By nine o’clock the contents of several more boxes had found their way to their new rightful places and Mallory had discovered that mobile signal was dependent on network provider. Much to her chagrin she had also discovered that her particular network was rubbish. Sam was still AWOL and her failed attempts to contact him had left her with no choice but to go back over to see Mr McHappy at the pub to beseech him for the use of his landline.It’d be just bloody typical that Sam will have broken down in a ‘no signal’ area and will be sitting at the side of the road waiting for roadside rescue,Mallory chuntered to herself, immediately feeling bad when she realised that if he was sitting waiting he could very well be soaked, as the rain was now bouncing down outside.
Ruby was snuggled up asleep on the rug in front of the fire that Mallory had built about an hour before and was clearly not prepared to go anywhere. Mallory grabbed her waterproof coat, pulled on her very fetching bright green wellington boots that Josie had bought her as a joke and opened the front door. The rain was coming down in torrents. She pulled up her hood and scrunched it around her face, holding it tightly closed under her chin, and she trudged to the pub in the dark.
When she got to the pub door she rubbed her hands down her face to rid her features of the excess water she had managed to amass on the short walk. The pub was alive with chatter and she could see the man from earlier, Gregory, standing behind the bar with a towel slung over his shoulder. She made her way over to him and he turned to her. His face broke into a wide grin and he appeared to be stifling laughter. Great, so now he was mocking her?
She leaned forward, scowling at him and hissed in a loud whisper, ‘Excuse me. I don’t know what you’re finding so funny. I’m soaked to the skin and bloody freezing, which is in no way amusing to me.’
‘It’s just that… erm… never mind.’ He continued to grin. ‘Can I get you a drink?’ He was handsome when he smiled and Mallory hated that she noticed.
She shook her head. ‘No,’ she snapped, immediately regretting it. ‘That is, nothank you… Sam… my fiancé should be here by now but… he’s not and I had no choice other than to come over here, seeing as I can’t get a mobile signal and my landline isn’t connected yet. If it’s not too much trouble can I use your public telephone, please? Assuming you have one. Then I won’t be bothering you again,’ she bumbled in a rush as the bartender scrunched his face, hanging on her every word.
As if coming out of a trance he frowned and switched his gaze to anywhere but her and without making further eye contact he made steps towards her. ‘Public phone isn’t working. You’ll have to come through to the back and use the private one.’ He lifted the hinged area of the bar up to allow her through. She followed him reluctantly. ‘There. And you might want to look in a mirror before you come back through.’ He turned sharply and went back through to the bar.
Yeah well, maybe you should go look in the dishwasher to see if your manners are there,you surly pig, she chastised him mentally with words she daren’t utter aloud. But seriously, what was his problem?
Mallory first tried Sam’s mobile number but had to leave a message when it went straight to voicemail. ‘Sam where on earthareyou? It’s gone nine o’clock and you should’ve been here ages ago. I’m so worried. Please just ring me and let me know where you are. I love you.’
She tried his work number; then Ryan’s number. But there was no answer anywhere. As a last resort, and resolving to leave a substantial enough payment to cover the cost, she dialled Sam’s mom in Canada in case she had heard from him. But still she couldn’t get through.
Where the heck is he?Worry was building rapidly and her stomach was in knots. She hung up and left an English five pound note beside the phone out of courtesy.No doubt grumpy-britches will have something to say about that but it’s tough.
As she passed the hallway mirror, she glanced at herself. ‘Oh great.’ The reason for the mercurial bartender’s amusement became clear. He was, in his own bizarre way, trying to help her with his comment about looking in the mirror. She looked like some kind of Kiss tribute band reject, as the streaks of eyeliner and mascara had left tramlines down her pale, wet face. She made her way down the hall to the door with the letters W.C. and proceeded to remove the remnants of Gene Simmons from her face.
When she came out, Gregory was leaning up against the wall waiting. He smiled when he saw that she had cleaned her face. ‘So, you’re a Yorkshire lass, eh?’ He had very smiley brown eyes when he wasn’t being a grumpy-arse.
Oh, so now he was trying to be friendly. Shame she wasn’t in the mood. ‘That’s what I said.’
‘I have friends in York,’ he offered. She found herself smiling at his rolled ‘r’ when he said that.
He smiled too. ‘Look, I’m sorry for being an arsehole earlier.’ He pushed off the wall and stood in front of her. ‘I’ve been having a shitty time of it lately but I had no place being like that.’
Worry over Sam niggled at the back of her mind and she responded harshly with clipped words. ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re not friends. You don’t have to explain yourself.’
He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it and closed it again. She glared at him expectantly with her arms folded across her damp coat.
He pursed his lips and nodded. ‘Oh, okay. I get it… that’s fine then. I’ll be getting back to the bar.’
He looked a little hurt at her sharpness.Serves him right,Mallory justified as she tried to shake the feeling of guilt. She stormed through the bar and back out into the rain.
She opened the door to Sealladh-mara Cottage, shivered the excess water from her garments and locked the door behind her. Ruby opened her eyes and her tail gave a little greeting wag but she dozed straight back off again. Mallory paced the floor for the next half an hour. She made more tea but didn’t drink it. It was just something to do.
At five past eleven she awoke with a start and found herself curled up on the rug with Ruby. She had only lain down to cuddle the dog for a minute but must have nodded off. The reason for her rude awakening became clear as she heard tapping on the front door. She jumped to her feet, suddenly feeling very excited. She struggled with the keys but eventually fumbled them into the lock.Finally! He’s here, he’s here, oh yeah,and she did a little happy dance in her mind.
She opened the door ready to fling her arms around his neck and cover him in kisses, she’d tell him off later. As she pulled the stiff door free of its sticking frame, she gasped.
‘Mallory Westerman?’ the police officer asked quietly. Another officer stood silently behind him. Mallory nodded as she felt the colour drain from her face. He reached out to touch her elbow. ‘May we come in please? I’m afraid we have some bad news.’
