Saved by the Single Dad (5 page)

‘What do you want me to do?' Without noticing it, Jack seemed to have gravitated automatically to her side.

She looked up at him. The defeated droop of her shoulders that he'd seen earlier was gone; now Cass was back from whatever crisis she'd been facing. Full of energy and with a vengeance.

‘We have a ten-year-old who's gone missing. We'll split up and search for him in teams. You're with me?'

Jack nodded. Of course he was with her.

CHAPTER FIVE

J
ACK
FOUND
HIS
jacket amongst the others, hung up on the rack in the lobby, and pulled his boots on. People were spilling out of the church hall, finding coats and forming into groups. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing and Cass was at the centre of it all.

Suddenly, she broke away from the people around her, walking over to a young woman in a wet jacket.

‘We're going to find Ben now, Laura.' Cass put an arm around the woman's shoulders. ‘Can you think of anywhere he might have gone?'

‘He might be looking for Scruffy. He ran off and we couldn't find him. Pete went out this morning, but there was no sign of him back at the house.'

Cass nodded. ‘Okay. And where might Ben be looking?'

‘I don't know...' Laura shook her head and Cass took her gently by the shoulders.

‘It's okay. Take your time.' She was calm and quite unmistakably in charge of the situation. Just what Laura needed at the moment.

Laura took a deep breath. ‘Maybe... Oh, Cass. Maybe he's gone down to the river. We take Scruffy for walks along there.'

‘Whereabouts? Down by my place?'

‘Yes... Yes, that's right.'

‘Okay, I'll check that out.'

‘I'm coming...' Laura grabbed hold of Cass's jacket.

‘I need you to stay here so that we can bring him straight back to you when we find him. Join the group that's searching the church buildings and keep your phone with you so I can call you. All right?'

Laura nodded. Jack knew that Cass was keeping her away from the river, and the reason didn't bear thinking about.

‘Let go of me, then...' Cass gently loosened Laura's fingers from her jacket and turned, leaving her with Martin. Her face set suddenly in a mask of determination as she faced Jack.

‘I'll get my bag...' The heavy bag would slow him up but he might need it.

‘Thanks. If you give it to Chris, he'll stay here with the car. He can get whatever we need down to us quickly.'

‘Okay. Makes sense.'

Jack fetched his bag and handed it over to a man standing by an SUV which was parked outside the church hall. Then he joined Cass's group and they set off, moving quickly through the village and down the hill.

They passed the spot where the bridge had been washed away yesterday, and Cass stopped to scan the water. ‘I can't see anything...' She stiffened suddenly and pointed to a flash of blue and red in the branches of a partially submerged tree. The wind caught it and it flapped. Just a torn piece of plastic.

‘Where
is
he?'

The exclamation was all she allowed herself in the way of emotion. After surveying the river carefully, she started to walk again. They scaled a rocky outcrop which afforded a view across the land beyond it.

Nothing. Jack strained his eyes to see some sign of the boy. The house ahead of them must be Cass's, stone-built and solid-looking, the extension at the back blending so well with the stonework at the front that it would be difficult to say for sure that it was modern if he didn't already know. He hoped that Ben hadn't got in there; the river had broken its banks and the place was surrounded by water.

‘Ben...' Cass filled her lungs and shouted again. ‘Ben!'

She stilled suddenly, holding her hand out for quiet. Nothing. Just the relentless sound of the rain. Then she suddenly grabbed Jack's arm. ‘Can you see something? Down there?'

Jack squinted into the rain but all he could see was the swollen river, flanked on this side by twenty feet of muddy land. The river must have flooded up across it in the night and receded slightly this morning because he recognised part of the bridge sticking out of the quagmire.

She pulled a pair of binoculars from inside her coat and trained them down on to the mud. Then her breath caught. ‘Got him. He's down by that bit of bridge. He's covered in mud and it looks as if he's up to his waist in it.' She lowered the binoculars, feeling in her pocket. Jack squinted at the place she'd indicated and thought he saw movement.

