from her back pocket. ‘Talking of which…’ She held up a finger, meaning Bess should wait to see what she was up to.
Maya called Conrad. She told him she was stuck at work doing a double shift and he’d have to get a taxi to the hospital for his appointment.
‘It can’t be helped, I’m afraid,’ she said in her most regretful voice. ‘You could reschedule but I don’t think that’s a good idea; you know what it’s like trying to get an appointment.’
He grumbled but relented and when she hung up, she and Bess were smiling.
‘Well, it’s a start.’ Bess put her arm around Maya. ‘You need to do that more.’
Maya had deliberately left it until the last minute to tell Conrad she wasn’t taking him to the hospital. He was messing her around and right now, it felt good to do the same back to him. The small victory gave her a modicum of satisfaction.
But Bess wouldn’t let it go as they went into the bathrooms and washed their hands. ‘This needs to stop; he can’t keep you in his life like this when you’re divorced.’
