by Susan Elle
When Ryan enters the office he finds Felicity going through some of the paperwork checking off site inventory for tools and supplies.
"Anything not arrived?" he asks when the leggy blonde looks up at him with a frown.
"We're still waiting on some of the tools, but nothing we can't make a start without," she tells him then stands and places a hand on his arm, enjoying the feel of his innate strength. "You've been gone a long time, any problems on the money end?"
"Not now," Ryan turns to look at the woman who has been his lover on and off over the last five or six years and actually feels himself cringe away from her touch, "I had to do the dance with our backers, laying out the basic costs and benefits to them as named benefactors."
Sliding her hand up and down his arm, Felicity moves closer. "Poor you, it can be tedious pandering to the money men but we couldn't do what we do without them."
Not wanting to give her any invitation, Ryan moves away from her touch ostensibly to pick up more paperwork. "I'm surprised the visitors centre wasn't set up while I was away - you've had at least a week," he tells her and watches the temper light her eyes.
"Why on earth you're indulging that woman's idea is beyond me," she throws her hands up in the air, "haven't we got enough to do without a damned visitors centre?"
Looking at Felicity, Ryan realises why he's pulled back from her lately. She's grown ugly over the last couple of years - not in looks, she takes care of herself well even when she gets her hands dirty working on site, but her attitude towards others is bitchy and condescending.
"I happen to think it's a good idea," he tells her firmly, leaving no room for argument. "The local population is fairly young and has shown an active interest in the forest prior to our arrival - it's good practice to get the local community involved."
"Well, on your head be it," she tells him and stomps out of the office to start yelling at anyone on hand.
Maybe this should be our last dig…working together isn't as enjoyable as it once was and the sex just isn't as appealing.
Ryan had once cared for Felicity, had thought their futures might join at some point, but her growing meanness and unpleasant treatment of the students they worked with and relied on had pushed those thoughts aside.
He's tried to separate himself from her as gently as possible, not wanting to hurt her feelings, sure that she genuinely cares for him. But it doesn't seem to be working - he might have to be more direct for her to take him seriously. Not something to look forward to!
Going over to the visitors centre, Ryan takes a look at what the students have done so far.
"This is great," he smiles and nods while looking at the neat hand-written cards set at the back of each artefact, "you girls have got a knack for the succinct - just enough info to tell them what's what without confusing the hell out of them."
Sadie and Roz both glow with pride. "We thought we'd draw a map of the immediate area showing where each piece was found," Sadie looks up hopefully at Ryan.
"Good idea, is that why you put the local pieces separate?"
"Yes," Roz speaks up now that she knows he isn't going to bite their heads off like Felicity usually does, "we thought we'd gradually build up another map showing what we find from the dig - it could show any living areas we might come across or just the artefacts and what they would have been used for…" Roz tails off as Felicity enters the room.
"That's thinking some way ahead, but I like your optimism and ideas," he tells them. "Keep thinking up ways to improve the centre and run anything you come up with by me, ok?"
He hears Felicity give a snort of disgust behind him and turns to guide her out.
"What's wrong, Felicity, the kids are doing a great job - let's not squash their enthusiasm," he tells her not hiding his annoyance.
At that, Felicity reigns herself in and pulls on an indulgent smile. "You always do get on better with the youngsters than I," she gushes and again touches his arm with an intimate caress, "it just galls me that we have to rely on them instead of hiring a more experienced crew. It all comes down to the damned money-men - they expect us to perform miracles on a pittance!"
Ryan is no longer fooled by her pretence of affability; he has seen a side of Felicity that he can't un-see no matter how she tries to hide it.
"Just try not to run them off in the first couple of weeks," he tells her, then feels bad for the look of hurt that crosses her face. "I just meant, try to think of them as future archaeologist that need a bit of seasoning and encouragement - there aren't enough of us out in the wide world," he smiles trying to lighten the mood.
"The fact that the last lot of students couldn't hack the work wasn't my fault," Felicities spine straightens and Ryan gets ready for another of her tirades.
Back in the visitors centre the two girls watch and feel sorry for Ryan.
"I don't know why he puts up with her," Roz tells Sadie. "It's not like he needs her - there are plenty of other archaeologists who would give their eye teeth to work with him."
Sadie nods in agreement. "We were lucky to get chosen for this - putting up with her majesty is a small price to pay for working with the best," and her young eyes become moony as she looks at her hero trying to fend off the she-bitch from hell.
"That's enough, Felicity," Ryan finally snaps when she starts calling the students lazy good-for-nothings, "if you can't work alongside them perhaps you should think about leaving before they do!"
Shocked to the core Felicity rounds on him, "You would chose them over me?" Her eyes go wide when she sees the answer clearly in his, then decides that tears might work better on him as they have in the past. Her bottom lip trembles and her eyes obligingly fill with tears. "I can't believe you would treat me this way after all we've been to each other," she tells him and walks off to the women's living quarters to make a dramatic exit and cut off any chance of him asking her to leave.
I don't believe it! You can't treat me like an old rag you've finished wiping your hands on. I won't let you, damn it!
