AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A woman reached around Lena to grab tongs and fill her two children’s plates, and Lena seemed to realise she was holding up the line. “Well, it’s really great to see you.”
“Yeah. You too.” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught two of the blokes he’d been volunteering with exchanging a glance. He’d been caught. They’d be teasing him for flirting later, and if they’d overheard Lena’s nickname for him, they’d never let him live that down either.
“Maybe we could—”
“I’ve got to get on the barbie—” He gestured towards the sizzling meat. “I’ve got back-to-back shifts.” He could kick himself for having thought it would be better to keep busy all day.
“Oh, okay.” She flashed a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, Merry Christmas, Heath.”
He held her gaze until her eyes warmed, the heat there pulling him in, giving him renewed hope. “Merry Christmas, Christmas Girl.” Then he dragged himself back to the station, forcing himself not to look back at her, so she could work her way through the food line in peace.
He’d only just grabbed the tongs when one of the blokes working the neighbouring barbeque elbow jabbed him. “Mate! You’re going to let that one get away?”
He shrugged and flipped a rissole. His business was his own.
Once he knewLena was at the picnic, he searched for her every time he turned around. She should’ve been hard to pick out in the crowd, but she was like a beacon for him, and he always managed to find her. First she was in the shade, balancing her plate in her lap and offering Copper bits from it. Then she was kneeling at one of the bake sale booths, offering water to Copper from her cupped hands. The next time he saw her, it was thanks to a sharp bark from the direction of the climbing wall just across the grass. The bark kept coming at regular intervals—Copper.
The food line still hadn’t let up, but he stopped what he was doing and watched anyway. Lena was helmeted, harnessed, and already halfway up the wall, one arm stretched for the next handhold. A small crowd gathered outside of the marked-off area around the wall, their necks craned up, while Copper paced and yipped below, his leash held by one of the proprietors.
Heath knew Lena was athletic and strong, but the way she steadily made her way to the top, her every move controlled and balanced, filled him with admiration. When she reached the top, she grabbed for whatever was clamped there. He’d watched countless adults and children fail at the same task over the course of the day, most giving up well before they were ever in reach. But Lena managed it—no, she made it look easy. She snatched what looked like a twenty-dollar note and in one fluid motion swung away from the wall, hand raised in triumph. He wanted to cheer along with all the other spectators, but he held his tongue.
The moment was short-lived. Almost the second she began her descent back down to earth, he heard her shout, “Coppy!”
The dog had gone silent. Worse than that, he was no longer pacing, but was instead staggering about at the base of the climbing wall. Something was wrong. The moment Lena landed, the dog collapsed. She let out a scream and in that moment he had only one thought: he had to get to her.
“Take this.” He shoved his tongs at the nearest bloke and darted around the food tables, squeezing between families still in line before tearing across the grass.
He elbowed past the crowd that had only moments ago been watching Lena’s triumph. “Let me through!”
When he got to the barricade around the climbing wall—it could only have been seconds—Lena was still clipped into the climbing harness and on her knees, cradling Copper. “Get it off me! Please! Take it off!” She had to mean the harness, which the proprietor, a tall, muscular bloke, was struggling to unbuckle thanks to the way Lena was clinging to her dog. As he stood by, Copper vomited right on Lena.
“Oh, hon. Here.” A well-meaning bystander thrust napkins at Lena through the temporary fence, blocking his view.
“Lena!” Her eyes flew to his as he shoved past the napkin-thruster, but by the time he pushed up against the barricade, she was focused on the dog in her arms, her lips moving as she talked to him. Heath had to get to them.
“The gate. Open it.” No one heard him. Without a second thought, he vaulted over the barricade. He was at Lena’s side in two big strides. “Lena. Let me take him.”
“I can’t lose him, Heath!” Lena let out a sob as he bent to scoop Copper into his arms—the dog was radiating warmth—and lifted Copper from her lap, allowing the attendant to finally shuck the climbing harness off her.
“I know. I’ve got him. Let’s go.” Copper twisted in his arms as he stood, then stilled.
“I think it’s heat stroke! I don’t know what to do!”
Heath did. He turned to the bloke running the climbing wall. “The gate. Please.”
The proprietor flung it open and Heath charged through.
Lena was right behind him, the helmet dropped on the ground, her hand on his back as the murmuring crowd made way for them. As soon as they were through, Heath took off at a run.
21
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
Even in her panic, Lena knew the moment she would replay in her head until the day she died. Heath shouting, “Make way!”, as he shouldered through the parents clustered around the brand-new splash pool, Copper cradled in his arms.
Heath didn’t slow, didn’t even stop to kick off his shoes or take his phone out of his pocket or anything. He surged into the pool, sending up huge gouts of water, but somehow managing to avoid the littlest children. He kept going until he’d reached the deepest part of the pool— only maybe a foot deep—and then he sat, submerging Copper’s body. She waded in after them, ignoring the exclamations of surprise and the man who grumbled, “Who knew the splash pool would be so popular with dogs?”
She didn’t care. She had to get to her puppy.
