Free Keeping the Peace by Hannah Hooton Page A

these days.’
    Pippa didn’t know what else to do except laugh obligingly. Jack looked even more uncomfortable.
    ‘Are you ready to go?’ Melissa asked him.
    ‘Yes, I think so. Pippa, you’ll be all right, won’t you?’
    ‘You don’t have to worry about me. Good luck.’
    Melissa laughed, a tinkling of ice cubes in a crystal glass, and she placed a slim manicured hand to her chest.
    ‘Pippa, what would he need luck for? I don’t intend to eat Jack, just eat with Jack.’
    ‘Oh, no! I didn’t mean that! I just meant for this afternoon – the racing this afternoon.’
    Jack nodded and unhooked his jacket from the back of his chair.
    ‘Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
    He guided Melissa out of the office with his hand in the small of her back. Pippa watched them leave, a curious frown on her brow. So that was Melissa. She looked like a right madam, and she was certain that handbag was an authentic Louis Vuitton.

     
    Pippa was just slipping into her coat, looking forward to her lunchtime cigarette and exploration of Helensvale when the office door opened. A young man stepped in, a gust of icy wind accompanying him. His sandy blond hair and comic grin looked vaguely familiar.
    Pippa’s brain rushed to place him.
    ‘Jaysus, that wind’d freeze the balls off a brass monkey. Howsa goin’?’
    ‘You’re the jogger!’ Pippa cried, pointing at him in triumph as she recognised the broad Irish accent.
    The young man studied Pippa for a long moment.
    ‘Aye, I’ve been known to.’
    Pippa stared back at him, still astonished how small the country must be compared to the city.
    ‘Sorry, I’m Pippa. We met a few weeks back. I was trying to find this place and you stopped to give me directions.’
    A grin of recognition split his face.
    ‘That’s right. I remember now. You found us a’right then?’ Couldn’t find yer way back though?’
    Pippa gestured to the office they stood in with outstretched arms.
    ‘I work here now. As Jack’s secretary. Today’s my first day.’
    He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head.
    ‘Do you know what you’re letting yourself in fer?’
    ‘Oh, it can’t be as bad as that.’ She fobbed him off with a wave of her hand. ‘I’ve survived the morning anyhow. I was just about to go into Helensvale for lunch. Can I help you with anything before I go?’
    ‘That you can. Yer man, Billy, has cut himself on some fencing wire, so he has.’
    ‘Is he okay?’ she said uncertainly. She knew how to dress burns from hot plates, but fencing wire hadn’t been in abundance in London kitchens so hadn’t been included in her First Aid training.
    ‘He’s all cleaned up, the eejit, but it’ll need to go in the Accident Report Book.’
    Pippa gave an audible sigh.
    ‘Thank God for that. I wonder where the Accident Report Book is kept...’ she murmured to herself, opening and closing the desk drawers.
    Her guest didn’t comment, happy to rest his arms on the reception unit and watch her.
    ‘A-ha!’ she announced, brandishing a grubby hardback notebook from a tray. ‘Here we are. Date... Nature of Incident... Persons Involved – God, this isn’t the first time Billy’s been in the wars,’ she said, noticing his name listed in numerous other reports. ‘Action Taken... Reported by...’ She halted her pen. ‘Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.’
    He gave her a mischievous grin.
    ‘Finn O’Donaghue, at yer service.’
    ‘Oh! Jack mentioned you. You’re the jockey,’ Pippa said, pleased to be able to put a face to the name she had been inputting during her entries and declarations earlier.
    ‘More commonly known as The Jogger, but I answer to both.’
    Pippa chuckled, shaking her head and wrote his name in the book. She closed it and glanced up to find Finn regarding her with laughing green eyes. Not knowing what to say next, she smiled again at him and fiddled with the top button of her coat.
    ‘I’ll not keep you from yer lunch,’ he said after a pause.