“It’s luminous pink, Jack. I don’t know how you couldn’t have seen it.”
His cheeks went red.
“I’m pretty sure the tree was supposed to fall the other way,” Jack told her.
“I loved that car.”
He grumbled something. It was clear that he still couldn’t see that he was the one at a disadvantage. Marianne came running out of the back door waving a camera. Her grin said it all. She ignored Jack’s curses and walked down the steps to find the best angle for the shot.
“Oh this is so good,” she said once the camera was filming.
“So.” Davina turned back to Jack. “About my car. First I want an apology and then I want to know how you’re going to fix it.”
His eyebrows went so far up his forehead it looked like they were trying to escape.
“Where’s that apology, Jack?” Davina said. “I don’t hear anything.” She turned to the grinning group. “Do you guys hear anything?”
There was a loud chorus of ‘no’.
“But it isn’t my fault,” Jack told them. “It was an accident.”
Davina shook the chair wildly.
“Okay, okay.” Jack held his hands up in protest. “I’m sorry about your car.”
“You’re sorry you dropped a tree on my car.”
He clenched his jaw.
“I’m sorry I dropped a tree on your car.”
Davina felt a little more relaxed.
“And you promise that you will have it fixed.”
“Come on, Davy, there’s a tree where the roof used to be!”
“And you promise...”
“Fine.” He looked skyward. “I will fix the car. But you have insurance, right?”
“No, Jack. I don’t have insurance.”
He waggled his feet in outrage. He looked like a very strange Punch puppet in a seaside show.
“How can you not have insurance? It’s illegal for a start.”
Davina shook the chair again.
“Cut that out,” he yelled. “I can’t feel my feet anymore.”
“I can’t afford insurance,” she told him. “So that means...” she prompted then waited for the penny to drop.
His shoulders slumped.
“That means I will pay for the repairs. Or to have it scrapped.” She reached for the chair. He held up his hands to stop her. “No scrapping. Only repairs.”
Davina smiled as the stress and tension ebbed from her. It was so much easier to deal with Jack when he was incapacitated.