Alice's clothes were nowhere in sight and she could hear a washing machine whirring away. Oh good, she wouldn't be able to go home anytime soon.
Hamish got up as she walked into the living area. 'Feeling better?' he asked.
'Much, thank you.'
'Sorry, I don't have a hair dryer.'
'No problem.' She only used one when she was in a hurry and that wasn't the case just then. Tongs would have been good but she doubted her arms would have coped with holding them. She did think about combing her hair straight, got as far as finding her comb and decided that required too much effort.
Hamish settled her on the sofa, tucked a quilt around her and asked, 'Do you want the hot chocolate now, or later?' His grin and the sparkle in his eyes suggested he was asking about more than just the drink.
'Later I think.' That seemed to be the answer he'd wanted.
'Just going to have a shower myself. My wallet's here,' he placed it next to her comb on the coffee table, 'in case the pizza comes before I'm out, but it shouldn't do.'
'OK.' She wondered where he'd hidden all the stuff which had been on the table earlier. Under his bed perhaps? Hopefully she'd get to find out.
Hamish was back, clean, sweet smelling and changed before she'd imagined many of the details that might involve. He wore short legged and sleeved pyjamas, which meant more of his body was on display than she'd seen before. She liked what she saw; firm muscles, an even tan suggesting he spent a good part of the summer outside without excessive clothing, fair hairs on his chest and limbs, but not too much of it. Hamish, unlike Alice, was clearly unselfconscious about his body.
She was very, very conscious of his body. Especially the way those snug fitting shorts passed by at eye level and again when he returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses.
'Red OK?' He showed her the label.
'Perfect.'
He placed the glasses on the coffee table, pushed aside the end of the quilt and sat on the sofa next to her. Alice was conscious of the way her naked feet touched the warm skin of his thigh. Then, as he leant across to reach the bottle, of his weight on her.
Hamish poured a little wine into each glass and offered her one. She shuffled into a more upright position, accepted the drink and clinked her glass against his.
'Cheers.'
As they sipped the wine he hardly looked away from Alice. Not that she was noticing much. He leant across her again to swap his glass for her comb.
'Shall I?' He gestured with it.
'If you like.'
He gently combed through strands of her hair. She'd quite liked her mum doing that when she was little and enjoyed the hairdresser teasing her locks smooth, but this was a very different experience. It felt good to know Hamish's hands and attention were solely on her. It felt even better when he gently pulled her against him so he could do the side furthest from him. He was slow and gentle and thorough. Maybe he did everything that way. She really, really hoped so.
'What do you do with the front?' he asked. He crouched down in front of her, his cool grey-green eyes level with hers. His warm lips level with hers. Leaning closer he brushed damp tendrils off her face, stroking her hair smooth and caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. Then his lips brushed her forehead and she closed her eyes, tilting her head back a little. He nuzzled against her neck, then nipped her earlobe with his teeth.
The doorbell rang.
Hamish made a sound like a growl before giving her a quick kiss. He stood, turning away from her as he did. His walk to the door looked more awkward than the easy way he'd previously moved around the flat. Almost as awkward as the way he kept the lower part of his body behind the door as he opened it and paid the pizza delivery boy.
As well as an extra large pizza he'd ordered garlic bread, sour cream and chive dip and a tub of white chocolate ice cream. The pizza had a properly crisp base, rich tangy tomato sauce and plenty of slices of fiery hot pepperoni. The thick layer of gooey cheese pulled out into impressively long strands too. And the smell... possibly even better than the clean lemony scent clinging to Hamish's skin. The acidity of the dip was a perfect contrast to the buttery richness of the garlic bread.
The food wasn't better than having him kiss her, but it was an extremely nice way to fill in the time until he did it again. Hamish kept her wine glass topped up too. The ice cream, like the hot chocolate, was going to have to wait.
