Twenty-Seven
Sally braced her back against the wall and used it to push herself up from the floor which she’d slumped down upon when Darren had been pulled away.
With great tenderness, she touched the back of her head and was relieved when her fingers came away dry. It had hit the rough brick wall with such force, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find it bleeding. But thankfully, it wasn’t – just incredibly sore.
Her hand came round to her neck and she didn’t need a mirror to know it would already be sporting some glorious bruising – the pain in her throat was enough to bring her to that conclusion. She leant over, one hand on her knee for balance, the other still rubbing her neck as she coughed and gasped. Darren had only pinned her against the wall for a few seconds but he’d done so with some force and it had been long enough to inflict damage.
Her eyes were still watering and she was wiping the tears from her face when she heard footsteps. Looking up, she saw Matt coming towards her.
‘Than—,’ her voice came out in a dry croak. She stopped, coughed, and tried again.
‘Thank you,’ she managed this time.
‘Sally, I am so sorry. I never for a moment thought he’d come at you like that.’
She slowly made her way over to the iPad, lying where it had skittered across the floor by the barn door when Darren had overturned the table to reach her.
A small prayer of gratitude went up when she saw it was undamaged and she walked back to the table, righted it and put the tablet down on it. She scooped up the plastic outdoor jug and glass which, as luck would have it, had been empty and took them into the motorhome. A moment later she returned with two glasses of water. She placed one on the table, pushing it towards Matt, and took small sips from the other, trying not to grimace with pain when she swallowed.
‘Why?’ She looked at Matt as she whispered, the pain in her throat feeling like shards of glass were lodged there. ‘Why did he think I’d put in a complaint against him? I don’t understand.’
‘I reassigned him to our other project and told him this afternoon.’
‘Why did you do that?’
‘Because Flora told me he was harassing you and that is not permissible.’
‘She shouldn’t have done that.’
‘No, she shouldn’t have done, YOU should have!’
Sally blinked in surprise at the harsh tone of Matt’s voice.
‘I’m sorry, what?’
‘YOU should have told me, Sally. YOU should have been the one to let me know there was a problem, not Flora. It was her concern for you that brought it to my attention but I don’t appreciate my daughter being in that situation.’
‘Matt, with respect, do you think anything about this situation would have played out any differently if I’d been the one to tell you?’
For a few seconds they glared at each other and then Matt’s shoulders dropped, his eyes fell to the floor and his hands slowly unclenched.
‘No, you’re right, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Darren Connors has a short fuse and the outcome would most likely have been exactly as it was.’
The movement of his hands caught her attention. ‘Your hand? What happened?’
‘I may have felt it was necessary to punch Darren in order to subdue him.’
‘Oh! Ouch!’
‘Yeah, just a bit.’
‘Sit!’ She pointed to the wooden garden seat she’d just straightened. ‘I’ll be back in a moment.’
When she returned, she had a Tupperware box in her hand which she upended onto the table and shuffled the contents about until she found what she was after.
‘Here we go – arnica cream. This’ll do the job.’
‘Seriously? You believe all that nature stuff?’
‘Absolutely! Natural healing was here long before all your chemical, pharmaceutical drugs and humanity survived so there must be something in it.’
‘But new drugs are much better than this nonsense.’
‘Are they? You don’t think they can work alongside each other, that we’re better when we embrace the old along with the new? Here, give me your hand.’
She gave another small cough as she took Matt’s hand in hers. The pain in her throat was easing off although her neck still throbbed. She gently rubbed the cream across the bruised knuckles and down the fingers. She put another dab on the back of his hand and soothed it over his skin.
‘There, that should help. If you have gloves, I’d recommend wearing them for a bit to protect you till the bruising eases.’
‘What about you? You have bruising…’
Matt pointed at his neck and moved it from side to side.
‘Ah yes, my turn now.’
With the same care she’d given to her patient, Sally applied the cream to her own wounds. When she was finished, she looked at the water glasses on the table. ‘You know, I think I could really do with a strong cup of tea. Care to join me?’
‘Err… yes, I will, thank you. I’ll just go and tell the lads to finish up for the day. It’s nearly time anyway – half-an-hour early won’t hurt anyone.’
Sally had the teapot and mugs on the table when he returned. She’d also wrapped a light, chiffon scarf around her neck to hide the bruises which were more severe than she’d expected. The sight of them, when she’d checked herself in the mirror, had not been pretty at all.
‘Everything okay?’ she asked.
‘Yes. Darren has gone and the boys have asked me to pass on their wishes to you. They’re all angry at his behaviour and they’ve said if there’s anything you need, you only have to ask.’
‘I’m not some defenceless little lady, you know…’
‘No one is suggesting you are. We’re all just showing you the same level of kindness and respect that we would for anyone. Besides, with your dad’s judo skills, the last thing I’d expect you to be is defenceless!’
She chuckled. ‘Yeah, well, there is that I suppo— Hang on! How do you know about my dad’s judo skills?’
‘Ah! Oops!’
Matt’s face turned a fine shade of red under her stare.
