Page 32 of A Very Happy Halloween

“I haven’t been in a great place,” he admitted. “They’ll be surprised to see me.”

“Who’s been running the place?”

“I have a great team. Even when I wasn’t busy hermiting, I was always training or travelling, so I put in a structure that lets Four Rings run itself.”

“Why is it called Four Rings?”

“MMA.” He ticked off on his fingers. “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, and wrestling. Those are the disciplines that a fighter needs to master. There’s other stuff in there too, karate and kickboxing, tae kwon do and Wing Chun, but those are the main ones. If Alfie needs something to do while Harry’s with his friends, there are kids’ classes on Saturday mornings.”

“I’m not sure that would be a good idea. He’d probably try to karate-chop Anvil de Witt.”

“What’s Anvil de Witt?”

“A kid in his class.”

“Anvil?” Eis blew out a breath. “Okay then. But seriously, the first thing we teach kids is that violence is a last resort. Respect comes first.”

At least if Alfie was in a gym class, he wouldn’t be picking up beetles from the pavement.

“Perhaps he could try a beginner’s session?”

“I’ll book him a place.”

The rest of the week went surprisingly smoothly. Most of the time, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it didn’t. I spoke with Marissa and let her know that work on the roof had started sooner than anticipated, and also that the plumbing was going to be cheaper than expected because a chap from the village had offered to help out.

Marissa, of course, put two and two together and squealed through the phone.

“You met a guy?”

“I literally just said that.”

“Well, you left a lot of stuff out. No way would he be fixing your pipes unless he’s into you. Tell me he isn’t another insensitive jerk like Steven?”

“He isn’t. He’s totally different to Steven.” I took a deep breath. “You remember when I was eighteen, I met a guy, and then he did a disappearing act on me?”

“It’s him? Ohmigosh, he is an insensitive jerk.”

“We had…well, not so much a misunderstanding, but he was terrible at communicating in those days. We’re both older and wiser now, and I still really like him. Is that crazy? Wait, wait… Don’t answer that. I know it’s crazy. But we have this chemistry, and I can’t stay away.”

“If you’re just using him for rebound sex, I guess that makes sense. Get it out of your system, that sort of thing.”

“I haven’t even slept with him. Recently, I mean. He brings me coffee and fixes stuff around the house.”

“That’s weird.”

“Is it? I told him I wanted to take things slow.”

Marissa paused before speaking. “Okay, as long as you’re just using him for free labour and rebound sex, that could actually be a pretty good deal.”

“Right.” Wrong. If Eisen vanished on me again, he’d take what was left of my heart with him, but I didn’t think he’d do that. For one, I knew his address now. I’d go over there with Harry and turn Twilight’s End into a freaking rainbow. “Are you still okay to take me to my driving test?”

I’d kind of thought Eis might offer, but he hadn’t, and we weren’t at a stage in our relationship where I felt I could ask him for favours. He was already doing plenty as it was.

“The whole of that Tuesday is blocked out in my calendar, and Barbara’s covering my shift at Fairfield House. The test is at two thirty?”

My stomach tightened just from me thinking about it. “Yes, but I want to get there early.”

“And we can have a celebratory lunch after.”

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