Page 29 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
Mr Harris drew the truck to a standstill and grinned across at her. She stared back at him, her mouth gaping in shock. Then she turned back to the cottage again. The grass on the driveway was marked with dozens of tyre tracks. There had clearly been a lot of action here today!
‘What… what’s going on?’
CHAPTER 14
LUKE
Luke only just managed to clamber down off the ladder in time.
Phew!
He crouched in the grass at the side of the cottage and peered at Maggie’s face through the windscreen of the truck. He didn’t have a completely clear view, but it was pretty obvious that she was confused… and shocked… and surprised.
Luke’s stomach flipped. Had they done the right thing? He desperately wanted this to be agoodsurprise!
‘Luke Harris!’ demanded Maggie, flinging open the door of the truck and peering around in search of him. ‘I know you’re here – come out this instant!’
Luke straightened up, grinning from ear to ear. He caught sight of his uncle’s laughing face and shook his head. That man couldn’t keep a secret for two seconds!
‘Okay, okay… I’ve got an apology to make,’ he said giving McGregor a pat before striding towards Maggie.
‘An apology?’ she said. ‘I… you… but why?’ She rubbed her face. ‘Am I hallucinating right now, or does my cottage have a new roof?’
‘Well… kind of,’ said Luke.
‘Kind of?’ she said, shaking her head. ‘That’s a roof, Luke. Aroof!’
‘That’s what I wanted to apologise for,’ he muttered. ‘Iwasjust going to put the tarps back… but I was talking to Connor about it, and he knew someone who had a whole stack of these black metal sheets. I knew they’d be easier than the tarps… and they’ll stay put better too and do a better job and—’
‘I can’t believe you did all this!’ she said, running her fingers through her hair.
Luke watched her for a long moment, waiting for her to say something else. He still couldn’t tell if she was pleased or not. Ithadbeen a big gamble to go ahead without checking she was cool with it first…
‘Connor helped me to collect it and unload it,’ said Luke quietly. ‘He helped me get it in place too.’
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Maggie, shaking her head slightly, as though the new roof might disappear if she kept doing it. ‘Can you tell me where you got it? I’ll do my best to pay them back as soon as I can.’
‘Oh!’ said Luke, suddenly understanding why she was looking worried rather than relieved. ‘You don’t need to worry about that - they were glad to get rid of it!’
‘Seriously?’ she said, and Luke could swear he could see the weight start to lift from her shoulders.
‘Yep,’ he said with a smile. ‘They said you were welcome to it. I’m not quite finished yet, but it’s nearly there.’
‘I can’t believe it!’ she said again, staring at her new roof, this time with far more enthusiasm.
‘I’m afraid I haven’t managed to get the windows fixed yet though,’ said Luke.
‘I didn’t realise they’d been broken!’ she said.
‘Not… not last night,’ said Luke carefully. ‘But you had a few panes missing?’
Maggie nodded.
‘Well, someone on Little Crum had some really nice ones they were going to use to build a greenhouse. They’re going to bring them over by boat tomorrow.’ He grinned at her.
Maggie looked like someone had just clonked her on the head with a baseball bat.
‘What about their greenhouse?’ she said faintly.