Once they'd finished eating, Hamish took the boxes away and returned with paper towels. He wiped her face and hands as though she were a candyfloss covered toddler. To show she was a grown woman, she stroked a towel over his cheek, then followed it with tiny kisses. She did the same on the other side and then to his mouth.
When he tried to return the kisses she murmured, 'I haven't finished yet,' and lifted one of his hands to her lips. She sucked clean each of his fingers in turn and was rewarded by hearing him groan again.
Hamish tugged at the quilt and wriggled under it with her.
'This is cosy,' Alice said. She turned and leant back against him, sighed as he slipped his arms around her, and relaxed.
When she woke the following morning, she was in Hamish's bed. He was sitting on the edge watching her, so she couldn't check underneath it for hastily tidied away clutter. That was the least of her disappointments. Not getting to the ice cream and hot chocolate were in second and third place. Having fallen asleep in his arms right after finishing her meal was way out in front though. He must have carried her to bed and she supposed they had slept together, but only in the most restful and innocent sense of the word.
'Morning,' Hamish said. 'I'm guessing you slept well?'
His bedside clock showed it was gone seven, so almost twelve hours since the pizza had been delivered.
'Must have, I don't remember a thing. Sorry.'
He shrugged. The grin he gave her suggested that although he might well be disappointed he wasn't annoyed.
'Tea or coffee?'
'Tea please.'
'While I make it you can decide what you want to do today.'
'What are my options?'
'I can drop you home in a minute, you can stay here, or come with me to the sanctuary.'
Staying where she was held the most appeal, or would have done if it wasn't for the fact she'd be alone. 'I'll come with you.'
'Great. Louise will be delighted.'
Good thing he was on his way out the room as he said that. Her expression couldn't possibly have been so cheerfully philosophical as his.
Over breakfast Alice checked her phone and saw that Kate had tried to call her the evening before. There was a text too, which read, 'Ring me when you've let that poor fireman off duty ;-)'
Alice texted back to say she'd be in touch in a day or two, if by then she had the strength to work her phone. Hopefully Kate would read it when she had a mouthful of orange juice and splutter it all over Pete, showing just how unladylike she was. She switched her phone off again afterwards, partly so it didn't go flat as she didn't have her charger with her and partly so she didn't have to deal with Kate's questions while Hamish was listening.
Almost everyone greeted Alice with as much warmth as on the previous day. The only exception was Louise; she was actually civil. The two women worked just as hard in just as much mud as previously, before going in for a tea break. When Alice stood to go back out she couldn't help but groan with discomfort.
'You OK?' Louise asked.
'Just a bit stiff.'
'Sorry, I've been rough on you. Stay here in the warm. There are magazines somewhere...'
'It's OK, I'll carry on... That's if you want me?'
'It's a lot easier with two.'
As they returned to the spot they were clearing Louise apologised for being rude before. 'I've seen Hamish hurt a few times by girls who throw themselves at him because he's gorgeous or because he's a fireman. They're only interested in the surface and it never lasts long.'
'It must be hard seeing that happen… to a friend.'
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That was her second warning to take things steady. Kate had said she'd expected Alice to get tired of dating a fireman and get bored with Hamish. Perhaps she should listen? Not because she believed it was true, but because it just possibly could be. She'd fantasised over dating a fireman for so long that his job could blind her to his faults. She considered for a minute and couldn't think of a single one. Even when she'd been sure she loved Tony she'd seen clearly that he wasn't perfect. She didn't really know Hamish well enough to be in love, even if it did feel that way. And if Louise and Kate could see the possibility that her interest in Hamish was only uniform deep, surely Hamish himself would too.
The day involved five hours hard labour, a burger and apple pie lunch and a walk to inspect the handiwork of Hamish and the others. As Louise pointed out various birds on the way, Alice warmed to her. Louise's enthusiasm was infectious and she managed to supply information without making Alice feel like an idiot for not knowing.
'Are you ready to go?' Hamish asked when they caught up with him.
