A Safe Pair of Hands (5 page)

“
You are very welcome, Sadie,” he said gruffly.

*

Sadie walked with Nick to the front door, feeling more than a
little sad that this time with him was over. It reminded her of the
first time that they’d met – before Rick had come storming in and
ruined everything between them.

When she had first looked at Nick, and he had first looked at
her.

She smiled sadly as she remembered.

No one had ever looked at her like that before – with such
wonder, and yearning.

Their eyes had met, and locked with an; ‘I know you – you are
my soul mate!’ sort of instant recognition.

She held her breath and watched as he walked across the room,
to her.

This had been two years after her marriage to Rick. Sadie had
left him and returned to her husband on several occasions – always
under duress, emotional blackmail, and promises of
change.

It never happened though. For a little while, he would be on
his best behaviour, but it wouldn’t take much to set him off; and
it always ended with hurt and misery, and her fleeing him at the
first opportunity.

In desperation, Sadie had left her home town. Her friends and
family, and moved to London, to the anonymity of a larger strange
city, and she tried to make a new life for herself. And as time
moved on, she began to feel like it had worked.

That evening out with the girls from her office, had become a
typical Friday night. With fun and laughter, and a few drinks and
some dancing.

Just another Friday night out.

Then Nick had walked into that wonderful club...

“
Can I buy you a drink?” he asked, and Sadie gave a little
shiver, as the warmth of his voice tickled down her
spine.

She smiled up at him shyly. “I... I’d like that.”

He escorted her to a table, in a corner of the club and with
some small degree of privacy.

He purchased their drinks and sat down in the chair across
from her.

“
My name is Nick, by the way,” he smiled.

A small furrow marred her brow, as another name instantly came
to mind.

“
I’m Sadie,” she introduced herself hesitantly.

He smiled a warm smile, and his eyes locked on to hers again.
“It is so
very
nice to meet you, Sadie.”

He could see that she was rather shy, and his heart which had
almost gone into shock when he’d first spotted her, warmed even
more towards her.

He talked lightly and amusingly, telling her how he was just
visiting London on a ‘work’ trip, and had been struggling to find
his way around.

He made her laugh as he told her about the grotty bedsit that
he’d been staying in, and as he watched her face light up with
humour, he vowed to himself that he would do everything in his
power to make her smile, make her laugh – every single day for the
rest of his life.

As they sat chatting, she slowly came out of her shell, and
began to tell him about her first time in London, although he never
did find out what had brought her to this cold impersonal city in
the first place.

She was in the middle of a sentence, her expression lively and
amused, when her gaze swept passed him suddenly, and her voice
stumbled to a halt and her eyes darkened and died, and her face
drained of colour.

Nick looked over his shoulder, desperate to know what had
caused such a drastic – horrible change in her. He would later read
that look as one of anger and hatred.

But not at first.

A man came striding over, looking pale and
desperate.

“
I’ve searched for so long,” he muttered as he stood over her.
“I thought that I would never find you again...”

“
What do you want, Rick?” she whispered in a cold dispassionate
tone.

“
You... I want you... my wife!”

She didn’t have to look at Nick to see how his shoulders went
back.

He pulled back his chair and lurched to his feet.

Sadie stood up as well, and her eyes tried to lock on to
his.

“
Please, Nick!” she whispered in a desperate tone, “don’t leave
me...”

“
Your... husband needs some time with you,” he almost spat out
the words, assuming that her husband had only been looking for her
this evening, and not realising that he’d actually been hunting her
for the past six months.

“
I have nothing to say to him,” she said thickly, thick he
assumed with anger.

“
I can’t live without you babe, please come home with me...”
Rick mouthed the usual garbage.

Nick turned to walk away, and Sadie realised that she would
never see him again.

Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back as she
realised that Rick had once again ruined her life, before it had
even begun this time.

“
Go away Rick, I don’t ever want to see you again!”

He reached out to her imploringly, “I mean it Sadie, I can’t,
I won’t live without you... if you don’t walk out of here, with me
– right now... I swear I will kill myself!”

Again this was Rick’s usual tactics for forcing her back, and
Sadie realised that she just could not do it anymore.

“
Go and do that then, Rick!” she spat out. “If you can’t live
without me, then just go away and end it!”

It seemed that Rick understood, as the colour drained from his
face. That this time it really was over, and no amount of begging
or pleading would win her round. He slumped down on the seat and
began to sob.

She turned away from him, ready to march out of this
horrendous place, but her gaze fell on Nick, who had stood
listening to them.

He looked at the broken desolate man, and the beautiful,
bitch.

He looked at her with such loathing, that Sadie thought that
she might throw up.

She fled the club, the men, and the nightmare, and she never
stepped foot in that place again.

Chapter Five

Nick opened her front door, to the faint glow of the almost
dawn.

He looked back at a tired and drained Sadie.

“
What are you plans for today?” he asked.

Sadie shrugged. “It’s still very early... I can maybe grab a
couple of hours sleep, and then I will need to sort Pete out, and
drop him off at day care, and then come in to work.”

Nick shook his head. “Get some sleep and sort out Pete, but I
don’t want to see you back at work until... Monday.”

Sadie felt the tears well up at the idea that she would not
see him for four whole days.

He leaned down suddenly, and kissed her lightly on the
cheek.

