This Could Change Everything(107)
‘Looks like I have.’ Conor shook his head. ‘I wonder what we could possibly find to do?’
Was she dreaming? No she wasn’t. After all these months it was finally about to happen. Giddy with adrenalin-fuelled anticipation, Scarlett said, ‘No idea, up to you. But we’d better be careful not to damage your bad back.’
Chapter 51
Zillah carried her cup of tea through to the living room, switched on the TV and settled down to watch the last ten minutes of the early-evening news.
It had been quite a day. But a good one. She took a sip of tea and estimated that she had twenty minutes before Essie was back. Honestly, it came to something when you had to invent a shopping list of items you needed purely to get a bit of peace in which to think through what had happened.
Hopefully Alice had enjoyed herself too. Picturing her face, Zillah thought she had, but Alice was so polite she would never dream of saying otherwise.
Had she even fractionally made up, though, for the bad thing she’d done to Alice and Matthew in the first place? Of course not. Poor Alice had lost the love of her life and what could ever compensate for that? Zillah put down her teacup and picked up the TV remote. God, the local news was boring tonight. What she needed was a decent film to distract her from dwelling on her own failings.
‘. . . And finally this evening, the Duchess of Cambridge paid a visit to Bristol Zoo earlier today, to officially open the new meerkat enclosure.’ The male TV presenter had adopted his jolly, end-of-the-show voice as footage of the visit appeared on the screen. ‘I’m glad to say the meerkats were on their best behaviour for the royal visitor, who was later also introduced to some of the workers at the zoo.’ The camera was now panning along a line-up of employees in their bottle-green uniforms, waiting to shake hands with the Duchess. ‘At one end of the scale we have Harry Critchley, who has been a keeper here for fifty-one years, which is an amazing achievement, isn’t it? Well done, Harry! And at the other end, we have the newest employee, seventeen-year-old Ben Gallagher, who began working here just last week. But something these two do have in common is their passion for animal welfare and their absolute commitment to the work this zoo continues to do . . . so very well done to both of you, and let’s hope you’ll both continue to work here for many more years to come!’
Zillah covered her mouth, because the look on Ben’s thin, happy face as he shook hands with the Duchess was a sight to behold. It was him; he’d achieved his dream to work at the zoo and she couldn’t have been prouder of him if he’d been her own great-grandson.
As the presenter wrapped up the piece, then linked to the weather, Zillah reached for a tissue. Thank heavens she hadn’t changed the channel; she’d have missed it completely.
How lovely, though, to know that when she’d met Ben and made her impulsive decision, she had done the right thing.
The next morning, whilst Conor was in the shower, Scarlett began leafing idly through the printed-out A4-sized photos he’d taken in the last week. Spreading them out across his desk, she then studied each one in turn, wondering which he’d choose to frame and put on display in the Red House.
Then she noticed something about two of the photos that made her lean in closer and pay extra attention.
Well, well. This was fascinating . . .
Five minutes later, Conor emerged from the bathroom with a dark-blue towel fastened around his hips. Moving up behind her, he kissed the nape of her neck. ‘I wish I didn’t have to go to work.’
‘I know. But you do.’ The feel of his warm mouth on her neck sent little shivers of pleasure through her; she twisted round and ran her hands over his beautiful broad shoulders. ‘We both do.’
‘I’ll see you this evening, though?’
‘I should probably be playing it cool.’ Scarlett beamed and stroked his still-damp chest. ‘But I can’t. Yes please.’
‘What have you been doing?’ He looked over at the spread-out photos.
‘Admiring them. You’re pretty good at this, you know.’
Conor winked. ‘I’m pretty good at lots of things.’
‘Well I’ve already made that discovery.’ Scarlett grinned again, because he didn’t even know yet that, thanks to him, she never had succumbed to Danny’s suggestion that they should be friends with benefits. But that was completely irrelevant now, because last night and earlier this morning with Conor had been completely out of this world; he’d been worth the wait. She pointed to the photographs. ‘But I was wondering if you’d happened to notice something interesting about a couple of these?’
‘Which ones?’
‘That would be cheating. I’m testing your powers of observation.’
She watched him scan the photos intently. ‘I don’t know . . . This one’s unbalanced . . . the light isn’t very flattering in that one . . . and that woman’s leg looks weird; I need to crop it out.’
He was all about the technical issues and the composition. He hadn’t spotted what she’d spotted. Scarlett said, ‘Is it OK if I take two of these away with me?’
‘Why?’
She shook her head. ‘I won’t say, not just yet. I don’t think I’m wrong, but I might be.’
‘Fine, then. No problem.’ Conor reached past her for a folder. ‘Put them in there.’ He gave her waist a squeeze. ‘I’d love to know what you’re up to.’