Beneath the Moon and the Stars (26 page)

*

Joy sat on the swing chair, sipping some orange juice and watching a squirrel eating a cracker as it sat on the dividing fence between her and Finn’s gardens.

She looked towards the shed, where her chainsaws lay unused and lonely. It had been days since she had carved and her fingers were getting itchy because of it. She still had one more local job to do, courtesy of National Heritage who had hired her to do the three strikes in the woods that stretched alongside all the local villages.

Although the press had not been interested in the new sign that had adorned the entrance to the village, the villagers themselves had apparently been full of excitement at the prospect of The Dark Shadow living amongst them. Mark Duggan, the supposed Dark Shadow, had reportedly had cakes, pies and casseroles made for him. Casey had said that Mark had been invited to barbeques, dinner, to go hunting, he hadn’t paid for a drink in The Pride in the last week. He was thrilled because before he was unveiled as The Dark Shadow, the villagers had ignored him completely, treating him with the same contempt as all newcomers. Well not all newcomers, Joy was sure Mark hadn’t had eggs thrown at him and dog shit posted through his letterbox on a daily basis. He had even been asked to do a carving at the Friendliest Village fete at the end of the month. He of course denied any knowledge of chainsaws and carving, but the villagers had all just smiled knowingly at him.

Whilst the attention was on him, it might be easy to slip out and do the last strike, but the threat of getting found out was not a pleasant one. She had other jobs to do, further away. She could do those and do the final local job in a few weeks’ time.

She diverted her attention back to Finn’s garden. She really needed to talk to him. Maybe they didn’t have a future together, if he couldn’t trust her then they definitely didn’t, but she didn’t want to go back to how they were before – bitching and sniping at each other over misplaced feelings.

Right on cue he stepped outside. He froze when he saw her, then he turned away and walked towards his shed.

‘Finn, wait.’ She ran through the connecting gate. ‘This is silly, you know I thought I was kissing you. I lay in bed with you yesterday morning kissing you, we had been dancing together mere moments before…’

He turned so quickly that she nearly ran into him. ‘I would have thought you would have been able to tell the difference between his kiss and mine.’

‘I did, that’s why I stopped, I realised it wasn’t you.’ She reached for him but he stepped away.

‘It took you long enough to come to that conclusion.’ He sighed. ‘Look, me and you being friends, or friends with benefits or whatever the fuck it was, it’s a really bad idea. Someone would get hurt. I clearly can’t do relationships, I’m rubbish at them. So let’s just say we gave it our best shot and leave it at that.’

‘Gave it our best shot? Are you kidding? You didn’t even give me a chance. If that’s your best shot then you have a hell of a lot to learn about relationships.’

He stormed away and slammed the shed door behind him.

That man. Why did he infuriate her so much and why did it hurt her so much too?

*

Finn was on his hands and knees weeding in the back garden, when he heard Joy’s back door open. Despite his best intentions, he peered through a tiny hole in the fence to look at her. She came out with Alex to stand on the decking. She passed Alex a beer and sighed. She looked so small and vulnerable then and Finn found, despite the betrayal, that the overwhelming need to hold her, to protect her was still there.

Alex, obviously very good at the big brother job, picked up on her mood immediately. Without even stopping to ask what was wrong, he immediately pulled her into a big bear hug, holding her tight. She stood limp in his arms for just a second, obviously trying to pretend nothing was wrong, before she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him.

Finn swallowed uncomfortably as he watched, angry that she could still have this effect on him. Alex held her for a while, then pulled her to sit in the swing chair next to him.

‘Come on Joy, tell me?’

‘I’ve missed you.’

‘Is that what this is about? Because that’s silly, you know you are welcome to come and stay any time you want. Hell you can come back and live with me if it’s not working out for you here, you know that.’

‘It’s just been a long week.’

‘Casey told me a bit about the wedding, sounds eventful. He also said that you and Finn were…’

‘There is no me and Finn, I guess that’s part of the problem.’

‘Casey said that Finn looked after you when you were sick, that you spent the night together before the wedding. That sounds like something to me.’

