The Alpha's Saviour

Chapter 9

Hayley POV

When I arrive back in to work on Tuesday morning, it’s immediately clear that news of my dramatic weekend has reached everyone in the office. I walk into the single-story red brick building, situated just off the main street in Pine Ridge and there are a big bunch of flowers and a hamper of muffins waiting for me at reception. Everybody keeps hugging me which seems a bit over the top since I only started here six weeks ago and have largely kept to myself. Angela the receptionist has tears in her eyes as she goes in for a second squeeze and it dawns on me that they aren’t so much super happy that I am ok, but instead are unbelievably grateful that Cooper is. Angela’s white hair is scraped back in bun, and her eyes are shining behind her dark rimmed glasses as she holds my hands and smiles at me.

“God bless you Hayley, what a wonderful thing you’ve done.” She says, patting my arm and shaking her head as if she can’t quite believe it. Cooper appears to be equally loved by all my colleagues and they genuinely appear to be shaken up by the whole thing. It makes me wonder who he is that everyone is this affected by him getting hurt.

“Ok Angela, I think that’s enough, let her breathe,” coaxes Greg as he pries me from her grasp and leads me towards his office. The small accountancy firm has 10 staff, Greg who is the owner, me and two other senior staff member, John and Alice, have small offices lining the back wall, while there is a pool of desks in front occupied by the junior and admin staff, with a high reception desk at the front and a frosted glass wall separating the open plan space from the front door.  

“Are you sure you’re ok to be back in today?” Greg asks me with concern, peering over the top of this glasses at me. The grey cardigan he wears over his white shirt and red tie, along with the salt and pepper beard serve to make him look more like an English professor than an accountant but he has built up a great practice here and has some very substantial clients considering the remote location.

“I appreciate you worrying about me, I really do, but I promise you that I am absolutely fine, they only kept me in overnight as a pre-caution.” I respond. He smiles brightly then and grabs one of my hands in both of his, a surprisingly warm gesture from my new boss, who has been friendly but quite formal since I started. Probably because I have been keeping my distance too, mainly because I’m terrible liar, and the best way to avoid lying in my situation is to avoid personal conversations altogether.  

“You have no idea what you have done for this community, I am so proud to have you on our staff here.” His voice is thick with emotion, and this all seems a little much, but I smile back and nod because I am not sure what else to do. I wonder if they’re related or something? Maybe that’s it, in a small town like this, this Cooper guy is probably related to half of the people here and that’s why they’re all so upset. Greg clears his throat and drops my hand as if remembering himself.

“Well, anyway, back to business, Jonathan Jones has dropped in some documents for us to review ahead of a potential acquisition. The Jones’s already have two spa resorts and are looking at buying a third. Could you have a look? That’s more your area of expertise than mine.”

“Of course. No problem at all.” I respond. He passes a stack of documentation over to me and I grin, delighted to get stuck into something interesting for our largest client.

I have barely sat down at my desk when my office door bursts open and a glamorous brown-haired lady, the type that you can’t really place their age, barges in without knocking. She is closely followed by the dark-haired beauty that I saw with Ethan outside the hospital.

“Mum! You can’t just walk in; you have to knock!” Up close she is even more stunning, long shiny chestnut hair hangs down to the middle of her back, gorgeous sallow skin sets off hazel-colored eyes and full red lips. I take in the other lady and if she hadn’t just announced this was her mother, I would have thought they were sisters. The benefits of good genes are clearly on display right in front of me.

“Hush Leila, everyone here knows me, they don’t mind!” She tuts at her daughter, and then faces me with a mega-watt smile and my eyebrows shoot to my hairline as I am fixed with her laser like attention. “Hayley! Oh, thank you, thank you!” Another hug, and she hangs on to me for dear life and a few seconds longer than I am comfortable with, especially since I have no clue who she is. I flick my eyes up to meet Leila’s, who rolls her eyes and groans.

“I am so sorry,” she says to me apologetically, “Mum, get off her, she doesn’t know who you are. You’re scaring her.”

