Page 11 of Alpha's Sunflower Smiles

“Nobody’s ever walked in before.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Oh?” I said again. Was I being thick for not understanding what he was getting at?

“It’s not secure, Wilfred.”

“Do you want me to lock it again?”

“I want—”

He cut himself off and held himself tight. I could see his shoulders were tense and I hoped his headache wasn’t coming back.

“Yes?”

When he spoke, I got the feeling he was measuring his words out carefully.

“I want you to be safe. It doesn’t make sense to let the workshop be insecure.”

My protests of, “This is a nice area, though,” were a bit half-hearted. I hadn’t considered that my workshop was insecure before. The door locked at night and that kept everything safe, right?

Pete said, “What if someone comes in while you’re out here?”

I considered that. And I felt a wave of panic as I realised what that could mean. “If someone walked in and I was out here, Richard would be alone with them in the workshop! What if they did something to him? What if he couldn’t call for help?”

I didn’t realise my voice had got louder and panicked until Pete put his hands on my shoulders and spoke in a deep, soothing voice. “It’s okay, Wilfred. Richard is fine. Take nice deep breaths for me.”

Deep breaths. I could do that.

I’d just sucked a load of air into my lungs when Richard’s sharp voice cut across me. He stood in the doorway of the workshop, scowling.

“What are you doing to him? Let him go now or I’ll call the police.”

Pete took a step back and held his hands up, as though showing Richard he was unarmed. My shoulders suddenly felt cold after having his warm hands on them, and I missed the contact.

Richard moved forward to stand beside me and shot me a concerned look.

My breath whooshed out of me in a rush. “It’s alright, Pete was just helping.”

“He looked like he was shaking you.”

“No, he wasn’t. I was just, um, maybe having a bit of a panic.”

Richard’s voice went up. “Why? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Pete just told me that the back door isn’t secure. I was worried somebody would come in and hurt you and I wouldn’t know about it.”

Pete muttered, “At least we know you’d hear a commotion. Richard hearduseasily enough.”

Richard gave him a doubtful look and, weirdly, it felt nice to have someone be that protective of me. Richard might be small but he was clever and fierce. I’d liked him immediately and we’d built up a trusting relationship over the months. I suppose he was a bit like a son to me.

“Maybe you shouldn’t work out there until we’ve sorted the door,” I said. Then I looked at Pete, realising I had no idea how to sort the door, or even what exactly needed sorting. “How do we make it better?”

“Just lock the door unless you’re using it. Both of you can come in and out the front door until it’s secure. At least have a keycard or something.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. And then we can… fix the door.”

“I can do that.”

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