Page 79 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

‘Charles sends his apologies,’ Geoff said. ‘He used exactly those words. In a very posh voice of course,’ he added, making Magnus give a saucy giggle. ‘Please offer Ottilie my sincere apologies for my absence today…’ he continued in a decent impersonation of Charles, clearly delighted he’d made Magnus laugh and determined to keep it going.

Ottilie smiled. ‘Oh well, I can’t expect everyone to drop everything to come here. I’m grateful for any help I can get. I mean, it’s already so amazing that this is happening at all – I can’t thank you enough.’

‘You said that about a million times yesterday,’ Magnus said, shaking his head with a broad smile. ‘Would you stop already? We know we’re great; you’re going to give us all heads as big as Ullswater.’

As she caught his eye, Heath gave her a silent nod of acknowledgement, and to her mortification she blushed. No sir, she wasn’t about to admit to herself that he looked good today, that she was happier to see him than anyone else, that she hoped to get more time to chat to him, that she found herself intrigued more each time they met, that she wanted to know everything there was to know. She wasn’t going to admit it, and it wasn’t going to happen. She especially wasn’t going to admit – even to herself – that Flo might have been right to try and get them together, that she might have seen potential neither of them could. Perhaps in another life, but not this one, not now, not after what Ottilie had been through, not while there were so many other complications still unresolved.

‘So shall we get started?’ Victor asked. ‘Who wants to do what? We need a couple of folks in the kitchen to get the rest of that floor up.’ He looked at Stacey. ‘What did you decide about the outhouse? Still think it could dry out all right in there?’

‘I think so,’ Stacey said uncertainly.

‘I think,’ Ottilie put in, ‘that it’s not a priority, because I don’t use it all that much, and it’s a tiled floor, so perhaps we can leave it for now and see how it goes.’

Victor nodded. ‘Agreed. It’s the wood that’s the big problem – joists and such. Let’s concentrate on getting the rest of that done today. If we make good time tomorrow we can start to look at replacing what’s no good. I’ll need a couple of chippies with me then if anyone’s any good with wood.’

‘I’m not too bad,’ Heath said. ‘I think I could turn my hand to it if someone tells me what to do.’

‘That’s one,’ Victor said.

‘And I ought to have a go, as it’s my house,’ Ottilie said. ‘Though I can’t promise it’ll be up to professional standards.’

‘I’ll go and see Bob Hodgkins too,’ Victor said. ‘He’s a bit slow these days, but he knows a thing or two about woodworking and he can oversee, even if he’s not strong enough to do it himself. And seeing as he’s always moaning how boring his retirement is…’

‘I’ll pop in and see him if you like,’ Magnus said.

‘Do we need to go and fetch some wood?’ Heath asked. ‘I can borrow a van if it helps.’

Victor nodded. ‘Makes more sense than taking a tractor into town. If you could.’

‘Tomorrow we might need it, you say?’

‘Let’s see how we get on this morning,’ Victor replied.

‘I’ll make a quick call,’ Heath said, ‘just to be sure I can have the van tomorrow either way.’

As he pulled out his phone and moved to a quieter spot, his gaze caught Ottilie’s. She aimed a grateful smile his way, and he nodded briefly. It was lucky there was so much else going on today to distract her, because those unwanted thoughts were back to plague her again.

Work had been non-stop and spirits had been high. Considering how devastated she’d been when the flood had first hit, Ottilie couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this cheery. It was good to be doing something, and now she could see progress her spirits were lifted. The radio had been playing all morning, mostly chart hits, but then the programme changed, the DJ playing musical theatre classics, and Magnus and Geoff were proving what good voices they both had by singing along.

‘You ought to be on the West End,’ Ottilie said.

‘Oh, if only,’ Magnus replied with a pleased smile.

‘He’s too much of a diva to be on the West End,’ Geoff put in. ‘They’d never cope with him.’

‘And that’s saying something,’ Stacey put in. ‘They must have some massive egos in those theatre dressing rooms.’

Ottilie laughed. ‘Aww, poor Magnus.’

‘Thank you,’ Magnus said, grinning at Ottilie. ‘At least someone’s on my side.’

He and Geoff lifted a length of ruined wood between them and carried it out. Ottilie could hear them bickering about it as they went.

Which way are you going?

Not that way, that…

Are you trying to dunk us in the river?

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