‘Cheers, mate,’ said Nick. He looked down at his stone-washed Levi’s and Ralph Lauren T-shirt. ‘The thing is, I don’t actually have any muck-around clothes. There’s not much point in me going home to get changed.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yep, I’d like to get started, if that’s OK?’
‘Good attitude,’ said Luke with another back slap. ‘We’ll make a builder out of you yet.’
Two hours later, Nick’s T-shirt was sweat-stained, his jeans were covered in concrete dust from the hundreds of blocks he’d been shifting, and he was seriously questioning his life choices. After years of regular gym sessions, he’d considered himself fit. Now he understood lifting weights was nothing compared to the monotonous grind of the task he’d been set.
Kev, the middle-aged, beer-bellied labourer Nick had been paired with, was yet to break a sweat, and seemed to enjoy watching the younger man struggle. ‘How are your hands?’ he asked Nick, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
‘Fine,’ Nick lied, trying to hide the blisters and cuts that stung his palms.
‘You might be sore for the first few days, but you’ll soon get used to the work. If you stick it out.’
‘Of course I’ll stick it out.’ Nick grimaced as he shifted another block into the wheelbarrow beside him. He tried not to think about what he had been doing this time last week, and didn’t dare check his watch to see how few hours had passed.
‘How are you getting on?’ asked Luke, strolling over with a flask in his hand.
‘Great.’ Nick hoped his smile was convincing.
‘I thought you could do with a coffee break,’ said Luke, handing Nick the flask.
‘Thanks, mate.’ The coffee had lost some of its heat, but Nick gulped it down, willing the caffeine to boost him through the next few torturous hours.
‘How’s your back holding up?’
‘It’s not too bad,’ said Nick, then seeing the scepticism on Luke’s face added, ‘Maybe a bit sore.’
‘It’s bound to be on your first day. You’ll ache like hell until your body gets used to the manual work. Shouldn’t take too long.’
‘Yeah, I’ll be fine.’ Nick noticed Kev hadn’t stopped for a break and suspected Luke was going easy on him. ‘Anyway, I’d better get on. No rest for the wicked.’
‘I like your style,’ said Luke.
When Luke reappeared a few hours later to tell him he was free to leave for the day, Nick could have cried with relief. He said his goodbyes, holding it together until he was out ofsight, then sank down on someone’s garden wall to examine his wounds. His palms were crisscrossed with tiny cuts, the pads of his fingers white with blisters. The boots Luke had loaned him pinched his feet, and his entire body was coated in a thick layer of dust, which had somehow made its way into his mouth, nose and ears.
All Nick wanted to do was go home and take a long, hot shower. Instead, he hobbled his way to Saffron Bay Primary, trying to ignore the curious looks of the other parents as he loitered by the gates. When a staff member came out to let them in, Nick made a beeline for the only other dad he could see and asked where he should go to pick up Emily. Following the given instructions, he hurried across the playground and hovered on the edge of a group of waiting mums. Some had babies in prams, others had squirming toddlers in their arms. Nick considered them heroines for managing multiple children at once. How they did so seemed like some sort of dark art.
A distant bell rang, the doors opened and Kitty appeared, only letting each child go when she had identified a waiting parent or carer. Emily was the last out, and as Nick approached the classroom door, Kitty failed to hide her surprise at his appearance.
‘You look like you’ve had a busy day,’ she said, her eyebrows raised.
Nick ignored the comment and grinned at Emily, who was hidden behind a giant model made of cereal boxes. ‘How has she been?’ he asked Kitty.
‘Wonderful. You’ve had a good day, haven’t you, Emily?’
‘Yeah,’ said Emily, handing Nick the model. ‘Look, Nick, I made a castle with my new friend Beth. Can we paint it when we get home?’
Nick inwardly groaned. It seemed as if his much-desired shower would have to wait. ‘Of course,’ he said, noticing the nod of approval from Kitty.
As he walked Emily home, despite his muscles screaming in protest with each step, Nick felt better than he had in a long time. He’d managed to get Emily to and from school on time, and had completed his first honest day’s work in years. He wondered if maybe, just maybe, things were looking up.
Chapter 25
Kitty locked the outside door of her classroom, leaned against it, and closed her eyes. She’d told herself keeping Emily till last had everything to do with reassuring Nick about his daughter’s first day, and nothing to do with an irrational desire to speak to a man she wasn’t even sure she liked.
It’s just settling-in nerves, she told herself as she tried to still her racing heart. And what did she have to be nervous about? Today had been great.
