Megan of Merseyside by Rosie Harris Read Free Book Online Page B

Miles came much sooner than Megan expected. When he came into the office on Monday morning to pick up some documents that he needed to take with him down to the docks, Mr Newbold sent him across to her desk for them.
    Finding Miles standing so close to her, Megan’s mind almost went blank. She didn’t even hear what he had asked for, not until he had repeated it a second time.
    ‘Yes, of course. They’re here, somewhere.’ In her confusion, she knocked over a pile of invoices and they scattered around his feet like falling leaves.
    Miles gathered them up and placed them back on her desk. Deftly, he sorted out the papers he needed and made to leave.
    Panic stricken because she hadn’t explained her reason for not going out with him, Megan grabbed at his arm. At that moment, Valerie Pearce walked into the general office.
    ‘Sorry! Have I taken the wrong ones?’ Miles leaned over the desk as though checking the papers he was holding against some of the others lying on Megan’s desk.
    ‘I’ll be in touch, so don’t try to say anything to me now,’ he warned in a low voice as he straightened up.
    ‘Is there a problem of some kind?’ Miss Pearce asked, bustling over and looking from one to the other with a puzzled frown.
    ‘Everything is in order now,’ Miles told her blandly. ‘Megan was trying to stop me from walking off with the wrong set of documents.’
    ‘I see. Are you quite sure it is all sorted out correctly now?’
    ‘Yes, thank you, Miss Pearce, I’ve got the right ones here.’ He waved the sheaf of papers, then left the office whistling.
    In the build-up to Christmas, Megan’s hopes that Miles would contact her as he had promised to do began to fade. He seemed to be coming into the office very early in the morning, before she started work.
    Several times she was tempted to leave a message in his tray, hidden among the bills of lading or custom documents. The only thing that stopped her doing so was that she was scared it might get into the wrong hands.
    It would be disastrous if Bob Donovan, the other shipping clerk, picked it up and read it. Or, even worse, what would happen if Mr Newbold or Miss Pearce came across it?
    If she hadn’t heard from Miles by the time they closed for the bank holiday, then perhaps she’d leave a Christmas card on his desk, she decided. Surely no one would think that there was anything wrong in her doing that?
    Her spirits sank when, on Christmas Eve, Miss Pearce announced they would be closing the office early, at one o’clock. She said that it was in order to give everyone the afternoon off so that they would have time to finish any last minute Christmas shopping.
    Despondently, Megan resigned herself to the fact that her last chance of seeing or hearing from Miles was gone. She didn’t even have the heart to take the risk of leaving a Christmas card on his desk for him.
    At midday, Mr Walker came into the general office to wish everyone a happy Christmas. With a stiff smile and a curt handshake, he presented each of them with a bottle of sherry.
    Megan found herself trembling as her turn came because Miles, looking suave and handsome, had joined his father. Simply knowing that he was in the same room made her pulse quicken.
    She tried to concentrate her attention on Mr Walker, and to smile and thank him properly for her present.
    When Miles also shook her hand she found herself blushing furiously. As their eyes met she felt transfixed by his blue gaze; so much so that she was unable to reply when he wished her a very happy Christmas.
    ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you in the New Year,’ he added quietly before he let go of her hand. He said it so softly that she wondered if she’d imagined it.
    His words floated inside her head, though, for the rest of the day. Although she knew she was probably making too much of it his words filled her with hope.
    She had been dreading Christmas, knowing it would be so very different from previous ones spent with friends