Page 14 of Barging In
“It’s blocking mine!” the woman barked.
“Yours was blocking mine first!” Clem bit back. “Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it!”
Max moved to intervene. “Ladies—” he began, but thefurious tug of war only escalated, forcing him to jump back.
“I’m amazed you need a sign,” the other woman sniffed. “Your horrid boat is so garish it would make a mole squint.”
Seriously?Now she was coming after Florence.
“It’s bad enough I have to see it at the bottom of my garden,” the woman added.
The penny dropped, and Clem stopped pulling. “You’re her.”
The woman scowled. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” Clem said, far too quickly.
“No, come on. Out with it, if you have something to say. Who exactly am I?”
“My parents’ neighbour. They… erm… might have mentioned you.”
Lemon Drizzle’s skin pinked, likely remembering the altercation with them. With her opponent’s guard down and an audience gathering, it was time to finish this. Clem yanked at her sign. It came freely — too freely for the force she’d exerted. Her heel skidded on the wet morning grass, and she slipped backwards.
“No, no, no—” she gasped, already falling.
She let go of the sign, which thudded to the ground and fell to the side. Her arms flailed, windmilling as she tried to stay upright. In a panic, she grabbed Lemon Drizzle’s arm for balance. She shrieked as Clem’s weight dragged them both backwards. There was a moment of horrified eye contact, then?—
SPLASH!
The cold water hit Clem like a slap to her soul. The shock of it struck first, a blunt, icy force that sucked the air from her lungs and pricked her skin. Her boots were heavy with water,and her clothes clung to her like seaweed, weighing her down as she kicked to find the bottom to stand up. Once she found it, she stood, bursting through the water, coughing and blinking furiously as her sodden lashes blurred her vision. The murky water stank with a mix of oil, rust, algae, and something unidentifiable that made her gag. Her ears rang from the impact, and her whole body trembled from the cold.
Something splashed about nearby, reminding her she hadn’t gone in alone. Great. Falling into the canal was bad enough, but accidentally dragging someone with her? The embarrassment was worse than the cold.
Noticing that a wide-eyed Max was rushing to the bank, Clem waded towards him. The woman’s head appeared beside her, gasping, soaked, and furious. Expletives began tumbling from her shivering lips.
“Stand up,” Clem shouted at the woman.
Lemon Drizzle emerged properly, water up to her chest, and reached up for Max’s hand. He dragged her out and then lifted Clem onto the bank beside the startled, dripping woman.
Clem thought they must look like a pair of shipwreck survivors, chests heaving, hair plastered to their heads, clothes clinging in the most unflattering way. On second glance, though, Clem realised the way the woman’s white shirt clung to her breasts wasn’t entirely unflattering. The material was practically see-through, and her eyes took in everything it revealed.
“If you are quite finished,” the woman said, fixing her with a steely glare from a pair of blue eyes.
If Clem hadn’t been so cold, she would have felt a rush of heat from embarrassment at being caught ogling her hardened nipples. She watched the make-up–streaked woman pick up the fallen sign with trembling fingers and place it next to her own. Without a word, she grabbed herhandbag and strode off towards the bridge, leaving a trail of water behind her.
Clem felt a sharp pang of guilt. She hadn’t even asked if the woman was okay. She also noticed her jumper was no longer around her shoulders; it was likely waterlogged and sinking to the bottom of the canal.
Beginning to shiver uncontrollably, she turned to Max. “Would you mind keeping an eye out for customers whilst I clean up? I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“You take as long as you need to get that smell off you,” he said, wrinkling his nose and desperately trying to withhold a grin. “You’ll drive away the customers otherwise.”
Stepping onto Florence’s bow, she stripped off as many wet clothes as she could, fully aware people were still lingering after the — well, to call it what it was — the fight. She caught sight of the woman disappearing into the wharf and suddenly wondered if she should have offered her the use of her shower.
Sod her! She started it.
Throwing everything into the washing machine, Clem entered the shower and let the warm spray soothe her cold skin. She washed her hair twice with shampoo and scrubbed herself with soap, hoping it would be enough to erase the smell.
When she finally made her way to the kitchen, she discovered Max using the espresso machine.
