‘Good, Good!’ the little girl called Anya cried again at Goodie’s laughter.
‘Preveet,’ Goodie said again to her.
‘I told you she’s a lost cause, she can barely speak English,’ Benji said, shaking his head.
‘You little bugger,’ the Welsh woman said, punching Benji on the arm. ‘That’s why I don’t want you talking in Russian. She isnota lost cause.’
‘Ben, Ben, Ben!’ Anya shouted at Benji, and he looked at the woman, raising his eyebrows, his point apparently made. Nick’s feet crunching on the gravel of the drive as he came to stand next to Goodie alerted the woman to his presence, and she stopped scowling at Benji to openly gape at Nick.
‘Uh … hello,’ she managed to say, tipping her head back to look up at him (she couldn’t have been much more than five feet tall). She looked at Goodie, who simply pressed her lips together and ignored him.
‘Hello,’ Nick returned, smiling down at the small woman and extending his hand. ‘I’m Nick.’
‘Of course you are.’ The woman smiled, reaching for his hand and shaking it vigorously. ‘I know about you,’ she continued, still shaking his hand and showing no sign of releasing it any time soon. ‘I read them all, see:Heat, Hello, Now, all of them. Sam thinks I’m atwp* bugger for poring over them, but what would he know … he doesn’t even really watchGogglebox.’ She’d widened her eyes at the last sentence as if the disregard for the brilliance of whateverGoggleboxwas were as good as being declared criminally insane, and would therefore negate all other opinions about other media outlets. ‘I’m Katie by the way.’
Nick concluded that even though this woman was a little nuts, very difficult to understand (her thick accent was tricky enough to decipher without her throwing in words he had never heard of), and slightly over familiar, he liked her. It was as if the universe had conjured up Goodie’s complete opposite and dropped her at his doorstep.
‘Now, I know you’ve probably got a lot to be getting on with seeing as you’re an important businessman and you’ve probably got all sorts of … um … businessing and such like to be doing, so we’ll just get out of your hair. Come along, Goodie, honey.’ Katie bustled over to Goodie and extracted Anya before walking around her to give her a little push from behind. To Nick’s satisfaction Goodie held her ground.
‘Katie, I cannot go with you,’ she said, stepping away from the gentle shoving. ‘I am the close protection, remember?’ For some reason Katie’s face went soft at this statement and she circled around Goodie to stand in front of her again. To Nick’s surprise Katie’s eyes then filled with tears and she moved forward to give Goodie yet another hug.
‘I know you are,’ she said in a choked voice, and followed up with a loud sniff. ‘I’m so grateful.’ Goodie rolled her eyes and tolerated the hug briefly before pulling away.
‘We’ve been through this. You have nothing to be grateful for.’
‘Oh!’ Katie shouted as Goodie moved back. ‘You wear them! I knew you would wear them. Sam thought I was crazy but Iknewyou would. Everyone needs warm feet.’
Goodie rolled her eyes. ‘I’m wearing them because I washopingnot to have contact with any actual human beings today, Katie.Notbecause I need warm feet.’
Katie just looked at her through her tear-filled eyes and gave Goodie’s arm a squeeze. ‘Whatever you say,cariad,’* she told her in an indulgent tone that you might use with a lying child. The fact that she would take that tone with Goodie, of all people, was so comical that Nick had to stifle a laugh. ‘But look, see, you don’t have to worry about that close-protection business; Geoff’s back from Somalia and he’s going to take over for a couple of days. You can come and stay at The Coach House.’
Nick stiffened. He knew one thing that would not be happening and that was Goodie leaving, even if it was just to The Coach House at the end of the drive. ‘Do you mind me asking exactly what’s going on here?’ he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and straightening to his full height.
Katie flashed him a nervous smile as she took in his combative stance with a look of some confusion. ‘Well, we’re just switching up your close protection officer for a couple of days so that Goodie can spend Easter with us; it’s kind of become a family tradition to dig her out of the woodwork at this time of year. She absolutely refuses to be found at Christmas, you see. We’ve had to get quite sneaky with it, haven’t we, Goodie; what was the excuse we used to get you down to Wales last year?’
‘I believe you told me that Sam wanted to debrief me on averylucrative private contract but the only time he could see me was on Easter Sunday.’
‘Ah yes! That was funny, wasn’t it?’
‘Hilarious,’ Goodie deadpanned, her hands going to her hips.
‘Well, you shouldn’t be so stubborn, should you? You little tinker.’ Katie risked life and limb to chuck Goodie playfully under the chin. Nick had the feeling that if Goodie hadn’t held herself back she would be reaching for her knife again. ‘Anyhoo, Geoff’s … ah, here he is!’ A Land Rover pulled up next to them on the drive and a giant of a man unfolded himself from it. ‘Great,’ Katie said brightly as the large man approached the group.
‘Jif, Jif, Jif!’ shouted Anya, squirming in Katie’s arms and practically leaping into Geoff’s massive arms. Nick heard Benji mutter ‘lost cause’ under his breath, earning him another scowl from Katie.
‘Right – Geoff, Nick; Nick, Geoff Rodgers. He’ll be replacing Goodie,’ Katie flashed Nick a smile, took Anya back from Geoff, and made a grab for Goodie’s hand.
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ Nick said, stepping in between Katie and Goodie. ‘Goodie’s not going anywhere.’ He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled down at Katie.
Katie frowned. ‘If you’re worried about Geoff’s credentials I can assure you that he –’
‘I don’t care if he’s protectedthe Queenfor the last decade. Goodie’s staying here. Who are you to her, anyway?’
‘Well, I’m your far guard Sam’s wife, and we’re Goodie’s ... well, we’re her friends.’
‘You didn’t say you wanted to spend Easter with your friends,’ Nick said, turning to Goodie. ‘What about your family?’
‘I have no family,’ Goodie told him in that emotionless voice that she did so well, ‘and I didn’t tell you about spending Easter with my friends because I had no idea Katie was coming here.’ She turned to Katie. ‘You know I do not celebrate holidays, Katie. It does not matter where I am.’ She turned back to Geoff. ‘Go back to Swansea and spend Easter with your wife, for God’s sake.’ With that she turned and walked away from them all, slamming the front door behind her as she stalked into the house.
