Page 8 of One Last Touch

“But it’s hot.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your pipes.”

“Then why was the water freezing this morning and yesterday?”

He shrugged. “Are you sure that it was?”

Was I— “Yes.” I snapped back, folding my arms across my chest. “Look, it’s fine, whatever. I’m just glad it’s fixed. How much do I owe you?”

“Lady, you’re not listening to me. I didn’t do shit to your pipes. There’s nothing wrong with ‘em. If you have me back out here again for this, I’ll report you for harassment.”

My mouth dropped open as he pushed past me. That had been a little extreme—but if he was going to act like that then I wouldn’t be calling him again anyway.

It felt like the temperature of the room dropped by several degrees and I shivered and hurried out after him. He was clearly eager to be gone though and I watched him barge past Sage who was forced to twist out of his way as the plumber stormed out of the house.

“What was his problem?” Sage asked.

“I have no idea.” I slipped my phone out of my pocket to check the time and grimaced. Sage had hustled me up to my room before sundown again last night but I hadn’t minded too much, too tired from my trip into town and the time I’d spent hoovering the entire house afterward to argue. But if he planned on doing the same thing tonight, I had better eat dinner now and then strike up a conversation about it later.

Thankfully, the oven and hob did work. So I cooked some veggie burgers and, while I waited for them, washed some of the dusty plates in the cupboard as I tried not to grimace. I could understand a bit of disrepair, this place was way too much upkeep for just one person, but it truly seemed like Ms Weathers hadn’t stayed on top of anything—at this point, I just felt lucky that I hadn’t seen or heard any mice. I honestly felt a little confused about what she did all day—she didn’t cook or clean, and Sage didn’t do much gardening either. I half-wondered if they were actually squatters performing a long con.

Sage sat at the kitchen table and watched me while I worked until eventually I raised an eyebrow at him. The draining board was becoming very full, luckily I’d had the forethought to buy some tea towels yesterday otherwise I’d be a little stuck right about now. “You could help me, you know.”

“I could,” he said, staying where he was and I huffed out a breath of irritation.

“Where’s Ms Weathers?”

“Angelica,” he said for emphasis, “has gone to bed. She wasn’t feeling well.”

“I hope the plumber didn’t upset her, he ignored her the whole time he was here.”

Sage shrugged. “Some people believe staff should be unseen and unheard.”

I clenched my hands and soapy water shot up at me, soaking the front of my plaid

shirt. “Fuck.”

A quiet chuckle had my head raising slowly as I looked at Sage under my lashes. I didn’t understand him, was he truly so upset about me being here that he would refuse to help me with the simplest things?

“You know, you don't have to stay here.” The light from the sunset caught on the lenses of his glasses as Sage sat forward, eyes piercing in their intensity and with the light on him I could see that they weren’t brown as I had initially thought but a rich shade of hazel that looked almost green against his gold frames. “If you can’t stand to be around me or help me, then why not just go?”

He looked away and I found myself focusing more intensely on the muscle that feathered in his jaw than I had any right to be doing. “I can’t leave.”

“You’re young,” I said, deliberately parroting his words back to him. “I’ll give you a generous resignation package.”

A smile kicked up one side of his mouth for a second before he let it drop. “Thanks.”

Surprise made my breath catch. “You’re leaving?”

Now he really did laugh. “No. But you really should.” I rolled my eyes as I turned away to pull my dinner out of the oven. “I saw that.”

I mimicked him and felt the deep vibration of his laugh wash over me.

I sat down opposite him, burgers slapped into a sesame bun and thrown haphazardly onto a now-clean plate and took a bite as my stomach growled. I actually liked the manual labour of cleaning up the house, it let my thoughts breathe and roam rather than being pinned down as I turned things over in my mind repeatedly. But god, I wasn’t sure I’d ever been this hungry either.

“Did you speak to her much when she was here? My mum, I mean.”

It felt like the house fell silent, like it was waiting with as much nervousness as I was to hear his answer.

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