“
I’m giving you the time off Sadie, so go out and treat
yourself, rest, relax, and do something that you will really
enjoy.”

‘
But spending time with you, would be the
thing that I would most enjoy!’
she
blinked up at him tiredly, and saw the tired lines in his own
face.

“
Okay... boss,” she whispered with a ghost of a
smile.

Some emotion flickered briefly in his eyes, but then his lips
curled into a grin. “Good girl!” he stepped across the threshold
and looked at her firmly. “Now close the door, and let me hear the
lock.”

Sadie thought that it was one of the hardest things that she
ever had to do, closing that door in Nick’s face.

But she did it.

She dropped the catch and turned the lock, and then looked
through the spy hole, as Nick continued to stand there for a moment
longer.

He stood staring at the door, and then slowly he held a hand
out as if to stroke the wooden panel. He mouthed something, but the
door was too thick for her to hear what he said, and the spy hole
was just too small to be able to read his lips.

He stood there for a moment more, with a lost look on his
face, before a sudden grin lit it up once more, he turned on his
heel and marched away – with a determined stride and a confident
set to his shoulders, that for some reason excited Sadie
immensely.

She went to bed, and fell asleep almost as soon as her head
touched the pillow. A deep dreamless sleep that, even though it was
only for a couple of hours, it left her feeling refreshed and
energised; and more alive than she had felt for years.

*

Nick arrived back at his home on the Thursday teatime and felt
a jolt of disappointment when he found the driveway next door
empty.

He had hoped to see Sadie’s car parked outside next door’s
house, and had already settled in his mind his reason for ‘popping
round’ – just to see how she was coping, and yes he would love to
stay for a drink, and maybe they could share a takeaway, and spend
the evening together, with little Pete as a sort of
chaperone…

Now none of that could happen – because she wasn’t
there!

He felt a knot of annoyance tighten his gut, and grunted with
frustration that he didn’t even know where Sadie lived.

She was his employee, her address would be on file at the
office; he had every right to go and look it up.

“
Fool!” he snapped impatiently, “Always trying to run before
you can walk!”

He took a couple of deep breaths as he entered his home.
‘After everything that she had been through, she would not want him
to go and rush her into another relationship.’

He would need to take things slow and steady, give her time to
get to know him – and never mind the fact that he had been her boss
for the past year, he wanted her to know him – the man… he wanted
her to love him – the way that he had once thought that she
would.

When she had looked across that crowed club and seen him for
the first time. Her face had lit up; she had smiled at him almost
as if to say,
‘I know you!’

He wanted her to look at him like that again.

**

“
Yes, Nancy; Pete is fine – I’m just not sure how well he’ll
settle at my place,” Sadie was telling her sister.

“
But, Sadie; he’s got to fit in with you. We hoped that you
having him, would be as problem free as possible…” Nancy
fretted.

“
And he has been, honestly, Nance’, little Pete has been fun,
and as good as gold, but I’m wondering if keeping him in own bed –
would just be easier for him in the long run?”

Nancy sighed down the phone. “Well I don’t know, Sadie, but I
will let you make the final decision, if you want to move across to
our house – if you think that would be best, well then you do that…
I’m just sorry for the disruption to you is all!”

“
It’s no trouble… honest, I don’t mind, and it’s just as easy
to get Pete to day-care from your house, as it is from
mine.”

Pete was sitting on her living room floor, and scribbling on
some paper with some coloured pencils.

“
Hey, Pete,” Sadie said brightly, “Why don’t you come and say
hiya to mummy?”

His little face lit up with excitement, as he clambered up
onto Sadie’s lap, and grabbed the phone from her.

“
Mummy, mummy,” he chirped, “Aun’y Sissy, tuck me to deycarre
t’day, an’ she fetched me tooooo!”

He sat listening for a moment and then glanced across at Sadie
uncertainly. “Gud buoy?” he asked.

Sadie smiled as she mussed his hair affectionately. “Yes,
you’ve been a
very
good boy!”

His little face split into a wide grin, “Yus! Been Berry
gud!”

**

“
So what da ya say, little man?” Sadie asked brightly, “Your
house – or my house?”

Pete had just said good night to his mummy, and was looking a
little forlorn.

He gave Sadie a seriously, thoughtful look for a moment, which
belied his tender years; and then patted her arm reassuringly. “Miy
hhuse!”

Sadie grinned back at him as she hugged him tight. “Right you
are; your house and your bed – it is!”

And she wouldn’t even admit it to herself; why that pleased
her so much.

**

Nick had just stepped out of the shower, when he heard the car
pull into next door’s drive way.

He didn’t even have to look out of the window to know that
that was Sadie’s car.

His heartbeat told him that it was her, as it missed a beat
then doubled its rhythm as if to make up for that
omission.

He dried off quickly and pulled on black jeans and a pale blue
sweater, wanting to feel comfortable this evening.

He wanted to dash over there, but deliberately slowed himself
down.

“
Let her get in there first!” he muttered to himself, “Let her
sort herself out, and little Pete – don’t stress her out, by being
impatient.”

Sadie had pulled into the driveway and took in a couple of
bags, and switched off the alarm quickly – before running back out
to collect little Pete.” She could not stop herself from glancing
across to Nick’s house, but it was still quite light and so there
were no lights on anywhere to say whether or not he was
home.