Удерживая маску. Николай Метельский

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      ‘I bet you twinkled those blue eyes of yours and made the poor old woman at number twenty-two weak at the knees. She didn’t stand a chance.’

      ‘Nothing wrong with using the charm. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.’

      Maddy gently elbowed him, chuckling. The touch of his hot skin against hers sent a shot of electricity through her. He had it all right.

      Between them, they picked up some groceries and food for Sookie, Harry pushing the shopping trolley around the store. Then, laden with heavy shopping – Harry carrying most of it – they made their way back towards the car park.

      ‘So why’s she called Sookie?’ Harry loaded the shopping into the back of the flatbed then closed the tailgate and pinned the cover back down. ‘Anything to do with socks?’

      Maddy laughed, shaking her head. ‘No, at the time I adopted her, I was reading the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Because Sooty is a common name to call a black cat, but it’s more a name for a tom, I thought, being a girl, Sookie would suit her better.’

      ‘Oh, so it’s nothing to do with her having one white paw then. I keep calling her Socks.’

      ‘If you feed her, she’ll answer to anything.’

      Twenty minutes into their journey, the traffic had come to a standstill on the A39 northbound, while traffic whizzed by on the other side. Unlike the A30, this road was single carriageway for most parts.

      ‘All we need – there’s been an accident,’ Maddy said, presuming that was the cause of the delay. She huffed out a breath, anxious to get home.

      Momentarily, Harry’s eyes widened, then he breathed as if trying to calm himself down.

      ‘No, no, it looks like they’ve just broken down,’ he said, pointing out the windscreen.

      He sounded relieved. Maddy was pleased too. It might mean the traffic would get moving quicker. She’d been deep in thought, her head heavily clouded with stress, processing the amount of jobs stacking up, from the small menial tasks of the washing coming off the line, to where to start on the house so she could move back into her home. Plus, when she could go back to work at the gallery.

      ‘Let me see if they need a hand.’ Harry pushed the button on the dash and his truck’s hazard lights flashed. Before opening his car door, he said, ‘Stay here, Maddy, please.’

      As Maddy watched Harry jog up to the vehicle three cars ahead, she wondered if she’d imagined his expression of panic when she’d assumed it was an accident in front. It was as if he’d physically relaxed as soon as he’d realised it was only a broken down car.

      She waited patiently in the truck as Harry spoke to the driver of the car – a distressed looking man in his forties, who had his young family out on the side of the road, up on the bank for safety. The mother carried a crying toddler, while an older child held her hand. Maddy watched Harry take control of the situation. With the window down, she could hear some of his instructions. He gathered a couple more helpers from the cars in front and sent an older man in his sixties back along the traffic, to keep any cars from passing. The last thing anyone needed was an accident. With the help of the other men, Harry pushed the car along to a safer position on the road. There was a lay-by not far ahead.

      ***

      Panting and sweating from the exertion of pushing the car, Harry jogged back to his truck. Maddy was looking at her phone, with a finger poised, scrolling along the screen. As he opened the driver’s door, Maddy jumped.

      ‘Harry, don’t do that!’

      ‘Sorry,’ he said, his breath still heavy. He could see worry etched on her face. This was a woman with a lot on her mind. ‘Are you okay? I didn’t mean to make you jump.’

      ‘Yes, sorry, I was away with the fairies, worrying. Thought I’d try to distract myself with Facebook.’ She waved her phone at him, then gestured ahead to the cars starting to move. ‘We’re lucky it was only a breakdown. An accident could have meant us sitting here forever.’

      ‘Yeah, he’s called the roadside recovery service. This way the car and his family are safe. I don’t like seeing people stranded.’ Turning the ignition, Harry started his truck and pulled away as the traffic moved again, turning off his hazard lights.

      ‘What’s wrong with the car?’

      ‘He’s run out of petrol. Thought he had enough to get to the next station.’

      ‘A holidaymaker?’

      ‘Yes.’ The amount of gear on the back seat in between the two child car seats gave it away. ‘I usually have a can of petrol for the lawnmower in the back of the truck. But it needs filling up.’

      ‘How very unprepared of you.’

      ‘I know.’ His grip tightened around the steering wheel. Even though he could tell by Maddy’s tone she was joking, it had frustrated Harry that he was unable to help the family more. He gave a wave to the man and his family as he drove past. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have too long to wait until the recovery services arrived.

      ‘Are you always this helpful?’ Maddy turned from the window and looked at him.

      ‘Must be the firefighter in me.’ Shouldn’t have said that. But it was true. It was in his blood to help people – however reluctantly recently. It’s what had driven him to become a fireman. He glanced at Maddy.

      ‘If you enjoy it so much, why did you give it up?’ she asked curiously.

      Harry gave another fleeting look at her then turned his attention back to the road. ‘I’d really rather not discuss it, Maddy.’

      There was a moment of silence, where Harry knew he’d killed the conversation. Just like at the coffee shop. But Maddy, in true female style – they usually know how to break the silence! – spoke up, ‘Well … I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for noticing the fire at my house. I mean if it had burned for much longer, who knows how much worse the damage would be? It could even have spread next door.’

      ‘Luckily, due to the rain, I’d returned home early from work.’ Harry wasn’t sure he believed in fate, not when he thought about Karin, but it had certainly been lucky he’d still been around Annadale Close at the time. He’d had a number of jobs to do, but he’d been in the right place at the right time. ‘I was loading my pickup with some tools for another garden job the next day.’

      He’d been considering digging over one of his regulars’ vegetable patch – a frail lady in her seventies who lived at the end of Annadale Close and who liked to feed him up with tea and biscuits every time he cut her lawn. In the summer sometimes he preferred doing some jobs in the evening, as it was a cooler time to work. The lighter evenings allowed him to do it too.

      ‘Well, my mum thinks you might have started the fire—’ Maddy’s hands shot to her mouth and her cheeks grew pinker. Her redhead’s complexion always gave her away. ‘Sorry. I have a way of speaking before engaging my brain.’

      ‘I know. I heard.’ Harry smiled, pretending not to notice her embarrassment. If he mentioned it, she’d probably turn even redder. ‘I СКАЧАТЬ