Finn watched her pick at a small scar on her knee – she looked so small, so forlorn.

‘He doesn’t want anything to do with me.’

‘Why not? You’re brilliant, funny, beautiful – the man must be stupid if he can’t see that.’

‘After I lay in bed with Finn and kissed him, I went to the wedding and kissed another man.’ Her voice was hollow as she spoke, though her eyes were filled with real pain.

Alex gasped whilst Finn blushed at the raw honesty that Joy and Alex had in their relationship.

‘Joy that’s not like you.’

‘I thought I was kissing Finn. Long story short, I got pushed into a chocolate fountain, got covered in chocolate and when my neighbour kissed me, the same neighbour that slept with Finn’s ex-wife two years ago, I thought it was Finn and kissed him back.’

Alex to his credit only blinked once at the chocolate fountain part, clearly this sort of thing happened to Joy all the time.

‘And now he’s angry? Idiot.’

‘God Al, he’s behaving like a child that’s been bitten by a dog. After what happened with his ex-wife, he’s too scared to go near women again, afraid that he’ll get hurt all over again.’

Alex picked at the label around his bottle. ‘You need to give him time. You don’t know what it’s like to have your heart broken. You’ve never been in love, not with Ed or Jake. But that moment when you realise the person you’re completely in love with doesn’t love you back, that feeling is unbearable.’

Finn watched as Joy sighed heavily. He tried to ignore the huge lump in his throat, the feeling of guilt, of needing to protect her, crashing through him like a tidal wave.

‘I’m falling for him,’ she said, quietly.

Alex leaned forward to study her face, his mouth dropped slightly. ‘Oh shit Joy, you’re not?’

‘I can’t help it, there’s something between us and it won’t go away. I’ve never felt this way before, with anyone. He’s all I can think about, his kiss, his touch, his unbelievable kindness. It’s driving me mad.’

Finn felt his heart crash into his stomach because he felt exactly the same

Alex stared at her for a moment. ‘Then he’s worth fighting for.’

Joy shook her head. ‘I’m not what he wants. He won’t fight for us and I can’t win this battle on my own.’

‘Then the man really is a bloody idiot.’

They sat in silence for a while as Finn stared at the woman he knew he was in love with. She was going to ruin him, she was going to break his heart into a million pieces but he couldn’t keep away from her either. Joy was right, there was something between them and sooner or later it was going to come to a head.

‘Look, change of subject before I’m forced to go round there and teach the man some manners.’

Finn saw Joy smile at this.

‘I got some legal advice about the shit that the villagers are putting you through. My solicitor said you’d have a very strong case for harassment. He gave me this, it’s basically a letter saying that you’re going to take them to court if they do not cease and desist all actions against you.’

‘I don’t know who to give this to, we still don’t know who it is that’s targeting me.’

‘Then you post it through every damn door in the village, with a big pile of dog shit too.’

Joy laughed and Finn hated that he wanted to do everything in his power to keep that smile on her face.

*

The sun was just beginning its descent into the hills, leaving behind trails of candy floss pink and tangerine in the pale blue sky. Joy had already loaded her car with her chainsaws and other power tools and was just wandering back to collect the little power generator when she noticed Darcy lying at the back of the garden.

She had to get her in; the job wasn’t a local one tonight and she would be gone for several hours. Fishing out one of the dog treats she habitually carried round in her pocket, she walked over to her.

‘Darcy!’ She changed her tone to one of excitement, expecting to get an enthusiastic tail wag, as was her usual response. Nothing. The great lump was probably very deeply asleep. She stroked her gently, waiting for her to stir, she didn’t want to scare Darcy out of her dreams. Still no response. Feeling cold prickle her skin, she scooted nearer to Darcy’s head and felt the bottom fall out of her world. Darcy’s eyes were open, but were misty, glazed over, unseeing, unknowing.

Chapter Fifteen

‘Shit, no, no, no, no. Darcy, please, wake up, look at me baby, I have your favourite treat here look.’ Joy waggled the treat under her nose, shaking her hard but there was still no response.

With her heart racing, she pressed her ear to Darcy’s mouth. The dog was still breathing, but it was erratic, faint, laboured.

