Keeping the Peace (18 page)

The light snow was still drifting down that evening as Pippa closed the office door behind her and headed past the stables to her car. From within the nearer stables, she could hear the horses munching on their supper and the thought of them cosily wrapped up in their blankets and knee-deep in bedding brought new warmth to her bones. This feeling rapidly evaporated when she stepped into the Beetle, into temperatures that Health and Safety standards would have found acceptable for freezing meat.

Her teeth chattering, she turned the car down the long sloping driveway onto the main road. Against the murky darkness, the Beetle’s headlights illuminated the white landscape, whipping up the peaceful descent of flakes in its slipstream. Pippa squinted through the foggy visibility. Her jaw ached from clenching her teeth.

Her tension eased as she pulled onto the main road that linked Helensvale to the rest of civilisation. It was still carpeted with snow, but at least the lanes were wider.

To take her mind off the cold, she switched on the car’s disc player. Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel, she listened for a few moments to Take That tripping their way through
Patience
before her own gave out and she ejected the CD. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she held up the disc to check for dirt or scratches. She flicked her gaze back to the road. She breathed on the disc, a satisfying fog coating the shiny surface then rubbed it on her leg.

‘Shit,’ Pippa muttered as the disc slipped out of her hand and down to her feet.

Craning her neck so she could partially see the road through the steering wheel, she leant down to retrieve it. A movement up ahead caught her eye. She looked up, suddenly dazzled by the floodlight glare of an oncoming truck. It rushed past her, the wind and snowy debris on the road buffeting the Beetle.

Pippa blinked frantically, trying to adjust her vision to the pitch black she was now plunged into. The disc slipped from her hand again as the car’s wheels caught a thick rut in the road. The car veered left. Pippa slammed her foot on the brake pedal.

Feeling the tyres begin to slip, she grappled with the wheel to straighten them.

‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’ she muttered through gritted teeth as she struggled with the car’s momentum.

It was already in a slide.

She was powerless to stop it from skimming off the road.

Pippa opened her eyes. She removed her shaking hands from the wheel and leant her head back. The car tilted drunkenly into a ditch. With a sigh of resignation, she switched off the engine and unclipped her seatbelt. She pushed the door open, wincing as it bounced back and hit her on the shin.

Hugging her coat around her, she skirted the bonnet, pulling a face at the lone right headlight torching a beam of silvery light into a nearby hedge. A lethargic glow from the left headlight pierced through the dense snow packed around it. The whole car was pitched at a precarious angle.

Pippa wondered if she might be able to reverse out of the ditch.

‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained,’ she shrugged, turning back to the driver’s side.

Easing back into her seat so she wouldn’t upset the car’s balance, she turned on the ignition and crunched the stiff gear lever into Reverse. Her heart skipped a beat as the wheels found traction and inched backwards, but a moment later it was gone again and the wheels spun on the packed snow.

‘Bugger, bugger, bugger! Damn, damn, damn! Bloody hell!’

She leaned her forehead on the cold steering wheel. She didn’t know if the AA would be able to find her out here, besides which, she thought with a grimace, she hadn’t included breakdown cover in her insurance policy. She groaned. Jack would have a field day when he found out. She looked over shoulder, relieved that at least the car was more or less off the road then tried to work out what to do next.

Call for a Helensvale taxi? Walk home? It would have been a ten minute drive from here, she figured. It would take her forever to walk, especially in the snow. Would she make it in the cold? She’d try for a taxi first.

She scooped her mobile out of her bag. She groaned again when she saw the stark text
No signal – Emergency calls only
.

Did this count as an emergency? Was one allowed to ring 999 to order a taxi? Probably not, she would have to be suffering from hypothermia and frostbite before she qualified.

She stuffed her phone back into her bag and got out of the car, slamming the door as she did so. With a rueful shake of her head, she watched the Beetle tip what few inches it had regained, back into the ditch. She tucked her chin into the upturned collar of her coat, plugged her hands into her pockets and trudged in the direction of Hazyvale, snowflakes tickling her frozen cheeks.