Cass handed a set of keys to one of the other men in the group. ‘Joe, I've got a ladder in my garage and a couple of tarps. Can you guys go and find them, please?'

‘Okay. Anything else?'

‘Yeah, just pump out the water and clear up a bit while you're there.' A small twist of her lips and that wry joke was all she allowed herself in the way of regret.

She was off before Jack could say anything to her, scrambling down the other side of the ridge. The four men with them headed towards the house and Jack followed Cass, getting to the bottom before she did and catching her arm when she slipped in the mud.

‘Careful...'

‘Yeah, thanks.' One moment. There was no time to tell her that he was sorry to see her house flooded, and no time for Cass to respond. But her brief smile told him that she knew and she'd deal with it later. Jack resolved to be there when she got around to doing that.

They set off, jogging towards Ben. Jack could see him now, covered in mud, sunk up to his waist, right next to the remains of the bridge. And, huddled next to him, wet through and perched on one of the stones, was a small black and white dog.

‘He must have seen the dog and tried to get out there to fetch him.' Jack supposed that Scruffy was light enough to scamper across the mud, but the boy had sunk when he'd tried to follow him.

‘Yeah. Wonder how close we can get.'

Jack had been wondering that himself. It was likely that the ground all around Ben was completely waterlogged.

‘Ben... Ben...' Cass called over to the boy and Jack saw his head turn. ‘Ben, stay still for me. I'm coming to get you.'

‘Cass...' The boy's voice was full of the excitement of seeing the cavalry ride over the hill. Full of the panic that he must have felt when he'd started to sink into the mud and found he couldn't get out.

‘Ben—' Cass came to a halt at the edge of the mud. ‘Ben, I want you to look at me. No...don't try to move. Stay still.'

The boy was crying but he did what she told him. ‘I...can't...'

‘I know. Just hang on in there and I'll be out to get you in a minute. Then your mum gets the job of cleaning you up.'

Her grin said it all. She was trying to replace Ben's terror with the more mundane fear of a ticking off at getting himself so dirty. Cass was edging forward slowly, testing the ground in front of her before she put her weight on it. Jack followed, ready to grab her if she started to sink.

‘You'll be able to tell your friends at school that you got rescued by the fire brigade.' She was grinning at Ben, talking to him as she tested the ground ahead of her and to either side, and the boy seemed to calm a bit.

Her foot sank into the mud in front of her, a good fifteen feet away from Ben, and he began to howl with terror. ‘Okay. Okay, Ben. It's okay.'

She reached back and Jack clasped her arm. A brief smiling glance that seemed to sear through the urgency of the situation. ‘Don't let me sink...'

‘I've got you.'

Another tentative step in the clinging mud. Another and her boot sank as far as her ankle. Jack felt her fingers tighten around his and he reached forward, gripping her waist and pulling her back.

‘I think that's as far as we'll get...' She looked around, pulling her phone from her pocket and dialling.

‘Joe, I need the ladder now. And there's a toolbox in the garage—can you take a couple of doors off their hinges and bring them over...?'

She turned back to Ben. ‘All right, Ben. Just waiting for my ladder. Then I'll be out to get you.' She was doing her best to turn this into an exciting adventure and, although it wasn't totally working, Ben was a lot calmer now.

Jack looked round and saw two men appear from Cass's garage, one on each end of an aluminium ladder. Wading through the water, they reached dry land and made for them as fast as the muddy terrain would allow.

‘Here we go, Ben.' Cass was keeping up a stream of reassurance. ‘They're on their way.'

As soon as the men reached them, she stretched the double length of the ladder across the muddy ground towards Ben. More than halfway. When it was extended fully, it would reach him easily.

‘Thanks, Joe. Have you called the emergency services? She turned to one of the men who had brought the ladder.

‘Yes. They'll do what they can. I called up to the church and they're sending the medical bag down. Pete and Laura are coming too.'

‘Great, thanks.'

Jack and the other two men helped Cass drag a couple of heavy branches over, putting them under the end of the ladder to try and stabilise it. Then she took a deep breath, turning her face up to him.

