Chapter 6 #2
“That’s true,” I agreed, beginning to stack the dishwasher.
“But considering the tracks already there after this morning, if we don’t actually witness them doing it again, how would we prove it?
We’ll take some photos, but still. Once it’s done, it’s done.
There’s no going back. They might get a slap on the wrist, but . . .”
Thaddeus went quiet for a moment, then he said, “I could stay . . . if you like?”
I looked over to where he sat with pink cheeks and an earnest expression on his face.
“I mean, I have to hang around for the tow truck anyway,” he expanded. “So, it’s not like it would be a hardship, and I don’t actually need to go with them. I could . . . stay . . . at least until you got back and could drop me somewhere to catch a taxi or Uber or something.”
I frowned, trying to get my head around his offer. “You’d stay here? While I’m gone?”
Thaddeus rolled his eyes. “You’re doing that repeating thing again, but yes, I could stay here. It’s kind of necessary to the whole idea of me keeping an eye on the place, right? But if you’re not comfortable with me being here—”
“No,” I jumped in. “It’s not that.” Except it was, just not in the way Thaddeus thought. Him staying here meant him being here when I got back, which meant more conversation, more looking at him, more . . . everything.
Tap caught my eye. “It’s not a terrible idea. In fact, it’s a pretty damn good one.”
Because of course he’d say that. It was, in fact, an appallingly dreadful idea, for all the reasons I just mentioned.
But it would certainly cover the council angle, and right then, that was pretty much my number one priority.
Thaddeus’s words came back to me, ‘I think you’d do anything to protect your garden. ’ Maybe he was right, after all.
“Okay, deal,” I finally agreed. “It would certainly make my day go a lot easier knowing you’re here keeping an eye on things.”
Tap clapped his hands, then rubbed them together. “Good, then that’s settled. But you wouldn’t need to rush off,” he told Thaddeus. “Ryder has two spare bedrooms. You could stay the night, and then he could drop you wherever you want to go in the morning.”
What the hell? I raised my eyebrows at Tap, trying to get his attention, but he refused to even look at me.
Thaddeus looked uncertain. “I suppose I could do that.” He gave a self-deprecating smile and turned to face me. “My plans for the weekend are pretty much trashed after yesterday. But I thought you said you worked Saturdays, and I wouldn’t want to hold you up.”
Tap inclined his head my way. “That’s generally true. My boss is an arsehole like that. But we don’t really need to work this Saturday, right, Ry?”
I looked daggers at Tap. What the fuck is he playing at? “You generally complain if I don’t give you work,” I countered. “Why so magnanimous all of a sudden?”
Tap countered my threatening look with a sunshiny smile. “I’d earn a fuck ton of brownie points if I take Will out shopping, and believe me, I could do with them. It’s been a while.”
My glare lost none of its heat, but there wasn’t much I could say to that. Tap hadn’t had a Saturday off in a couple of months. “Fine,” I relented. “We’ll give tomorrow a miss.”
Tap beamed. “Excellent. I might even get laid twice in one day for that.” He spun to Thaddeus. “So, you can stay?”
Thaddeus finally grinned. “Sure. Why not? But you can leave the breakfast clean-up for me, in that case. I’ve got my laptop in my briefcase, and a bit of thinking time is exactly what I need. Can you recommend a tow service?”
I grabbed a business card from the fridge and handed it to him. “They’re not as cheap as some, but they’re honest and reliable.”
Thaddeus read the card and set it on the table. “Thanks. And I better have your number as well, in case the council come back.”
“Of course.” I pulled out my phone and we exchanged numbers with Tap smirking at me from the other side of the table. The man was really starting to piss me off. When I repocketed my phone and gave him the squinty eye, the fucker smiled happily.
“Help yourself to anything you need,” I told Thaddeus, gathering my keys and water bottle from the countertop.
“There are beers in the fridge and plenty of food. Both guest rooms are made up, so take your pick. Ziggy usually comes with us, so you don’t have to wor—” I stopped when I saw said dachshund sprawled over Thaddeus’s feet, snoring loudly rather than bouncing on his toes as he usually was when we were readying to leave.
Tap grinned at the dog. “I think Ziggy is having a home day.”
I groaned and caught Thaddeus’s eye. “Do you mind? He doesn’t roam. He’ll stick to the gardens and lawns, although he might pay another visit to the hens. You’ll hear it if he does. Just rattle his food bowl and he’ll come running soon enough.”
