Fly with Me (12 page)

Elissa looked
at Ash, who just shrugged in amusement. No help from her friend,
then. Taking a deep breath, she tucked the ladder under her arm and
gripped the lower rung, cringing inwardly as the dusty framework
rubbed against her blouse.

“Right.
Onwards.”

Dutifully she
trotted after Del out of the shed and across to the house, where
she helped set the ladder against the wall. The top of the ladder
didn’t quite make it to the roof.

“Don’t worry,
we’ll shimmy over the top,” Del said.

“Yeah. Look,
I’m not sure-”

“I am. Follow
me.” Del started up the ladder.

Dee held the
ladder and winked at Elissa. “Silicone Lesson 101. Trust me,
silicon is your best friend. Learn it, use it, live it.”

Placing one
foot on the first rung, Elissa looked up at Del climbing the ladder
like a monkey. “I thought silicon was the stuff used to make fake
boobs.”

“See, silicon
is all purpose.”

Ash looked
concerned. “If you don’t want to do this, Elissa, it’s okay.”

Crap, it was
just going up a freakin’ ladder. This was what she’d wanted,
something different, doing her own thing. So what if her hands got
dirty, her shirt? So what if she got calluses? So freakin’
what?

This was her
chance to be independent for once.

“I’m fine.”
With a quick smile at Ash, Elissa took a deep breath and started up
the ladder. Before she knew it she was at the top of the ladder,
able to see over the roof which angled a little alarmingly.

Del waited for
her, the silicon gun on the roof. Her sneakered feet gripped the
tin securely, and she smiled reassuringly at Elissa as she held out
her hand. “Grab on, I’ll help haul you up.”

“I think I’ll
break you.”

“I’m stronger
than I look.”

This proved
true. There was a reassuring strength in the slim woman’s grip, the
steady assuredness in her eyes. It gave Elissa courage, plus she
had to admit to a small thrill of doing something forbidden,
something she’d never have been allowed to do before, never been
expected to do.

Hell, she was
going to help fix a leaking roof.

With renewed
vigour she clambered onto the roof, straightening, only to freeze
and grip Del’s arm hard.

Hell, she was
going to fall off a leaking roof.

“Good.” Del
didn’t move. “Isn’t this a great view? Now don’t worry, there’s a
whole veranda stretched out before us if we happen to tip a little
- which we won’t - and our sneakers have good grip. The roof’s not
that heavily tilted.”

Sure. Easy for
Del to say.

Elissa was
still hanging on when Del bent and picked up the silicon gun. Give
the woman credit, she didn’t shake Elissa off, just turned,
allowing her other arm to stay in Elissa’s grip, and started
carefully moving forward.

It was either
let go or follow. Elissa followed, realising belatedly that she
seemed to be doing a lot of following lately. But as they edged
further onto the roof and she didn’t slip, she started to relax,
looking around, becoming aware of the breeze in her hair, the
magnificent view. She could even see over a couple of the trees to
the road, the town beyond.

“Wow.” Her
eyes widened in delight. “Wow. Del, just
wow
.”

“I know Isn’t
it great? Sometimes I come up here to just sit and look.” Del
glanced over her shoulder. “That’s a girls’ secret, by the
way.”

“Because the
blokes would have a fit?”

“Bet your
arse.”

Huh. Elissa
watched her sneakered feet as they negotiated the roof. “Guess we
better make sure we’re not seen then.”

“I’m more
worried about making sure my roof doesn’t leak in the bloody
storm.” Del stopped. “Here we go.”

Elissa knelt
down and looked at the tin roof. Rust spread out in a small circle
from what looked to be a rather small hole. “That’s it?”

“Trust me,
when water continually seeps through this it’ll play havoc with my
ceiling. I just had the ceiling redone a month ago, I certainly
don’t want it to be damaged and water stained now.” She looked at
Elissa. “Get the rag out of your pocket and give this a little
scrub around the edges.”

“Why?”

“To get the
loose dust and rust off. Make it as clean as we can.”

“Maybe we
should have brought up some soap and water.”

“Just do
it.”

Elissa plucked
the rag from her pocket. “You’re a little bossy. I hadn’t noticed
that before.”

“That’s what
comes of growing up with Dee. Now scrub.”

