It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries) (16 page)

I
slept pretty soundly that night. Whatever the hospital had given me for
painkillers was finally starting to work. My headache was easing to a dull
thud. I don’t remember a lot about what happened after I got home, but I woke
this morning and nearly stepped on Riley. He’d camped all night on my bedroom
floor.

Looking at my
clock I was shocked to see it was already nine thirty. It’s a wonder Cat hadn’t
been in here by now demanding breakfast. Riley woke as I was trying to step
over him.

“Hey, are you
okay?” he asked, his voice husky from sleep. His hair was all messed and he had
a serious five o’clock shadow happening. He looked totally edible. I sighed. Life
could be so unfair.

“Yep, just need
the little girls’ room.” I quickly turned my back on him and hurried from the
room. He may look edible but I’m almost positive I look anything but. Reaching
the bathroom, I looked in the mirror and stifled a scream. I looked horrific. Apart
from the usual bad hair and smudged make up, this morning I had a huge green
and black lump on my forehead, not far above my left eye. I really hope Riley
didn’t get too good a look at me. Looking down I also noticed I was in my
nightclothes of pajama pants and camisole - no bra. I really don’t remember
getting undressed and whether or not I had any help with it. God, I hope I
didn’t embarrass myself.

After having a
quick shower, I attempted to cover my bruise with make-up but I think I just
made it look worse, so I gave up and worked my way to the kitchen for a much
needed cup of caffeine. Riley was already there waiting for me, cup in hand. He
looked a bit dark around the eyes this morning, like he hadn’t got much sleep.

“Why did you
sleep on the floor?” I asked, taking the cup from him.

“The doctor
said you should be monitored for twelve hours so I didn’t think I should leave
you alone. You’ve been getting phone calls since about five this morning from
your family. I ended up turning the ringer down so it didn’t wake you.” He
looked at me, concern in his eyes. “I hope you don’t mind that I answered it,
but I thought they would probably be worried.”

“No, not at
all.” I looked down into my coffee. I didn’t know how to respond. I was so
touched that he cared enough to do that for me.

“I hope I
didn’t overstep any boundaries?” He sounded worried, bending to look into my
eyes.

“No, no. I’m
just touched you stayed with me all night and slept on the floor,” I said,
looking back up at him. “You could have slept on the bed next to me, I wouldn’t
have minded. I know the floor must have been bloody uncomfortable.” For some
reason I was feeling really shy.

“Are you
kidding me? The way you thrash around in your sleep, there was no way I was
getting anywhere near you,” he said, giving me the megawatt smile. I think he
was kidding. Just then the phone rang.

Riley picked it
up off the bench and looked at the display. “It’s Danny…again. He’s already
rung three times this morning. It’s a toss-up between him and your mum as to
who worries about you the most,” he said, handing me the phone.

“Yeah, he’s a
pretty sweet brother when he wants to be.” I took the phone and pressed answer.
“Hi, Danny.”

“Oh…finally! You’re
awake. Do you know how many times I’ve rung to see how your night went only to
find you were still asleep? I just hope you were in bed with Adonis,” Danny
yelled. I blushed. I looked up to see if Riley could hear Danny from where he
was standing and judging by the smile he had plastered on his face, I was
thinking, yes, he could hear quite adequately. Quickly walking into the
hallway, I lowered my voice and spoke back into the phone.

“Danny! I was
just telling Riley what a sweet brother you are being so worried about me, but
you’re just ringing for some juicy gossip! Well, I’m sorry to disappoint. Nothing
happened. Not that I can remember anyway,” I added.

“Yeah, but he
stayed with you, didn’t he? That means something you know.”

“Yeah, it just
means he’s a really sweet guy.”

“Are you kidding
me? No guy is that sweet unless he wants something. Where did he sleep then?”

“On the floor.”

“See. Only a
man with lust in his heart would sleep on your crappy hard floor to make sure
you were okay.”

I sighed. There
was no point arguing with Danny once he had his mind set. “Whatever. Are you
interested in how I am feeling?”

