Festive Fling with the Single Dad
He nodded, unlacing her other boot. Running his fingers around her heel to satisfy himself that there were no blisters, he held the other sock out and she slid her foot into it. She reached for her boot, and he gave her a sudden smile.
‘Let me do it. You need to lace them a bit tighter.’
Flora gave in to the inevitable. ‘Rookie mistake?’
‘Yes.’ His habitual honesty wasn’t making her feel any better.
‘You might mention that it can happen to anyone. With new boots.’ The boots weren’t exactly new, but they hadn’t been used much.
‘It can happen to anyone. I let water get into one of my boots once, and lost the tips of two toes to frostbite.’
‘Hmm. Careless.’
He looked up at her, smiling suddenly. ‘Yes, it was. Looking at the way your teammates are walking comes as second nature because your feet are the only things you have to carry you home.’
They weren’t exactly in the middle of nowhere. One of the roads through the estate was over to their right, and Flora had her phone in her pocket, so she could always call a taxi. But as Aksel got to his feet, holding out his hand to help her up, that seemed about as impossible as if they’d been at the South Pole.
She took a couple of steps. ‘That’s much more comfortable.’
‘Good. Let me know if they start to hurt again, I have more plasters.’
Of course he did. If there was a next time, she’d make him hand over the plasters and lace her boots herself. She’d show him that she could walk just as far as he could. Or at least to the top of the hill and back down again.
As the ground began to rise, Flora’s determination was tested again. She put her head down, concentrating on just taking one step after another. The incline on the far side of the hill hadn’t looked that punishing, but it was a different matter when you were walking up it.
Aksel stopped a few times, holding out his hand towards her, and she ignored him. She could do this herself. It was beginning to get really dark now, and snow started to sting her face. This was not a pleasant Sunday afternoon stroll.
Finally they made it to the top and Aksel stopped, looking around at the looming shapes of the stones. Flora would have let out a cheer if she’d had the breath to do it.
‘Perhaps we should take a rest now. Before we go back down.’
Yes! It was cold up here, but there must be some place where the stones would shelter them. Flora’s legs were shaking and she suddenly felt that she couldn’t take another step. She followed him over to where a tree had grown up amongst the stones, its trunk almost a part of them, and sat down on a rock, worn smooth and flat from its exposed location. Heaven. Only heaven wasn’t quite so cold.
‘I won’t be a minute. Stay there.’
She nodded. Wild horses couldn’t get her to move now. Aksel strode away, the beam of his torch moving to and fro among the stones. He seemed to be looking for something. Flora bent over, putting her hands up to her ears to warm them.
When he returned he was carrying an armful of dry sticks and moss. Putting them down in front of her, he started to arrange them carefully in two piles.
‘What are you going to do now? Rub two sticks together to make a fire?’ Actually, a fire seemed like a very good idea. It was sheltered enough here from the snow, which was blowing almost horizontally now.
‘I could do, if you want. But this is easier.’ He produced a battered tin from his pocket, opening it and taking out a flint and steel. Expertly striking the flint along the length of the steel, a spark flashed, lighting the pile of tinder that he’d made. He carefully transferred the embers to the nest of branches, and flames sprang up.
This was definitely a good idea. Flora held her hands out towards the fire, feeling it begin to warm her face as Aksel fuelled it with some of the branches he’d set to one side. She felt herself beginning to smile, despite all he’d put her through.
‘This is nice.’ When he sat down next to her she gave him a smile.
‘Better than your fire at home?’ His tone suggested that he thought she’d probably say no.
‘Yes. In a strange kind of way.’ Flora was beginning to see how this appealed to Aksel. They’d only travelled a short way, but even though she could still see the lights of the village below her, she felt as if she was looking down from an entirely different planet. The effort of getting here had stripped everything away, and she felt unencumbered. Free, even.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
AKSEL HAD PUSHED her hard, setting a pace that would stretch even an experienced walker. He’d wanted her exhausted, unable to sustain the smiles and the kindnesses that she hid behind and defended herself with. But Flora was a lot tougher than he’d calculated. She’d brushed away all his attempts to help her, and kept going until th
ey’d got to the top of the hill.
But her smile was different now. As she warmed herself in front of the fire, Aksel could see her fatigue, and the quiet triumph in meeting the challenge and getting here. He’d found the real Flora, and he wasn’t going to let her go if he could help it.