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Pierre, watching me, a cheeky grin splits her face, and she says, “I’ve never known anyone who is so uncomfortable with accepting help.”
“I hate to take advantage.” Especially of the man who doesn’t like me.
“I hate to lecture you about your own island, but it’s not how things work here. You’ll pay him back one day.”
She doesn’t know I’ve already tried by offering a few jars of honey which he refused.
We go inside and find the guys sorting through brushes, and mops, and paint rollers.
“What shall I do?” I ask reaching for a paint roller
Gabriel shoos me away “We have to clean first, and we only have one mop, so you can wait.”
“Let’s find some music.” Pierre beckons me over to my phone and the speaker and she starts scrolling through my playlists. “Destiny’s Child?” she asks “Lily Allen? Selena Gomez?”
Both men groan.
“Come on. Don’t you have anything that goes with physical labour?” Gabriel holds up a long-handled broom for emphasis. He’s been dry-sweeping the floor while Hal follows with a wet mop to make sure the floor is free of dust and debris.
“I think,” Pierre says, watching them, “I might just know the perfect song.” She winks at me then scrolls through the lists until she finds what she wants. She turns the volume up on the Bluetooth speaker.
Alesha Dixon’sThe Boy Does Nothingbegins to play. At the first line about a man with two left feet,Pierre starts dancing around. After a moment she pulls me in to join her; both of us laughing when the lines come to the man who never washes or cleans.
The men have stopped mopping to watch open mouthed.
Pierre bumps my hips with hers on the lineThe boy does nothingand we continue dancing, our arms up in the air.Hal starts laughing. The song seems to have finally melted the ice between us.
The next time Pierre and I bump hips onthe boy does nothing, I hear a click and look behind to see Gabriel, squatting down, a camera to his eye.
Hal is watching, arms folded over his chest, and his face transformed. The man is quite gorgeous when he’s not scowling.
The song comes to an end, and he hands me the mop. “Now, it’s our turn,” he says with a conspiratorial look to Gabriel. “Since you don’t like our cleaning, we should show you what mencando.”
They march to the shelf where my phone lies next to the speaker. Hal reaches for it then gives me a questioning look. I nod my permission and he swipes it. Of course, it doesn’t open so he has to step closer to me and hold it up to my face until it does. I can’t remember the last time I stood so close to a man or felt this sudden awareness of him, like the smell of his warm skin.
We finish cleaning the floor while Hal and Gabriel spend a lot of time scrolling and searching, with the occasional head shake, or dubious eye roll.
“What do you think they’re looking for?” Pierre asks in a stage whisper.
I bend down to wipe a wet cloth into the corner to clean it and make sure it’s dust free. “Something about masculine talents?” I whisper back.
“Like hogging the remote control?” She snorts
There’s loud“YES!”from the guys.
In the moment before the song begins, Gabriel takes my hand as well as Pierre’s and pulls us back to the centre of the room making us stand either side of him. Hal lines up next to me, but not touching. The music starts and the boys tap one foot forward then back. The tune is – unbelievably – an American country song.
“Come on, you two,” Gabriel calls out the steps so Pierre and I can follow. “Left, tap, right, tap, left, and turn.”
It’sFlowers on the Wall, and the rhythm is easy to follow.
We spin on the line,Captain Kangaroo.Except that I turn the wrong way and collide with Gabriel.
“Sorry.”
“Watch my feet,” Hal says, taking my hand very lightly to bring me back in line. He’s clearly a good line-dancer; is there no limit to his talents? His footwork is confident, and he executes the swings and turns with a perfect flourish. I find myself copying his rhythm.
It’s a sweet and touching song about making the best out of a bad situation. A man dressing up to dance alone. When we get to the last linehard to slow this swinger down, Hal twirls me. Not a manoeuvre I’ve ever done before, I turn on the balls of my feet and would have swung out, but he catches me back in line. Like magic, I seem to have made a perfect twirl, and it’s a lot of fun, even for a girl with two left feet like me.
