Second Time Around (8 page)

“And you,” Alec muttered, eyeing the dog as the agonising throbbing fell to a level he could tolerate as he sat up. “You’d better run fast.”

Alec dragged out the timber he had bought the previous afternoon and set it near the fence between his property and Halley’s. After he had recovered from his injury the previous morning he had set out to have words with Halley about Buddy getting onto his property but when she had answered the door with dark circles under her eyes and Cassie crying against her shoulder he could also hear the boys fighting in the background.

Somehow instead of insisting she block her side of the fence he found himself telling her he intended to repair it. Although their houses were new, the fence between them was not. With some palings haphazardly nailed back in several places and others lying in the garden with nails poking out of them it was a wonder that no one else had been injured before now.

Alec had hoped that Halley would be able to help him. He didn’t really need the assistance but he wanted a reason for her presence while he worked. To his disappointment one look at her told him she needed a rest more than to spend time in his company.

Knowing how much work a baby was to take care of he offered to take the children to the park despite knowing that Halley would probably race around the house cleaning it in their absence instead of having a rest. Halley had surprisingly not put up any resistance to the idea and Cassie had cooperated by falling asleep in her pushchair before they had reached the end of the driveway.

At the park the children joined in a game of soccer with friends they knew from school and Alec rolled Cassie’s pushchair to a shaded park bench where he could sit and watch. As they played he felt mildly guilty for foisting Em onto Halley on school days despite the fact he was paying for her for it. To him it seemed she currently had more to deal with than she could handle.

It occurred to Alec that it was in his best interest to ensure that Halley was coping with everything. If she couldn’t he’d have to find someone else to help with Em and he couldn’t think of anyone who could possibly be more convenient and that Em would take to as well as her.

Before he knew it he had phoned Rufus and convinced him to come over on Sunday to help him with his fencing project which had now evolved from minor repairs to a complete rebuild.

After the children finished their game they returned to the house. The boys entered noisily but Alec shushed them after following them in and spying Halley fast asleep on the couch with a dust cloth in her hand. He took it from her and set it on the coffee table then gestured to the children to go back outside.

Picking up the bouncinette on his way out, he joined them outside the front door and suggested that they all play at his house for a while. The boys were more than happy to have the run of his neatly tended back yard and they had immediately instigated a game with Em out there.

Alec had grimaced when he saw Buddy squeeze through the fence to join in the game but before he could do anything about the dog Cassie woke up. It took him some time to fumble his way through a nappy change then he had to urgently prepare the bottle that had been left in the nappy bag while his hearing still worked.

After that he had needed to go upstairs and change because Cassie had spilled a generous amount of formula down his back when he had winded her. It seemed like forever before he could finally sit down and even then he found himself rocking Cassie’s bouncinette with his foot.

As a reward for his efforts Halley later came over to collect the children and invited him and Em over for dinner. Alec hadn’t needed to be asked twice. Her cooking had already proven to be superior to anything he could make and he was sick of buying takeaways.

He and Em hadn’t stayed late because he knew Halley could do with an early night. Alec was glad he had taken the children out for the afternoon. If nothing else the children were worn out from all the running around.

Now with the last of the timber dumped on the lawn Alec eyed the fence. He didn’t think it would take too much work to dismantle it. If he leaned on the fence it would probably fall over. He gave a quick glance at the sky to see how high the sun was and wondered how long he’d have to wait before he could risk using the hammer without other neighbours complaining about the noise.

Checking the time he guessed it would be another hour before it would be safe. Mrs Weiss had once mentioned that the neighbours backing onto both of their properties were churchgoers so Alec figured the noise couldn’t bother them if they weren’t home.

He had hoped that Rufus would have been here by now but it looked like he would have to get started on his own. With a sigh Alec began stacking a few fallen palings then swore when a splinter went in the side of his thumb. Biting his tongue so he wouldn’t swear he tried pulling the splinter out but it was too small to grab.

From over the fence Alec heard Cassie cry and he knew Halley would be up. He prised off another paling and squeezed through the fence rather than taking the long way around to Halley’s front door. After striding over to the back deck he rapped on the ranch slider. He couldn’t see inside because the curtains were still closed but he could hear someone thumping down the stairs. It sounded as though the boys were up.

Just as he was about to rap again Buddy’s head poked between the curtains.

“Give me a moment,” he heard Halley grumble at the dog.

As the curtains parted Alec saw that Halley’s attention was on Cassie who was fretting against her shoulder. As she patted Cassie’s back Halley glanced in his direction and stifled a shriek. After a moment she recognised him, unlocked the ranch slider and slid it open.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to hide the fact she was still regaining her equilibrium. Her heart was still racing from finding Alec unexpectedly waiting for her in the shadows of the house.

“I’ve just started work on the fence and I’ve already suffered my first injury.” Alec raised his hand so she could see the tiny spot of blood on his thumb where the splinter had gone in. “Do you think you could get this splinter out?”

As he spoke Buddy trotted out and sniffed Alec’s leg. He then scrambled off the side of the deck and brought back a tennis ball. Alec ignored it.

Halley peered at the injury, all the while rubbing Cassie’s back. Alec couldn’t help but notice that she still looked tired.

“It shouldn’t be too difficult,” she murmured. “Come in. I’ll just go and find a pair of tweezers.”

Halley started to head for the door to the hall then turned back.

“I don’t suppose you could hold Cassie while I search?” she asked. “I might have to rummage around to find them.”

Before Alec could answer Cassie was pressed to his chest and he instinctively held her securely against him.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Halley promised before she disappeared.