Troubled by her tears, Ryan isn't even sure they were real. Running a hand back through his short blond hair he tries to calm his temper.
Christ! She really has a way of getting under my skin lately. I don't know why the hell I let her talk me into letting her come - she hasn't shown any enthusiasm for the dig at all, and the way she treats the rest of the team I'll be lucky if they see the job out!
Sitting at his desk, Ryan pulls some paperwork in front of him and decides to get the tedious task out of the way. Paperwork is the bane of his life, he prefers being outdoors getting his hands dirty.
A couple of hours later Sadie and Roz give him an excuse to ditch the paperwork that he hasn’t quite managed to finish.
“Just thought we’d let you know we think we’ve finished in the visitors centre,” Sadie puts her head round the door and looks pleased with herself, “unless there’s anything else you want adding or changing.”
Getting up from the desk, Ryan stretches his broad chest and causes both girls to give inward sighs of admiration.
“Ok, let’s take a look,” he smiles encouragingly and follows them over to the smaller port-a-cabin.
On entering he tries to imagine how a visitor that knows nothing about archaeology might view the display. The first thing he sees on the opposite wall as he walks in the door is a poster telling the visitor about the Iron Age and the tribe the forest is named after. Then it details the Roman Britain era giving dates and a bit about the way life is generally thought to have been lived in those times.
Ryan nods and smiles, impressed by the local information the girls have put together. “This is good, it’ll get the local interest going right from the start.”
Then he moves to the artefact displays – he saw the local recent finds display earlier but now it is complete and fully labelled up.
“Again, you’ve really emphasised the local interest by keeping these items together and the info’ cards are great.”
Both
girls are beaming, really appreciating his comments.
Then he moves to a display showing a few general Iron Age and Roman Britain artefacts that he was able to procure to enhance the centre.
On the walls he sees the maps the girls had told him about earlier. One showing where each of the local pieces had been found and the other left blank but a heading over it saying ‘Artefacts found during this dig’.
“Very impressive,” he looks from Sadie to Roz and gives a nod of approval. “Don’t change a thing, you’ve done an exceptional job.”
“Thanks,” Roz smiles shyly, “we had fun with it and it’ll be great to add each piece we find to the map and the display shelf. We just put those books there to fill the space for now and to give the visitors something to read if they wanted more information on something.”
Again Ryan nods and looks at the archaeology text books that the girls had obviously taken from their own belongings.
“How would you feel about helping to run the centre one day a week,” he asks and enjoys the enthusiastic nods they give in reply. “Ok, well you can do the first day together to get a feel for it,” and to get your confidence in talking to the public he thinks to himself, “then you can probably take it in turns – one in here one working on the dig – does that sound ok?”
“Sounds great,” Sadie’s smile goes from ear to ear as she looks from Ryan to Roz who is also smiling fit to burst.
“Good, lock up here and we’ll start getting our hands dirty outside – it’s time to start finding something to put on your recent finds display.”
The work is tedious and backbreaking – but all of the workers enjoy it. Roz and Sadie continue to chatter about different ideas for the visitors centre while they work – Paul and Carl, two archaeology students in their final year of study, work silently side by side and Ryan helps with the digging while keeping an eye on what everyone else is doing and giving the odd piece of advice where needed.
The only person not present on the dig site is Felicity who is conspicuous by her absence. Not that anyone comments on it, certainly Sadie and Roz are relieved that the older woman isn’t around, though they didn’t think she would shout and rave at them while Ryan was present.
When they stop for the day, Ryan assesses their progress and thanks them all for their efforts. It isn’t easy work as the ground is still hard, even frozen in parts, but no one has complained.
“Let’s have a good meal and a drink,” he suggests to the delight of the crew, “then you can do as you like – either stay on site or go into the town but I would ask you not to get drunk or upset the locals. We’re going to be here a while and we don’t want to get off on the wrong foot.”
When Felicity does finally emerge, she is quiet and helps to dish up the meal that Roz and Paul have prepared.
Ryan begins to think he’s misjudged her and tries to bring her into the conversation.
“We managed to clear a good bit of ground today,” he tells Felicity, “I think it might get a bit easier from tomorrow, the weather forecast says milder temperatures can be expected for at least the next week.”
Nodding her head but keeping it bent over her plate, Felicity just says, “That’s good,” then continues to eat her meal in silence.
Bloody hell, I must really have hurt her feelings – I thought she was tougher than that. Damn!
“Do you fancy a drink in town,” Paul asks Roz when they begin clearing the dishes.
Roz blushes and nods her head while nervously biting down on her bottom lip.
Sadie decides to stay in and do some necessary clothes washing and Carl gets out the textbooks he’s brought with him to get a few hours quiet study in.
Ryan would ordinarily have asked Felicity to join him for a drink in the office, but he doesn’t want to encourage her flirtations or give her the wrong idea. Their physical relationship has been over for months and that’s the way he wants to keep it, so he takes himself off to finally finish the unavoidable paperwork.
Chapter Four
Pacing his office after breakfast with the crew next morning, Ryan Tempest is not best pleased. Felicity had cornered him, but instead of flirting, she had been subdued and apologetic.
