Page 32 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
‘Oh, wow!’ chuckled Maggie, staring at the carpet.
‘I did warn you,’ said Mr Harris.
‘I quite like it,’ said Luke, cocking his head.
‘Yeah… me too,’ said Maggie. ‘It’s got a bit of a cool retro vibe going on.’
‘Well, I think you both need your heads checking,’ said Mr Harris, ‘but I’m glad you’re happy. And there’s an armchair, a bureau desk thingy…’
‘All sorts!’ gasped Maggie.
‘You don’t have to take it all,’ said Luke quickly, ‘not if you don’t want it.’
‘Aye, that’s true too,’ said Mr Harris. ‘You can choose what you want, and I’ll stash the rest in one of the barns at the farm… it’ll find other homes in no time.’
‘Thank you… both… so much,’ said Maggie.
Luke noticed she was blinking hard as she turned and kissed Mr Harris on the cheek. Then she turned to him and flung her arms around his neck, kissing him firmly – warmly - on the cheek too.
‘It’s our pleasure,’ said Luke.
‘Aye,’ agreed his uncle. ‘It’s what we do on Crumcarey. We look after our own.’
Luke felt the moment Maggie burst into tears – mainly because she buried her damp face in his neck and sobbed right into his jumper.
Somehow, he didn’t mind in the slightest.
CHAPTER 15
MAGGIE
‘All right, you two, break it up, break it up!’ grumbled Mr Harris from somewhere behind them.
It was enough to bring a watery grin to Maggie’s face, and she reluctantly stepped out of Luke’s comforting hug.
Feeling a bit sheepish, she swiped the tears from the corner of her eyes with her sleeve. It was hard not to feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights – there was so much to take in. Her little cottage had been transformed.
Sure, the walls were still green here and there, and the spiders were still very much in evidence in the corners – at least where they hadn’t been blown away by the storm – but now she had a roof that she wasn’t going to have to check on every single evening. She had electrics that weren’t a health hazard. And it was all thanks to Luke and Mr Harris and this amazing community that seemed to be intent on claiming her as one of its own.
This was no longer the house that she and Russell had bought without even viewing it. It was no longer the house that Russell had slowly eroded into a death trap.
This was now… it felt like it could be… home.
‘You look like you’re about to cry again,’ said Luke, looking half-amused, half-fearful.
Maggie punched him playfully on the arm and shook her head. ‘Happy tears. Really happy.’
‘Good.’
‘Aye!’ agreed Mr Harris. ‘Now, stop your lollygagging the pair of you. No time for standing around – we’ve got carpet to unload… and a whole load of other random stuff for Maggie to give the thumbs up or thumbs down to!’
If anyone had asked Maggie when she’d left her shift at The Tallyaff whether she’d have the energy in her to spend an hour unloading heavy rolls of carpet and furniture, she might have simply curled up and burst into tears. And not the happy kind! Instead… here she was, having the time of her life!
There were far more treasures hiding in the back of Mr Harris’s truck than she’d realised. She couldn’t believe how generous everyone had been… and she had no idea how she was going to pay them all back.
‘You mustn’t think of it like that,’ said Luke, shaking his head. ‘It doesn’t work like that up here.’
‘True,’ said Mr Harris, who was standing back and directing proceedings. He’d been doing a lot of that. Right now, he was overseeing them manoeuvring a particularly heavy oak kitchen table through the front door. ‘People just want to help out where they can. They were glad to see the back of most of this stuff. Not because it’s rubbish, but because it’s hard to get rid of things you’re finished with when you live on an island!’
