Chapter 35
Lizzie was enjoying taking Boo for a walk. Never having walked a dog before, it was making her feel like both a normal person and a proper grown-up. Just strolling along talking to her in the kind of way that was absolutely acceptable when you were speaking to a pet but really weird if you happened to be walking on your own.
Boo seemed to be enjoying herself too, paying eager attention to everything around her, tail wagging as she trotted along the pavement beside Lizzie.
‘Uh-oh,’ said Lizzie as another dog appeared at the far end of the high street, heading towards them. The dog was Teddy and the owner was Maeve’s father. And yes, their relationship was amicable now that the Maeve connection between them had been established, but the fact that their first two meetings had gone the opposite of well still caused a small Pavlovian surge of panic, because the chances were that the friendliness on Matthew’s side was because he now felt compelled to be polite. Whereas in all probability deep down he still found her annoying.
Just because she’d done one good thing twenty years ago didn’t make her a wonderful person.
She knew that only too well.
But the physical distance between them was lessening and there were no handy side streets she could slink into.
‘Right, we’re going to have to say hello,’ Lizzie told Boo. ‘Whatever you do, don’t start a fight. Best behaviour, OK?’
Boo, her little ears pricked up, gave her a naughty look.
When they met Matthew and Teddy, however, she got all shy and ran around to hide behind Lizzie, wrapping the lead around her knees and tying her legs together.
‘Hi,’ said Matthew.
‘Hi.’ They exchanged brief smiles.
‘Got yourself a new friend, then.’
Did that mean he thought she didn’t have many real friends in her life? ‘Well, she’s Cami’s dog, not mine. I just brought her out for a walk while Cami catches up with some work. Her name’s Boo.’
‘Yes, Maeve told me.’ He crouched down and held out his hand, gently introducing himself to Boo. ‘She’s gorgeous.’
‘She really is. Cami’s bastard ex dumped her on us so he can swan off to Marbella with his new girlfriend. Ugh, he’s vile.’ Glancing down, she saw that Matthew had tempted Boo out from behind her legs and was now introducing her to Teddy. Cautiously the two dogs sniffed each other, and after a few seconds both tails tentatively began to wag.
‘They’ll be friends in no time.’ He paused. ‘I was taking Teddy over to Potter’s Field, behind the church.’ He stroked Boo’s ears then tickled her under the chin. ‘It’s where he likes to run around like a complete maniac. Want to come along and see him in action?’
Was this because he felt compelled to be nice to her? Lizzie said tightly, ‘You don’t have to invite us.’
OK, that came out wrong.
‘You don’t want to?’
‘I do. It’s just, you don’t have to be polite.’
‘I’m not being polite. I just think they’d have fun racing around together. But if you’d rather go your own way, that’s fine.’
‘No, this is getting too British for words now. Thanks.’ Her insides began to relax, the fear faded. Why was she being so weird? Unravelling the thin lead and freeing her knees, Lizzie said, ‘Come on then, let’s do it. If you’re sure.’
As predicted, the dogs were soon charging around Potter’s Field as if they’d known each other all their lives. Matthew produced a tennis ball from his jacket pocket and the pair of them went hurtling after it over and over with wild enthusiasm, Lizzie joining in and racing after them. Within minutes her sandals had begun to rub against her heels, and she kicked them off in order to run faster. She was feeling free and uninhibited, the nerves had gone now and her lungs were filled with fresh air as exhilarating as champagne. Teddy had returned the ball to Matthew and was now bounding across the grass in joyful anticipation. Matthew threw it high into the air over Lizzie’s head, and she ran backwards then leapt up to catch it – yes, captured with her left hand like an actual professional cricketer – before landing and letting out a shriek of pain because something sharp had dug into the ball of her foot.
Like, right into it.
‘Ow, ow . . .’
‘Are you OK? Sorry, daft question. What is it?’ Matthew hurried over as she sank to the ground to inspect the damage. ‘Ankle?’
‘No, thank God.’ She bent her leg, peered at the sole of her left foot and pulled a face, because a giant splinter had lodged itself beneath the skin and a trickle of blood was already seeping out. ‘Urgh, it’s gone in deep.’