Apparently, her back was up about the visitors’ centre because Mrs Williams had been complaining unnecessarily about the noise of the dig and had been quite unpleasant to her when she had tried to apologies.
And I thought she was open to the dig taking place – just shows how wrong you can be! Well, I’ll warn her to keep well away from it if that’s going to be her attitude!
Not checking the time, Ryan makes his way the short distance to the cottage. He gives the door a firm knock and waits for Mrs Williams to answer.
Dressed in one of Cade’s shirts and just the underwear she wore beneath it, Shenna answers the door in a sleepy stupor as it is still only six-thirty in the morning and she’d had a late night lesson planning.
“Yes,” she frowns up at Ryan and blinks, bemused, “is…is something wrong?”
He looks at her sleep-tousled hair spilling over her shoulders and the shirt she is wearing, which is obviously a man’s, and thinks he has never seen anything so adorable – which only serves to annoy him further.
“I understand you had words with Felicity, my site co-ordinator yesterday?” His voice comes over as bitingly accusatory.
Raising her eyebrows in confusion, Shenna blinks her large green eyes and stares for a moment. “You got me up to talk about your site co-ordinator – she apologised for the noise, end of story.”
Looking at his watch for the first time, Ryan realises his mistake but decides what’s done is done. “You were apparently quite abusive to her and I won’t tolerate it. We’ve done everything possible to accommodate the local community – a couple of the students spent most of the day yesterday setting up the visitors’ centre you suggested, opening times will be posted as soon as practicably possible.” He takes a breath and frowns as his insides tighten. Why are you looking at me so confused and…bloody hell! “You’re welcome to use the visitors centre as we discussed but steer clear of my staff!”
With that, Ryan turns and strides off through the trees and back to his office in the clearing.
Shenna watches his retreating back until he is out of site. At first, she is just stunned, but then she grows angry.
What the hell was that all about? Did he say I’d been abusive – to who and when? What the flaming heck is that lunatic on about!
Even a usually relaxing shower doesn’t calm her down. Now that Shenna is clear-headed, she is as mad as Ryan Tempest had been.
How dare you come to my door and start shouting the odds. I’ll give you ‘steer clear of my staff’ you arrogant trumped up hole digger!
Pulling on jeans and a jumper, she checks on Neirin and finds him still fast asleep.
Locking the front door quietly behind her, Shenna marches up to Ryan’s office and steps up and through the doorway. She stands hands on hips her long red hair still hanging in damp tendrils down her back.
When he turns to look at her Ryan is dumbstruck.
“Don’t you dare come to my home shouting the odds – I have no intention of coming anywhere near any of your staff and you can stick your visitors’ centre where the sun doesn’t shine!”
Turning on her heels, Shenna doesn’t wait for his reply but marches off back to her cottage and locks the door behind her.
Leaning back against it she tries to work out what just happened. The last time she’d spoken to Ryan Tempest he had seemed reasonable and enthusiastic for her input, now he was telling her to keep away – why?
Her day continues as it started – one thing after another either went wrong, wasn’t where it should be, couldn’t be found, or just refused to work.
On the telephone to a repair man, Shenna gives a huge sigh of capitulation, “Ok, ok, if you can’t come today or tomorrow it will have to be Thursday,” and waits while her appointment is booked in and she is given
a job reference number. “Thank you,” she tells him as she scribbles the information on a pad.
Now what – how am I supposed to give lessons without my internet and Skype connection? Damn!
“Mum...?” Neirin looks cautiously at his mother having heard her annoyed voice on the telephone.
Shenna looks round and walks over to smooth a hand over his worried brow.
“Not to worry, Neirin,” she reassures her son, “I’ll phone around to let everyone know that lessons are off – probably for the whole week – and then we can go out walking if you’d like?”
Nodding enthusiastically, Neirin gives his mum a lovely smile.
“Can we go right to the top of the big hill?” he asks excitedly. “I really like looking down from there...and it is sunny today,” he encourages, and his smile turns into a bright grin when Shenna nods her agreement.
“Let’s take a packed lunch – by the time we reach the top it’ll be just about lunch time.” Shenna goes to walk towards the kitchen but stops and turns back to Neirin. “You’re the most precious part of my life,” she tells him with a gentle hand lain against his cheek, “and you have all the very best parts of your father in you. Like that cheeky grin,” she laughs and playfully ruffles his hair.
“Will you tell me about daddy again,” he smiles up at her, “when we get to the top of the hill – will you tell me some new stories?”
“It will be my pleasure...now you go and read for a bit while I prepare our packed lunch.” This time Shenna does head for the kitchen and just in time to spare Neirin the worry of seeing his mummy cry.
She cut the cheese and made sandwiches with buttered whole-wheat bread, put some salad in a lidded bowl and got an apple and an orange each out of the fruit bowl.
“Ok, are we ready?” Shenna calls out while packing a drink in her backpack along with all the food she’s prepared.
“I’m ready, mum,” Neirin calls out from his bedroom, then appears at the top of the stairs and carefully makes his way down. “Is this ok?” he asks looking down at his padded gilet and long sleeved lightweight jumper beneath.
