Catherine Miller - Waiting For You

Leon took his hands off the car and pressed them on his skull. His breathing was steadier but he still looked scared, like the thoughts were haunting him. ‘I got woken up by the fire alarm in the middle of the night. Fortunately the fire didn’t really take hold so I managed to put it out myself. Didn’t get to see the worst of the damage, though, and I’ve been sleeping on my mate Greg’s sofa ever since. I just keep thinking about how much worse it could have been. I was lucky.’

‘No wonder you haven’t been sleeping.’ Fliss realised she was still rubbing his back. ‘Would it help if I went in first? I could take some pictures on my phone. Then you could see the damage without having to go in.’

‘Thank you.’ Leon took a deep breath. ‘But I think I need to go in to stop myself from imagining it’s worse than it is. This sounds a bit silly, but do you mind holding my hand while we go in? I used to get panic attacks when I was a kid. I haven’t had one for nearly twenty years, but I got pretty close then. If I squeeze your hand it means I want to head out.’

Fliss offered her hand without question. Leon was all muscle, but beyond the tough exterior he was as scared as anyone would be in that situation. She definitely wouldn’t want to rush returning to her house under the same circumstances.

‘Have the police found out who did it?’ It was horrible to think this was an intentional act. Leon didn’t strike her as the kind of person who would be in the type of circles where this might happen.

They walked towards the building, Leon tense, but his grip steady. ‘They’re still working on it. They think it might be linked to a spate of recent arson attacks, although so far they’ve only been on commercial properties. Apparently it would have been a lot worse if they’d used an accelerant. At least my fire alarm was working. I hate to think what might have happened otherwise.’

‘Don’t dwell on thoughts like that. We just need to go and assess the damage that’s there. No thoughts about how much worse it could have been.’ Fliss squeezed his hand as they went into the building.

‘It’s supposed to be me squeezing your hand.’ Leon summoned the lift and, once they were inside, pressed the button for the top floor.

‘Just wanted to let you know I’m here.’ Fliss didn’t have to do this, but within a very short time she felt like she’d formed a bond with Leon. If he was going to be there for her fertility woes, she was going to help him get through this moment.

The lift arrived at the top floor and Leon led the way towards his flat. As soon as he opened the door the amount of damage was evident. The whole entrance was black from floor to ceiling from smoke damage. The remains of a doormat were melted and moulded into the blistered laminate floor. Leon gave it a kick to try and move it, but it was well and truly stuck.

‘Is it better or worse than you expected?’ Fliss was shocked at the damage having never seen the after-effects of a fire close up.

Leon let go of her hand and put his to the floor with a splosh. Clearly still wet from putting the fire out. ‘It’s a mess, but I was expecting it to be awful. It’s all fairly localised like the fire officer told me. The smoke damage didn’t even reach the other end of the hallway. I think I’ve just amplified the event in my head,’ he said, without looking at her.

‘I think it would have been scary whatever size the fire was.’

Leon reached his full height again and wiped his wet hand against his jeans. They moved along the hallway with Leon checking each room as they passed. Fortunately it seemed all the doors had been closed and, as they were fire retardant, the damage had only reached the outside. ‘So do you think you’ll be able to help out? I know it’s probably not your usual kind of work project.’

They reached the end of the hall where the walls appeared to be the same colour they originally were. The standard magnolia Fliss imagined every flat had been covered with when they were built. Leon opened the door to a thankfully unaffected open-plan kitchen and lounge.

‘Of course I’ll help. I’ll need to do a bit of research, but it doesn’t seem too big a job.’

‘I’ll make us coffee. Then I might have to go round sniffing my furniture to see if it stinks as badly as the hallway does.’ Having faced the concern of seeing the place, it was good to see Leon appeared calmer now they were in the flat.

Fliss went over and sniffed the sofa for him. ‘Seems okay.’ She sent him a cheery smile, trying to provide some reassurance. ‘Nothing a bit of Febreze won’t fix.’

‘Take a seat in that case and tell me if you think there’s any chance you can rescue my hallway. My decorating skills are rubbish, which is why I got somewhere that didn’t need me to do anything. Until now, that is.’

Leon came over with their mugs and placed them on the coffee table. Fliss noticed the flat didn’t give much away about him. Everything was how she imagined it would have looked in the sales catalogue.

‘Do they think they’ll catch someone?’ It would make Fliss feel safer working here if they did.

‘They’re checking all the local CCTV footage in the hope of seeing something. If it’s a serial offender, hopefully they’ll get caught soon, but I wouldn’t want this happening to anyone else.’ Leon sat so close to her they were touching.

‘Do you think they’ll come back?’ Fliss was rather glad they’d not purchased a place here or she’d be worried sick. Even being half an hour down the road, the thought of someone going round and setting properties alight in search of some kind of sick high was upsetting.

‘No. The fire people said it was a random attack. I just got unlucky.’

Fliss picked up her mug, aware of how close Leon was. ‘Are you going to stay here tonight?’ The front door wasn’t damaged enough to stop it functioning. With a bit of tidying he could stay if he wanted to.

Leon flicked his long dark hair back and his piercing hazel eyes looked straight at her. He was hard to read. He was six foot plus of solid man, but something told her anyone faced with a fire in their own home would have been scared shitless by the event. ‘Not yet. My mate Greg has said I can stay with him as long as I need to. I’m going to wait until the hallway is redecorated before I consider coming back. I keep getting flashbacks. That’s why I don’t want to stay here at the moment. It’s only because it’s so fresh in my memory. They won’t come back, but it would be a great help if, when I come into the flat, I’m not instantly reminded of what’s happened. Do you reckon you’ll be able to do the work?’

It wasn’t a massive job other than the technicalities of getting rid of the smoke damage. It would neatly fill the delay on her next project as long as Leon didn’t mind her fitting it in on the days she was free. ‘The building work at Westbrook mansion has delayed my start there, so I’m free until that’s finished. I might have to shuffle things about if they want me to start, if you don’t mind that.’

‘So you can start straightaway?’

‘Pretty much.’

‘Fantastic. Let me know how much it’ll be when you’ve decided on what can be done out there and we can start sorting that mess out.’

After finishing their coffees, Fliss inspected the hall with more scrutiny while Leon checked his office. For now she would concentrate on striping back the damage, once that was sorted she would think about how to make the interior reflect Leon’s personality. There was more to him than what she’d discovered so far and she was going to enjoy learning more about him.

Chapter Eight

Mummyto3boys:Have you done any video diaries yet? I’ve done one and I felt like a right pleb. Six-thirty in the morning and I decided there was no way I was doing it without make-up on. Mark thought his luck was in when he saw me glamming up that early in the morning.