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Alex wondered whether Marie would decide to do all her communicating with him via her brother today. It was a possibility.
But as Zack turned to go Marie popped into the doorway. ‘Charlie and a couple of the other guys are here. They’ve come to help for a few hours.’
‘That’s nice of them. Tell Charlie I’ll be along soon.’
‘I’m sure he could do with a hand from his number one apprentice.’ Marie grinned.
‘Yep. As soon as I’ve checked the accounts I’ll be there.’
Alex could almost manage to look at her without thinking about last night. The softness of her lips...
‘Here...’
She had something in her hand, and she tossed it towards him. Alex caught it, opening his fist to see what it was.
‘That’s exactly what I need. Thank you.’ She’d brought him an eraser in the shape of a dinosaur.
Then she was gone. Alex congratulated himself on not embarrassing either her or himself, and turned his attention to the papers in front of him.
Half an hour later, he scribbled his signature on the last page, and was about to write a note to the accounts manager, when Zack came bursting into his office.
‘Come and help... Marie...’
Panic and breathlessness had rendered Zack capable of alarming Alex, but not able to tell him where he needed to be.
‘Zack!’ Alex stood up taking him by the shoulders. ‘What’s happened? Where’s Marie?’
‘Over the road—at the site office. Charlie went over there for something and didn’t come back. Marie and I went to find him...’
That was enough for the time being.
Jim knew the letting agent for the small row of shops across the road, and he’d negotiated the use of an empty one as office space and storage while the works at the clinic were being carried out.
‘We called him but he didn’t answer...we looked through the front window and his hat was there...we banged on the door... Marie broke in...’
Zack was breathlessly recounting the story, running behind him as Alex crossed the road. He didn’t need to know any of that. Just that Marie and Charlie were all right.
The door of the shop was open, and there was a bent piece of wire that Marie must have shoved through the letterbox to flip the lock. Alex cursed under his breath. Why hadn’t she come to fetch him?
Because she could do it herself.
The warm, pliable woman who had clung to his arm last night, to balance herself over the uneven ground in her high heels, was more than capable of doing what needed to be done this morning. That was what he loved about Marie...
There was no time to consider his use of the word love. Alex noticed Charlie’s bright red baseball cap, propped on one of the drawing boards by the window, and hurried past the desks and storage boxes to the open door at the back, which led to the stairs. He could hear sounds of effort, followed by a loud crack, and then a clatter.
He ran headlong down the stairs. At the bottom he saw Marie’s face, shining up at him.
‘Alex. Thank goodness!’
He resisted the impulse to hug her. ‘Are you all right? Where’s Charlie?’
‘Inside. I heard him.’ She gestured towards the door that led into the basement. ‘But I can’t get the door open—there’s a pile of stuff behind it.’
She’d made a good start. The door stood open a few inches, and the light was on inside. Alex could see a mess of plaster from a broken sack and pieces of wood piled against the other side of the door, which stopped it from opening any further. Marie had found a crowbar from somewhere, and had managed to lever the bottom hinge away from the doorframe.
She wasn’t tall enough to get good leverage on the top hinge, and nor was she strong enough to move the heavy door, which was now hanging on just one hinge. Alex took the crowbar, inserting it as far as it would go between the door and the jamb.
‘Hold that in place.’
