Reaching the door, she pulled it open with force. Her tiredness had now mixed with irritation at the audacity of whoever she was about to come face-to-face with and she wasn’t sure how ‘cool’ she could remain. ‘Who the hell do you think you are knocking at this ungodly time?’
‘Miss Murray?’
She recognised that voice. Blinking against the darkness, Jonathan Higgs’ profile came into view as her eyes adjusted. What the ...? Why on earth did she have her newly appointed headteacher on her doorstep? Surely, he couldn’t think this was normal? Or legal? Because it wasn’t. It wasn’t the done thing to have a boss wake a staff member. As for the legal bit, well, she didn’t have a clue, but if it wasn’t illegal, then it should be. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought, but he spoke before she could get a single word out.
‘Miss Murray.’ He widened his stance and crossed his arms, his expression quickly turning from one of surprise to irritation. ‘I would appreciate it if you didn’t let your dog bark at all hours of the night.’
She widened her eyes. It was Mr Higgs. Her boss. Living next to her. It was the only explanation. Well, she wasn’t going to let him speak to her like that. She wasn’t in school now, and after the way he’d torn her apart in the staff meeting over her assembly, he certainly didn’t deserve her empathy. She knew she should be polite. She knew she should keep her thoughts to herself, but she just didn’t have the energy to censor her words, much less the incentive. ‘He’s not my dog, he’s my friend’s rescue who is staying with me, and I’d appreciate you having a little more compassion.’
She watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. ‘With all due respect, the dog’s circumstances have nothing to do with me. Whereas being woken up five times throughout the night has.’
Narrowing her eyes, she took a deep breath. If that was the way he wanted to play it... ‘With all due respect too, you’ve only just moved into the street and already you’re waking your neighbours at this hour, so I really don’t think you have a leg to stand on when it comes to being neighbourly.’
‘Miss Murray, your dog has woken me up, and now I’ve got to go and run a school on little to no sleep.’ He lowered his voice as though aware for the first time of the fact that it was only 5am, and he was berating her in the middle of his new neighbourhood.
Tightening her grip around the door handle, a fierce anger flashed through her. How could he be so self-righteous? Yes, she knew Alfie had woken her up, but she hadn’t realised his bark would wake her new neighbour, and for that, she was sorry. Or she would be if he hadn’t turned up on her doorstep, waking her in return. ‘I apologise for the barking. I’m sorry he woke you up, but I have explained my situation and would appreciate you speaking to me during the daylight hours in the future.’ Stepping back, she firmly closed the front door before giving him a chance to reply.
Standing still, she listened to his footsteps as he walked down the garden path before the creak of the gate sounded. Great. If she wasn’t in the bad books at work because of yesterday’s assembly, then she sure was firmly stapled to the page now because Alfie had kept barking and her reaction had been to have a go at him.
Why hadn’t she apologised first off? Why had she got all defensive? Yes, because he’d knocked on her door at five in the morning and scared her half to death, but also because that was her go-to now. Ever since Reece had royally let her down by having an affair with her boss’ daughter of all people, she’d come to realise she was the only person she could count on. Yes, she had her friends, her colleagues and her close friends, but when she was at home, she was alone. When the builder she’d hired to repair the step in the cottage garden blindsided her and then tried to charge her two hundred pounds more than he’d quoted, despite taking less time than he’d estimated, she’d realized she couldn’t count on him. The mechanic had also blatantly lied toher, telling her she needed her cam belt replaced despite her vividly remembering it being done the previous year. All of those times she’d been alone, and if she’d had a partner with her who could have stuck up for her, told them not to take advantage of her, then life would have been easier.
But she hadn’t. It had just been her. And so she’d come to realise that in situations where she was alone, she had to be the one to defend herself. Yes, she’d always been a little feisty, as her mum would say, but since Reece’s departure, she knew she’d got more defensive.
Which wasn’t a bad thing, was it?
Turning back to go upstairs, she caught sight of her reflection in the hallway mirror and grimaced. Yuck. Not only had she been rude to him - the new headteacher - but she looked as though she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, too. Raking her fingers through her hair, she shrugged. What was done was done. Besides, it wasn’t as though she cared what he thought of her.
Chapter Seven
Holding her notebook up in front of her face, Gemma yawned. Would this meeting ever be over? The rain had been relentless since half past five this morning - and she should know after not being able to drift off again after Jonathan’s rude awakening - and they usually let the kids in a few minutes early if it was bad weather. This morning’s ‘quick’ staff meeting seemed to be going on forever.
‘And now onto our marking policy...’ Jonathan paused mid-sentence, and Gemma felt his eyes on her. ‘I do hope we’re not keeping you awake, Miss Murray.’
Lowering her notebook, it took all of Gemma’s willpower not to narrow her eyes at him. Instead, she plastered a smile on her face. ‘Not at all, Mr Higgs. Quite the opposite. In fact, I was wondering if you could continue this lecture until breaktime. The children and parents in my class are quite partial to a little rain, and I’m sure they’re having a great time getting soaked to the skin.’
The gasp from Annie, who was sitting next to her, was audible, but Gemma didn’t care. She’d had enough of His Highness for one day already.
Jonathan turned slowly towards the window as though registering for the first time that the playground was beginning to resemble a lake before he turned back towards her. ‘We have seven minutes until the doors open, as I’m sure you’re aware.’
Taking a deep breath, Gemma opened her mouth to speak, the jab in her side from Annie’s elbow being the only reason she didn’t retort. Instead, she slumped back on the hard plastic chair and picked up her pen to continue doodling around the edge of her open page.
‘So, to conclude, I need three books from each subject and each class by the end of the day.’ Jonathan closed his diary and stood up before adding. ‘I’ll be popping in to select the books myself, so don’t worry about bringing them to me.’
‘So he’s going to choose three completely random books for each subject rather than the ones we usually have scrutinised.’ Lydia muttered under her breath. ‘Not that they’re not all marked and that, but the three I usually hand in for monitoring, I make sure to add a little extra to.’
‘I’m sure whichever ones he takes will be fine.’ Annie patted Lydia’s arm before standing up and tapping Gemma on the shoulder. ‘Come on, you. Remember your little ducklings outside in the rain.’
Closing her notebook, Gemma stabbed her pen through her messy bun with a little more vigour than usual and winced as it scraped along her scalp. Pushing her chair back, she grabbed her notebook and followed Annie towards the door Jonathan was standing next to, arms folded as though ready to carry out a uniform inspection. She slowed to a stop to wait for the people in front of her to filter through the doorway.
‘What was that about?’ Annie whispered to Gemma as she linked arms with her.
‘What?’ Gemma knew exactly what Annie was talking about, and she was sure Annie wouldn’t be the only one to quiz her about her outburst before the day was over.
‘You know, having a go at the new boss. It’s as though you want to antagonise him before he’s got to know you.’
Gemma shook her head. ‘You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.’
‘Well, you’ve got to tell me now.’ Annie frowned at her.
