Christmas had come and gone and with no obvious threats to deal with in Scotland, Section D had returned to the grid.
What a bloody waste of time that was, they had all concluded, apart from Zaf who had made a killing from his book and Harry who up until a week ago been happier than could ever remember.
Ruth it seemed, had overnight reverted to the stumbling and nervous wreck she had always been around Harry.
Only she knew why and although berating herself for her less than decisive behaviour which was clearly confusing and upsetting Harry, she felt totally incapable of dealing with what had happened in the past week, now that they were back to reality. In Scotland she had been able to be the person she had long dreamed of, wear lovely clothes and spend time with the man that she loved. Now back on the grid, she was back to being plain Ruth Evershed, his analyst and worse still, wearing her bloody thermals.
Holiday romances were notorious she thought and let's face it, their time in Scotland, had as it had turned out been little more than a holiday. The more she analysed it, the more she came to think that maybe Harry had taken advantage of the situation made available to him which had after all had come as a result of Adam's concocted legends. What on earth must the others be thinking or even worse be talking about behind their backs she thought.
Sitting in the meeting room discussing the lack of work that had been required over the past week, would only lead conversations as to how they had all spent their time, including her and Harry. Unable to cope with what she thought would probably be said, she decided to ring Malcolm and tell her she wasn't feeling well and was taking a day off sick. Malcolm wouldn't gossip and she trusted him more than any of others.
Seated around the meeting room table an hour later Harry's confusion turned to genuine concern. Ruth had certainly been behaving strangely since they had arrived back, in fact apart from a kiss on her doorstep when they had arrived at her house, she had barely spoken to him.
'Where's Ruth?' he asked.
Apart from Malcolm who wasn't privy to what had apparently happened in Scotland, they wondered quite why he was asking them.
'Don't you know?' said Adam, immediately wishing that he hadn't opened his mouth as Harry with his pre-Scotland grid voice replied that he wouldn't be asking if he did.
'She called in sick' ventured Malcom ' although she didn't say what was wrong, he went on.'
As the meeting broke up, Harry indicated to Malcolm to follow him into his office.
Once Harry's door was closed and Malcolm was seated in front of him, he decided that he might as well ask the question that had been bugging him ever since they had all returned.
'How did it go, with Ruth I mean, I assume that you told her how you feel?'
'Of course, said Harry, still miles away, if Malcolm's reading of the situation was anything to go by.
'That's wonderful,' he said, wondering why it was that Harry seemed to have stopped listening to what he was saying, only to be left open mouthed by Harry's next remark.
'What should I do Malcom, everything was fine when we were away and now she's back to running a mile every time I go near her?'
Sitting looking at Harry, the penny suddenly dropped and Malcolm realised that perhaps Harry's idea of telling Ruth how he felt had been more along the lines of his previous relationships, and not at all what Ruth had needed. Oh God he thought, please don't tell me he's blown this.
' Harry,' he said 'can I say something without getting my head bitten off?'
Not getting a reply, he ploughed on. ' Harry this is Ruth that we are talking about, she's not worldly wise like you, she's gentle and needs to be loved, believe me she must be feeling totally out of her depth with all this.' 'You did you actually think to tell her you're in love with her didn't you?'
'Oh God Malcolm' he said, 'how do I put this right?'