‘Cover my back, eh?'

‘You've got it.'

He tested the ground at their end of the ladder and put all his weight on it to steady it. Cass began to crawl along it, pushing the extension towards Ben.

‘We're going back to help with the doors.' He heard Joe's voice behind him. ‘The screws are all painted in, so they're not coming off that easily.'

‘She's going to need some help out there. Use a crowbar if you have to.' Jack knew that Cass wouldn't hesitate to say the same.

‘Right you are.' Joe turned, jogging back towards the house.

Ben gave a little cry of relief when the end of the ladder reached him, grabbing it and wrapping his arms around it. There was a click as Cass locked the extension in place, and then she began crawling along the extension.

Jack applied all his weight to his end of the ladder. The other end seemed to be sinking a little, but not so much that it stopped Cass from reaching Ben. He wondered whether the boy saw the same as he had, when he'd been tangled in that tree yesterday and he'd opened his eyes and seen her there.

From the way that Ben grabbed at her, he did. He heard Cass laugh and saw her wrap one arm around the boy, trying to loosen the mud around his waist with the other hand.

‘I don't think...' She called back without turning her head, ‘I'm going to need a hand with this.'

It was as Jack had expected. ‘They're coming with the doors now. I'll be out in a minute.'

‘That'll be lovely. Thanks.' Her tone was much the same as if she was accepting a cup of tea, and Jack smiled. She was unstoppable. And quite magnificent.

* * *

As soon as the ladder had reached Ben, Scruffy had bolted from his perch, running across her back and over the mud to get to dry land. Cass kept her attention equally divided between not falling off the ladder and keeping Ben quiet and stopping him from trying to move. She could hear signs of activity behind her, along with general instructions from Jack about tarps and doors. Then his voice, calling over to her.

‘I'm moving off the ladder now. Watch out.'

She braced herself as the ladder moved slightly, sinking another inch into the mud. Then, as someone else applied their weight to the end of it, it steadied again. Above her head, she heard the beat of a helicopter.

‘Are they going to pull us out?' Ben was shivering in her arms, his head nestled against her shoulder.

‘No, they can't do that.' Trying to drop a line and pull Ben out might tear him in half. ‘They're probably just flying over to see what the situation is and how they can help us.'

‘And then the fire engine...?'

‘Yeah. Then the fire engine.' If Ben hadn't realised that there wasn't a way for a fire engine to get to them, she wasn't going to disillusion him. ‘But they won't have anything to do because we'll have you out before they get here.'

‘Okay.' Ben sounded almost disappointed.

‘Ben...?' Face down in the mud, Cass couldn't see what was happening behind her, but she recognised Laura's voice.

‘Mum!' Ben's high-pitched shriek was directed straight into her ear.

‘Ben, I want you to do exactly what Cass tells you. Do you hear me, darling?'

Good. Someone must be with Laura, calming her and telling her what to say. Jack, perhaps. Only she was rather hoping that Jack might be on his way towards her.

‘Yes, Mum.'

‘Tell your mum that you're all right. That you'll be out soon.' Cass grinned at Ben. It would do him good to say it, and do Laura good to hear it.

‘Will I?'

‘'Course you will.'

Ben called out the words, this time managing to direct most of the volume away from Cass and towards his mother. Then someone tapped her ankle gently.

‘Can I join you...?'

Jack's voice behind her.

‘Feel free.' She squinted round as her kitchen door slid across the muddy ground towards her.

The door moved, and sank a little into the mud as it took his weight, and then he was there beside her. The relief was almost palpable.

‘Hey, Ben.' He was lying on his stomach on the door, grinning broadly. ‘How are you doing?'

‘Okay, thanks.' Ben puffed out a breath. ‘Are
you
going to pull me out?'

CHAPTER SIX

U
NFORTUNATELY
,
PULLING
B
EN
out wasn't an option. Mud rescue was difficult and physically demanding at the best of times, and this wasn't the best of times. The continuing rain meant that every time they moved some of the mud from around Ben's body, mud and water trickled back into the hole.

