Page 88 of The Betrothal

Her shoulder lifted then dropped. “That’s the only thing worth focusing on for now. For this morning.”

“Right.” Now I understood. “That’s why you didn’t sleep?”

She scoffed. “Did I keep you up?” Her tight smile sold a nonchalance I could see she wasn’t feeling.

“Yep, I’m unused to a woman’s soft sighs of unhappiness in the bedroom. Very disconcerting.” My attempt at levity earned me the briefest glimpse of a true smile.

She stuffed her hand into the box of cereal, pulling out a fistful. “If you’re going to be crass, I’m going to finger your cereal.”

I barked a laugh. She was kind of funny.

“Okay, I’ll get the chainsaw.” Abandoning my dishes, I left her at the table, I grabbed my tools and wandered to the back of the house where I stopped in my tracks.

Not only were the trees bending and creaking in the ever-present wind, but one fallen sapling had become three.

She scuffed into the room, pulling up beside me to look at the devastation between her and her swift exit.

She didn’t say anything, she didn’t need to – I felt the disappointment rolling off her in waves.

“I can cut them, Izzy, but you still can’t go out in this, it’s not safe,” I voiced her reality.

“I don’t want to be here,” she murmured. Her words slicing at me in a way I hadn’t anticipated. “Is your phone working at least?”

I shook my head and her sadness became anger.

“For fuck’s sake! Not even a landline, Alex? I’m stuck here, with you. I can’t get back to them and I can’t even call them!” She tore off her coat and threw it onto a bench.

“When the storm calms we can clear the way and you can leave. As soon as it breaks,” I offered.

She turned to look at me, her brows were pinched, eyes watching me dubiously.

“Well done, Alex. You got what you wanted. I’m here, away from Ben, for however long this will take. You know what?” she seethed. “I bet you knew this would happen. I bet you planned it out sooooo carefully. Drag me away from them, rob us of the handful of days we have left. I hope you’re happy.” She spun on her heel and marched from the room leaving me speechless.

I stood stunned for several minutes before I stole away outside, spending an hour cutting and clearing a section of the fallen trees. Yes, it was a ridiculously stupid thing to do in an active storm, but for some reason it made me feel fractionally better.

By the time I returned inside, Izzy was sitting on a bench waiting for me. The soft pink rim to her eyes indicated that she’d been crying, again, but the stubborn set of her shoulders and her frosty glare also told me she didn’t want to talk about it.

“If I’m stuck here with you,” she growled. “Then I may as well do something to kill the time.”

“Okay?” I waited for her to continue.

“And to be clear, when I am done with this.” She gestured to the orangery. “I owe you fuck all, got it. You got a day, minimum, of enforced labour. That more than covers the costs of my time with you.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from negotiating a better day rate, knowing it would just piss her off more. “Alright, Firecracker. You got yourself a deal.”

She snarled at me, noise and all, then stood. “You’ll have to tell me what to do. And let’s be quick about it, I’m leaving as soon as the wind dies down.”

I saluted at her and she repeated the snarl.

For a second I had an insight into what it was like living with me, the realisation sobering.

“Okay, I’ll fix, you hold the panes. Two people, eight hours, tops.”

I was wrong. Two people and ten hours later I secured the final pane into the frame. We worked in silence throughout, her mood not improving and my guilt increasing with every hour that passed where the wind remained high.

Now it was dark and Izzy’s low mood had suffered further with the realisation she wasn’t leaving tonight.

“Thank you, Izzy. I know you don’t want to be here but without your help today, well this would have taken me nearly three times as long.” I ran my finger along the sealant, making the room watertight for the first time in years. “I don’t even think Eli would have been as efficient as you, maybe I need your help with his training.”