Page 21 of The House on Waterfall Hill

She looked at him and knew she could trust him, at least in that regard. He wasn’t going to lead her down some dodgy rabbit hole with loan sharks or the mafia chasing them for money. And maybe she’d watched too many movies and was seeing shadows when there was only light. This was a good thing. They really couldn’t save the studios without some kind of outlay. She just wished it wasn’t quite so much.

‘I just feel that if this is going to be my business, I need to contribute towards it, not freeload off the kitty. I don’t have any money in my savings but I do have an antique sapphire necklace my aunt left me in her will. The sapphire is quite small but it’s very pretty. I might get a hundred or so for that.’ She bit her lip. ‘I could sell my car.’

‘There’s no need to do that. The gift shop will benefitthe studios too so it’s only right it’s fully funded by the kitty.’

‘I don’t feel right about it.’

‘Well, we can always work out some kind of repayment. A percentage of all sales goes back into the kitty. The rest, after paying you a wage, can go to buying more stock.’

‘I’d feel better if I can repay something.’

‘That’s fine. We can sort something out that’s fair but I don’t want you to worry about this.’

She nodded, feeling a little bit better about it, and carried on eating her toastie.

‘You still haven’t told me why you aren’t interested in Natalia or the other women in your fan club. Natalia is very pretty.’

‘Oh… they’re not my type.’

‘Oh.’ Flick chewed her lip for a moment as she prepared herself to rip off the sticking plaster. ‘Is Polly your type?’

‘Polly? No, she’s nice, I think she’ll be a great asset to the team over here but I haven’t thought about her in that way. She’s a bit young for me and I think she’s probably just like the others in many ways.’

Flick didn’t know what he meant by that; Polly and Natalia were nothing alike. She was also desperate to know if she was his type but she couldn’t ask that. And what would be the point, she didn’t want to start something with him when he was leaving. She’d never been the sort of person to just have a casual fling. Shewatched him sigh sadly about the unwanted attention from Natalia.

‘You know, the easiest way to get Natalia, or any of the others who keep following you around, to leave you alone would be to tell them you have a girlfriend.’

‘I don’t think they’ll believe it.’

‘Why? You’re a good-looking man, lovely, kind. Why is it so hard to believe you have a girlfriend?’

‘I’m just not known for a successful romantic history. I’m a nerd. Nerds don’t get the women.’

‘That’s not true. And you’re not a nerd.’

‘I have a million useless facts stored away in my brain, my career before wood carving was playing with computers. I’ll watch nature programmes and find them fascinating, I have a telescope to look at the stars. You’ve seen the books I read, I could talk for hours about my love of Pratchett. At the pirate festival I will be going in full pirate regalia and I often go to comic cons dressed as Aragorn fromLord of the Rings.’

She smiled at that. None of that put her off, she found it all very endearing.

‘And you’ve never found anyone to be your Arwen?’ she asked, referring to Aragorn’s soul mate.

‘Never been that lucky.’

‘Well, I could be your girlfriend.’

He stared at her. ‘What?’

‘We can pretend to be together.’

‘Pretend. Right, yes, of course.’

‘When Natalia comes up here, you tell her you have a girlfriend and we can pretend to be a loving couple.She’ll soon give up once she sees how happy and in love you are.’

‘I’m not sure I’m comfortable with lying. Or be any good at it.’

‘So you’d rather keep hiding in the cupboard every time she visits?’

‘Well no.’

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