Working together, they found a solution. Jack reached down, scooping the mud up, while Cass shoved it as far from Ben as she could. As they worked, she became bolder, no longer shy of Jack's body. Using his strength to lever her own against, bracing her legs across his.

It was exhausting work. Ben was beginning to get really cold now and started to cry again, and Jack talked to him, encouraging him. Or was it Cass that he encouraged? She hardly knew, just that the sound of his voice kept her going, despite the growing ache in her arms.

‘What do you reckon?' His eyes seemed almost brighter, warmer, now that the rest of him was almost entirely covered in mud.

‘Yeah. Let's try it.'

‘Okay. Be ready to take him.' Jack wrapped his arms around Ben. Gently, carefully, he began to lift him. Ben's feet came out of his wellingtons, leaving them stuck in the muddy pit, and Jack hoisted him clear.

A tremulous, excited babble of voices sounded behind them. Cass had almost forgotten that anyone else was here.

‘Got him...?' Jack passed Ben over to her and the boy grabbed her, whimpering with cold and exhaustion.

‘Yeah.'

‘Okay, you shift over on to the door and I'll pull you both back.' Jack manoeuvred around her, working his way carefully back, and Cass felt him grip her ankles, pulling her back after him.

Her limbs were shaking with fatigue and Cass didn't know where Jack found the strength to drag her those few short feet. But he did, taking Ben out of her arms as soon as they were back on the grass and carrying him over to the SUV that was waiting to take them the short distance to the village. Laura and Pete followed, desperate to hold their son.

A hand gripped hers, hauling her to her feet. People clustered around her, patting her on the back and enquiring whether she was okay. Cass nodded shakily and, as she made for the car, a path opened up in front of her, everyone stumbling backwards to get out of the way.

Ben was in his mother's arms on the back seat of the car, Scruffy sitting close to him. The boy was wet, cold, very muddy, but seemingly otherwise unscathed. Jack gave Cass a nod in answer to her silent question. He was okay.

‘We'll get him back now...' He signalled to the driver and got into the car next to Ben, Laura and the little dog. Pete pushed Cass into the front seat.

‘Don't you want to go?'

‘I'll see you up there...' Pete's eyes were glistening with tears. ‘Go and get yourself dry.'

They drove to the vicarage and Martin ushered Jack upstairs, Ben in his arms. Laura followed and Sue propelled Cass into the kitchen.

‘I'd hug you if you weren't so filthy...' Sue stripped off her jacket and sweatshirt, nodding when she found that the T-shirt underneath was dry. ‘Sit.'

Cass sat down, half in a dream. Sue's businesslike ministrations were just what she needed. She didn't need Jack to help her out of her overtrousers; he had other things to do. But a part of her wished that he didn't and that after the struggle that they'd shared so intimately they could have just a little time together.

‘Feet wet...?' Sue loosened the laces of one of her boots, sliding two fingers inside as if she were a child. ‘They feel all right. Drink this...'

Hot soup. Fabulous. ‘Thanks, Sue.'

She sipped the soup, letting the warmth of the kitchen seep back into her bones. Then she laid her head on her hands. Just for a moment. She was so tired.

* * *

‘Sorry about all the mess, Sue.' It seemed that Jack's voice alone, amongst all the other comings and goings in the kitchen, had the power to pull her back to consciousness. Cass looked up and saw him standing in the doorway. He'd taken off his muddy jacket and sweatshirt and his arms and face had been washed clean, presumably as a preliminary to examining Ben. His short hair glistened with a few stray drops of moisture.

‘Nonsense.' Sue glared at him. ‘How's Ben?'

‘We've cleaned him up and I examined him. He's pretty tired now, and he had a nasty fright. But, physically, I can't find anything wrong with him.'

‘Good. Anything I should do?'

‘Plenty of liquids, something to eat. Keep him warm. Old-fashioned care.'

Sue smirked. ‘I can do that. You two go and get cleaned up.'

