Pepper River Boat Hut (Pepper Bay #15)

18

Olive

Olive came out the portable loo to see Zach talking to a man over by the house. She huddled inside her coat, then plodded that way to see if there were any updates on when they could move in to the property.

‘Morning, Olive,’ said Zach, shaking his head at her shivering.

The workman headed back to his van, and Olive moved closer to the opened doorway of the house, even though she knew there wasn’t any heat inside.

‘Any news?’ she asked, teeth chattering.

‘That was the roofer. He wanted to get up there and check things, as the roof is going on tomorrow.’

Olive was far too cold to jump for joy, so she did it mentally instead. ‘Yay!’

‘I have even better news. The plumber will be here tomorrow as well, and we’ll have fully functioning shower and toilet facilities. Not long now and you can kiss goodbye to the narrowboat.’ He leaned closer and grinned. ‘I know you hate it.’

She turned to face her little home on water. ‘It’s not so bad.’ Lifting her chin, as if to prove she had no cares in the world, she marched off to have a wash.

See, I knew I could survive out here .

A large black spider scurried across the bow, and Olive let out an ear-piercing scream that had Zach run to her side.

‘What’s wrong?’

Olive practically wrapped herself around him as she pointed out the trespasser.

Zach went inside to fetch a cup to catch the spider whilst Olive scanned the area for any more. She watched him take the leggy creature over to a tree and set it free, and only then did she breathe properly again.

‘Come on, Olive. All clear.’

She cautiously went back inside to defrost by the burner. ‘I’m not good with spiders.’

‘I noticed.’

She giggled as she got on with her morning chore of filling a bowl with hot water from the kettle. ‘Stop grinning. Bet you have fears.’

‘My only fear is not getting the Boat Hut ready for springtime.’

‘What do you have to do today?’

‘Now the storage unit is up, I’m going to unpack everything that goes inside and get that sorted.’

Olive added some cold water into the bowl, swirling two fingers into the liquid to check it was the right temperature for her. ‘Give me two secs, and I’ll help.’

‘You don’t have to do that.’

‘I want to. Besides, what else is there to do?’

Zach gestured at the bow. ‘You could check for spiders.’

She grinned as she entered the bathroom. ‘No way!’

‘Okay. I’ll see you in the hallway in a bit.’

Olive started to have a wash, feeling a little brighter. It was exciting to know a hot shower was so close now. She patted the wall of the small cubicle. ‘I might miss you a smidge.’ She laughed to herself, then quickly got ready to help Zach.

He’d been quiet the night before, and she figured it might have had something to do with the woman at the fun fair. Ooh, how she wanted to wipe the smirk off Candice’s full pout. It was hard to believe he’d had a relationship with such a person.

Olive blew off the thought and went into the house to move a box to the hut.

Zach was already unpacking.

‘Where do you want this?’ she asked, resting her chin on top of the large box she carried.

‘There’s fine.’ He pointed to a corner. ‘I’ve just got to put this shelving together, then we can start putting everything in its place.’

Olive perused the area. ‘It looks bigger on the inside.’ She knelt to his side, flicking through an instruction pamphlet. ‘How many of these are there to go up?’

He thumbed towards a side wall. Three of these metal ones along there, then I’ve got box drawers to put together and a table for the end.’

Olive picked up a screwdriver. ‘More hands, less work.’

Zach raised his eyebrows. ‘Have you ever done anything like this before?’

‘Nope, but look.’ She waggled the instructions. ‘I can read.’

‘Okay. You make a start on the drawer unit.’

‘Aye, aye, captain.’ She saluted as she giggled.

Half the day was gone by the time she’d finished her task, which also ended up with her putting together a table and holding the wall racks in place whilst Zach got busy with an electric screwdriver and brackets.

‘I’ll go make some sandwiches and bring them in here,’ she told Zach, skipping off to the boat.

Candice was coming over the bridge, so Olive thought she’d cut her off before she got any closer to Zach.

