Chapter Six
“He’s been to the North Pole? You’re kidding.”
“No. Honest truth.” Faith sipped her tea. The preparations for the day were all sorted. Five minutes and they would open the doors to the Coffee Pot. “He told me all about it when we went walking yesterday.”
“Wow, very impressive. He’s not just a pretty face is he?”
Faith shook her head. “Definitely not. Eight days of trekking, eight hours a day, pulling all their gear on a sled behind them. He did the challenge for charity in a group of five people, including Matt – that’s the guy who’s going to be his business partner at Carrdale. That is hard core stuff.”
Sophie looked thoughtful.
“If he’s been trekking through the Polar wilderness in minus seventy degrees–”
“Mostly minus twenty, he said,” Faith corrected her.
“Doesn’t matter how cold it was, you’re toast.”
“Meaning?” Faith asked, keeping an eye on the clock.
“Meaning: you fancied him something rotten before. Now that you know he’s been doing treks to the Polar ice caps, he’ll be utterly irresistible to you. You claim you want an office guy who does nine-to-five and gets excited about flow-charts and stuff, but you’re not fooling anyone, including yourself. You know you can’t help yourself when it comes to men of action. And I have a feeling that Mr Ferguson is about to get very lucky.”
Faith pulled a face. “You make me sound like some territorial man-eater!”
“Action-man-eater you mean!” Sophie said, dodging out of Faith’s reach. “Sorry, look. I’m just messing around. I know you’re not like that. You haven’t had a man in your life for ages. But I’ve noticed that all this time you’ve been claiming to wait for Mr Office to turn up in Carleton and sweep you off your feet and buy you a flash new stapler, you’ve been giving a fair few of the lycra-clad mountain-biker guys and the rock-climbers who call in here for sustenance some pretty appreciative glances. You like the outdoorsy type. So what? Yes, Aaron was a big mistake. But that doesn’t mean they’re all like him, all brawn and no brain. Stop fighting your instincts and accept that you like an active guy. Anyway, if this Matt guy did this North Pole trek with Zane, I’m thinking he must be pretty fit as well. Whenever he manages to prise himself away from Austria and get himself to Carleton, I may take a shine to Matt myself. After all, Zane is obviously spoken for. Any idea when Matt is arriving?”
“Not sure. I think Zane said he’ll be fetching him from the airport in a few days.”
“There’s hardly room to swing a cat in here!”
Zane dumped one of Matt’s holdalls on the landing, as the little spare room was full already with Matt himself and his other items of luggage. “Then don’t try to swing a cat in here!”
Matt ignored him and flopped onto the sofa-bed.
“You’ll manage,” Zane added. “At least there’s a bed of sorts. See it as good motivation to get a place of your own pretty sharpish.”
“Too right.” Matt got to his feet and clapped Zane on the shoulder. “Not really in the same league as that flash apartment you had with views of the mountains in Austria, is it?”
“I’ll survive. Anyway that apartment went with the job, and I can’t afford flash nowadays. All my money is invested in Carrdale. Speaking of Austria, how did things go?”
Matt shrugged. “These things take time I suppose.”
“OK. Well, if you want to talk about it—”
“I don’t. Thanks.”
“OK. I’m just saying, you helped me out, you know, before, so if you do want to talk anytime, then…”
“Sure, you’ll be the first to know about it.” Matt nodded. “One thing though…”
“What?”
“The stuff I said before we left Austria, that still stands. We agreed not to tell anyone here, right?”
Zane nodded. “Yeah, if that’s what you want.”
“It is. It’s easier that way.”
“OK,” Zane said with a shrug. “Your call. I’ll get it,” he added, as the doorbell rang downstairs.
“Hi, Emily.” Zane stood back to let his landlady into the cottage. “I’ve got that paperwork sorted for you. Give me a sec and I’ll fetch it.”
When Zane arrived back in the lounge he found Matt chatting away to Emily.
“So you guys have met then?”
“Yes,” Emily nodded.