Cass got to her feet and walked over to the sink. She'd got mud on the table where she'd laid her head down. Sue whipped the wash cloth out of her hand.

‘Leave that to me. Go.'

‘No, it's okay...' Cass's protests were silenced by one slight incline of Jack's head. She was going with him.

He led her to the bathroom in the church hall, accepting towels from one of the Monday Club ladies who bustled in out of nowhere and left just as energetically. Putting them down on to the chair by the washbasins, he dumped a plastic bag he'd been carrying on top and then walked over to the door, flipping the lock.

‘Boots.' His grin was warm, and far too tender to resist. Cass hung on to the washbasin while he unlaced her boots, pulling them off.

‘What's this?' He'd tipped her face up to his, running his thumb across the sore spot in her hairline.

‘Just a scrape. Is it bleeding?'

‘Not all that much. I'll clean it up in a minute.' He searched in the plastic bag and produced a bottle of shampoo, which Cass recognised as her own, one of the toiletries that she must have left at Sue and Martin's. She reached for the bottle and he pulled it away.

‘Let me do it.'

There was no desire in his face, no trace of wanting. Just the warmth of two comrades who finally had the opportunity to see to each other's needs instead of those of everyone else.

This would be okay. And she so wanted it. Someone to take care of her after a long night and an even longer day. There would be no complications, no threat of what might happen tomorrow, because Jack wouldn't be here tomorrow.

He pulled a chair over to the washbasin at the end of the row, which was equipped with a sprinkler tap. Testing the temperature of the water, he told her to close her eyes.

Cass felt herself start to relax. He was good at this, guiding the water away from her face, rubbing gently to get all of the mud out of her hair. Massaging the shampoo through, his firm touch sending tingles radiating across her scalp. His leg pressed against her side as he leaned over her.

Maybe there was just a bit of sensuality about this. Along with all the nurturing and the warmth—the things that she reckoned it was okay to take from Jack. Cass dismissed the thought. It was what it was and she was too tired, too much in need to question it.

Then the warm water running over her head and finally a rub with a towel. Cass opened her eyes, sitting up straight.

‘Better now?'

‘Much. Thank you.' She rubbed at her hair and he handed her a comb. She winced as the teeth passed over the abraded skin at her temple.

‘Let's have a look at that.' He didn't wait for her to either agree or disagree, just did it. Gentle fingers probed and then he reached for the plastic bag again. ‘I think you'll live. I'll put some antiseptic on it, though.'

The antiseptic stung for a moment but even that was refreshing. Jack had a lightness of touch that set her nerve endings quivering, but that would have to remain her little secret.

‘Do something for me?' He raised one eyebrow and she smiled.

‘What do you want?'

A slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. Then he sat down opposite her and carefully removed a haphazardly applied piece of plaster from his arm. Underneath, the skin was red raw, a fragment of wood protruding. Cass caught her breath. He must have ignored the injury, the splinter driving deeper into his skin as he'd worked, and it was going to hurt to get it out now.

‘Do you have a pair of tweezers?'

He leaned over, producing a pair from the bag, but when Cass reached for them he closed his hand over them, holding it against his chest. ‘Gently does it, eh? I know you lot.'

‘My lot?' Cass grinned. ‘What's that supposed to mean? I'll have you know I'm medically trained.' All firefighters were.

‘It's supposed to mean that you don't have to throw me over your shoulder and carry me out of here first. Then tip me in a heap on the ground and start pumping on my chest.'

‘Think I couldn't? I have a technique, you know.' The truth was that she could just about manage it. He'd have much less trouble lifting her.

He was shaking his head, laughing. ‘That's exactly what I'm worried about.'

He handed her the tweezers and pushed the bottle of antiseptic towards her. Cass positioned his arm on the vanity top and bent over it, looking carefully. He made no sound but the muscles in his arm twitched when she laid her finger close to the wound.

‘You really should have a local anaesthetic for this.'

‘Nah. Better to just get it over with. I've only got the strong stuff in the medical bag.'