Elissa rubbed
around the hole, the rag catching on several sharp bits. She jerked
it off, only to silently swear as several strands of cloth got
hooked on the rust. Plucking them carefully off, she sat back to
watch Del take the tip off the silicon then expertly apply the
silicon to the hole, filling it and smoothing more around the
edges.

“And that’s
really going to stop the rain?” She was impressed.

“Until I can
afford another sheet of tin to be put up.” Del nodded. “I hope to
have enough soon to re-roof the whole roof. Until then its patch-up
jobs.”

Elissa spotted
several more holes with evidence of silicon already used. “You’ve
done more.”

“Not me. Simon
and Kirk did it just after summer started.” Del shook her head.
“Can you believe they tried to bully me into letting them pay for
some new tin? I mean, come on.”

“I’m sure they
meant well.”

“Oh, they did,
but nope.” Del recapped the silicon. “I’m doing this my way.
Cripes, I can make do with silicon for another couple of months.”
Coming up on her knees, she swept her arms out, the silicon gun
dangling from one hand. “Soon I’ll have a whole new roof and no
worries. Well, about the roof, anyway.”

“Guess it’d be
a good feeling to do things your own way.”

“Yep.” Del
pushed to her feet. “Let’s check the rest of the roof while we’re
here.”

Walking behind
Del, carefully placing her feet where the confident blonde did,
Elissa felt her own confidence growing. True, she was just
following, but helping even a little, doing what in her world had
been termed a ‘man’s job’, made her feel self-sufficient.

Until she had
to go down the ladder.

On her knees,
she looked at the ladder and swallowed. “Oh no.”

“Do as I do.”
Placing the silicon gun down, Del knelt on the roof facing
backwards with one foot dangling over the edge. “I’ll go first so
if you slip I can help.”

Elissa eyed
the slim woman. “No offence, Del, but if I slip I’m taking you to
the ground with me. Nothing is going to save you from my fat
arse.”

“Hey, I’ve
saved Dee’s fat arse a few times. I’m sure I can handle yours.”

“I heard
that,” Dee called up from below. “And need I remind you that I’ve
saved your skinny arse a few times as well?”

“There you
go.” Del shimmied backwards. “Now, on your knees, sister.”

“There’s many
a man would like to hear those words,” Molly commented.

“Forget the
galahs down below,” Del said. “On your knees and come backwards.
I’ll take your ankle.”

“Ankle?” Molly
echoed. “Jesus, Dee, your cousin is into some kinky shit. I’ll have
to ask Kirk about the ankle stuff.”

“She probably
means ankle over the shoulder,” Dee replied. “Imagine being on your
back and doing that to a bloke. That’s really getting up close and
personal.”

Elissa
couldn’t believe the by-play going on below. Not that she really
cared right then because she was more concerned in getting onto the
ladder without falling arse over tit down it.

The ground
suddenly looked a long-way-away.

“Don’t look at
the ground,” Del instructed. “Come backwards slowly. I’ll guide
your foot.”

“Just be
careful,” Ash called.

“Oh, that
helps,” Dee said.

Elissa was
really worried now that she wasn’t going to be able to do it at
all. Biting her lip, she edged backwards.

Del’s hand
wrapped around her ankle.

“Trust her,”
Ash called. “She’s not lost anyone off the roof yet.”

“Yet being the
operative word,” Dee muttered.

Heart already
pounding, Elissa swallowed. “I heard that!”

“Oops. Sorry.
You weren’t supposed to.”

“Ignore them.”
Del tapped her calf. “Just do as I say and you’ll be fine.”

“Elissa
started white-knuckling the edge of the roof. “I have to admit,
Del, I don’t know that I can do this.”

“Don’t really
have much choice. If you don’t come down we have to ring for
help.”

Sounded like a
plan.

“They’ll send
out the bloody fire brigade or something. Before you know it, we’ll
have Scott and Simon here with their huge ladders, giving us a
tongue lashing. Now I’m not about to do that. Besides, we’re adult
women. We got up here, we’re going down.”

“I’d rather it
be in one piece.”

“Let’s
go.”

Squeezing her
eyes shut, Elissa took several deep breaths.
Oh shit, oh shit. I
have to do this, I need to do this.
And that was the catch
word. She
needed
to do this. She needed to do it on her
own.

