The Broken Man by Josephine Cox

Author:Josephine Cox [Cox, Josephine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-01-31T06:00:00+00:00

Left alone in the house, Mick closed his eyes and enjoyed the quiet. For a time he had nothing on his mind. Then he had everything on his mind.

He thought about work, and all the things he had to do. He mentally back-tracked on his day at work and the lorries he had loaded up at the warehouse, satisfying himself that he had not missed anything; that the orders had been properly sent out and all the paperwork was done.

He thought about money. Thankfully, he and Sally had good jobs, so financially they were quite comfortable.

He thought about the future stretching far ahead of him, and he hoped it would be with Sally, because without her, there was no future worth having.

Inevitably, his thoughts reluctantly lingered on the cruel fact that Sally could not conceive. Yet even though the idea of never being a father cut him deep, he felt hugely compensated by the fact that he had a wife in a million. And besides, a man can never have everything, or there would be nothing left to yearn for.

He quickly shifted his thoughts to his mates down at the pub. Should he meet up with them? Or should he not?

He thought about all the work waiting to be done. There was a dripping tap in the kitchen, and last night he had heard one of the roof slates rattling in the breeze. That was another thing that needed fixing. Then there was the curtain rail in the back bedroom.

Oh, yes! The curtain rail.

He thought about the way Sally had grimaced when he mentioned going down the pub.

He knew she suspected the barmaid had her eye on him, even though she also knew he would never look at another woman. And why should he, when he already had the best woman in the world by his side?

Sighing, he shook his head, ‘Fancy Sal thinking I would ever entertain that barmaid!’ Still, even if he wasn’t interested, it was still flattering to know a pretty woman had an eye for him.

Getting out of the chair, he thought he’d better fix that curtain rail, before going to the pub.

Going through the hallway to collect the shed key from the kitchen, he paused by the wall mirror to flex his muscles. ‘You’ve still got it, my boy!’ He smiled. ‘Oh, yes! You’ve still got it!’

A few minutes later, he went out of the back door and down the garden to his little tool shed. Glancing around at the many shelves, overflowing with bric-a-brac, he groaned. One of these weekends he’d have to spend a few hours staightening all this lot out. Jeez! It was like a junk shop.

He raked the shelves with his eyes. Some of the stuff had been here since they’d moved in.

He searched the bottom shelf for the big black toolbox, but it was nowhere to be found. Then he looked up and spotted it on the top shelf, sitting awkwardly beside an old packing case. He decided he could just reach it without fetching the ladder from the garage.

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