“Not really. You’re
obviously okay or you wouldn’t have answered your phone.” My headache was
returning. “But you’d better ring Mum. She’s been worried about you all night.”

“OK, I’ll
do that now. Bye Danny.”

“Bye, big sis. And
remember to phone me when you do have some gossip. I want to be the first to
know.” With that, he hung up.

I dialed Mum’s
number and Grandma Mabel answered.

“Hello, Fuller
residence. How may I help you?” Wow, Grandma was being formal this morning.

“Hi, Grandma. It’s
me, Lizzie.”

“Well, well,
well. How are you this morning, my girl?” she asked.

“Not too bad. What’s
with you, answering the phone all posh?”

“I’ve been
having etiquette lessons at the seniors club. I figure if I want Ben Willett to
ask me out I’d better get up to scratch. It’s been a while since I dated you
know. In fact, I think the last date I had was in 1947.”

I could hear
her swishing her teeth around, obviously remembering her last date. That was
enough information for me. I did not want or need to know any more.

“Can you let
Mum know I’m alive and well and there’s no need to keep ringing?”

“Okey Dokey. Over
and out.”

I think she
needed more lessons.

* * * *

The
rest of Thursday passed in a bit of a blur but on Friday, I woke up bouncy and as
good as new. Well, when I say I woke up bouncy, what I really mean is after I’d
had my shower and two cups of coffee, I felt bouncy. Work on the house was
progressing nicely with Riley working on my bathroom, so I thought I should
catch up on some work. By six o’clock that evening though, I’d had enough. I’d
spent the last two hours searching for two cents in a damn bank reconciliation
and when I finally found it, I realized it had been there in front of me all
along. I frustrated myself so much at times.

Closing my
laptop, I walked down the stairs to see how Riley had got on today. The sight
that greeted me as I stopped at my bathroom door created a fear in me I cannot
describe. As I bravely stood there, frozen to the spot, I looked at where my—admittedly
crappy—bath-slash-shower had sat…and all I saw was floorboards and
plumbing.

Riley was
walking up the stairs as I turned on my heel to stare at him.

“WTF!” I
yelled, hysteria bubbling just below the surface. “Where the hell is my bath?”
I asked, fairly close to hyperventilating.

“It’s gone to
the restorers. But don’t worry, I’ve sorted out the shower problem,” he said
with a smile. “Come with me.”

He turned and
walked down the stairs. I was dumbfounded. I had no idea how he was so calm. All
I could think of as I watched his back disappear was that he must have some
amazing shower down there waiting to be temporarily installed.
Okay, calm down and take some deep breaths,
Lizzie
.
This may not be as bad as you
imagined
.

Following him
through the house, I stepped out the back door—yes, that’s right –
the
back door
—and saw what
looked like a very small tent with no floor and no roof.

“What is that?”
I asked, warily. I think I knew the answer but I really hoped I was wrong.

“It’s a camping
shower. I’ve hooked up the water and a solar hot water heater so you can have a
hot shower,” Riley said, looking very pleased with himself.

Wow. My neighbors
were going to love this. “Riley, I don’t get it. Why is it there?” I looked at
him baffled. How could this ever be considered a good idea?

“What’s not to
get? You get undressed, walk inside and turn the water on and it’s there
because there is nowhere else to put it.”

“But what
happens when it’s windy? It looks like the thing will blow over. I don’t want
to give my neighbors a heart attack, they already don’t like me much.” I was
starting to feel a quite panicky. Riley honestly thought this was a good idea.

“It’s okay,
Lizzie. It’s safe. I’ve secured it really well. Your bath should be back in a
week and I promise I’ll get it fitted as quickly as possible.”

“Riley, I
really don’t know about this.” How was I going to get in this thing twice a
day? Sometimes I had my shower really late and there was no way I would come
outside to do that at night.

“How about you
have your shower a bit earlier and I’ll stay here until you’re finished,” said
Riley, reading my mind. “I’m usually here when you get up anyway, so the
morning won’t be a problem.”