‘Here’s your culprit.’ Matthew had found a broken-off piece of wooden fencing, hidden from view by a patch of long grass.
Lizzie winced. ‘I’m such an idiot. I shouldn’t have taken off my sandals.’
‘Let’s have a look. That was an impressive catch, by the way.’
She was ridiculously glad he’d noticed. It felt really strange, sitting back and watching him take her foot in his hands. She couldn’t see his face as he bent his head closer to examine the splinter.
‘It’s snapped off beneath the skin, so there’s no way we can pull it out. We’re closer to my place than yours. Let’s get you back and have a proper go at it there.’
He’d released her foot now, but the sensation of it being clasped between his warm hands was still there. A quiver of something ricocheted through Lizzie’s body as he stood and reached for her hands to help her upright.
Standing was OK, but trying to walk was incredibly painful. Desperate not to be a wimp, Lizzie winced and bit her tongue. ‘It’s no good, it really hurts. You’re just going to have to leave me here to die.’ Then, belatedly realising how inappropriate the jokey remark was, she blurted out, ‘God, sorry .’
Matthew looked amused. ‘Hey, I’m not that sensitive. But we do need to get you home.’
‘You’re the only one who cares.’ Lizzie nodded at the dogs, a hundred yards away, haring around in circles as they played together, completely ignoring her predicament.
‘I know, I’m such a hero. OK, we have two options here.’ He held out an arm to support her as she wavered and almost lost her balance. ‘You could wait here while I go and fetch my wheelbarrow . . .’
‘And you’ll wheel me back in it? Glamorous.’
‘I’d send for a helicopter, but it could take a while to get here.’ He was smiling slightly, and she was reminded how much she liked an understated sense of humour.
‘True. Whoops, here they come.’ Boo and Teddy were now racing towards them, finally ready to resume their game of ball with the humans. Hopping on her good foot, Lizzie leaned on Matthew once more. ‘Go on then, what’s the second option?’
‘I could give you a piggyback.’
‘That’s a terrible option.’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe a fireman’s lift?’
Slung over his shoulder with her bottom in the air? ‘That’s worse .’
‘Or you could lie down and I’ll pull you along by your good foot.’
Lizzie started to laugh. ‘Or by my hair, caveman style. Look, this is mad. Let me have another go at walking on it.’
But the splinter was a good two inches long and was angled directly into the ball of her foot. Breathing through the pain, she gasped, ‘Maybe I can hop.’
‘You wouldn’t manage it. OK, hang on to my neck, I’m going to lift you.’ He swung her into the air and Lizzie gave a cross between a squeak and a yelp as she found herself in his arms, for all the world like a bride being carried over the threshold.
‘Am I heavy?’ Since taking a break from work and coming over to England she knew she’d put on a few pounds, but looking in the mirror, she’d felt it suited her.
‘Honestly? A bit. But I’ll manage.’ He grinned. ‘I might have to stop a couple of times for a breather.’
By the time they reached Matthew and Maeve’s house, there were beads of perspiration on his temple and along his jawline, and something off-the-scale unexpected had happened: Lizzie found herself having to fight an almost overwhelming temptation to brush them away with her index finger.
If this were a film and she was directing it, that would be a close-up shot and the camera would linger on her eyes once she’d done it, before panning across to Matthew’s startled – but not in a bad way – reaction.
Oh God, what was going on? How could this be happening, completely out of the blue, with someone who’d taken as much of a dislike to her as she had to him? Her heart was flapping inside her ribcage like a parrot intent on escape and she really hoped he wasn’t able to feel it. And now one of the droplets of perspiration, having turned into a tiny trickle, was sliding down his tanned neck, and more than anything else in the whole world she wanted to—
‘Phew, thank God for that,’ Matthew gasped.
Abruptly turning left through an open garden gate, he reached the bottle-green front door and released his hold on Lizzie. ‘Sorry, it’s not you, it’s just been a while . . .’
‘I know.’ She leaned against the side of the porch and got her balance back. ‘Don’t worry, I’d be struggling if I had to carry me too.’
He unlocked the door and shooed the dogs inside. Lizzie hopped along behind him.
‘And relax.’ He pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, then supported her as she sank onto it.
