Fixed Up by Maddie Jane Read Free Book Online Page B

newspaper every time he turned a page, and his large brown boots poked out into the room. Did he really have to keep crossing and uncrossing his legs like that? Couldn’t the dratted man sit still for a single second?
    Focus. She needed to retain focus. It was no different to any other situation in which her work might be observed. If anything, it would make her session better, as her nerves racked up a notch and adrenaline kicked in. She worked best under pressure.
    â€˜Today’s session will partly involve you telling me a little about yourselves and your current projects,’ she said to the class. ‘That way we can establish what direction you want to take this week and if there’s anything in particular you want to learn.’
    â€˜Everything,’ said Shelia, eliciting a giggle from the class. ‘I know nothing.’
    â€˜Hmm,’ said Harper. ‘Let’s talk about the reasons you all have for not doing any DIY in the past. Is it lack of skills? Lack of time?’ Or because you have a son who does everything for you? She looked at the faces before her.
    Slowly someone raised her hand.
    â€˜Shoot,’ said Harper. ‘We’re all friends here.’
    â€˜I’ve always been too afraid of doing a bad job,’ the woman said. ‘Or making things worse than they already are.’
    â€˜That’s a common reason,’ said Harper. ‘And the purpose of this class is to learn new skills, practise in a safe and sympathetic environment until you feel confident enough to try them at home and show your friends and family. It doesn’t matter here if you stuff up. Everyone can make mistakes and not be judged.’
    Except me, she thought irrationally. I know I’m being judged by Mr I-Run-My-Own-Construction-Company up the back of the room.
    And the thought made her two parts crazy. She’d show him.
    Harper handed out a list of topics she planned to cover in the class, then opened the floor for discussion. Wallpaper, furniture makeover and constructing a garden seat seemed to be key areas of interest and she mentally filed the information away.
    â€˜Right,’ she said, her neck stiff from her determination to not turn her head in Luke’s direction. ‘To start with we are going to have a quick discussion about colour. Who’s seen a colour wheel before?’
    ***
    Luke gave the newspaper another shake. He’d stared at the page for ages, but still didn’t know what the prime minister had said about the coming election, hadn’t managed to grasp why the teacher’s union had rejected the latest education policy initiatives, nor understood why farmers were concerned about another mid-summer drought.
    He considered himself a well-informed citizen most days, but today he didn’t much care who’d done what or what they’d said about it. Not while Harper’s voice had him utterly transfixed. He couldn’t see her, tucked away behind the newspaper as he was. Not that it mattered. In his mind’s eye he saw her petite form in tight, faded jeans and flat, tan boots. A clean shirt, tucked in and belted with a leather belt. He could imagine her moving around the classroom, her hips swaying with every step. Her face would be animated, her facial expressions revealing as she spoke to the women in her low, throaty voice.
    He gave up on the newspaper, closed his eyes and just listened. It didn’t matter what she said. She could be reciting the world’s most boring instruction manual. Her voice had a rhythm, a cadence about it that made him tune out to everything but the sound of her. He imagined her leaning towards him, her lips pursed close, the caress of her breath on his ear as she whispered her words only to him.
    He ached to touch her and he gripped the newspaper so hard his thumb ripped through the newsprint, the tearing noise dragging him back to reality. He peeked round the edge of the paper.
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