nbsp; Drew picked up the pieces of the prototype that Caro had been printing on the 3D printer, and which lay on her desk. He couldn’t see how they fitted together, but there were notes and diagrams. He sat down, placing the pieces in order, and began to fathom how it would all work. He started to clip them together, and suddenly saw the concept clearly. It was simple but ingenious.
‘What are you doing?’ He hadn’t heard Caro come in and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway of the workshop. Her face was like thunder, and he wondered what could have happened to make her so cross.
‘I’m just taking a look at this. It’s amazing...’
His words seemed to make her even crosser. ‘Well, don’t. You signed an agreement, remember?’
Okay. He remembered. But he still couldn’t see why Caro was so angry. He put the pieces of the prototype back down on her desk.
‘You do remember, don’t you?’ She wasn’t going to let this go. ‘Because I have a copy...’
‘I remember. I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries.’ Drew got to his feet. Annoyance was beginning to tug at him, but he didn’t want to argue with her. Arguing never did any good.
‘Any boundaries? You know just what the boundaries are, Drew. I told you that my work was separate from everything else and you said that was okay.’ She seemed close to tears. ‘You don’t look at my work. It’s mine, and I’ll let you have the finished product when it’s ready.’
‘I’m trying to help, Caro. You asked for my help, remember?’ He couldn’t let this go.
‘Yes, I asked you to help. I didn’t ask you to go behind my back.’
Phoenix was sitting between them, looking back and forth, as if she knew that something bad was happening. Drew knew that something bad was happening, but he just couldn’t work out what it was. Caro seemed to have changed so suddenly.
‘All right. I’m not going to engage with this, Caro. We’re both tired, and we probably need some space.’ Drew wasn’t sure that space was going to make any difference. But at least it ruled out any more conflict.
‘I don’t need any space, Drew. I just need you to understand.’
‘Okay. Well, I’ll go away and think about it. Maybe you should think about whether this reaction of yours isn’t just a little bit paranoid.’
He turned, wondering if she might protest. All he heard was silence. He knew all about those silences, too. His parents had kept them up for days...
Drew grabbed his stick and called Phoenix, who bounded up to him as if she too wanted to get away from this. Clipping her lead onto her collar, he put on his jacket and walked out of the house without looking back.
This had been his mistake. He’d fallen for Caro, knowing that she was different from him. Knowing how committed she was to her work and knowing he couldn’t change her. He should also have known that it was only a matter of time before the differences started to chafe, and the inevitable niggles turned into arguments.
Phoenix started to whine, pulling at the lead and pawing at the front door. ‘No, Phoenix. We’re not going back.’
The puppy gazed up at him. Phoenix didn’t know about the bitterness of being let down, she was all trust.
The thing that had been niggling at the back of his mind suddenly became clear. He didn’t understand, and he’d given Caro no chance to explain.
‘Did it look as if she was about to explain, Phoenix?’ He bent down stroking the puppy’s head and she nuzzled against his hand. It was probably asking a bit much of a puppy to mediate between two grown people.
He could do better than this, though. He didn’t need to walk away, maintaining the silence the way his parents had. If Caro was angry then she must have a reason, and he wanted to know what that was. Understand a little maybe.
He lifted the latch, pushing the front door with his finger. Caro clearly hadn’t locked it behind him, and when the door drifted open a little he could hear the muffled sounds of her crying. That left him no choice. He had to go back and make things right. Even if he had to battle with Caro to do so.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IT HAD BEEN a surprise to see Drew sitting at her desk, handling her inventions. She’d reacted when she should have stopped and thought. But Drew was the one person that she’d thought would never betray her, and it had felt as if the bottom of her world had just fallen out.
It was too late now. Maybe he had intended to read through her notes behind her back for some reason. That wasn’t the most likely evaluation of the situation. They’d shared so much already, and she’d never explained why sharing her work was such a touchy subject for her.
She’d messed up. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t be coming back now.
‘Caro...’
She almost jumped out of her skin. So much for Drew having any sense.
‘I’m really sorry, Drew. You were right to go, and you should...just keep walking.’