Stumbling to her feet, Joy knew she had to get her to a vet. Finn would know the nearest one… God no, he wasn’t speaking to her. She didn’t have time for grovelled apologies and angry looks now. Zach would help.

She ran through the house, out the front and hammered on Zach’s door. But there was no answer. She looked round at the other nearby houses, but there was no one here that would help her.

Finn. He was her only answer now and if she had to get down on bended knee she would do it.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she banged on Finn’s door, as new tears coursed down her cheeks.

He opened the door and immediately stepped forward towards her. Was he still angry?

‘Finn, it’s Darcy…’

‘Where is she?’

‘In the garden… Please…’

He turned away from her and she was horrified that he wasn’t going to help her.

He glanced back as he strode purposefully away, in two quick strides he was back in front of her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the house towards the garden. Relief coursed through her as he dragged her through the connecting gate and looked around.

‘At the end,’ Joy managed weakly and Finn let go of her hand and hurried to Darcy’s side. Joy quickly followed him.

He peered in her eyes, listened to her breathing just as Joy had done, then prised her mouth open and reached inside to see if anything was stuck in her throat. Of course she could be choking. But Finn shook his head.

‘Get my keys; they’re in the bowl by the front door, open the truck.’

He stood and with a bit of effort he picked Darcy up, her great head lolling in his arms as he carried her. Joy sprinted back through Finn’s house, grabbed the keys and opened the back door of the truck for Finn as he struggled out with the huge dog in his arms. He laid Darcy down carefully, with such tenderness, then ran round to the driver’s side. Joy quickly closed the front doors to her and Finn’s houses as Finn fired the engine behind her.

A moment later, she leapt into the passenger seat and Finn took off up the road.

*

Joy shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun as it rose above the hills. Her eyes were raw from all the crying and she was beyond tired. Finn was silent next to her, as he drove her back towards the village, though he hadn’t said much for the last ten hours, since she had knocked on his door.

Rat poison? How on earth had Darcy eaten or come into contact with rat poison?

She turned round in her seat and watched Darcy lying in the back. Darcy eyed her sleepily, her expression almost sheepish, almost as if she was apologising for all the worry she’d put her through.

Finn had driven her to the emergency vet in the next town of Ashton Woods. The vet had examined Darcy and declared it was almost definitely rat poison and had kindly said she was unlikely to make it through the night. Joy hadn’t heard what he had said after that, about the medical procedures he would try to save her or how much it would cost, she had just nodded numbly.

Time had moved slowly in the waiting room and it seemed to Joy like she was in a bubble, unaware of anything that had been going on around her as she sat in the hard plastic chairs waiting for news. At one point, through the numbness, she had realised she was sitting on Finn’s lap, his arms round her as she sobbed against him. She had no recollection of how she had got there or how long she had spent on his lap, but she made no attempt to move and he did nothing to move her either.

A little after midnight the vet came out to say that Darcy was responding well to treatment, that she was conscious but not out of the woods yet. She remembered telling Finn to go home, that he didn’t need to wait with her, but he hadn’t moved.

It had been one of the longest nights of her life. Though at around four in the morning it was clear that Darcy was alive and kicking and Joy had been allowed to sit with her for a while as Darcy revelled in the attention that Joy lavished on her.

The vet had kept her in for another few hours before she had finally been discharged. The vet had been stunned by Darcy’s miraculous and quick recovery and said that it had probably helped that Darcy was so big, that a smaller dog would probably have died instantly and she probably had not ingested as much poison as originally thought.

Finn pulled up outside her house and Joy hopped down and opened the door for Darcy. She seemed a bit sleepy still, but managed to get out ok and ambled slowly up the path towards the front door. Joy let her in and followed Darcy down to the kitchen where she put down fresh water and food for her. Darcy drank greedily and had a few mouthfuls of food and then climbed onto the sofa and was snoring loudly a few moments later.

Joy watched her, smiling to herself.

‘You should try to get some sleep yourself,’ Finn said from behind her and she jolted slightly, not realising that he had followed her in.