“It is OK that Matt stays here isn’t it? I know it’s my name on the rental agreement but he won’t be here for long I promise you. Not if I have anything to do with it.”
Matt laughed. “Zane’s not keen on sharing a house with me.”
“And why is that?” Emily asked, looking, Zane thought, as though she’d be quite keen to share a couple of things with Matt.
Matt met Zane’s gaze. “I’m untidy and it drives him insane,” he answered smoothly.
Zane shook his head behind Emily’s back. Matt wasn’t untidy at all. But the real reason Zane hated sharing with him was clearly not for Emily’s ears.
“Well, I need to get going.” Emily waved the envelope of paperwork at Zane. “Thanks for this.” She turned to Matt. “So tomorrow at eight then?”
“Absolutely,” Matt agreed. “I’ll pick you up.”
“Fantastic,” Emily simpered.
Zane shut the door behind her and looked at Matt questioningly. “You’re going out on a date with Emily?”
“Sorry,” Matt shrugged. “Couldn’t resist.”
“And so it begins.” Zane shook his head and made for the kitchen.
“What? No lecture?” Matt asked, following him.
“Nope. No lecture.”
“How come?” Matt asked, looking in the fridge.
“You said this was what you wanted. So do it.”
Matt nodded and shut the fridge. “OK. Cool. Cheers.”
Of course, Zane thought, watching Matt as he opened a cupboard, if you’re dating Emily, it will keep you away from Faith.
“Do you fancy something to eat?” Matt asked, shutting the cupboard.
“Yeah. There’s not much food in the house though.”
“I’ve just worked that out. Let’s go to the pub and eat. My treat for leaving you to sort things at this end on your own for so long. There must be a decent pub that does food around here?”
Zane thought of the Poachers, and instantly thought of Faith. Might be best to find a different pub for tonight then. “Yeah, I think the Green Arms is supposed to be OK. We could try there.”
“Great. I’m starving. Let’s make a move. Oh, any chance you can give me a lift into town tomorrow? I need to sort out a car.”
Zane scanned the room looking for Faith. He hadn’t seen her at all in the last few days. Once Matt had arrived, the two of them had spent most of their time up at the Centre sorting the jobs for which they were both needed. All the paperwork had now been signed, and after reaching the point of no return, Matt and Zane were in the final stages of becoming the new official owners of the Centre. Between them they’d set to work on tidying up the place inside and out, moving furniture, creating a new reception area, generally smartening the place up, and making it look as professional as they’d planned.
Now it was the night of the tourism meeting to discuss the plans for the outdoor activity festival, and he needed to introduce Faith to Matt.
He spotted her in the kitchen at the back of the café, helping prepare the refreshments for the meeting. He made his way over and stood leaning against the doorframe, watching as she went about her work.
Faith looked up from arranging sandwiches and sausage rolls on several plates. “Hi, long time no see!” she teased.
“Hi, Faith. Sorry, I’ve been totally swamped with work these last few days. Thanks again for arranging tonight. I’d like you to meet Matt, have a chance to say hello before we start the meeting proper.”
Zane turned round to face back into the café, looking for his business partner. “Hey, Matt! Get over here a minute. I want you to meet someone who has been a huge help to me over the past week or so.”
Matt appeared next to him, still laughing, with some woman Zane hadn’t recognised. Zane sincerely hoped Matt wasn’t going to alienate the entire local female population by flirting with them, using them, and then dumping them and moving on to his next conquest. He’d have to have a word with him about that. For one thing, this was their own business they were talking about now, and they couldn’t risk upsetting the locals. For another, he thought – hoped – Matt’s behaviour had changed after the last mess he’d found himself in.
“Matt, meet Faith,” he said, pulling Matt into the kitchen and away from the woman he’d been flirting with.
In the silence that followed, Zane instinctively knew he would regret this moment for the rest of his life. Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Faith had gone pale, her smile had vanished and she stood in silence staring at Matt.
And Matt, so unlike him, was just standing there in total silence.
What was going on?