‘I nearly broke you,’ Lizzie told him. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘We should have gone for the helicopter option after all. Now, let’s take a proper look at this foot of yours. Luckily, splinters are my speciality.’
He let the dogs out into the back garden, then drew up another chair facing her and rested her ankle across his knee. And there was that zingy sensation again; as his fingers closed around her toes, she only just managed not to give an audible sigh of pleasure.
Good Lord, imagine if she’d done that ; it’d be time to leave the country.
The next few minutes were a complicated mixture of secret bliss and not so secret physical pain. Matthew cleaned the blood and earth from the sole of her foot with warm water, then with antiseptic. He found a large needle in Maeve’s sewing kit and sterilised it in the flame from one of the gas cooker rings. So far, so good, but then came the necessary digging, during which she squeezed her eyes shut, trying her hardest to be brave and not a big wimpy baby.
‘Well done. That’s it, nearly there,’ Matthew murmured as he carefully dug through the layers of skin.
She exhaled. ‘You’ve done this before.’
‘Maeve was a tomboy who spent her time getting up to all sorts. We were regulars at the A&E department. Splinters were my job.’ He paused as her foot jerked away. ‘Amanda hated having to get them out . . . Ah, here it is. Could you pass me the tweezers, Nurse?’
He’d already sterilised the tweezers. She handed them over to him and braced herself for the next phase.
A minute later, it was her turn to perspire, then the task was complete and Matthew dropped the offending splinter into the damp palm of her hand. It was jagged, bloody and as long as her thumb.
‘Thank you.’ Lizzie said it to Matthew, but secretly she was also whispering it to the splinter.
‘Don’t mention it. Now we just have to get the wound clean and wrapped up.’
An accidentally acquired wooden arrow had lodged itself in the ball of her foot and also speared her heart. She watched as he wiped away the blood then deftly wrapped a crêpe bandage from the first-aid kit around her foot, and wished he could do it a bit more slowly. Like maybe take a couple of hours to get the job done.
Then the dogs started barking and came racing in from the garden, and the front door was opened by Maeve, who burst into the kitchen and saw Lizzie’s bandaged foot. ‘Oh, thank goodness!’ She clapped a hand to her chest. ‘When I saw the blood on the doorstep I thought something awful had happened to Teddy!’
‘And that’s how you end up losing your job,’ Matthew said drily.
‘Sorry.’ Maeve grinned at Lizzie. ‘Didn’t mean it like that. You poor thing, what happened?’
‘Splinter,’ said Matthew.
‘Big one,’ Lizzie felt the need to emphasise.
‘Dad’s great at those. Really gentle.’
‘He was.’ Lizzie wished she couldn’t feel her face heating up.
‘She was an excellent patient,’ said Matthew.
Maeve looked at Lizzie, then at her father, then at Lizzie again. For a long moment it felt as if she were X-raying each of their minds. Finally she said, ‘Glad to hear it. Well, I only came back to grab something to eat. Anyone else fancy a sausage and crisp sandwich?’
Lizzie had come out without her phone and Cami might be wondering by now where she’d got to. Plus, she didn’t know how Maeve, with her unnerving X-ray vision, was feeling about her and Matthew being here together. Clicking her tongue at Boo, she said, ‘No, thanks. I’d better head back. Still have plenty of work to be getting on with.’ If dredging up comical and dramatic events and encounters from the distant past even counted as work. She fastened the lead to Boo’s collar, stood up and with some difficulty slid her bandaged foot into her sandal.
‘Are you OK to walk?’ said Matthew. ‘I can give you a lift if you want.’
But the splinter was out, no longer digging into the soft tissue. There was a bit of soreness, but the excruciating pain had gone. Heroically Lizzie shook her head. ‘No need, I’m fine. Thanks again, and I’ll see you around.’
There, was that casual enough?
‘Will I see you tomorrow?’ said Maeve. ‘Over at Hay Hall?’
‘What, for the art thing?’ That took Lizzie by surprise. ‘Are you going?’
It was Maeve’s turn to look elaborately casual, and it took one to know one. Bending down to ruffle Teddy’s ears, she said, ‘We were all invited, weren’t we? You never know, could be interesting.’ She shrugged. ‘Thought we might as well pop in and give it a go.’