His expression was wry, and she could guess what he was thinking. She’d already burned her boats on that one.
She started to move away from the table and his glance slid down to her bare feet, lingering there as though he’d only just noticed her toenails were painted a shimmering, luscious pink. He seemed intrigued, curious even, and he certainly didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave, leading her to wonder uncomfortably if she ought to offer him coffee. It would be the neighbourly thing to do, wouldn’t it?
‘Um...can I offer you—?’ She broke off as Boomer, abandoning his knotted pull toy, bounded up to her once more and joyfully nudged her hip, tipping her off balance.
Reacting swiftly, Tyler put out his arms to steady her. ‘You were saying...?’
‘Oh, yes...um...’ It was totally distracting, having him stand so close to her, and for some reason it took a real effort to unscramble her brain. His hands lightly circled her arms, sending small eddies of warmth throughout her body. While he was holding her like this she simply couldn’t think straight.
‘Coffee,’ she said at last. ‘I was going to offer you coffee.’
‘Thanks, I’d like that.’ He released her and she let out a long, silent breath of relief. ‘You can perhaps fill me in on one or two things,’ he added, ‘like what’s happening with your brother and his wife.’
She nodded, but a quiver of anguish rippled through her. That wasn’t going to be easy to recount, was it, with Sam and Megan both in hospital and neither of them likely to recover very soon? As their landlord, she supposed he had a right to know, but it was hard for her to talk about it. Coming out of the blue on a busy road, the accident had shocked all of them.
Boomer followed them into the kitchen, still nudging her gently, as though anxious that she should head in the right direction, and it dawned on her that he must be eager for his breakfast. ‘Okay, Boomer,’ she told him. ‘I’ll feed you. Just give me a minute.’
Caitlin had finally put in an appearance and was sitting at the round table in one corner of the room, her mid-brown hair falling across her cheek like a curtain as she hunched over her mobile phone. ‘He’s used to being fed at eight o’clock,’ the teenager remarked, a faint note of censure in her voice as Saskia emptied kibble into Boomer’s food bowl. The girl tossed her hair out of the way with a shake of her head. ‘You were late with his meals yesterday as well, and the day before that.’
‘Well, we’ve had a lot going on over the last few days,’ Saskia defended herself, uneasily conscious of Tyler showing an interest in the conversation. ‘I’ll be much more organised once I get the hang of things.’
‘Yeah, right. It’ll probably be better if I take over feeding him.’ Caitlin sighed and pushed a half-eaten bowl of dry cereal towards Saskia. ‘I can’t eat that. Mum always buys the proper branded version.’ She pressed her lips into a flat, disgruntled line. ‘And Charlie’s finished off all the milk again.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Saskia frowned. As well as being upset about what had happened to her parents, Caitlin, at fourteen, was going through a definite grumpy phase.
Tyler intervened. ‘Don’t worry about coffee. It doesn’t matter.’
She shook her head. ‘I have some sachets somewhere. We even have a choice—latte or cappuccino. I think you’ll like them.’ Her gaze travelled around the room, searching for the box where they were packed, and after a moment or two she realised that he was looking with her.
‘There are quite a few boxes to choose from, aren’t there?’ His gaze settled on a collection of crockery and cookery books that were spread out over the worktop and slowly his eyes half closed as he though he was trying to shut out this alien world he’d stumbled into.
‘No, it’s okay, they’re in the cupboard,’ Saskia said in triumph. ‘I remember I put them where they would be near to the kettle. Yay!’ She hurried forward to retrieve them at the same time that Boomer came and dropped his ball in front of her and then gazed at her in panting anticipation.
‘Ow, ow, ow...’ She yelped in pain as she stepped on one of his plastic chew toys and began to hop around the tiled floor, clutching her foot.
‘What’s wrong?’ Caitlin asked, getting up from her seat to come and look. Then, ‘Oh...that’s blood,’ she said in an anxious voice. ‘You’re bleeding, Sass.’ She inspected the hard nylon, bone-shaped toy. ‘It’s really rough around the edges where he’s been having a go at it. Are you going to be all right?’
Saskia pulled in a deep breath. ‘Of course I am.’ She stopped hopping and gingerly put her foot to the floor. ‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.’ The last thing she needed was for the children to be concerned about her. They had enough on their plates right now. Instead, she flicked the switch on the kettle and tried to ignore the stinging in her foot, busying herself adding coffee powder to a couple of mugs.
‘I don’t suppose you have a first-aid kit to hand, do you?’ Tyler asked, and Saskia thought about it then shook her head.
‘I recall seeing it somewhere.’ She frowned.
‘I’ll go and fetch mine.’
‘There’s no need, really. I’ll be fine.’
He gave her an assessing look. ‘You won’t be if you go on the way you’re doing now. Sit down and stop spreading blood over the floor. You don’t want to get an infection, do you?’
‘N-no, of course not.’
‘Good. Then sit down and wait there until I get back.’
After he’d gone, Caitlin finished making the coffees and then studied the chew toy once more. ‘I’m going to put this in the bin,’ she said. ‘Maybe Boomer should go out in the garden and get some fresh air. He has way too much energy.’
‘That’s a good idea. Perhaps Charlie would like to play with him out there? Anyway, he and Becky need to go and feed their rabbit.’
‘Yeah, I’ll tell them as soon as I’ve cleaned up the floor.’
Saskia smiled at her. ‘Thanks, Caitlin. You’re a treasure.’
Tyler was back within a couple of minutes. Noticing that Boomer was nowhere to be seen, he glanced out of the kitchen window and saw that the dog was racing around outside, having a whale of a time with the two younger children.
Hearing their laughter, Saskia guessed Becky must have forgiven Boomer for his earlier misdemeanour.
Tyler placed a fresh carton of milk in the fridge and then set out a fully equipped medical pack on the kitchen table.
‘I guess that’s the flower border done for,’ he murmured on a rueful note, glancing out of the window once more as he went over to the sink and poured warm water into a bowl.
‘I’m really sorry about all this,’ Saskia said. She waved a hand towards his coffee mug. ‘Please, help yourself.’ Perhaps a reviving drink would help him to feel better.
‘Thanks.’ He went on setting out his equipment.
Saskia bit her lip. ‘Maybe I could put some sort of decorative fencing up to keep him