While he waited, Alec gently jiggled Cassie in his arms as he walked around the room.

“Have you been giving your aunt a hard time again?” he asked softly as he moved towards her bassinette, tempted to put Cassie in it. Instead he reached out to smooth the soft blanket inside and noted that it felt warm to the touch.

Hearing Halley return, Alec turned around to see her there with a large plastic container that appeared to be a collection of the household’s medicines and associated health paraphernalia.

“It should be in here somewhere,” Halley said sheepishly, setting the container on the coffee table.

“Does Cassie sleep down here all the time?” Alec asked as he took a seat beside Halley who had started going through the container’s contents.

“Yes,” Halley said without looking at him as she unzipped a small first aid kit. “She has a cot upstairs but her crying wakes the boys and there’s no light above the stairs. It’s easier for me to come down here without worrying whether I will trip over something in the dark and drop her.”

“Why isn’t there a light above the stairs?” Alec asked.

“Because the light bulb blew and I can’t get to it safely to replace it,” Halley muttered, her cheeks reddening. She hated admitting that she couldn’t manage to replace something as trivial as a spent light bulb.

Her fingers touched something metallic through a pile of individually wrapped alcohol swabs. “Aha! Here it is,” she announced, pulling a pair of tweezers from the kit.

She made short work of removing the splinter.

“Maybe you should wear a pair of gloves while you work out there,” she suggested as she wiped one of the swabs over his thumb then used it to wipe the splinter from the tweezers.

“I will,” Alec agreed, wishing he had thought to buy a pair when he had bought the timber. As soon as he got home he was going to check the garage. Mrs Weiss had been an enthusiastic gardener and was responsible for how attractive the garden at his house was. There was bound to be an old pair of her gardening gloves in there that he could use. 

As soon as Halley had packed up the container and left the room to tidy things away Alec decided to investigate the hall light. Perhaps the problem was that she couldn’t quite reach it to change the bulb. His extra height would give him an advantage.

He carried Cassie into the hallway, looked up at the ceiling above the stairwell and realised that he had been prematurely smug. The stairwell shared the same two storied high ceiling as the foyer and there wasn’t any way he would be able to reach the light fitting without precariously placing a ladder on the stairs. Alec frowned. The task wasn’t going to be as easy as he first thought.

He returned to the lounge just before Halley did.

“Thanks for that,” he said, handing Cassie back to her who began fretting again. Halley immediately began rocking side to side and started patting her niece on the back. “I’d better get back to work,” he added.

Halley smiled at him over her niece’s head as she swayed.

“It looks like it’ll be another hot day out there. I hope you’ll come in if it gets too much.”

“I’ll be fine,” Alec assured her. “Besides, my business partner Rufus will be coming to give me a hand. He’ll be here anytime now,” he added, hoping it was true.

“In that case when Em gets up you can send her over here to play so she isn’t underfoot.”

“You don’t have to look after Em,” Alec said even though it would make his job easier.

“It’s no problem. She can help me make drinks to bring out to you both. It’s the least I can do,” Halley said.

“Thanks,” Alec said, accepting her offer even though he felt as though he was taking advantage. He excused himself and squeezed back through the fence to find a pair of gardening gloves.

A few minutes later he was stacking the palings wearing tightly fitting gloves that didn’t quite reach his wrists. That didn’t bother him quite as much as the big pink roses that decorated them. Without delving too deep into why wearing gloves with roses on them should matter, Alec decided to rip them off if Halley came out to inspect what he was doing.

As he worked the day grew hotter and Alec threw his shirt on the grass. Buddy immediately trotted up to sniff it.

“You leave it alone,” Alec said in a firm voice. Buddy had been making a nuisance of himself since he had started working. He had kept dropping a tennis ball at Alec’s feet, wanting to play. After about the fifth throw Alec had thrown the ball into a bottlebrush tree. Buddy had found several other balls but realising he was onto something, Alec had thrown them all at the same spot. Buddy had snapped at the lower branches hoping to free the balls but so far they had all stayed satisfyingly stuck.

Buddy snorted and returned to his post under the bottlebrush tree. With the day heating up he wasn’t as vigorous with his leaping about as he had been earlier. Instead he kept sending Alec soulful looks which Alec ignored.

It didn’t take Alec much effort to prise the remaining palings from the rails. He had just started attacking the rails themselves when he heard Halley chatting to someone as she approached.

Despite his sunhat and sunglasses Alec still had to shade his eyes to see who was with her. He was disconcerted to see Rufus in deep conversation with Halley, so much so that he forgot to remove the gloves.

“About time you showed up,” he said, stepping over the bottom rail to greet his business partner.

“I’ve been here a while,” Rufus admitted. “When no one answered your door I came to this house. I now know why you wanted to bring the fence down,” he added, flashing Halley his trademark grin that worked so well on women.

“Alec’s putting another fence back in its place,” Halley told him as she self-consciously smoothed her shirt over her swollen belly. She wondered what Alec had said about her because Rufus had hung on her every word after Em had introduced them. He also had a way of looking at her that made her feel attractive even though she felt anything but.

A distressed Corey came running up to Halley, taking her mind off the flattering attraction Rufus had been paying her.

“Aunty Halley, Em hit me on the head and took all my jellybeans,” he complained then burst into tears.

“Em! Come here,” Alec roared in the direction of the house.

Halley placed her hand on Alec’s forearm.

“Perhaps you’d better let me deal with this,” she suggested as Em strolled out of the house in their direction. There had to be some reason for Em’s behaviour and she was curious as to what it was.