My Year of Saying No - Maxine Morrey Page 0,50

a shadowy outline of Seb, huddled into his down filled coat.

A few minutes later he was back, rubbing his hands together and grabbing his mug to wrap them around and warm up.

‘That was Angus,’ he said, taking a sip and giving a little shiver as the hot liquid warmed him.

‘And?’ I asked, my fingers tensing around my own mug in anticipation.

Seb’s eyes dropped momentarily to my hands before meeting my eyes again. ‘Relax. It’s all good. Running like a champion again.’

‘Really?’

‘Yep.’

‘So, he found the fault?’

‘Yep. Something in the wiring that’s obviously got missed. Loose connection. It was kind of buried in there, which is probably why the others have never found it. Or they just weren’t looking in the right place, but Angus is almost forensic when it comes to stuff like this. Hence, all done.’

‘How much do I owe him?’

Seb shook his head. ‘Nothing. And you can’t offer him anything either. He’ll be offended.’ He shifted position on the sofa and turned to face me a little more. ‘Angus sees things like this as his way of giving back.’

‘But he doesn’t owe me anything.’

‘No, but he feels he owes the charity something, and ergo, me. Even though I’ve told him a million times that’s not how it works.’

‘But doing things for the charity, you, or anyone connected to you makes him happy.’

‘Exactly.’

I took a bite of the gooey chocolate cake I’d ordered alongside my drink. There was another slice in a box on the table for Angus, who Seb had told me was a fiend when it came to chocolate cake. The soft buttery icing melted in my mouth and I had a feeling Angus wasn’t going to be disappointed. ‘I can understand that.’

Seb gave me a soft smile. ‘Thanks.’

‘It still feels weird though.’

‘I know.’

He finished off the slice of cake on his plate and I saw him eyeing the box.

‘No.’

‘What?’ he asked, looking innocent.

‘Don’t give me that look,’ I replied, laughing. ‘I’ve known you too long. You were definitely eyeing that box of cake and, in the light of knowing the man has miraculously fixed my car, I’ll defend it with everything I have!’

‘Is that so?’

‘Absolutely!’ To illustrate this, I moved the box as far away from him on the table as possible.

‘You know I can still reach that, right?’

‘You’ll have to go through me first.’

‘Lottie, I could sling you over my shoulder like a sack of spuds if I needed to.’

I drew myself up. ‘Try that, buster, and your prosthetic will be the least of your troubles.’

‘Oooh!’ Seb winced and pressed his legs together a little. ‘You’ve got a mean streak, you know that?’

‘I have not. It’s called determination.’

‘Oh, I see. That’s all right then.’

‘I’m glad we agree.’

‘I didn’t say that.’ But I saw the smile before the huge mug eclipsed most of his face. ‘So,’ he said, reappearing. ‘You definitely decided on that car?’

‘I think so. I think I’d like to go back and have another quick look and maybe another drive, but it’s kind of what I had in mind anyway and it felt nice.’

‘Great!’

‘But if Angus has fixed my car now, you can just drop me back at the house and I can go back under my own steam.’ I glanced up at the old station-style clock on the wall, the second hand bouncing as it edged its way around the face. ‘You’ve got most of the afternoon left that way at least and I haven’t entirely swallowed up your day.’

Seb kept his eyes on his mug as he finished his drink, tidying up the table once he’d done so.

I popped the box of cake on top of my bag to take back to Angus. When he still didn’t say anything, I shifted in my seat. ‘Not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done so far.’

‘I know,’ he said, flicking me a smile as he pushed his arms back into his jacket. Zipping it up, he pulled the beanie hat out of a pocket and put it on.

‘Seb?’

‘Hmm?’

‘You’ve gone weird.’

‘What?’

‘You. You’ve gone weird.’

At this, his smile broke through and the feeling dissipated, but there was no denying it had, momentarily, been there.

‘I do not go weird,’ he stated.

‘You just did.’

He shook his head and motioned for me to go ahead of him. The car was parked close and, once inside, engine running and a warm breath of air filtering through, Seb turned to me. ‘OK, so here’s the deal. You were right. I did go a bit weird in there.’

‘Was it something I said?’

‘Kind