'I should think the poor girl is ready to pass out,' Louise said. 'We've cleared all the rubbish right down to East Corner.'
'I'm all right,' Alice assured him. 'Nothing a shower and some food won't sort out.'
'We could try for the hot chocolate again,' he suggested as they walked towards his car.
She was very tempted, but if she went back to his place, and managed to stay awake her behaviour was definitely going to come into the throwing herself at him category. Besides her toothbrush and other things she was going to need before work on Monday were all in her flat.
'Another time. I really should go back to mine if you don't mind driving me there.'
'Sure. No problem.'
Alice hardly noticed the drive back to her flat. She jolted into awareness as he stopped the car.
'So... can I see you again?' Hamish asked. He actually looked as though he expected her to say no.
Clearly she'd overdone the backing off. 'Yes. Yes, of course. Let's have dinner tonight. I'll pay.' Oh god, that sounded desperate. Why couldn't she manage to say something which was 'keen but not total slut'?
'Yes to dinner, no to you paying.'
'But...' She didn't have the strength to argue, it could wait until she'd recovered a bit.
'Pick you up at seven then?' Hamish said.
Alice spent ages scrubbing off the mud and conditioning her hair, but didn't bother applying much make-up. If how she'd looked when she and Louise staggered back to the staff building hadn't put him off then Hamish wasn't going to be bothered by a lack of blusher. She did choose a figure hugging jersey dress and high heeled boots though. Just because she wasn't going to throw herself at him didn't mean he had to want her to keep her distance.
She was ready at a quarter to seven and gave Kate a call.
'You out with Hamish tonight... or staying in with him?'
'Out tonight, in last night. All night.'
'Oh! No wonder you didn't answer your phone! I wouldn't have rung if I thought I might be interrupting something.'
'Actually you'd have woken me up.' She explained about working at the sanctuary and falling asleep.
'Oh, disappointing. Did you make up for it this morning?'
'No. We went back to the sanctuary and I spent the day mud wrestling with Louise.'
'That doesn't sound much fun.'
'That bit wasn't fun exactly, but it's a useful thing to do, I'm sure I'll feel good about it once I stop aching. Watching the birds was quite interesting.'
'Be careful, Sis. You went along with the dull stuff Tony liked and said that was educational, you don't want to fall into the same trap.'
'I won't, but if he's really interested I'm going to have to accept it, aren't I? Just as I'll expect him to accept the things I want to do. I'll give it a go, if I'm still interested once the novelty has worn off I'll carry on and it'll be something we can share. If I don't, well I'll just have to find a hobby of my own.'
'Dad has some wine bottles going spare.'
'OK, you've convinced me – I'm off to buy binoculars and a notebook.'
'Hey, how did that work?' Kate asked.
'Dunno, but I'd better go and finish getting ready, Hamish will be here soon.'
'OK, have fun.'
Alice applied another coat of lash-building mascara, lined her lips in cherry red, filled them in with her glossiest lippy, and gave herself a good spritz of scent. That was better, she felt like Alice again, not like a forest ranger who happened to scrub up OK.
When Hamish called, he hugged and kissed her but released her quickly and kept his hands to himself. His eyes though, she noticed, were doing their best to make up for him not using his sense of touch to discover exactly how the soft wool of her dress clung to, and accentuated, every curve.
'So where would you like to go?' he asked.
'Somewhere close which serves huge portions. I'm starved.'
At the Sunken Yacht, Alice ordered fish with extra chips. 'They're for you, I'm going to eat every one of mine.' She did, followed by sticky toffee pudding and custard. She turned down the offer of alcohol though and opted for Coke in the hope of staying awake.
When the waitress asked if they'd like more coffee she declined; she'd want to sleep eventually. 'Just the bill please,' she said.
'It's already been paid.'
How had he managed that? 'Thanks, but you don't always have to pay.'