This all seemed
so simple to him. I suppose men don’t stress about this kind of thing like
women do.

As I was
standing there contemplating Hell, I heard the front door open and Harper came
running through the house looking for me, closely followed by Molly. I hoped
Cat was hiding somewhere.

“What on earth
is that?” asked Molly, looking at my new bathroom.

“It’s my
shower,” I said quietly. Choosing to ignore her fit of giggles, I turned to
Riley.

“Anyway, how
come you’re still here?” I asked, my hysteria now turning to irritability. Today
was Friday and Riley usually had his date with his Gran.

“Gran has gone
into stay with Jared for a couple of days. Jared’s wife, Shelly, is due have
her baby any day now and she wanted Gran to be at the birth,” he said with a
shrug.

I thought about
this for a second and thought about Grandma Mabel being at the birth of one of
my children. I felt the shudder run all the way down to my toes.

Turning to
Riley, Molly said, “Well, you can join us for our Friday night get-together then.
Danny and Andrew will be here soon. It’ll be fun.”

Riley looked at
me, almost asking for permission.

“Yeah, it’ll be
great.” I wasn’t actually sure if it would be great. I had this really jealous
feeling when Molly was around Riley. Looking at her dressed in her low slung
jeans and fitted t-shirt, with not a smudge of make up out of place, I felt
totally inadequate. Maybe fixing myself up a bit would be a good idea.

“I might take
this thing for a test drive,” I said, taking a deep breath and looking at the
shower. I can do this, I thought as I walked upstairs to retrieve all the
necessities. I’m an intelligent, modern day woman, who can do anything she puts
her mind too.

By the time I
had got back down stairs, I still hadn’t quite convinced myself, though. Danny
and Drew greeted me as I walked into the kitchen. Bloody family. There they all
were, drinks in hand, ready for the show.

“Are you
kidding me?” I asked them.

“No way am I
missing this,” laughed Danny, his camera phone in hand ready to do a bit of
cinematography.

“You are not
videoing me taking a shower!” I yelled.

“Yes I am. When
you fall over and the whole thing topples down on top of you, I’m sending it in
to Funniest Home Videos and will win lots of money.” He thought he was so
funny. I looked at Riley and glared. At least he had the decency to look
unamused. Walking out to the shower, I wondered how I was going to do this. The
tent was very small and stepping inside it, I felt the walls touch my shoulders.
My head stuck out the top.

“Riley! It’s
not tall enough,” I yelled. Riley came out, followed by everyone else. Danny had
his videophone in hand.

“This isn’t
going to work,” I whined.

“Sure it is. Just
make sure no one walks past and peeks in over the top,” he smiled.

Humph. “Well,
don’t all stand there watching,” I huffed.

Making sure the
tent flaps were closed, I started to undress and throw my clothes over the top
towards the chair sitting near the door. I have to tell you, it was not easy. Every
time I moved my arms, the tent would sway from side to side, causing me to
nearly fall over. When I was finally naked, I turned so I was facing away from
the back door—just in case someone came out—and looked up to see my
neighbor, Roger, staring at me across the fence. Giving him a little two-fingered
wave, I decided facing the house was probably my best option. I’m sure Danny,
Molly and Drew didn’t want to see me naked…and Riley? Thinking about that had
me sweating.

After having
the fastest shower in history, I turned the water off and looked for my towel. Shit!
I’d left it on the chair along with my clean clothes. I really hadn’t thought
this through.

“Molly!” She
was probably the best one to call. Unfortunately no one could hear me over the
music they had playing. “Molly!” I waited for about a minute, goosebumps
breaking out all over me, as I stood there wet, hoping Molly would come and
save me. Shivering, I looked around. No-one was looking. Roger had gone back
inside—probably to take his heart medication—so maybe I could quickly
sneak over and grab my towel. This was seriously the worst idea Riley had ever
come up with. Tomorrow I was showering in my swimsuit.