With Del’s
help, true, but on her own nevertheless. No owing anyone, no
calling for help.

Sucking in
another deep breath, she opened her eyes, gritted her teeth and
readjusted her hands. “Let’s do this.”

She shimmied
backwards under Del’s instruction, glancing to the side over her
shoulder to see where the beginning of the step ladder rested.
Okay, not too far. She just had to be strong, stop shaking and do
it. Just do it.

Come hell or
high water, in ten minutes she could look back and it would all be
over. For better or worse.

Del was a good
guide, confident, no-nonsense and calm, guiding her foot to hit the
first rung, clamping her surprisingly strong hands each side of
Elissa’s calves and then thighs as Elissa came off the edge of the
roof and finally - thank God! - stood on the rung of the
ladder.

Surprisingly,
it was quiet below, no rude comments floating up while Del guided
her. Del descended the ladder, Elissa following, her grip on the
ladder tighter than death. A couple of splinters forked into her
palm, but she refused to complain.

Finally, her
feet hit dirt. Letting go of the ladder was pure bliss. Knees
shaking, she turned to smile at Ash. “Piece of cake.”

“Have to be
vanilla.” Dee studied her. “With white frosting.”

“Huh?”

“You’re pale.”
Ash gave her a hug. “Well done.”

Over Ash’s
shoulder, Elissa grinned at Del. “Thanks.”

Del gave her
the thumbs up.

“Where’s the
silicon gun?” Molly queried.

“Aw, shit.”
Turning to the ladder, Del climbed it quickly, coming back down
with admirable speed clutching the gun in one hand. “Right, let’s
get this ladder into the shed and then I’ll give Elissa the grand
tour of my most excellent house.”

Okay, that was
more like it. Elissa relaxed. Looking through a house. Way safer
than climbing down from a roof.

But still, as
she contemplated her sore palm and picked out a splinter, she had
to admit she felt, well, good. Damn good, in fact. Almost
elated.

Her smile was
wide when she looked up to see Ash watching her.

Ash’s eyes
crinkled at the corners, her expression relieved. “You’re
okay.”

“Yeah.”
Elissa’s smile grew wider. “I am.”

The rest of
the morning was spent at Del’s house. After a light lunch she
dropped them all off at their various homes before heading back to
do whatever she had planned.

Elissa had a
quick shower and change of clothes before spending a lazy afternoon
sitting on the back veranda reading a book while Ash weeded the
vegetable plot. Tilly lay on her back beside Elissa in silent
expectation of having her belly rubbed. Elissa rubbed.

The sky grew
darker, grey clouds obliterating the blue, finally little spatters
of rain forcing Ash from the vegetable garden and into the house to
shower and change. Tilly, disgruntled with the sound of the rain on
the veranda roof, jumped off the cane sofa to follow her.

Elissa watched
the rain come down lightly at first then gradually heavier before
settling to a steady downpour. It was amazing how beautiful it was,
how isolating. Unlike the city, which turned grey and harsh in the
rain, the country took on a sodden affect, yet remained fresh, the
green seeming even greener. There was no harsh smell of rain on hot
pavement, no crowds of people running for shelter.

She’d no idea
rain could be so wonderful.

Book lying
forgotten in her lap, she watched the rain. Here she was, safe
under the veranda, enjoying the sight, sound and scent of the rain.
Could there be a better way to spend a lazy late afternoon?

The kitchen
light came on, flickering across the veranda. Obviously the
darkness was extending to the house.

Elissa was
just contemplating going inside when Ash appeared by her side with
Elissa’s mobile in her hand. “It was ringing in your room.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m going in
to get dinner started.”

“No worries,
I’ll come inside in a minute to help.” Elissa put the mobile to her
ear. “Hello?”

“Elissa.” The
familiar voice rasped sharply in her ear. “Where the hell are
you?”

“Calum?”
Immediately tension stole through her and she straightened.

“I’m out front
of your place. I’ve left messages but you’re not returning
calls.”

“I haven’t
checked my messages.” Hadn’t wanted to, not knowing what was
coming.

“Look, what
time are you getting home? I can’t wait outside forever.”

She looked out
at the rain. “Don’t wait for me. I won’t be home for awhile.”

“How long is
awhile?” he asked irritably. “One hour? Two?”