‘Hi, can I help?’ asked Olive, going for forced politeness.

‘I’m here to see Zach.’

Oh, I know that .

Olive kept a straight face. ‘He’s at the supermarket.’

Candice went to turn but stopped. ‘Erm, sorry about yesterday and the whole fraud business. I wasn’t trying to be mean or anything.’

Yeah, you were, horrible cow .

‘That’s okay,’ said Olive, flashing her perfect teeth.

‘Tell Zach I’ll be back later.’

‘He’s going to London as soon as he comes home from the shop.’ Olive flapped a hand. ‘Business.’

Candice didn’t look too impressed. ‘How long will he be away for?’

‘A couple of days.’

‘Okay. I’ll see him then.’

Olive clenched her jaw as she smiled. ‘Great. I’ll let him know. Bye.’ She didn’t move until Candice was out of sight.

Oh, those fibs just kept on coming, didn’t they, Farringdon?

She went off to make lunch, wondering if she’d done the right thing keeping Candice away. The memory of Zach’s face dropping at the fair when Candice had thrown herself in his face was fresh in her mind. Perhaps she shouldn’t have involved herself, but she couldn’t help but feel she’d made the right call.

The dilemma bugged her all the way back to the storage hut.

Zach was sitting on the floor, reading an inventory. ‘Ooh, what sarnies have we got?’

‘Cheese.’ She put the tray by his feet and sat to his side. ‘And I brought juice.’

‘Lovely, thanks.’

Olive chewed her lip whilst Zach took a bite out of his sandwich. It only took a moment of her not moving for him to roll his eyes her way.

‘What’s wrong?’

Lying never used to bother Olive. She was pretty good at telling fibs when needed. She certainly had no guilt the time she’d told Emilio she thought she had picked up her own bank card when she’d gone shopping to buy a new handbag. All she wanted was to be able to flash it around, telling her friends her boyfriend had bought her a gift. Emilio had accepted the two-grand fee and happily took the credit, even though she knew he was secretly seething at spending any of his own money on such things.

Emilio flashed through her head. She knew the only reason he’d paid for her hotel bill was so he could look like the hero in her story. Now their friends would think he tried his best to help her.

‘Olive, are you okay?’ Zach asked softly, lowering his food to his lap.

‘I might have told a small lie,’ she mumbled, feeling guilt creep up on her.

One corner of Zach’s mouth lifted. ‘Care to elaborate?’

She glanced at the doorway. ‘Candice was here.’

His expression turned from amused to blank.

‘I got rid of her,’ she added quickly.

‘Are you about to tell me you pushed her in the river or something?’

Olive bit her lip, grinning at the thought.

‘Olive?’

‘No. I told her you were at the shops.’

‘Oh, okay.’

‘But she said she’d come back later, so I told her you would be on your way to London then.’

Zach was looking amused again.

Olive sighed. ‘Your glow disappeared when you saw her at the fair yesterday.’ She poked one finger into his knee. ‘I noticed. So, I didn’t want her upsetting you again today.’

‘So you thought you’d handle the situation for me?’

She couldn’t deny it. ‘Yes.’

They stared at each other for a moment, and Olive wished she could read his mind.

‘Thank you,’ he said quietly. ‘But in future, let me deal with her.’

‘Do you want to deal with her?’

‘Not really. I’d prefer it if I never saw her again.’

‘That bad, eh?’

Zach took a bite of his sandwich as he shrugged.

As much as she didn’t want to press him to talk, she totally wanted to know the story between them.

Zach pointed at her plate. ‘Eat your lunch and I’ll tell you.’

‘Tell me what?’

‘What you want to know.’

Olive bit back her smile. ‘You can read my mind?’

He looked into her eyes. ‘Hmm.’

She picked up her sandwich and nibbled one end.

Zach’s chest lifted and fell steadily. ‘We were together for four years, and we were saving to buy our own place. The plan was, home, then marriage, then kids.’