“Oh, oh, forgive my terrible manners! I am Cooper’s mother, Maria. And this is his sister, Leila.” she says, still holding onto my upper arms but pushing back slightly to look me in the eye again. She beams at me, again staring a little longer than would be deemed normal. Leila grins and shakes her head behind her mother’s back. I stifle a laugh and reach out a hand to take the gift bag Leila thrusts at me around her mother who has still not fully released me.

 “Ah, Mrs. Cooper…or sorry, Maria” I correct myself when she scowls at me calling her Mrs., “Lovely to meet you, would you like to sit down? How is Cooper doing?” I gesture to the two chairs in front of my desk. Leila goes to refuse but Maria immediately sits down gracefully in the nearest chair prompting an exasperated sigh from her daughter.

“Mum, I am sure Hayley has other things to do. Like her job which we have just barged in on.” She sounds exasperated, but Maria studiously ignores her.

“Oh, he’s doing great, isn’t he Leila? And it’s all thanks to you,” she glances at Leila who is frowning at her and shrugs, “well ok, he’s not exactly great, but he will be. Ethan tells me that you managed to pull him out of the water all on your own, so brave. I can’t understand how, especially now that I see you, you’re only a slip of a thing. But I will forever consider you family for what you have done for ours.” I am completely taken aback, that is quite a declaration.

“That sounds more like a punishment than anything else Mum,” Leila teases.

“Wow, well, thank you for your kind words. I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time. Please tell Cooper that I asked after him and wish him a speedy recovery, I’m sure I’ll bump him at some point…” I am trying to wrap this up, uncomfortable with the attention and the praise.

“Leila’s birthday, you must come! I won’t take no for an answer. Leila, take Hayley out for lunch this week and let her know the plans.” Maria insists, not leaving any opportunity for either of us to protest. Leila mouths sorry at me and grins.

“Does Friday work? I’ll meet you here at 1?” she asks. I nod, I know I’ve been trying to keep under the radar but at the same time, it’s nearly two months since I moved here, and I need to make some friends if I’m going to stick around. Leila seems nice and it’ll be good to have some proper non-work-related conversation. Just as they go to leave, a large shadow fills the doorway and a deep, masculine voice booms out.

“Hey Hayls, I stopped by yesterday but ……” Marcus freezes the second he steps into my already tiny but now absolutely jammed office. He is a mountain of a man, probably 6ft 5 inches tall but built like a wall of solid muscle. “Leila, Mrs. Cooper, apologies for interrupting.” He nods politely, holding out one of the cups of coffee in his hands to me awkwardly, and the tension in the room is palpable as I reach out to take it. It doesn’t escape my attention that he looks everywhere but at Leila, who is wringing her hands in her lap and studying them intently.

“I stopped by yesterday, but they said you were taking the day off. I need to get your statement about the accident.” He continues, but we’ve already had this conversation on the phone this morning, so it feels like he is justifying why he was there to the others rather than to me. I know he’s not actually here to get my statement. I chance another look at Leila who is blushing to her roots, and I suppress a grin, very interesting. Maria looks back and forth between me and Marcus and grins, seemingly getting completely the wrong idea about where the awkwardness in the room was coming from.

“Oh, I see. Don’t let us keep you dear,” she laughs and winks, waving goodbye while Leila practically runs from the office. I turn to Marcus who has a pained expression on his face and laughter bursts from my lips before I can help myself,

“Marcus, what was that? You and Leila, eh?” The man looks completely lost as he rubs a hand along the back of his neck.

“No. I mean…. it’s complicated,” he states shortly, making it clear he has no intentions of elaborating further. The big man doesn’t look quite so tough at this moment in time, flustered and desperate to change the topic of conversation. He clearly has some history or a soft spot for Coopers sister.

“I bet it is.” I wink at him and decide to let him off the hook by dropping the subject. Marcus is the sheriff, and I went to visit him to explain my situation as soon as I came to town. He has been kind enough to check in with me each Monday since then to see if I have had any problems, and I suspect he drives by the house regularly as he always comments on the little bits of work I have managed to do. It’s nice to know someone is looking out for me when I can’t be near my family. It’s what my big brother would do if he were here. He is as close to a friend as I have in the town so far, but I still don’t know him well enough to push. I do wonder though whether I’ll be able to get more information out of Leila on Friday.