He put the travel cage down on the bed and opened the door.
‘Where’ve you been?’ Buddy screeched, peering down at Marcus from the top of the wardrobe.
‘Hello, mate,’ Marcus said. ‘Look what I’ve got for you.’ He sat down on the bed and unpeeled the banana. Then he took a bite out of the top of it.
There was a flutter of wings and then Buddy was on his shoulder, biting into the banana too. Marcus let Buddy nibble it for a while, then casually tossed the last piece of banana into the cage. Buddy squawked and flew in after it. Marcus closed the cage triumphantly.
‘Hey, well done!’ Hattie said, clapping. ‘I’m so pleased to see him eating.’
‘I’m used to looking after him. I know what he likes. And he’s used to me. I guess he’s been missing me.’ Marcus picked up the cage and carried it down the stairs, leaving Hattie to follow him.
‘Thanks so much,’ she said as they both reached the bottom of the stairs.
‘No problem. I was going to come around later to ask you if you wanted me to take Buddy anyway. I thought he might be too much for you.’ Marcus strode up the hall towards the front door, the cage cradled in his arms so that he didn’t unsettle Buddy too much. ‘If you wouldn’t mind opening the door for me,’ he called over his shoulder. He heard hurried steps behind him, then suddenly Hattie was standing in front of him, barring the door.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she demanded.
He stared at her. ‘Taking Buddy home, of course.’
‘You are not! This is Buddy’s home. I asked you to help me catch him, not to take him away.’
Marcus shifted the weight of the cage in his arms. ‘You’re telling me that you want me to leave him here? That you want to look after him?’
Hattie had her hands on her hips now and looked furious. ‘Yes, I am. How dare you assume that I wanted rid of him?’
‘Well, you couldn’t be bothered to visit your uncle, even when he was dying, so I presumed you wouldn’t want to look after his parrot!’
She tossed her head back and jutted out her chin. ‘Before you jump to conclusions and judge people, you should check your facts.’ Her eyes glittered and her cheeks glowed. ‘I lost touch with Uncle Albert because my parents divorced when I was twelve and my dad went to live in France with his new partner. Obviously, my mother didn’t want to come down and visit her brother-in-law and I wasn’t going to come down by myself, was I, when I barely knew him and was already trying to cope with the fallout from the divorce, as well as a new neighbourhood, new school and absent father. Yes, we lost touch, but Uncle Albert didn’t contact me to ask how I was, either. Communication works both ways!’ She grabbed the cage out of his arms. ‘I am very grateful to Uncle Albert for leaving me and my dad his cottage, and have every intention of looking after his parrot. So, if you wouldn’t mind letting yourself out!’ She stormed off into the lounge and slammed the door shut behind her with her foot.
Chapter Seven
Hattie was shaking with anger. That man was pig-headed, sanctimonious, judgemental and downright infuriating. And the less she saw of him the better. How dare he judge her like that without even knowing the facts? It’s not as if she even lived in the same area as Uncle Albert; she lived hundreds of miles away and he hadn’t been in touch with her once since her parents had split. No phone call, Christmas card, birthday card, zilch.
‘Bloody hell!’ Buddy squawked as Hattie clumsily dropped the cage down on the table. It was heavy!
‘Sorry, Buddy!’ She sank down into a chair, resting her head on her hands. She was exhausted already and had no idea how she was going to get Buddy back into the bigger cage and give this smaller one back to Marcus. She looked over at the couple of bananas in the fruit bowl by the fridge. Perhaps she could open the door of the big cage, put a banana inside it, carry this smaller one over to it, open the door, and then Buddy would hop from one cage to the other.
Or fly away again. That would be just her luck.
She closed her eyes, the turmoil of the past few days washing over her. She had lost her job and her home, then come down here on impulse, grasping at the chance to make a fresh start, but had she done the right thing? Should she have stopped in her flat until the month was up, and signed up with an agency to get office work? She’d already made an enemy, the cottage needed a lot of cleaning up, and the parrot was a nightmare. What if she made a mess of the wedding photography next Saturday, too?
If she got the job, that was. She had only ever photographed friends’ weddings before. Mandy had said that Ellie was the manager’s daughter and her husband-to-be, Reece, the hotel co-owner. They would be expecting professional photographs. What if hers weren’t good enough?
There was a knock on the lounge door, and she looked around as it slowly opened.
‘Is it safe to come in?’ Marcus asked, poking his head around the door.
God, is he still here?
‘If you’re
