Page 8 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
‘It’s not going to last another winter,’ said Luke, staring back at the sad little cottage. ‘That roof’s going to disappear at the slightest bit of wind. Those tarps aren’t going to help if the cross beam goes…’
Honk!
The obnoxious blaring of a car horn made the pair of them jump. McGregor – rudely awoken from his nap – jumped to his feet and started barking and snarling at the window. His wiry fur stood on end as he glared at a campervan as it shot past them, overtaking at speed on the narrow road.
‘You know, I swear he’d have two fingers up at them if he had fingers,’ chuckled Luke, glancing at the little dog.
‘Well deserved,’ huffed Mr Harris.
‘To be fair, wearestationary in the middle of the road,’ said Luke, putting the truck in gear. With one last look at Maggie’s cottage, he put his foot down. He needed to get back to the farm… he had some serious thinking to do.
CHAPTER 5
MAGGIE
It was getting dark… not because it was particularly late, but because one of those mad, blustery storms was heading up from the highlands towards Crumcarey.
The clouds had been gathering all afternoon. Now they were hanging in the sky - dense and heavy - as Maggie wound her way home from her first day at The Tallyaff.
Pulling off the road, Maggie made the executive decision to ease the car as far as she could get it inside the little lean-to garage at the side of the cottage. There were no doors on it, and the back of the space was piled high with boxes and old furniture that had been broken during the house move. Still, at least the walls on either side would give her a bit of shelter. With any luck, she’d be able to climb out of the car without losing a door in the process.
The wind was really ramping up, and Maggie had heard all sorts of horror stories about unsuspecting drivers losing control of their car doors in a storm. One gust and they could bend right back… or worse, catch an unsuspecting hand or leg! She could really do without having to find the money for car repairs right now. As forMaggierepairs… well… at least a stay in the hospitalwould mean a break from the constant DIY and tarpaulin-wrangling.
Speaking of which, she should really take a moment to do the rounds and check the tarps were all in place and secure before the storm got any closer. It was something she did as a matter of course every evening – checking the ropes and re-tying anything that looked like it was coming loose. It usually took her about twenty minutes… but judging by the colour of the sky and the fact the wind was busy turning her heavy plait into a lethal weapon, she didn’t have time. She needed to hurry up and get inside!
‘How bad can it be?’ she sighed, glancing up at the roof and then instantly regretting her choice of words. It had been okay when she’d checked it the previous evening… or at least, as okay as it got. That didn’t mean anything though.
Either way, she was shattered after her first shift, and she just wanted to cook some food and put her feet up. She’d simply have to deal with any damage in the morning.
Yawning widely, Maggie made her way inside, turning on the lights as she went. They flickered a couple of times and she crossed her fingers that the trip switch wasn’t going to get up to its usual shenanigans this evening. Ever since Russell had decided to “improve” the electrics, they’d been tripping left, right and centre. It wasn’t really that surprising, considering there were still wires and dead ends dangling from the walls in every direction.
Russell had promised her that he’d left everything completely safe – safer than it had been to start with - but Maggie still made it a policy not to go near any of the dangling tangles of wire if she could help it. Sorting out the electrics was one of the many things on her to-do scroll – though she wasn’t daft enough to think she’d be able to take on this particular job herself.
‘Okay. We have light. Phew!’ she breathed as they mercifully stopped flickering.
Maggie grabbed her torch off the hall shelf on her way past anyway – just in case. She knew from bitter experience it was better to have it somewhere nearby than bashing around in the pitch-black cottage searching for it. That was a guaranteed recipe for stubbed toes and bruised elbows!
Kicking off her pumps as she made her way through the open plan living room into the kitchen, Maggie wished – not for the first time – that she had something a bit more cosy on the floor than patches of bare boards and concrete. A snuggly sheepskin rug wouldn’t go amiss right now. If someone had told her before she moved to Crumcarey that she’d have dreams about carpet that bordered on the erotic, she’d have laughed in their face.
Carpets…
Lino…
Shagpile!
‘Idiot!’ she chuckled, plonking her bag of groceries down onto the rickety bit of worktop next to the sink. Working at The Tallyaff was definitely going to have some perks – one of them being that she got first dibs on the fresh deliveries when they arrived.
Maggie had just started to unpack the bag of veg when a flapping growl from overhead made her flinch.
That didn’t sound good!
She’d bet anything that was one of the tarps shifting… or maybe even blowing loose!
Moving to glance out of the window, Maggie craned her neck and stared upwards. Sure enough, she could just make out a corner of tarpaulin flapping wildly in the wind. Beyond it, the sky had grown even darker. As she watched, huge splatters of rain dashed against the single remaining pane of glass.
Okay – so it had officially been an awful idea not to check everything over. There was no way she was going out there now, though. It would be dangerous to head outside with the wind ramping up like that. She’d just have to ride it out.
How bad could it be, after all?
