Page 41 of Fireworks at Pennycress Inn
‘I could have stayed. Or found you somewhere safer to stay for the night.’
‘This is safe! It’s…’ She let her voice drift off. It wasn’t safe. Or it hadn’t been, and it probably still wasn’t, what with that cereal box-covered hole in the door. ‘You were busy. You had that phone call…’
Zac nodded and shifted his stance against the wall. ‘So, your plan is to sleep here alone?’
Polly blew on her coffee, her breath creating small waves on the surface of the liquid. ‘I wasn’t going to sleep, just get stuff done.’
‘Right, I can see you’ve been busy decluttering. How much more do you have to do? I can give you a hand if you like?’
Polly took a sip of the sweet coffee before shaking her head. ‘No, don’t worry. I’ve got a fair amount left to do, but I’ll start again with that in the morning because I don’t want to disturb downstairs. I was going to take a look at that leaflet for the reserve tonight.’
‘Great. I’ll help.’ Zac pushed himself away from the wall and looked around.
‘My laptop is in the living room.’ Brushing past him, she led the way back into the room they’d just left and called over her shoulder, ‘You don’t need to stay, though. I’ll be fine.’
‘Yes, you have the brolly.’ Zac chuckled.
‘And you must have places to be yourself. A bed to sleep in.’ She sank to the sofa in front of the coffee table and placed her mug down before pulling her laptop towards her. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel forced into staying. She didn’t need him here and she certainly didn’t want to endure hours of awkward small talk or worse, silence. She’d had enough of that in the car. ‘You go. I’ll survive.’
Shaking his head, Zac joined her on the sofa, stretching his long legs beneath the coffee table. ‘I’m good. Besides, it’ll be nice to be able to have an input on the reserve leaflet.’
‘It would? You don’t want a break from the job for the weekend?’ Why did he want to have an input? Didn’t he trust her to do it right? To include all that was needed? Or did he just think he could do a better job? Nah, he wanted some of the credit for it. Not only did he want to bring the most money in, but he also wanted to make sure he was contributing to the reserve in other ways. It was all an act, an act to secure the promotion. ‘Actually, I’m tired. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to focus enough after today, to be honest. I might just leave it.’
‘Sure thing. Let’s relax and watch something then.’ Unperturbed by her words and also the broken TV, Zac flipped open the laptop lid and navigated his way to the TV apps.
Watching him scroll through the choices each channel had to offer, every so often he looked across at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly before continuing. The truth was, she wasn’t really bothered about what they watched; she was more interested in the reason he was here. Why was he determined to stick around despite her lying and saying she was fine? Did she looked that terrified that he didn’t feel he could leave or was there a reason he didn’t want to? Perhaps he wanted to be portrayed as the knight in shining armour who had made sure she was okay after the break-in?
What could she do? She had only two choices, to kick him out and spend the rest of the night willing the sun to rise and being terrified at every slight noise. Or let him stay, let him believe he was doing her a favour, but perhaps be able to relax a little. Or as much as shecouldrelax in his presence, anyway. She looked across at him as an overwhelming tiredness rolled over her. Perhaps she should just let him be the hero.
She reached out and pointed to the comedy series she’d watched over fifteen times before. ‘Are you happy with that?’
‘Yep.’ Hitting the Play button, Zac settled his back against the sofa cushions.
‘Great.’ As Polly watched the familiar characters move across the screen, she let herself zone out for a while. She knew the script exactly. It had been her grandma’s favourite series, and they’d watched it on repeat while Polly had been looking after her. Leaning back against the sofa too, she picked up her mug. Whatever his reasons, she had to admit she was more than a little grateful he’d insisted on staying.
25
‘You’re not being serious?’ Stacey glared at her from her vantage point at the top of the ladder, a paintbrush full of white paint threatening to drip across the old sheet Polly had laid to cover the floor. ‘You fell asleep on him? On THE Zac Sinclair? The fittest guy in town?’
‘Hey, you can’t say that! What would Freddie say if he could hear you talking about another man like that?’ Polly laughed as she brushed paint across the wall, leaving a satisfying streak across the red panelling. Polly was both pleasantly surprised and shocked her friend wasn’t curled up on the sofa suffering a hangover after her night out. And, of course, she was grateful she’d shot round this morning to help.
‘Haha, Freddie knows he’s the one for me.’ Stacey grinned as she twisted around and perched on the top rung of the stepladder. ‘But seriously, Zac slept over? Here?’
‘Yes, but not like that.’ Polly shook her head. ‘Definitely not like that. In fact, I don’t know if he actually got any sleep at all.’
‘But you did?’
‘I did. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to sleep here again, not knowing that one or more total strangers have been in here and especially with that measly cardboard covering the hole in the door, but I did. I woke up with my head on his chest.’ Polly grimaced, her cheeks flaming the hot red they had done when she’d woken up to find herself lying against the blue cashmere of his jumper, saliva drooling down her chin. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to ever face him again. I probably snored too.’
‘Oh, you definitely snored. Your snoring has woken me up on more than one occasion.’ Stacey’s expression was serious before she burst out laughing.
‘Oi! If I wasn’t worried about dripping paint everywhere, I’d be throwing this at you.’ Grinning, Polly pointed her paintbrush at her friend. She probably had snored. Yikes. He hadn’t mentioned it, though. When she’d woken up, he hadn’t complained about the fact she’d fallen asleep on him, or her snoring. He hadn’t even acknowledged the drool stain on his jumper. Thinking about it, he’d been quite relaxed about the whole situation. Yes, he’d had to rush off, but he’d appeared to be quite content. Definitely less stressed than he’d been when he’d first arrived at the flat. Not that any of that would make a jot of difference to the sheer humiliation she was feeling right now. ‘I’m literally going to have to quit my job, aren’t I?’
‘Nah, don’t be daft. He could have walked out at any point, remember, and he didn’t. He stayed.’ Gripping the edge of the ladder, Stacey stood up again and began painting the woodchip above the panelling. ‘I think it’s rather sweet, actually. Him checking up on you in the middle of the night like that and making sure you were safe.’
‘He was just passing and noticed the lights on, that’s all.’ Polly dipped her paintbrush back into the pot, reloading it.
‘Uh-huh, like anyone’s going to believe that.’ Stacey nodded dramatically.
