‘Well, I was thinking of putting those tiles up for you. It wouldn’t take long and that extendable ladder you have would reach up there. We could get it done before the light goes and then you wouldn’t have to think about it any more.’
He was trying to persuade her. This was a far cry from his usual attitude of riding roughshod over what she thought and doing what he reckoned was best. Was this yet another side of Matt that she hadn’t seen before?
‘Well—I don’t know.’ Beth had been about to accept his offer but a little voice at the back of her head was wondering how far she could push this.
He made a gesture of helplessness that almost broke her resolve. ‘It’d be a minor miracle if you could get someone in to do it tomorrow. And it would set your mind at rest to know that the place is secure.’
It would. The voice told her that she could take this a step further if she wanted to, though. ‘I could help you with it.’
He hesitated and then a grin spread across his face. He had lost this particular battle and even though it was probably a new experience for him he didn’t seem to mind that. ‘That would be good.’
They carried the ladder through to the front of the house, and Matt extended it to its full length, leaning it against the wall. With his height, he could reach the gap in the roof easily. They secured the base of the ladder in the hard earth and Matt showed Beth how to lean against it to steady it while he climbed. The hammer and roof nails that he had borrowed from his father were placed within easy reach, along with a couple of the best slates, so that she could pass them up to him.
The job didn’t take long and Beth spent most of the time with her eyes fixed on Matt for any signs that he might fall. He seemed quite at home up there, working always within the range of his reach, never looking in any danger of falling or dropping something on her head. And the view wasn’t bad either.
He gave a final shove with the handle of the hammer to see whether he could dislodge the tiles and pronounced them well and truly fixed. As his eye began to rove across the rest of the roof, Beth called a halt to the proceedings.
‘Come down now, you must be freezing. I’ll make us both something to eat.’ That sounded suspiciously like an order, and he blinked down at her, but started to make his descent.
‘Sure?’
This was ridiculous. That was meant to be her line. ‘Yes, come along. You need to eat.’
She stood back to allow him to climb down the final rungs of the ladder. His smile was almost mocking as he folded the sections of the ladder back together again and watched her gather up the remaining materials from the ground, putting them away neatly.
‘I’ll stack the rest of the tiles in the back garden for you. If that’s okay.’ He was definitely making fun of her now and Beth bumped against him, giving him a friendly shove.
‘I think that will be just fine.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SHE had pulled some home-made pasta sauce out of the freezer and thrown it into the microwave to defrost. Nothing fancy, but it was filling, nutritious and didn’t take too long. The dining-room table was covered with her papers and books, all filed neatly in piles according to subject and importance, so she called through to Matt to ask whether trays in the sitting room would be all right with him. His answer floated through from the sitting room but he didn’t appear in person and Beth wondered what he was doing in there.
When she carried the food through, it appeared that he had been uncharacteristically doing nothing. He was still sitting on the sofa, watching the lights on the Christmas tree in the gathering dusk. He hadn’t even moved to switch the overhead light on. She jabbed at it with her elbow and he seemed to snap out of his reverie, jumping up and flipping the switch for her.
‘Here, let me take that.’ He relieved her of the loaded tray, so that she could go back to the kitchen to fetch her own food. ‘Smells wonderful.’ He waited for her to finish with the Parmesan cheese and sprinkled some on top of his piled dish. Opening one of the bottles of chilled lager that she had brought in, he filled her glass and then set about demolishing the pile of pasta in front of him.
They ate in companionable silence. He seemed as hungry as Beth was and polished off the large bowl of pasta before she had finished her smaller one, setting the tray to one side and picking up his glass. Stretching his legs out in front of him, he leaned back, a picture of relaxed contentment.
‘Thanks, Beth—that was great.’ His eyes were watching her intently and Beth wondered whether she had tomato sauce on her face.
‘What?’ She brushed her fingers across her lips speculatively.
‘I was just thinking…Well, I wasn’t thinking anything, really. That’s just so nice sometimes.’ His eyes flicked around the room and settled on the Christmas tree. ‘I love a bit of sparkle at this time of year. Seems to make the dark evenings worth it.’
Beth abandoned her fork and laid her tray down on the floor in front of her. ‘Doesn’t it just? Makes you feel that everything’s all right with the world, even though you know damn well it isn’t.’
‘There’s enough that’s right to make it worthwhile.’ His irrepressible optimism again. ‘Josh will be home for Christmas if he keeps up the improvement.’
‘That’ll be nice. One of the best presents that James and Marcie could ever have.’
Matt nodded. ‘What about you? You’re staying here this Christmas.’
Beth had hoped that the admission had escaped his attention. ‘Yes. My parents are staying in America to spend Christmas with my brother and his wife.’ She grinned. ‘So she’ll be getting a bit of an introduction to the Travers family Christmas games.’
‘And you’re not going as well?’
‘No. I don’t have much time off over Christmas and I’d prefer to take a few weeks off in the spring and go then.’ Beth forced a smile. ‘I’ll miss our family Christmas, but this year’s as good as any to make the break.’ There had always been an unmarried aunt or two who came for Christmas when she was a child, someone who had nowhere else to go, and she didn’t want to turn into one of those.