Page 59 of Not Exactly Mr. Darcy
“This room is amazing, George.” Liv slowly spun around.
“This room is a mess, you mean. I don’t know what we’re going to do with it.”
“Have you ever had someone come and value the books?”
“All the truly valuable ones are behind glass doors.”
“Where they’d be protected from dust and mice. I hope.” She glanced at Liam. “Have you checked that?”
“Checked what?”
“That no mice have made nests in little hidey-holes behind the books.”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
“Oh, I’d definitely believe you,” she said dryly.
He chuckled, and George looked at him quickly. He shook his head at her. No. There was no need to get carried away, just because the woman tugged at his rusty sense of humour. They were friends, that was all. That wasall.
Tuesday’s volunteers were, as expected, fewer in number than yesterday. At least for those working in the gardens. The stewards had all showed again, except Valerie, and Marge had her crew in again too.
“But we’re only staying until elevenses,” she’d informed them at the prestart meeting at nine. “I’ve got to get lunch on, and I’ll be sending two girls over with the roast beef lunches at one.”
“We appreciate all you do,” Liv said. “Oh, that reminds me, have you heard about the coffee cart and ice cream van yet?”
Marge blew out a breath. “I’d said I’d get to it, and I shall.”
Liv bit her lip and nodded.
Liam tried to encourage her with a smile, but she turned away. So he caught up with Marge instead. “Marge, is everything okay?”
“Of course.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Well, no. I know Liv is new, but I don’t think she realizes just how hard everyone else is working.”
“If it’s too much for you—”
“It’s not too much for me. Especially not when I know others, like you and Tobias and Veronica, are working hard too. But I just don’t know about her.”
“You mean Liv?”
She paused at the entrance to the carriageway. “I suppose I have a problem when we’re all working like navvies and she’s on the phone doing goodness knows what. Did you know she was talking to her sister yesterday instead of telling the workers about my scones?”
“She explained that last night in the debrief meeting. I think you’d gone by then. Her sister designs websites, and Liv was asking for advice. Did you see the email she sent last night to us all about the branding?”
“Branding.” She sniffed. “I thought we were going to discuss these things, and yet here she’s gone making unilateral decisions that affect us all.”
“She asked for our input on that last night too,” he pointed out.
She shook her head. “She just doesn’t seem especially focused sometimes, everything is so haphazard and slapdash. Don’t you think this is being done too fast?”
He might have shared the same thoughts. Not that he was going to express them now. Not when for this venture to succeed Liv needed his support. “I think you should give her a chance. This is all new to her too, and I’m sure she’s still getting her head around things. Not all of what she does is going to be as tangible as setting a room or garden to rights.”
She sniffed again. “Look, you know that I’m a team player. I just want to feel like the rest of the team is playing too.”
“I think you’ll find we all are.”
