Page 18 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
‘Or stupid,’ said Maggie.
‘Brave,’ repeated Luke, shaking his head. ‘Had you been to Crumcarey before?’
It was Maggie’s turn to shake her head.
‘A real adventure then!’
Maggie smiled at him as the knot in her chest eased a little. Sure, things had gone sour after the move, but ithadbeen an adventure at the time!
‘I moved here originally with Russell – my boyfriend,’ she said. ‘My ex, I guess I should say.’
‘Your ex?’
‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘He left after about six months to take a job back on the mainland. We never officially split up, but…’
‘Does he visit?’ said Luke.
‘Nope,’ said Maggie, shaking her head. ‘I mean, it’s definitely over. I’ve not seen him or spoken to him for over a year, so…’
‘Definitely over,’ agreed Luke in a steady voice. ‘And… does he own Pear Tree Cottage with you.’
‘Actually, no!’ said Maggie. ‘I sold my flat down south and bought it outright with the proceeds. There was enough left over to live on while we worked on the place.’
Until recently, of course, but Luke didn’t need to know the ins and outs of her slightly sorry finances!
‘Well, at least that’s something,’ said Luke.
‘Yeah,’ she said, a little laugh slipping out as she said it. ‘A little heap of something.’
‘Don’t count your slipped slates before the morning,’ said Luke gently. ‘It might have sounded worse than it actually was.’
‘Tell that to my poor car!’ said Maggie.
‘Okay… yeah. Anyway – we’ll sort it out one way or another, don’t worry.’
‘Thanks,’ said Maggie, smiling at him gratefully. How could she not? The guy was single-handedly making her feel less alone than she had since Russell had left. Hell – sincebeforeRussell had left. Not that shecouldn’tdeal with it on her own… it was just that for once, it was nice to feel like she might have the backup of another human being standing by her side.
‘So you both made the move and started doing the place up?’ prompted Luke.
Maggie couldn’t help but pull a face. Luke had already told her that he’d clocked the state of the cottage on his way past, and she was pretty sure Olive and Mr Harris would have filled him in on the rest.
‘Russell wasn’t very… handy,’ she said, doing her best to be diplomatic.
‘Ah,’ said Luke.
‘Uh huh,’ agreed Maggie.
‘I bought lots of materials… and tools…’ she continued. ‘And I did my best to learn as much as I could as we went along. I learned even more after he left. We just… I just never seem to get very far with it.’
‘Do you regret it?’ said Luke. ‘Moving here, I mean? Buying the cottage.’
Maggie shook her head. ‘Nope. Not for a second. It was a risky decision – but I was up for the adventure. Russell might have turned out to be an arse, but I’m grateful to him for his mad plan… because it brought me here.’
‘I like your attitude,’ said Luke with a grin.
‘I’ve had time to work on it,’ she said with a wry smile. ‘Either way, I could have sold up after Russell disappeared… but this is home now. Crumcarey is, I mean. I’m not so sure about Pear Tree Cottage. Idolike it there… but it’s going to take a lot of work.’ She paused, feeling the blanket of weariness settle even heavier on her shoulders. ‘If I’m honest, I’m not sure I’ve got the energy left. I’ve been working so hard just to stop the place from falling down… and now it kind of… has.’
‘I get it,’ said Luke. ‘But everything will look better in the daylight. You’ll see.’
