‘Come on then, let’s take a look. This’ll do for the minute. We might have to do shifts tonight to keep checking and emptying the bucket if this rain doesn’t let up. Then you can get someone out in the morning.’
She swallowed. Did builders take credit cards? Or a deposit? She closed her eyes because if she didn’t, she might cry. Suddenly all her blithe confidence that everything would work out sank, torpedoed by the reality of water streaming through the roof.
‘Come on, Izzy,’ he said, touching her arm as she stared worriedly at the bulging ceiling. ‘You can’t control this now. It will be fine and things will look much better in the morning.’
She looked at him dolefully, despair getting the better of her. ‘You shouldn’t even be here. You’re a guest.’ Her voice faltered.
‘Hey,’ he said, shooting her a reassuring look. ‘I don’t mind. Think of me as a lodger and don’t worry about it. Besides, what sort of person would I be if I didn’t help?’ He gave her a quick squeeze. ‘Come on, let’s go find a bigger … thing.’
She sniffed. ‘Sorry. I’m not normally such a wimp.’
‘You don’t strike me as a wimp at all. I think it’s impressive you’ve decided to take all this on. Some people would be making a drama out of a crisis. You seem quite cool about it.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, reassured by his quiet praise. ‘Xanthe creates enough drama in my life so I try and avoid it wherever possible. In truth I don’t feel calm, but I need to get on with it.’
‘Come on.’ He gave another of those comforting smiles. ‘Let’s go on a scavenger hunt and see what we can find. I’ve got a horrible feeling that pimple is going to burst.’
‘That’s exactly what I thought it looked like!’ She smiled up into his face, inexplicably delighted by his mirroring of her thoughts, and received a sudden jolt, like a quick burst of electricity that fizzed as it rushed through her chest, when she realised how near he was and how his blue eyes narrowed into crinkles at the corners. She pulled away suddenly.Not going down that road, Izzy,she told herself firmly. And certainly not now.
‘We’d better get a move on,’ she said, ‘before this bucket gets too fool … I mean too full.’ She was the fool. She had enough going on in her life, she didn’t need any emotional entanglements and certainly not with a guest. Even if he was a very gorgeous guest.
‘Is everything all right?’ asked Xanthe brightly, Prosecco in hand as she looked up from her phone when Izzy and Ross returned to the kitchen. There was a strong smell of burning and Izzy screwed up her face. Dashing over to the Rayburn she removed the pan of burned congealed mess and counted to three under her breath. Had her mother not smelled it?
‘No, it isn’t,’ said Izzy, wanting to strangle her mother who seemed totally unperturbed. ‘There’s water coming in through the roof and I don’t suppose you noticed that dinner was burning.’
‘Oh dear. I thought there was a funny smell.’
Luckily before Izzy could say anything, Ross emerged from the scullery at the back of the kitchen, carrying a large tin bath.
‘Ta-dah.’ He held it up in both arms in triumph, like a gold medal winning weightlifter.
‘My hero,’ said Izzy. ‘That’s perfect.’
‘Until we have to empty it but we’ll worry about that later.’
‘Thank you,’ she said again, touched by his use of ‘we’ and his unconditional help.
‘I’ll take it up in a bit.’
‘Thank—’ Izzy started to say as the door banged open and Duncan came in. His hair was plastered to his head, rivulets of water ran down off his coat onto the floor and his shoes squelched as he walked. The wind gusted in behind him, bringing the damp night air into the kitchen.
‘Duncan!’ squealed Xanthe. ‘Close the door and take that coat off. You’re soaked and you’re making the floor wet.’
He looked down at the puddle around his feet and pursed his lips, shaking off the coat and hanging it up. ‘It’s just a bit of wet.’
‘Is everything all right, Duncan?’ asked Izzy.
‘Aye, lass. I wanted to let you know I put Dolly and Reba into the old stables.’ He looked hopefully at the Rayburn and then wrinkled his nose. ‘I was wondering if you might have some of that soup on the go. I’m cold to the bone.’
‘It will have to be soup,’ said Izzy, a touch bitterly, glancing at her mother who was bent over her phone.
He beamed. ‘Perfect. Rain’s set in for the night, I’m afraid.’
‘Great.’ Izzy groaned. ‘I’m going to be up all night checking the water doesn’t overflow.’
‘Don’t be daft, McBride,’ Ross said. ‘There’s no point you being up all night. Like I said, we’ll do shifts. I’ll check at midnight so you can get a good few hours sleep and then do a middle of the night check, say about three. Then I’ll do one at six. And you can do one at nine.’
‘But you’re a—’