Pippa felt like she had walked miles, but when she turned to look back at the lonesome outline of her car, she realised with a sinking heart that she had barely gone two hundred metres. Hunching her shoulders, she pressed on.

Moments later, her shadow began to deepen in front of her as a car approached from behind. Pippa stopped, ready to wave them down. She saw it slow as it passed the Beetle then watched as it drove on towards her. A sigh of relief flooded her chest as she saw the indicator switch on just as it reached her. She pushed away the sliver of unease as she recalled the horror stories of butchered hitchhikers. The passenger door was pushed open and she bent her head to see the driver.

‘Finn!’ she cried. ‘Thank God it’s you!’

‘Y’ all right, Pippa? I thought that was yer car back there. Come, get in before you freeze yourself to death.’

Pippa didn’t need to be asked twice. She hopped into the heated car and rubbed her hands together in an attempt to build some warmth.

Finn gave her a sympathetic smile and brushed a frozen tendril of her hair behind her ear.

‘What happened?’

While he drove, Pippa explained.

‘...And I couldn’t see a thing. Then I lost control and it went into the ditch,’ she concluded with a defeated shrug. ‘I’ve never driven in snow. I didn’t know what I was meant to do.’

Finn shook his head.

‘An easy mistake to make if you’re not used to this weather. By the sounds of it, you probably would have ended up in the ditch no matter what. Do you not have breakdown recovery?’

‘No. I was trying to cut costs.’

‘Not a bother. I’ll drive you home and we’ll sort your car out tomorrow.’

‘Will it be okay, do you think?’ she asked, wringing her thawing hands.

‘Aye, for the night it will be. The traffic’s not mad on this road, you know yourself, and there’ll be even less in this weather.’

Pippa made a non-committal noise, wondering how on earth she would get around if her car was broken and couldn’t be driven.

Finn turned off onto the single lane road leading to Hazyvale House and Pippa flashed him a grateful smile.

‘Thank you for helping. I would have been out there walking for hours if you hadn’t come by. I don’t know what enjoyment Ralph Fiennes gets from trekking across the Arctic. I hope I haven’t made you late for anything.’

Finn gave her a strange look, which was quickly replaced with his usual smile.

‘No, I was headin’ into Helensvale to see someone at The Plough – a friend. I’ll only be a couple of minutes late.’

‘Must be a special friend to make you drive on a night like this,’ Pippa grinned.

Finn gave an awkward chuckle.

‘Aye, special is one word to describe ’em.’

Pippa stopped him at Hazyvale’s gate.

‘Now don’t you worry nothin’ about tomorrow. I’ll pick you up for work and we’ll sort out a tractor or something to haul your car out as well.’

She felt so grateful she wanted to kiss him, but resisted the urge. Instead, she gave him her sincerest smile and let herself out.

‘Thanks again. Enjoy the rest of your evening.’

‘You too. Oh, and Pippa?’

Pippa paused as she went to swing the door shut.

‘Yes?’

‘Sir Ranulph Fiennes.’

‘Sorry?’

Finn grinned.

‘You said Ralph Fiennes enjoyed trekking across the Arctic. Yer Ralph Fiennes is an actor, you know. Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the mad git who walked everywhere in snow boots.’

Pippa snorted.

‘Ah, yes. Quite right.’

Finn winked.

‘Goodnight then.’

Pippa closed the door and wobbled in her heels up the uneven driveway. She turned as Finn tooted the horn and waved as he drove away. She sighed and continued on towards the front door. What a disastrous night. What more disasters would tomorrow bring?

A
s promised, Finn was waiting for Pippa the next morning, the exhaust from his idling car belching out thick steamy fumes which drifted across Hazyvale’s driveway. The snow had stopped falling and what had settled on the ground was beginning to turn to slush.

Pippa hurried from her front door into the front seat, sighing exultantly as she was met by the furnace blast of the heater.

‘Thank you for helping me out.’

‘Not a bother.’ Finn patted her clasped hands.

She noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes and concluded whoever the ‘friend’ was that he had met up with last night hadn’t let him get to bed until late. Or perhaps hadn’t let him get to
sleep
might be more appropriate, she corrected her thoughts. Going to bed didn’t necessitate sleeping.

