‘I’ll sweep the floor when I get back,’ she called over her shoulder as she left.
He carried on checking for splinters of wood and exposed nails and dealt with each in turn.
‘Knock, knock!’ came a voice from the barn door and when he looked up from his position in the corner of the barn, it was Casey, a girl who’d moved to Heritage Cove with her family a couple of years ago and who he’d dated a handful of times.
‘Hey, Casey, how’s it going? What brings you here?’
‘I wondered if you’d had a chance to think about my proposition.’ When he pulled a face she added, ‘Being my date to the ball.’
‘Ah, that.’
‘You forgot, didn’t you?’
‘No.’ He grinned. ‘Yes.’
‘I knew it.’
He was about to think up an excuse to turn down a girl who was striking to look at with her sharp green eyes, angelic blonde hair and curves she wasn’t afraid to show off in fitted clothes that didn’t leave much to the imagination.But when Melissa appeared with a broom, ready to sweep – clearly she’d had no joy convincing Barney – he had no choice but to introduce the two women.
Casey looked between Harvey and Melissa. ‘I hear you two are in charge of this year’s ball.’
‘Word certainly got around fast,’ said Melissa. ‘I think we’ll be able to pull it off.’
‘I don’t mind helping out if needs be. Harvey has my number,’ Casey added cheekily.
Harvey didn’t miss a flit of something in Melissa’s eyes. Jealousy? Part of him hoped it was. ‘Well, I’m all finished here for today,’ he declared. As friendly as this was, it was awkward more than anything. ‘Everything looks good and the stage is ready for the band.’
‘Did they call back?’ Melissa asked.
Confused, he told her, ‘I thought you were dealing with it.’
‘No.’ Before he could add anything else Melissa spun on her heel, calling behind her, ‘I’ll do it now.’ She mumbled something else too but he couldn’t quite make it out.
Casey, perplexed at Melissa’s sudden departure, got back to the reason she’d come. ‘Please tell me you need a date. I can’t turn up to the ball on my own, it’s lame.’
‘So you’re happy to use me?’
‘Hey, feel free to use me back,’ she grinned.
She’d like that but he wasn’t going to. If there’s one thing he knew about women it was that leading them on was a bad idea. Which is why things with him and Casey had never gone further than a bit of fooling around and a couple of late nights in the pub. She didn’t deserve to be messed around, especially not now when his head was elsewhere.
‘I mean it, it’s a genuine offer,’ she went on, reaching out to touch his arm with her fingers that trailed up the skin. She took her hand away when she got no reaction. ‘You’re turning me down because of the redhead.’
‘Melissa?’
‘Don’t even try to deny it,’ she said good-humouredly. ‘I’ve heard about the pair of you and probably wouldn’t have thought you were still hung up on her if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.’
‘Melissa and I are ancient history. She’s with someone else.’
‘You’re not, you’re single.’
‘Nothing’s going on with her, I assure you.’ He dropped his hammer back into his toolbox.
‘I saw the way she looked at you, how you looked at her, blah blah blah.’ Casey had never been backward in coming forward and she was a lot of fun to be around. Her sparky persona tended to have a way of carrying you right along with it. ‘I’m pleased for you, pleased she came back, I mean.’
‘She’s not back, she’s just visiting.’ Outside the barn he told her, ‘And she has a boyfriend who she’ll be going back to in a few weeks’ time.’
‘Well, I hope her new guy realises his girlfriend is still in love with someone else.’
