After all, she may not be in love with him now. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t get her to fall for him, let her see that he could be exactly what she was looking for. That guy who had been right in front of her face all along. He could do that anonymously, without any risk to his pride, because she’d handed him the method. He could try and find out what it was that was bothering her, because she might talk to a stranger in the same way she’d encouraged him to talk in the beginning.
While doing that, he could vet all her other ‘candidates’.
Any interference with those candidates along the way would of course, naturally, be unintentional.
CHAPTER FOUR
HE WAS ‘at’ something.
At the morning meeting of crews in the station Sean smiled brightly at everyone, joked around with the other cameramen and flirted with their editor’s assistant before plonking himself down next to her with a grin and a ‘Hiya’ before the briefing started. That action alone made her nervous, for varying reasons.
She felt her body warm when his knee accidentally brushed against her thigh, was aware of every breath he took. She noticed how any movement in the room, displacing the air around them, would bring the scent of his aftershave to her sensitive nostrils.
So she retaliated with coldness. ‘Sarah’s a bit young for you, don’t you think?’
Sean smiled at her stern profile. ‘She’s legal. What more do I need to worry about?’
‘Oh, I don’t know…the nuclear fallout that might naturally accompany the break-up of some little affair?’ She turned her head to glare at him up close and personal. ‘And in the workplace that probably wouldn’t be the best career decision you’ve ever made, now, would it?’ Sean grinned a wolf-like grin at her. ‘That wouldn’t be a teeny bit of jealousy there, now, would it?’
Maggie snorted gracefully. ‘Dream on.’
He nudged her so suddenly she ended up nudging the guy beside her and had to take a second to apologise. Then she scowled back at him. ‘She’s twenty-three, Sean; leave her be. Let her discover most guys are snakes on her own.’
Sean focused his eyes forward, his voice dropping as the meeting started. ‘Maybe she should date someone with slightly better manners. Someone nice and polite.’ He tilted his head to whisper, ‘Someone who says please before they do anything.’
It took a moment for her to decipher his meaning. When she got it she gaped at him like a goldfish and struggled to find words that her mother wouldn’t slap her for saying. The inner struggle distracted her from mundane little things, like the meeting they were in. To the extent that it took two attempts at her name before her eyes focused on their editor.
‘You with us, Maggie?’
She flushed. ‘Yes, Joe; sorry.’
Joe quirked an eyebrow and handed her a sheet of paper. ‘There have been cuts in the fishing quotas so I want you to head to one of those wee ports on the Co. Down coast and see what the locals have to say.’
She nodded as she speed-read what he’d given her:
Usual background stuff, interviews with the families and local shop owners and then something with one of the crews out on a trawler.
Her eyes widened as she glanced up. ‘On the boat? As in at sea on the boat?’
‘Yes; is that a problem?’
‘No.’ She shook her head and pinned a smile on her face. ‘Not a problem. How long a piece?’
His eyes widened at the question. ‘Well, how about you just bring us as much as you can and we’ll edit it together? You know, it really depends what else comes up in the headlines.’
He moved on to the next crew and Maggie looked back at the sheet of contacts in front of her. This day just got better by the second. She hated boats. Really, truly couldn’t stand them. Ever since she’d gone swimming off one as a child. With a little help from her brother’s hands in the centre of her back, that was. The fear of water had never left her.
She swallowed hard and glanced at Sean as he leaned in to read over her shoulder. That at least distracted her from the thought of spending some of her day on a boat.
‘You OK?’ He looked at her eyes, close to his, one dark brow rising in question.
‘Oh, yeah, just fine and dandy.’ She smiled through clenched white teeth.
‘Great stuff.’ He leaned back, and within a few minutes the meeting broke up and they set off to drive to the east coast.
She had thought the journey would be hell. That after the conversation the night before and his wise-arse comments during the meeting she wouldn’t be able to face him. Or stay trapped with him in a car without ending up arguing with him. But it was like none of the previous things had ever happened. In fact Sean was more like they had both been in the good old days, when they got along a whole pile better.
He told her tales about Don and Rachel gardening the day before, with all their little glances and blushes. He talked about how they really should put low lighting along the path to the house, for safety reasons. He whittered away about her sister Kath’s new husband and what a great guy he was. But never once did he mention Bryan, their conversation after Bryan had left or how much he disagreed with her method of finding a husband. It freaked her out.
Something was going on.
The initial interviews with families of the trawler crews went smoothly, as did the ones with local businessmen who would see their own livelihoods affected if the fishing crews had to quit. Like every other small community built around the fishing industry, this one knew a cut in quotas could in time lead to the end of the village. And the fear came through as each of the people opened up to Maggie’s friendly manner and easy-going questioning.
Then came the thing that Maggie had been dreading for the entire day. It was time to take a trip on the big, wide ocean.
Her stomach churned and she watched the trees on the water’s edge shift as the wind picked up.
‘It’s getting windy.’
Sean glanced up from his camera and followed her gaze. ‘Some. Nothing compared to what these guys go out in half the time, though, I’ll bet.’
Her stomach churned again. And she hadn’t even left the safety of the stone jetty yet.
‘They’re very brave.’
Sean shrugged. ‘It’s what they do. I guess they don’t see it as anything but doing another day’s work.’
A burly man in a bright yellow waterproof coat smiled up at them as they walked to the end of the jetty.
‘You must be the TV people.’
Sean grinned and reached a large hand out to shake the other man’s. ‘Yep, that’s us. You must be Mike.’ ‘Mike McCabe. This here’s The Sally at the end.’
‘I’m Sean O’Reilly, this is Maggie Sullivan.’ Sean’s eyes drifted to Maggie’s pale face, surprised when she didn’t greet Mike with her trademark hundred-watt smile. ‘She’s normally brighter than this.’
Maggie glanced at him and then recovered, smiling as she shook Mike’s hand. ‘Hi, Mike.’
Mike’s ruddy face went even ruddier as she smiled at him. ‘Nice to meet you, Miss Sullivan. We see you on the box all the time.’
Maggie’s smile faded as he released her hand and turned towards the brightly coloured trawler. The scent of fish hit her nostrils, not exactly helping her churning stomach. ‘So this is your boat, then, Mike.’
‘Aye.’ He beamed with pride as he jumped down