“I’ve kind of noticed that,” he said. It was true, he seemed to break a lot of his rules when it came to Doris, despite his resolve not to.
They looked at each other for a moment. The invisible gap between them seemed to be crying out to be filled with something. But what? He didn’t know.
He decided to change the subject. “So, coming back to that pay day thing—”
“Ten thousand,” she suddenly said.
“What?”
“That’s what I’m worth. I know I’m not very experienced, but I am a hard worker and I do try my best and I did save your life last night—”
“After you almost killed me first.” He cut her off with a smile.
“Irrelevant!” She smiled back at him. “Point is, I think that I—”
“Done,” he said, raising his phone to his face. “You’ve worked for me for just over a week, so I’ll pay you pro rata this month.”
“Done?” she asked. “Just like that? You’re not going to argue with me or negotiate me down?”
He shook his head. “No. In fact, since you aren’t officially added to the payroll this month, I’ll pay you myself, right now. I have your banking details.”
“Oh. Oh! That’s really nice of you, thanks,” she said as he logged into his online banking and went into the business account.
“I’ll even put a ‘pay and clear’ on the EFT so it clears immediately. You can enjoy pay day drinks with all the others tonight.” He clicked a few buttons and sent her the money.
“Uh . . . thanks, that’s . . .” Her voice trailed off and then her eyes widened. “Oh my God, I have great news for you then,” she suddenly said, looking very excited.
“What?”
“I can get my car back now. You won’t need to fetch and carry me anymore. Isn’t that great news?” She gave a cute little squeal and something punched him in the gut. Hard.
“How exciting,” he said. But it didn’t feel exciting. In fact, it felt very wrong.
“Would you mind giving me just one more lift, though?” she asked.
A wind suddenly blew through the garden and it pulled at the throw around her shoulders. She reached out and grabbed it as it twirled about in the wind. She giggled as it tried to escape her, and then wrapped it around her shoulders again with a smile. He was so busy watching her that he was caught off guard when she asked again.
“Will that be okay?” she asked.
He snapped out of it. “What?”
“Would you mind giving me one more lift?” she asked again.
“Sure, of course. No problem,” he said, trying to pull his eyes away from her.
“Thanks.” She smiled again.
“Where do you need to go?” he asked.
“The pound. To get my car back.” She looked so genuinely excited about this.
“Sure,” he said, even though the idea didn’t excite him at all.
CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR
Poppy
My car and I were finally reunited! And although it was a total piece of shit, I must say I was really happy to see it again. I didn’t like to rely on other people for things, and I’d been relying on Ryan for far too long already. Although, truth be told, I’d come to enjoy the trips, in some strange way—like the way one enjoys being bitten by a mosquito.