'I didn't have to, I just did.' He winked, then reached over and took her hand. 'Thank you for your efforts at the sanctuary.'
Nadeep had already thanked her profusely and even Louise had expressed a certain amount of gratitude. Hamish though probably guessed that her efforts had been for his benefit.
'No problem. It's been an interesting couple of days.'
'Have you enjoyed this weekend, Alice?'
It wasn't over yet... was it? Perhaps it had to be. She wouldn't be any better at controlling her desires if they went back to her place than if she'd gone home with him. If her short term options were limited at least she could try to ensure she had some long term ones.
'I can't say I'm a fan of the mud, but it was good to do something more useful than shopping or watching TV and I do like the birds. They're fascinating when you really look.'
'Yeah? So you want to see the murmurations?'
'Definitely.'
'Then how about I pick you up after work on Tuesday or Wednesday? I wouldn't be able to stay out late, but we'd have time to see them if we went straight there and could grab something to eat on the way back.'
'Tell you what, take me to see them and I'll cook you something afterwards.' At least he wouldn't be able to pay for that, not with cash anyway. Hopefully he'd do so another way eventually – and by then she'd be owed some interest.
'Deal'. Hamish gave a big grin. 'And, er, no pressure or anything, but at the end of the month I'm going to Wales birdwatching for a few days. I'm staying in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. Want to keep me company?'
Alice liked the idea very much. That gave her a couple more weeks to find out if she really liked him personally and not because he fit her fantasy so well. And if it seemed they really were keen on each other, then being somewhere remote with nothing to distract them during the long evenings could be very good indeed.
'I'm owed lots of time off and things are quiet at work so it shouldn't be a problem.' Miles would probably try to make it difficult, but since splitting with Tony she was more confident and wasn't going to let him mistreat her.
Hamish almost had to carry her back to her place so he probably wasn't surprised not to be invited in. Alice was too tired to notice if he looked disappointed.
She overslept the next morning and missed her bus. When she stepped off the next one she ran all the way to work and got in at ten past nine. Kath was just ending a telephone call.
'Fire alarm went off again. I'd better tell Miles.'
While she was gone Alice learned the fire b
rigade had received two hoax calls to the premises over the weekend.
'Do you mean the automatic system is going off when it shouldn't, or that someone is actually phoning the fire brigade?' Alice asked.
'Both I think,' Lucy said. 'Miles was ranting about the IT people saying they'd buggered up the system and about kids wasting everyone's time. Apparently he gets called out whenever there's a problem, so he had to come in three times over the weekend.'
'His mood is going to be worse than usual then,' Alice said.
When Kath returned she said, 'Miles wants a word at ten.'
She should just have stayed in bed. He was either going to reprimand her for being late or was connecting her to the hoax calls. There wasn't much she could say in her defence about either of those but she could see that from Miles's point of view both problems could be solved by giving her the sack. Great, just as one area of her life was starting to look promising, another was about to fall apart.
Chapter 13
Alice soon realised she'd made a mistake and it wasn't just her Miles wanted to talk to. There was to be a meeting with all staff down in the warehouse. The general opinion was that Tatisuz was to either close down or be sold.
'We'll get redundancy, won't we?' Emma asked.
'Yes, but not much,' Kath said. 'It'll be less than one pay cheque.'
'That can't be right. My dad got thousands. A couple of years' pay at least and that was compulsory redundancy.'
'Sorry,' Kath said, 'but I've looked into it. The legal minimum is one week's wages for every complete year we've worked here and I can't see Miles having paid into any scheme or insurance or anything so we get more, can you?'
Alice looked round at her colleagues' miserable faces. Much as Miles annoyed her and the job bored her, she didn't want to lose it before she'd found something better. She mentally kicked herself for not having already tried to do that. She hadn't thought the problems with Tatisuz were quite so serious and there didn't seem to be many job opportunities about. Kath, who had children, must have been really concerned though, if she'd taken the trouble to find out their legal position.
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