Page 76 of A December to Remember
Very gently she began to ease the splinter out. He whimpered and she made soothing noises and continued to tease the wood shard out of his hand. It took a while, but at last the end of the splinter relinquished its hold and came free. Shelooked carefully into the wound and at the splinter itself, but there was nothing left behind. She let out a sigh of relief.
“All done,” she said soothingly.
“Really?”
He raised his head. He looked first at the splinter she held proudly between the tweezers and then at his palm. A glob of thick red blood pushed out of the hole, and he immediately fainted.
“Whoa!” She had just enough time to drop the tweezers as he flopped in a lazy forward roll off the bench onto the grass. Luckily his puffer jacket softened his fall. She managed to stop him from hitting his head and deftly rolled him into the recovery position. She pulled off her coat and laid it over him. This wasn’t her first roller coaster with a fainter; when you’d been to as many festivals as Star had, you saw a lot of minor medical incidents.
She set about washing and dressing the wound. By the time Duncan began to come around, she was securing the clean white bandage and all traces of blood had been removed.
He groaned and rubbed his head. “What happened?” he asked, his voice muffled with confusion.
“You fainted. But you’re all right now.”
“Oh no, how embarrassing,” he moaned.
“Don’t be silly. It could happen to anyone.”
He went to get up.
“Easy does it,” she said gently, helping him up to sitting. “Sit for a while. I’ll make you a nice cup of sweet tea to get your blood sugar back up.”
He sat with his back against the wall, and Star sat down next to him, their knees touching.
“I’m wearing your coat,” he said.
“I didn’t want you to catch cold.”
He looked down at his bandaged hand. “You fixed me.”
“It’s no big deal.” She smiled. “It’ll smart for a few days, but the splinter came out clean. I can come to the pub and change your dressing for you in the morning before you go to your sister’s for Sunday lunch.”
“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”
“You might be delirious; I only got a splinter out.” She laughed. But before she could say another word, Duncan leaned over and kissed her, long and sweet. His lips were as soft as she’d imagined, and when he deepened the kiss, Star wondered ifshemight faint. When they parted, she was indeed light-headed.
“I’ve wanted to do that since the day I met you,” he said quietly.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I wasn’t sure that someone like you would be interested in someone like me.”
“What? Why?” She laughed. “I’m nobody...”
Duncan put his finger to her lips. “Don’t do that,” he said. “You always put yourself down. You are fascinating. You only ever have to be told a thing once and you understand it and remember it like you’ve known it for years. You’re kind and you’realwaysthinking about other people, putting yourself in their place and seeing things from their perspective. Nothing fazes you. Not even giant fainting men. You laughallthe time, and it sounds like sunshine, and when you smile the freckles at the edge of your right eye line up to form a leaf shape.”
No one had ever said anything like that to her before. She tried to speak around the finger pressed to her mouth but found she had no words.
“You have become somebody very special to me, Star North,” he said. And he kissed her again.
They left the pyre to manage itself, and after a cup of strong sweet tea each, Star and Duncan took each other on their first official date, to the Stag and Hound.
33
Verity was holdingcourt in the greengrocer’s. Last night she had performed as a singing pomegranate in the school play, and the praise had gone to her head. It had also marked the last day of school, which only added to her high spirits. She was more than happy to recite her lines this Saturday afternoon for any customers who confessed they hadn’t been fortunate enough to see her play.
“Aunty Simone, what did you like best about the play?”