And he was saving that in case someone else needed it. Cass gripped his wrist tight to steady his arm and drew out the first piece of the splinter. She was going to have to fish a little for the second piece, which had been driven deep into his arm.

She so hated hurting him but he was trusting her to have the nerve to do it. Trusting that her hand wouldn't shake and make things a whole lot worse. She steadied herself and pressed the tweezers into the raw skin, trying not to hear his sudden intake of breath.

‘Sorry...' She had nothing to make the pain any better and Cass fought the urge to dip her head and kiss it away.

‘That's okay. Got it all?'

Cass carefully examined the wound. ‘Yes, I think so. Can't see anything else.'

‘Antiseptic, then.'

She applied a generous measure, making sure that the wound was disinfected. ‘Are your tetanus shots up to date?'

‘Yes.'

‘Then we're nearly done.' Cass leaned forward, stripping off his T-shirt, and Jack chuckled.

‘What now? Is this all part of the technique too?'

‘Just making sure there's nothing else you haven't told me about.'

She would have preferred to touch instead of just looking, but that would be a step too far. Cass found herself ignoring the scrapes and bruises and concentrating on the smooth contours of his shoulders and chest. Very nice. And, what was nicer still, he had the confidence to just sit there and meet her gaze without sucking in his stomach or trying to flex his shoulders. He was perfect, just as he was.

‘Finished?' He raised an eyebrow.

‘Yeah. I think you'll do. Do you want me to dress your arm?'

‘We'll clean up first.' He gave her a bone-melting grin and stood up, picking his T-shirt up and throwing it over one shoulder. ‘Stay there.'

He picked up the bag and disappeared around the corner, towards the showers. Then the sound of gushing water came from the only cubicle that contained a bath. He wouldn't. Would he? If he did, then she just might. Even thinking about it was sending shivers through her tired limbs.

‘Come on.' He was back again, catching up two of the largest towels in one hand, and Cass followed him. When he opened the door of the cubicle a gorgeous smell hit her. Bath oil foamed in the steaming tub and there were candles propped on the window ledge and the vanity unit.

‘You're not going to fall asleep in here, are you?'

She wondered what he'd say if she asked him to stick around and make sure. But he'd put one of the towels down on the rack and now he was halfway out of the door. It seemed he had no intention of staying.

‘No. Just keep talking.'

‘Right you are.' He closed the door behind him and Cass heard the sound of the shower in the next door enclosure.

She turned her back on the partition wall between her and Jack before pulling her sweater off and unbuttoning her shirt. As she slipped off her jeans, she caught herself instinctively glancing behind her as if his gaze, or perhaps her own fantasies, had the power to dissolve the partition while she wasn't looking.

When she stepped into the steaming water, sinking beneath the bubbles, she felt the warmth seep into her bones. Cass lay back, rubbing the ache out of her shoulders. Bliss. This was pure bliss.

* * *

Okay, so he'd been tempted. Jack would admit to that. But it was worth needing to apply a little self-control to have seen her face when she'd walked into the cubicle. When he'd found her slumped at the kitchen table, he'd known this was exactly what she needed.

‘Still awake?' he called to her as the hot water drummed on to his shoulders, making the various scrapes he'd picked up over the last couple of days smart a little.

‘Yes. You?' Cass's voice was clear, drifting through the gap between the top of the partition and the ceiling.

‘Yeah, I'm awake.' Wide awake and trying not to think thoughts that he shouldn't. ‘I'm sorry about your house.' He'd been meaning to say it for a while now, but Jack wasn't sure how to do it without hugging her. The partition between them rendered that now unlikely.

The sound of her moving in the water. ‘It's okay. There are more important things.'

Yes, there were, and what had happened with Ben had underlined it. But that didn't mean that the loss of her house was nothing. Jack wondered when it was going to hit Cass, and renewed his promise to himself that he'd be there when it did.

‘Thanks for the candles.' Her mind seemed to have drifted somewhere else. ‘They're a nice touch.'

Jack couldn't stop himself from smiling. There was so little he could do for her. ‘Wish I could have done more.'