Page 31 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
Luke paused. He didn’t want to use the words “death trap” or “disaster waiting to happen” in front of Maggie, no matter how much they’d been bandied around during the day.
‘—he’s dealt with the issues,’ he amended.
There. That sounded less horrific!
‘I can’t believe it!’ she said.
‘Head through to the main room,’ he said.
Maggie did so, coming to an abrupt halt just inside the door. Luke wasn’t that surprised – it did look alotbetter in there.
‘How…how?!’gasped Maggie.
All the water had been mopped up, anything cloth that could be removed had been taken away, run through multiple tumble dryers around the island, and then returned.
Two large dehumidifiers had appeared from opposite ends of the island – their owners keen to help out in any way they could. They stood in the middle of the room, rumbling away and sucking moisture out of the air for all they were worth.
‘It’s mostly Ivy’s work in here,’ said Luke. ‘She scrubbed, wiped, dried, stripped… and basically just tried to sort out anything the water got to.’
‘I can’t believe she did all that for me,’ said Maggie.
‘Heads up – there was one major casualty from this whole thing,’ said Luke.
‘Uh oh,’ said Maggie. ‘Go on… I can take it…’
‘Your couch,’ said Luke. ‘We’re doing our best to dry it out, but a slate fell right onto it and the weight has damaged one of the arms. I think it’s a goner, I’m afraid.’
Maggie shrugged. ‘If that’s the only real damage in here, then I got off lightly.’
Luke nodded. He had to agree… it could have been so much worse. He wasn’t going to say it out loud, but the image of Maggie sitting on that sofa when the slate fell had been haunting him all day!
‘Just as well you don’t have fitted carpet,’ said Luke, ‘means it’ll air out a lot quicker in here. Your rug is still drip-drying in one of Uncle Harris’s barns.’
‘Wehavedone a call out for some carpet for you, though,’ said Mr Harris, pottering in to join them.
‘You have?’ said Maggie in surprise, turning to look at him.
‘Of course! In fact, I’ve got it in the back of the truck.’
‘Already?’ said Luke, raising his eyebrows. ‘I thought that wasn’t coming until tomorrow!’
‘I got a call on my way over to collect our girl here, so I took a detour,’ said Mr Harris with a shrug. ‘Just as well I had the tarp still in the truck, otherwise the cat would have been out of the bag.’
‘I can’t believe it!’ gasped Maggie, her hands flying to her face.
‘Now, don’t go getting all excited,’ warned Mr Harris with a little frown. ‘I’m not exactly thrilled with the weird patterns – some people have seriously weird taste in my opinion. Even so, it’ll warm it up a bit in here for you, and you can always hide it with a few more rugs.’
‘Amazing!’ said Maggie.
‘Seriously, Mags,’ said Luke. ‘I’d withhold judgment until you’ve seen it. 1970s swirls were all the rage up here on Crumcarey.’
‘Aye, true that,’ nodded Mr Harris. ‘Come take a peep at it. I’ve got all sorts of other bits and bobs in there too… more stuff than I can remember.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Maggie.
‘Let’s go have a look!’ said Luke.
The three of them traipsed out of a very different little cottage than they’d left that morning. Mr Harris made a beeline for the back of the truck and flipped the edge of the tarp back.