Thaddeus’s face lit up. “I’d love the company.”
I huffed. “Let’s see if you feel the same way after he’s badgered you all day for attention.”
Thaddeus smirked. “Not much different from my ex then.”
I laughed. “Glad to see you’ve kept your sense of humour.”
He shrugged. “What am I going to do? Cry over the man’s cheating arse? I did enough of that yesterday. He doesn’t deserve more.”
His words took me back to another place and another time.
Another heart that needed mending. I hoped he did a better job of it than I’d done back then.
“True, but maybe you deserve more tears. Just because your ex is a lying, cheating prick doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt you.
You can grieve for yourself without crying for him, right? ”
Thaddeus stared at me from the table, blinking furiously, and I suddenly wanted five minutes alone with the man who’d put that look in his eyes.
He nodded slowly. “You might be right, but on an entirely different subject, should I feed Ziggy while you’re gone?
” He scratched Ziggy’s ears, and the dachshund all but purred.
I nodded. “Please.”
Thaddeus’s eyebrows scrunched. “When?”
I shrugged. “When I’m home, I feed him around five, but it varies. He’ll let you know.”
Thaddeus looked slightly panicked. “That’s very . . . vague.”
“A quarter of a cup of biscuits, no more. Don’t believe his lies.”
Thaddeus blinked. “What happens if I give him too much?”
“He’ll explode.”
Thaddeus’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “Wh-what?”
“Just kidding.” I grinned. “I keep his food in a bin in the laundry. He gets a snack sometime in the afternoon, and there’s a box of treats above his food.
Give him two. We’ll be back around six. Call if you need anything.
The drawer in the coffee table has every phone and laptop charger known to humanity, and the Wi-Fi password is on the fridge. ”
Tap rolled his eyes. “Of course it is.”
I nodded at Thaddeus. “Thanks for this.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome. You’re doing me a favour as well. Another one.”
I turned to find Tap wearing an irritating smirk as his gaze bounced between the two of us. I whispered, “Shut up,” and pushed him into the hallway and toward the front door. When he opened it, I gave him another shove onto the porch, slammed the door shut, and began pulling on my work boots.
Tap chuckled. “My, my, my. You’re in a hurry.”
I ignored him until we were heading down the path, away from the cottage. “What the hell was all that about?” I finally hissed. “You could stay the night, Thaddeus,” I whined mockingly. “We can give you a lift in the morning, Thaddeus.” I climbed into my ute and waited for Tap to join me.
“I didn’t say it like that,” he protested weakly, failing to hide his amusement.
I simply stared at him. “You are in so much fucking trouble.” I threw the ute into reverse, and we shot backwards. “Fuck!” I slammed on the brake, and we both lurched forward. Lucky for Tap, he smothered the laugh I’d heard bubbling in his throat.
“You know if you have something to say, you can just say it,” he said, keeping a straight face. “I do detect a teensy-weensy bit of hostility directed my way. God knows why.”
I levelled a threatening look at my best friend, the kind that would cower a lesser man, but all he did was smile. I narrowed my gaze. “Okey-dokey. You just earned yourself a day helping the plumber relocate the Cumberland’s sewage pipe.”
Tap blanched. “No! Damn you. It’s your turn. I did it at the Bower place.”
I threw him a shit-eating grin. “Yeah, but I’m the arsehole boss, remember?
Suck it up, buttercup.” I threw the ute into drive, and the back tyres skidded in the mud before they gripped and we headed out.
At the end of the driveway, I swung left onto Crighton Road but almost immediately pulled over.
“Holy shit.” I stared at the old Rover buried nose-first in my compost pile. “Now, there’s a sight you don’t see every day. I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“He’s lucky he walked away injury-free,” Tap observed.
I agreed. “But he sure made a mess. That’ll take me all Sunday to clean up.”
Tap looked at me sideways. “Maybe he could stay longer?”
I rolled my eyes slowly Tap’s way. “Stop it. The poor guy has had his heart broken.”
Tap shrugged. “He might appreciate the distraction.”
“No,” I said emphatically. “I’m not interested in being anyone’s distraction.”
“You’re not interested in being anyone’s anything at all,” Tap argued. “Come on, Ry, you gotta get back on the horse someday.”
“Maybe.” I grinned over at him, waggling my eyebrows. “But it is not this day.”
Tap snorted and began reciting Aragorn’s battle speech word for word.
I laughed at his antics and hit the gas.