Page 11 of The House on Waterfall Hill

‘I thought that the other day too. I’ll have to get someone up here to have a look at those straps and chains that hold it up. Maybe it might need a bit more reinforcing.’

‘It looks like one strong gust of wind and the wholething would go. Oh, did Audrey’s granddaughter get here OK?’ Quinn asked.

‘Yes,’ Luke said and was surprised by how exasperated he sounded in just that one word.

‘Oh-oh, that doesn’t sound good. Is she a pain in the arse?’

‘No, Flick is lovely.’ He rolled his eyes because now he sounded wistful.

‘Oh.’ Quinn was clearly confused. Luke didn’t blame him. But then the penny dropped. ‘Ohhhh. You like her.’

‘No, that’s not it. She’s nice, that’s all.’

He cursed himself that he was now using the wordniceafter telling Flick that it wasn’t really a compliment. And she was so much more than that.Nicewas doing her a disservice.

‘So you’re wondering how to navigate this because you’re leaving?’ Quinn asked.

‘There’s no navigation. I’m leaving in a few weeks, I don’t need any complications and I certainly don’t want to hurt her. We’re friends, that’s it.’

‘But she’s got under your skin.’

‘No, not at all.’ He sighed because there was no point in lying. ‘Yes, she has.’

‘Ha, I knew it.’

Just then Flick walked past, stopping when she saw Quinn and coming into the studio.

‘Hello, are you interested in a piece of woodwork?’ Flick asked, a smile lighting up her face, clearly delighted to have a customer.

‘Umm… yes,’ Quinn said, giving Luke a panicked look.

‘Well, while we don’t have a lot of stock here today for you to look at, we do have lots of photos on Luke’s website.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket and she must have already been looking him up as she found his website very quickly. She started showing Quinn some photos of Luke’s work. ‘You can see the workmanship is exquisite, the level of detail is beautiful. You can see his experience is not just with animals but with people too so, whatever it is you want, Luke will be able to capture it exactly as you imagine it, only better.’

‘Yes, these are very good,’ Quinn said, still passing Luke looks of alarm.

Luke sighed. ‘Flick, Quinn is my friend, he’s not here to buy my art.’

‘You aren’t?’ she frowned. ‘Then why did you say you were?’

‘Sorry,’ Quinn grinned. ‘I wasn’t sure if Luke would get into trouble from the new boss for chatting not working.’

Flick laughed. ‘Have you made me out to be some kind of dragon lady already?’

‘No, he said you were very nice,’ Quinn said.

‘Nice,’ she said, pretending to be outraged and for good reason after Luke had complained about her use of that word earlier.

He cleared his throat. ‘You have… qualities.’

She laughed loudly. ‘Right, I’m going. Quinn, nice to meet you. Luke, get back to work.’

He smiled as he watched her go and he was still stupidly smiling long after he heard her footsteps disappear.

‘She’s lovely,’ Quinn said.

‘Yeah she is.’

‘Oh dear god, you have it bad. You want my advice?’

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