‘Good night last night?’ she said as they swung onto the road.

Finn shrugged.

‘Aye,’ he replied non-commitally. ‘I’ll give you a number of a mate who can get your car out. He’s got a garage not far from here. Better than any of the garages around, he won’t cheat you so you’ll be safe.’

‘Thanks. I really appreciate it,’ Pippa said as sincerely as she could.

His abrupt change of subject got her wondering though. He obviously didn’t want to talk about his friend from the previous night, even though he’d never struck her as being a particularly private person. Their brief moment of intimacy at The Plough after Aspen Valley’s Open Day had forged a friendship between them, which Pippa enjoyed, but was still unsure of.

Was Finn purposefully avoiding telling Pippa of his personal relationships in an effort to protect her? If he was seeing a girl then perhaps it would be better to tell him not to worry, she already had a boyfriend.

No, Pippa decided. To say that would give her away and if he was simply meeting up with an old friend then she would be left with a very red face.

Or
, a sceptical voice in her head spoke up, you enjoy Finn’s attention and setting him straight would put an end to that.

She blocked the voice from her thoughts and turned to her companion.

‘It’s the Cheltenham Festival Trials this weekend, isn’t it?’

‘To be sure,’ Finn nodded. ‘And if the course passes inspection this morning then it’ll be a tough card to ride in.’

‘Don’t you get afraid?’ she asked. Jump racing looked scary enough for the jockeys, especially when they took such crunching falls, but to ride in such awful weather she felt must be terrifying.

‘No room for fear,’ he grinned. ‘The moment I lose confidence in myself is the moment I fall. The horse can tell, you know.’

‘How can he tell?’

‘Horses might be dumb, but they make up for it with their other senses. A horse can feel if his rider is wettin’ his cacks. And if he senses you doubting a fence then he’ll lose confidence in himself and will probably make a mistake.’

‘You’re very brave.’

Finn laughed.

‘Or off my nut, one or the other.’

Pippa smiled, again noting the tired lines on his face. It was a young face, full of humour, made especially attractive by his laughing eyes, but the faint lines made him look older, more mature. He was probably no older than Pippa really, but he seemed so much more worldly to her.

‘No, you don’t look crazy. Brave suits you better,’ she said before she could stop herself.

Finn glanced across at her and grinned.

‘You’re coddin’ me. Me ma is forever tellin’ me I was dropped on my head as a babby.’

‘Does it frighten her when you ride?’

Finn shrugged.

‘She gets uptight when I ride in the National. She doesn’t want to lose her only child I guess. Otherwise, I guess she’s used to it.’

‘Is the National really that tough?’ Pippa asked.

‘Aye, but it’s the one we all want to win. You don’t become a mountaineer without wanting to conquer Everest.’

‘I hope Peace Offering will cope,’ she murmured, the first seed of doubt germinating in her mind.

Finn took his hand off the steering wheel and squeezed her knee.

‘There’s no horse I’ve ever felt safer on than he. He might not be the fastest, but he’s a grand le’per. Clean jump a row of houses for the fun of it.’

Jack was outside, supervising the loading of horses into Aspen Valley’s horse truck when they pulled up in the car park. He frowned at Pippa’s arrival by Finn’s side, his eyes narrowing with suspicion when he also noted Finn’s lack of sleep.

‘Racing still on?’ Pippa asked optimistically.

Jack nodded.

‘For now. The Met office are saying the snow will hold off for another day or so, but you can never believe a bloody word they say.’

Pippa couldn’t argue with that, her confidence in weather forecasts was just as dubious.

‘Let’s hope it’s worth it then,’ she said and headed past him towards the office. She could feel his eyes burning her back. Seconds later, she heard the crunch of his footsteps on the gravel as he followed her. She didn’t look back.

Let him think what he wants, she thought in defiance. What I do in my personal time is my own business and nothing to do with him.

She let herself into the office and was shedding her coat and handbag when Jack made his entrance. She waited for him to speak, looking at him expectantly and for the first time, saw him back down.

He stomped into his office, but reappeared moments later.

‘Entries and decs for next week,’ he said, holding out a ring-binder.