‘I knew you from school. You used to go to Queen Vic’s in Lichfield.’
‘I did, though… I don’t remember you. Sorry.’
‘Don’t be! We never spoke and as I was two years above you, our paths rarely crossed. You came to my attention one day when I was walking home through the woods. You were defending one of the first-years against a bunch of bullies. I watched for a moment to see what was going on and was all set to step in to help when they began dispersing. I heard one mutter, as they walked away, that your dad taught martial arts and it wasn’t worth messing with you.’
‘Gosh! Yeah… I remember that day now. The kid was my brother’s mate and next-door neighbour. He was a right geeky little thing – perfect bully bait!’
‘After that, I kind of noticed you around more often and—’
He stopped.
‘Yes?’
Matt sighed before carrying on speaking. ‘And I was going to ask you come with me to the end-of-year school dance. But you went and left and I didn’t get the chance.’
‘Oh! Right! My… err… dad got a new job over towards Derby and decided it was a good time to move. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a say in the matter. I was pretty pissed off about it, let me tell you. I’d been so looking forward to going to that dance. I’d chosen my outfit and everything!’
‘I know. I heard you raging about it to one of your friends.’
‘Why didn’t you mention this sooner?’
Sally was surprised by Matt’s revelation and wasn’t sure if it felt a little creepy too. Or was she just being over-sensitive after what had just happened?
‘At first, I wasn’t sure if it was you. You looked familiar when we first met but it was a while later when the penny dropped and I realised who you were. The thing is… there never seemed to be an appropriate time to say “Hey, I remember you from school, how you doing?” – it felt a little weird to me, if I’m being honest.’
‘I suppose. Well, that just shows what a small world we live in! Who would have thought it?’ She nodded at his mug. ‘Would you like a top-up?’
He looked at his watch. ‘I’d better not, time’s getting on and I should be getting home. I’m going to have to explain this,’ he lifted his bruised hand, ‘to Flora and then listen dutifully as she reads me the riot act.’
‘Is she a bit bossy, then?’
‘Er, yeah! Sometimes I find myself asking exactly who the parent is!’
Sally found herself smiling. She’d liked the no-nonsense Flora and despite her young age, she had a sensible head on her shoulders. She could easily see her ruling the roost despite her dad’s senior position.
‘You know, Sally, you could actually help me out here…’
‘I could? How so?’
‘It’s pub quiz night at The Inn on the Green and Flora likes to go along. However, our little team of two doesn’t do so well against the teams of four. If you would join Flora and I for dinner there and stay to do the quiz afterwards, I might just about earn enough brownie points to get past this.’ He raised his hand again.
‘Oh, urm… I don’t know…’
‘Look, if you’re alone tonight, you’re most likely going to dwell on what happened and you’ll be not up to dick tomorrow.’
‘Excuse me? Not up what?’
‘Not up to dick! It’s an old expression my Grandfather John used and it’s carried on down through the family. It means not well. If you hang around here on your own, you’ll give too much headspace to this afternoon. The distraction, if you come out with us, would be far better. And it’ll be a good opportunity to meet some more people from the village. It won’t do you any harm to get out there and mingle a bit – after all, aren’t you hoping the local residents will become new customers for your surgery? You stand a better chance of that happening if they get to know you.’
Sally had been all set to decline Matt’s offer until he’d thrown his last statement into the mix. He was right – she had been holing herself up here at the farm and had barely ventured into the village at all since she’d moved in. She’d found the fact that everyone seemed to know everyone else a bit daunting and she hadn’t wanted people prying into her past under the guise of “getting to know her”. One of the reasons behind her move had been to start again and she’d rather do it without the spectre of her dead husband, and the pitying looks which came with that discovery, hanging over her. There was no longer a “Sally & Steve” situation – it was now just a “Sally” situation and she needed to get on with dealing with that.
‘Okay, I accept the invitation to join you and Flora for dinner. It’s very kind of you to ask.’
‘Cool! And it’s not really kindness, I genuinely am looking after my own skin here! Flora is less likely to verbally flay me if you’re around.’
He stood up.
‘I’m going to pop home to grab a shower and change into something that doesn’t smell of blood and sawdust.’
Sally burst out laughing.
‘Blood and sawdust! That sounds like something you’d hear in the Wild Wild West!’
‘The way I was brawling today, Flora would probably say that’s where I belong!’
They walked over to the barn door which led out to the courtyard.
‘I’ll call you when I’m on my way back to pick you up.’
‘There’s no need for that, Matt, I can drive myself.’
‘You could but not when you’ve sustained a bang to the head. Don’t deny it – I’ve been watching you rubbing it over the last hour. It would be irresponsible for you to drive and even more irresponsible for me to let you.’
‘But you’re happy to let me join you in a pub quiz?’
‘It’s the fact you agreed to join us that tells me you’re definitely in no fit state to drive!’
They both laughed at this and Sally could still hear Matt chuckling as she closed the wicket gate behind him, making sure the lock was secured before she walked back to the van.