Page 42 of Wish You Once More
“I’ll be fine,” I choked. “Harry’s bringing me my new project today.”
Sanding the shit out of a chest of drawers would be a great way to work out some of my tension and stress.
“You’re going to work?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Life goes on, right?”
A flash of determination coursed through me. I wasn’t going to let Mat Redmond ruin me for a second time. I was worth more than that.
Appearing a lot braver than I actually felt, I stood up and headed towards the bathroom. It was only when I had the shower on full that I allowed the tears to fall.
Harry arrived shortly after ten o’clock in his van. Between the two of us, we wrestled the chest of drawers out of the back and into the workshop. Thankfully, I was alone for the day. Both of my studio mates had other plans today and wouldn’t be around. It was perfect and gave me the opportunity to blast my music at a ridiculous volume without disturbing anyone.
“And you look like shit this morning.” As usual, he started making himself a coffee without my permission.
Today, I wasn’t in any mood to challenge him on either front. “Thanks, Harry, I know I can always rely on you for a compliment.” I pulled a face.
“Mmm, whatever.” Harry sipped his drink. “We missed you last night. Where did you get to?”
“It took ages to finish cleaning up, then I went home.” I pulled a piece of skin from around the edge of my thumbnail. “Felt knackered by the time we were done.”
Harry grinned. “Yeah, I get that. You were on duty pretty much the whole weekend.”
I nodded. “I will no doubt do it all again next year. We’ve got some kind of wrap up meeting soon. You know, to talk about what went well and any lessons learned.” I placed air quotes around the last two words of my sentence. Darla was hot on knowing what had worked and where we could make improvements.
I already had one suggestion for her.
Don’t invite Mat Redmond to play.
Harry’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, swigging down the last of his coffee. “Yep. It’s in the back of the van, buddy. Mmmhmm, yep. I can be there in about twenty minutes.” He paused and I could hear someone talking to him. “Got it. I’m leaving now.” He ended the call and rolled his eyes. “I told him I’d be there at eleven thirty. Now he’s got to take one of the kids to a swimming lesson. How he didn’t know about that when he booked the flaming delivery, I’ll never know.”
It was the first thing that had made me chuckle all day, and I was grateful for it. I leaned over and kissed Harry on the cheek.
“Thanks for bringing this over.” I gestured to the chest. “Can’t wait to make a start on it.”
He basked in my affection and praise. “Anytime, babe, you know that. Gotta go, I’ll catch you later. Maybe grab a drink or lunch later in the week?”
I nodded, plastering a smile on. “You got it. See you soon.”
Once he’d gone, I shifted the chest of drawers into the centre of the studio to give myself space to work around it. I placed a massive dust sheet underneath it to catch the paint I was about to sand off.
Fifteen minutes later, I was about ready to give up. Whoever had owned the thing before had painted it with so many coats, it was going to take an age to get down to the real, original wood. The first coat had revealed a second, and then a third. Thank God there hadn’t been varnish as well, otherwise I would have been well and truly fucked.
My phone pinged with a message, and I jumped. There was obviously a massive part of me which was waiting for Mat to get in touch, to explain why he’d left without waking me. My hands shook as I picked it up from the desk.
Callie: Thinking of getting pizza for dinner. You in?
Pizza wouldn’t make up for the disappointment which pooled in my stomach.
Bree: Sounds good. Can’t be arsed to cook tonight.
Callie: Me either! I’ll pick up some wine as well. Unless you want tequila ;o)
Instantly, the taste of the spirit filled my mouth. There was no way the world I was drinking that again. The thought of it made me retch right now.
Bree: Wine’s good. Pick up a Malbec?
Callie: You got it. See you later! xx
