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‘Oh,’ Mike says. ‘Bad timing. Typical of my luck.’
‘It didn’t do me any harm to have an early night.’
Mike goes to the cupboard where I keep my cleaning materials, and pulls out a pack of J cloths and a disinfectant spray. Clearly he knows where to look, having helped out in more than one domestic emergency.
‘Will you see him again?’ he asks over his shoulder.
‘No,’ I say adamantly. ‘Never.’ Not as long as there is breath in my body.
I hand over Mike’s tea and sip my own. I’m starving but I can’t contemplate dinner until all this is tidied up. ‘That’s me done with dating. One toe in the water was enough. It was cold and scary in there.’
‘You shouldn’t be put off by one bad experience,’ he advises. ‘Not all men are the same. There are some nice guys out there.’
‘I don’t have the energy to find one, Mike,’ I confess. ‘I don’t think I believe in love any more.’
‘It can be hard to bounce back from a knockdown.’
‘We both should know,’ I say, acknowledging that it is still a very short amount of time since his wife left him.
‘I felt that I did everything I could for Tania,’ he tells me, nursing his cup as gently as he held the bird. ‘And still it wasn’t enough.’ He shrugs. ‘Women are a complete mystery to me.’
‘Men are a mystery to me.’
‘What a pair of sad sacks we are,’ Mike says with a weary laugh.
‘Let’s get this cleaned up and then I’ll treat you to a Chinese if the Hong Kong Garden will deliver.’
‘It’s a deal.’ Mike puts down his cup, arms himself with a cloth and starts wiping down the fridge and the cooker front with well-aimed squirts of disinfectant.
I head into the living room with the vacuum and dust pan and brush, and clean up the soot, broken glass and china whilst muttering ‘That bloody cat’ over and over to myself. Mike, on the other hand, whistles a very pleasant rendition of The Feeling’s ‘Love It When You Call’ while he works. There’s just something so comforting about having him around and not having to deal with all this myself.
An hour later, and there is very little evidence of my domestic devastation left. Everything is, once again, looking shipshape. Coast clear, Archie takes the opportunity to creep down the stairs and wind himself around my legs, purring in an ingratiating manner.
‘I suppose you think it’s dinner time?’
He purrs in agreement.
Mike appears at the kitchen door. ‘Doesn’t sound like a bad idea for us either. It’s all clear in here now.’
‘Here too.’ I show off my housekeeping skills with a twirl. ‘The menu for the Chinese is in the top drawer. Pick whatever you like. The only thing I’m not keen on is chilli beef.’
‘I remember that,’ Mike says with an easy smile.
I follow him into the kitchen and nearly trip over the cat en route, who is heading full tilt towards his bowl, lest I forget him in the excitement.
‘Wow,’ I say when I see what Mike has been up to. Every inch of my kitchen sparkles. ‘I don’t think my kitchen has ever been so clean.’
‘I’m glad all my hours of watching How Clean is Your House? weren’t wasted.’
‘Kim and Aggie would be very proud of you.’
He grins as he calls the Hong Kong Garden and orders the food.
I, in the meantime, think about feeding my spoiled brat. Archie is on the newly disinfected kitchen windowsill, craning to see the cherry tree, tail flicking in anticipation. When I look at the tree myself, the bird is still sitting there, but he looks like he might live to fly another day. ‘Don’t even think about it, buster,’ I warn Archie.
I shake out some biscuits into his bowl and with a last evil glance in the bird’s direction, he jumps down to concentrate on his legitimate meal.
When Mike hangs up, he says, ‘They couldn’t deliver for forty-five minutes and I’m starving. I’ll just nip out and get it.’
‘I’ll warm some plates while you’re gone. A beer?’
‘Oh yes,’ Mike says with longing in his voice.
Pulling a twenty from my purse, I hand it over to him.
‘There’s no need for this,’ he assures me.
‘I’d still be tidying up if it wasn’t for you. It’s the least I can do.’ It’s my last twenty, so I can’t really afford to be so rash, but Mike’s help has been worth every penny.
Reluctantly, Mike puts the money in his pocket. ‘I’ll be back in ten.’
When I hear the front door close, I flick the oven on and then get out a couple of plates to put in it. I set the table and find glasses for our beer.
