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‘Work problems,’ Debra told him wryly, ‘not personal ones, but that wasn’t what I meant. This boy...’ She took a deep breath. ‘It’s the one we were talking about at the meeting, the one you’ll be dealing with.’
She bit her lip, hanging her head a little. The aims of their group were to help each and every child they had contact with, no matter what they might have done, and she felt it was wrong of her to tell Marsh something that might prejudice him against the boy, no matter how justified she knew her feelings and fears to be.
‘I see.’ Marsh turned back to the window. ‘So it was Karen you were seeing last night when you couldn’t meet me after work for a drink?’
He swung round as he asked the question, catching Debra off guard. She stared at him.
‘Yes. Yes.. .that’s right,’ she confirmed, a little confused.
His smile was unexpectedly relaxed and warm.
Debra blinked and tried to fight off the slow, sweet, toe-curling sensation that poured over her. She felt slightly dizzy, she recognised, and, although outside it was a rather dull grey day, she felt as though the sun had suddenly burst through the cloud and was shining with dazzling intensity. Her heartbeat quickened, a thrill of fierce joy and happiness bubbling up inside her.
And all because one man had smiled.
‘I know we got off on the wrong foot,’ Marsh was saying softly to her now. ‘But that’s behind us now. We have a lot in common, you and I, Debra.’
Debra fought valiantly not to respond to the warm promise of his voice.
He was probably just at a bit of a loose end, she warned herself. He was, after all, new to the area, and couldn’t know many people yet. No doubt he missed the hectic social life he had probably enjoyed in London.
To cover what she was feeling she said quickly and a little shakily, ‘Well, we are both accountants.’
She could see the laughter in his eyes.
‘Yes, we are, but that wasn’t quite what I meant. I was thinking more in terms of our... personal compatibility than the fact that we happen to have chosen the same career.’
Their personal compatibility. Debra swallowed, her thoughts rioting chaotically.
‘So you’re going home to... Tarford, wasn’t it...this weekend?’ Marsh continued easily. ‘Try not to worry too much about Karen. I can understand your concern, but now that the home is aware of the situation I’m sure they’ll keep an eye on it.’
Nodding, Debra stood up.
If it had not been for the fact that she felt so uneasy about her physical awareness of Marsh she would have been walking back to her office on air, full of admiration for his compassion and understanding, she admitted as she left him.
As it was, she was filled with a frenetic combination of elation and
anxiety that made it impossible for her to sit still and work.
Had he really said what she had thought he’d said, and what was she going to do about it if he had meant it?
Cravenly she acknowledged that, like the ostrich with its head in the sand, she would do nothing unless he did.
She might, after all, have misunderstood him. He might simply have been intimating that they could develop a platonic friendship based on their mutual involvement with the children’s group, and no more than that.
It was unnecessary for her to go looking for imagined problems, she reminded herself wryly She already had enough very real ones to contend with.
‘Debra, the rose is perfect.’
Debra smiled her happiness at her stepfather’s pleasure in her gift as he leaned over and kissed her.
It was a family ritual that presents were not opened until after the celebratory birthday tea, complete with cake and candles, which Leigh’s two daughters had helped their grandfather to blow out.
Now all the presents had been opened and the girls were arguing over which one of them had blown out the most candles.
‘Early bed for these two tonight, I think,’ Leigh commented to Debra. ‘Otherwise it’s going to be quarrels and tears. And no encouraging them to stay awake,’ Leigh warned Debra mock severely.
Debra had offered to baby-sit for her sister so that she and Jeff could have an evening out together.
