Chapter Sixteen
Zane leaned back in the office chair at Carrdale Activity Centre and put his feet on the desk. It was almost eight at night and he and Matt still hadn’t finished work for the day. Besides all the various activities they were running at the Centre and all the bookings they were taking, they still had loads of paperwork to sort and safety checks that had to be done every day. Meaning there was never enough time, and they could do with thirty-hour days instead of twenty-four-hour ones.
They’d both been working all hours before the festival, organising the event. Now that the festival had gone so well and raised the profile of the Centre even more than they’d dared hope, they were being inundated with bookings. Unsure yet whether they could afford to employ someone to sort the admin and answer the phones, he and Matt were still trying to deal with all of that as well as run the various activities and courses. The main enquiry number for the Centre was currently being diverted to their mobiles, and whoever was able to at the time was taking the calls. Earlier, halfway up the climbing wall with a particularly nervous student, Zane had had to apologise and answer his phone, knowing Matt couldn’t take it as he was somewhere on the river with a white-water tubing group. Not ideal. Now they were juggling the figures and trying to sort out whether they should push the finances and get an admin person.
Matt yawned and reached for a pen as Zane moved his neck from side to side, trying to stop it aching like mad. Of course it didn’t help matters any that he’d fallen asleep on the sofa last night and woke up with an assortment of aches and pains. Still, all of this working almost managed to stop him thinking about Faith. Almost. As if things hadn’t been strained enough between the two of them after the dance, he’d spent Sunday trying to convince himself to get a grip. Faith wasn’t getting involved with Matt again. But he knew how Matt was with women, what a charmer he could be, and he also knew that Matt was in a very vulnerable place right now. A place where he might be tempted to do things he wouldn’t normally do.
Zane had to try and trust Faith. If he didn’t learn to do that, then he would lose her. If, indeed, he hadn’t already lost her. In a break between speakers he’d been chatting to some guests at the festival and had heard how a woman had been brought down from the hill race on a stretcher by the MRT guys. Immediately on alert, he’d pressed the people for a description of the woman. They’d shrugged, saying they hadn’t been able to see much through the crowds. He’d told himself there were plenty of women taking part in the hill race. It didn’t mean the woman had been Faith. Nonetheless, he’d slipped out of the marquee and sprinted towards the First Aid tent, figuring that if he was quick he’d just about have time to see who the woman was before racing back to the tent again to introduce the next speaker.
As he’d neared the tent he’d almost been tripped up by a family with one of those three-wheeler all-terrain pushchairs. When he’d just about managed to keep his balance and stay upright, he’d looked towards the tent and seen them. Matt carrying Faith towards the car park.
His heart had plummeted to his feet. Not just because it was Faith who had been injured, but also because it had been Matt who had rescued her.
He knew it was petty. He should be glad she was back off the mountain and safe. He’d want to make sure she got the best First Aid treatment possible, and he knew Matt could ensure she got exactly that. Matt was extensively trained when it came to First Aid. They both were; it went with the territory. They had to know what they were doing if accidents happened.
Zane had gone into the First Aid tent, questioned the guys on duty, and had been assured that Faith was fine. It was a slight ankle twist, nothing more than that. Then he’d rushed back to the marquee and back to work.
If it had been anyone else he’d seen Faith with, then maybe he could have tried to trust her. But it was Matt, and Matt and Faith had a past together. And this was what was really getting to him.
Within half an hour of seeing Matt and Faith leave the festival Zane had noticed a message on his phone. Stepping to one side behind the stage area in the marquee he’d picked up the voicemail from Matt telling him Faith had twisted her ankle but was OK. That he’d just dropped her at her flat and was on his way back to the festival. Later that night, after the festival, they’d caught up with each other and Matt had asked if he’d spoken to Faith. Zane had said he’d been too busy and had walked away, knowing the kind of look Matt would be giving him at that moment.
He hated himself for doing it. He should have phoned Faith, arranged to go and see her after he’d finished at the festival. But after their little incident in the marquee at the dance, Zane didn’t know what to do for the best. Perhaps, as far as Faith was concerned, things were over between the two of them. Had she had enough of Zane blowing hot and cold in their relationship?
Part of him wanted to tell Faith the truth, all of it, but he knew he couldn’t.
Not yet.