‘What went wrong?’

‘My mum got cancer, and I had to reduce my work hours here to care for her and Cody. My grandfather had not long passed away, so it was all down to me to keep everything stable. Anyway, Candice said she wasn’t seeing me enough and thought it best if we had a break.’

‘She didn’t help you?’

He shook his head. ‘Made things worse.’

‘What did she do?’

‘Took our savings and went travelling for six months.’

Olive slapped a hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, Zach. Couldn’t you sue her or something?’

‘No. We used her savings account. I had no way of proving any of that money was mine.’

‘But why didn’t she give you back your half when you split up?’

‘Reckons most of it was hers, plus she said it was only fair, seeing how I’d messed with her mental health.’

Olive frowned. ‘How exactly did you do that?’

‘By not being around for her twenty-four seven. By not earning enough money anymore. By refusing to go on holiday while my mum was in bed dying.’ He ran a hand through his light-brown hair, looking as though he were reliving the time. ‘I trusted her. Thought we had a future together.’

Olive thought of Emilio. She had trusted him once. ‘When I think about my ex, I can be honest with myself about him now. I used to shrug off his bad behaviour and poor attitude towards our relationship. It wasn’t really a surprise that he walked away when I needed him most. Can you look back and see her true colours, or are you still shocked by her actions?’

He stared at his knee for a moment. ‘She was always a little selfish. I knew that much, but I didn’t take her for a thief.’

‘If you transferred money from your bank, that would be proof some of the money is yours.’

‘ Was mine. It’s long gone. Besides, she can easily say I gifted her the money.’

‘Maybe she came here to pay you back.’ Olive glanced at the door. ‘Oh, and I sent her away.’

Zach tapped her foot with his own. ‘I doubt it, but I honestly don’t care. I’m so over that life. She’s in my past, and that’s where she’s staying. So, if she comes back again, let me talk to her. I need her to know she’s not welcome.’

‘Shame you didn’t tell her yesterday.’

‘I was too gobsmacked.’

‘I wouldn’t know what to say to Emilio if I saw him again.’

Zach met her eyes. ‘Would you like to see him?’

‘I kept wanting to call him, but now I don’t want anything to do with him. When I was working in the garden centre, it made me accept where I am in my life now. He was my past. This is my present.’

Zach nodded. ‘Yeah. There’s no point hanging on to things not meant for you.’

Olive glanced around. ‘But you came back here.’

‘It was always my plan. After Mum died, I spoke to a builder friend of mine about the state of the house. He was the one who told me a rebuild was for the best. I got quotes, knew what I had to do, and slowly took my steps.’ He breathed out a quiet laugh. ‘And it was slow as well, what with raising Cody and everything. I sold the old boats and some bits and pieces around the house, closed everything down, then headed for London. I figured I’d make money quicker there.’

Olive reached for his hand. ‘You must feel proud of your achievements.’

He curled his fingers in hers for a second before pulling away to grab his drink. ‘I’ve not had time to think about it.’

‘Well, think now.’ She splayed her arms. ‘You, Zach Sullivan, are an achiever.’

‘We both are.’ He grinned, gesturing towards the furniture she had put together. ‘Just look at that.’

Olive clasped her hands in front of her chest. ‘I won’t lie. I am super proud of that.’

Zach chuckled. ‘Aren’t you glad you came here now?’

Olive hovered her sandwich by her lips. ‘I’m learning new skills every day.’

They shared a smile, then Olive held out her sandwich, tapping it against his.

‘Here’s to getting rid of ex-partners and moving on.’

Zach met her toast. ‘And to achievements.’

They laughed, then finished their lunch.

There was still so much to do, and Olive was determined to be as useful as possible. Not only did she like feeling part of a team, she liked helping Zach, and he seemed to enjoy her company.

She smiled to herself as a wave of happiness warmed her from top to toe.