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“I’m looking forward to our date tomorrow night.” His voice was heavy with meaning.

Davina repressed the urge to shudder. Yucky, yucky, sleazy, nasty... she was running out of adjectives.

“Well, I’m looking forward to getting this movie made,” she said instead.

And as if by magic, the lights flickered back on.

“Okay, people,” she said. “Let’s try this again.”

Jack picked up his new chainsaw and sauntered to the dead magnolia tree. The day was going better than he’d planned. He was driving Davina crazy and it felt great. He looked up at the old tree. Its branches reached right over the driveway. When he was a kid the fallen blossoms would cover the path completely. He still remembered driving on the pink carpet up to the house with the castle-like turret. His sisters had said it like it was a fairy tale and he’d scoffed at them, but inside, he couldn’t have agreed more. It was a pity the tree was gone, but at least today it would serve some purpose again.

Jack looked down at his brand new chainsaw with pride. He hadn’t used one before, but he figured it wasn’t brain surgery. He started the motor, pointed at the trunk and set about bringing the old tree down.

“What the heck is that?”

The scene stopped dead. Everyone turned towards the front of the house where the noise was most deafening.

“Jack,” Davina said as her fists clenched automatically.

“Do something about him,” Derek said as though he was in charge. “This is killing our sound.”

“No kidding,” Davina told him. “Don’t worry. I’ll sort this out.” Once and for all, she thought.

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret later,” Marianne told her.

“I’ve done nothing but regret things since I met that man.”

“I think I should come with you,” Marianne said.

“No,” Davina said grimly. “He’s my problem.”

She couldn’t help but think that Marianne looked a little relieved.

As Davina stepped out the front door, the engine noise stopped. Jack was standing proudly beside a dead tree – chainsaw in hand. It took Davina a minute to realise fully what the idiot was doing. He lifted the chainsaw and aimed at the tree.

“NO!” Davina screamed, but it was too late.

She would have run at him, but she was rooted to the spot in horror. It was like watching a train crash. In slow motion.

“Timber,” Jack shouted cheerily.

There was an uneasy creaking noise, a sharp snap and the old magnolia tree swayed slowly before toppling over. Davina felt the blood drain from her face as the tree fell. Directly beneath it was her car. Her baby. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Jack was really pleased with himself. His first tree felling and it’d gone like a dream. Heck, he even got to shout ‘timber’ – what more could a man want? He glanced at Davina as the tree swayed in front of him. He’d expected to see anger and frustration on her face. Instead, she looked horrified. And she wasn’t looking at him either. As the tree began to fall, he followed Davina’s gaze and everything within him stilled. He’d forgotten to check the spot where the tree would land.

Oh, crap. He was dead this time.

There was a creak, some swishing and then an almighty crash. He winced. Davina went grey. Jack closed his eyes briefly. But when he opened them he could still see the horror.

The magnolia tree had fallen on top of Davina’s pink marshmallow car. It had crushed it like an empty drink can. There was bonnet. There was boot. And in between there was pretty much only tree. Unlike other guys on the force, Jack always knew when to run. Sometimes there were situations that you just couldn’t handle – even armed with a badge and a uniform. And in this case, he had neither. Slowly, so as not to alert her to his actions, he placed the chainsaw on the ground and turned toward his car. He felt in his pocket for his keys only to remember that they were sitting with his jacket on the veranda. His heart sank. He eyed the house. If he was lucky, her shock wouldn’t wear off until he

had his keys in his hand and had safely driven away. He inched towards the veranda, pretending he was invisible as he walked.

“Don’t. Move. Another. Inch.”

Damn. He scrunched his eyes shut before peeking over his shoulder. He was just in time to see a furious Davina storming towards him. Jack wondered if it was too late to break into a sprint.

Davina was beyond words. She’d always thought the phrase ‘seeing red’ was a cliche – until now. Now she realised that you actually could see red. Maybe it was due to the blood vessels in her eyes popping from tension? Who knew? There was only one way to fix things. Only one way to relieve the tension. And that was to release it at the source.