Chapter 22
‘Hey Lottie!’
Startled, I looked up from my hammering to find Simon standing in the barn doorway scratching his head and looking at the vans. I felt furious that I’d lost track of time. When I set to work it had been my intention to have everything all locked up before he was finished but I’d become so engrossed in what I was doing, I hadn’t realised the hours had ticked by and now he had had to come and find me.
‘Hey,’ I called back, pulling off my safety glasses. ‘I’ll be there in a sec.’
I was relieved to see him walk back out again and, abandoning my tools and calling to Minnie, I quickly followed his lead and pushed the barn door shut. I had no reason to think I couldn’t trust him, but I still wasn’t ready to share my grand plan with anyone other than Amber and was concerned that if he had the opportunity to look for too long he might start asking questions, or worse still, guess what I had in mind.
‘All done up at the cottage,’ he said, rubbing his hands together. ‘Shower works a treat and the new fuse board is in place.’
‘Oh, that’s great,’ I said, for some reason thinking of the shower in Will’s bathroom. ‘No more baths for me this summer then.’
‘I was actually surprised by how good your water pressure is,’ said Simon with a nod back towards the cottage. ‘Some places round here can barely manage a trickle sometimes, but yours wasn’t all that bad. It wouldn’t have been able to cope with a really powerful shower, of course, but all things considered you were lucky there. You made a good choice.’
I made a mental note to thank Will for the heads-up and guessed that was something else I was going to have to think about when it came to setting up the site. As soon as Simon left I would add ‘water supply’ to my ever-increasing list of queries.
‘That’s a relief then,’ I said.
‘You’ve certainly got a lovely place here, Lottie,’ said Simon wistfully. ‘I’d give my right arm for a spot like this.’
‘I know I’m very lucky,’ I agreed. ‘But I also know there are a few people round here who would rather it wasn’t me who had moved in.’
‘What do you mean?’ Simon frowned.
‘All the gossiping in town,’ I told him. ‘Chris Dempster told me the day I moved in that there were some who were hoping this place would come up for sale and haven’t been too impressed with the fact that Gwen has left it all to me. Bit of a contradiction for a town which prides itself on being so welcoming to outsiders, don’t you think?’
‘Well, to tell you the truth,’ Simon confided, ‘if I’d seen a “For Sale” board anywhere near here I would have put in an offer straight away, but as far as any gossip goes, I haven’t heard anything.’
‘Well, I have,’ I said bluntly, thinking that he was being more than a little economical with the truth. ‘Only last week some chap told me that I would be putting the place up for sale before the year is out.’
I was annoyed that a few sniffs and dirty looks in my direction and one person’s nasty words were still preying on my mind, but they were and I owed it to myself and Gwen to make a success of things, if only to prove the doubters wrong.
‘Well, I shouldn’t worry about it,’ Simon shrugged. ‘It’s no one else’s business who Gwen chose to leave Cuckoo Cottage to and I’m sure you’ll be very happy here.’
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ I told him, hoping he wasn’t just saying what he thought I wanted to hear.
‘So,’ he continued with a nod to the barns, ‘what are your plans for these? You could rent the space out, I suppose. I’m guessing Gwen was letting someone store their caravans in the big shed, was she? Although I have to say I was surprised to find you bashing the hell out of one of them.’
I didn’t explain what I had been doing.
‘Yes,’ I said, latching on to the storage idea. ‘She was keeping them for someone.’
‘You’d think the owners would want them on the road by now, though,’ he went on. ‘Given the weather we’ve been enjoying.’
‘Um,’ I said.
‘Well, if you are thinking of offering storage on a permanent basis you’ll probably want to have electricity installed, for an alarm of some sort, if nothing else.’
‘There’s power to the big shed already,’ I said, my mind rushing back to my plans, ‘but nothing in the other two. Would it be hard to set up, do you think?’
Decent electrics and plumbing were going to be paramount if I was going to convert the middle-sized barn into the luxurious ablutions block I had been imagining.
‘I wouldn’t have thought so,’ he said, looking over my shoulder and eyeing the area up, ‘especially as you already have a supply of sorts, although I dare say the fuse box for that will need updating as well.’
I hadn’t thought of that.
‘Let’s have a quick look and see,’ he suggested.
The last thing I wanted to do was give him a tour, especially with my plans and paperwork scattered about, and I was just about to make some excuse when Matt’s truck pulled into the yard.
‘Oh sorry, Lottie,’ Simon tutted, ‘looks like we’ll have to have a gander another day.’
‘That’s fine,’ I said, my eyes following Minnie who had already made a beeline for Matt’s truck. ‘And it looks like I’d better go and rescue your cousin.’
I ran and scooped Minnie up and quickly shut her in the cottage before she had a chance to sink her teeth into any part of my trusty builder, or his tyres.
‘Hey, Lottie,’ Matt smiled as he climbed out.
‘Hey,’ I smiled back.
‘How are you getting on?’ he called to Simon.
‘All done.’
‘Well, almost done,’ I cut in. ‘You’ve still got to show me how it all works and I haven’t actually paid you yet.’
‘Don’t worry about the money,’ laughed Simon. ‘I know where you live, and besides, you might want to stick it on your tab if you decide to go ahead with the other job.’
‘What other job?’ frowned Matt.
‘Lottie and I were just discussing the possibility of getting some more electricity sorted for the barns,’ Simon launched off before I had a chance to say anything.
‘Were you?’ frowned Matt. ‘But why would you bother?’
‘Because I might want to use them for something,’ I said evasively.
‘Like what?’ he probed.
‘I haven’t made up my mind yet,’ I told him.
‘There’s power to the big shed already,’ said Simon, clearly not picking up on the fact that I had no desire to elaborate further.
‘Just a couple of sockets for the workshop,’ I shrugged dismissively. ‘And a central light.’
‘Gwen’s got a load of caravans down there,’ said Simon.
I could have kicked him when he said that.
‘Has she?’ asked Matt, turning his attention back to me.
‘A couple,’ I said, knowing I couldn’t possibly deny it when Simon had seen the evidence for himself.
‘So what did you say you had planned for the other barns?’
‘I didn’t,’ I said, twisting Gwen’s hula girl key ring around my fingers. ‘I said I hadn’t decided what I’m going to do with them. I just thought power down there might be useful.’
‘Be expensive, though,’ he said, rubbing his chin.
‘No, it wouldn’t, mate,’ countered Simon. ‘Not really, not when there’s power already down there.’
‘It might not have been properly installed, though,’ said Matt testily. ‘You know what Gwen was like when it came to cutting corners.’
I looked up and spotted a glance between the two men. It was over in a second, but I had definitely seen it. For some reason, Matt wanted to put Simon off the job, or me off having the work done. I wasn’t sure which, and I didn’t much care for his slur on Gwen’s caretaking skills either.
‘Actually,’ said Simon, following his cousin’s lead, ‘you might have a point there. Perhaps it would be better if you got the house sorted first, Lottie, then think about the barns when everything’s shipshape up here?’
‘Yes,’ I agreed, as keen to change the subject as he was. ‘You’re probably right.’
‘You don’t need to go wasting money on stuff down there when the cottage is falling apart,’ put in Matt. ‘Better to get things up here back on level ground first.’
He was right, of course, but given everyone else’s opinion on the place, his suggestion that the cottage was practically derelict was a little over the top.
‘Oh Matt,’ I laughed. ‘Stop being so melodramatic, it’s hardly falling apart.’
He didn’t say anything else, just stared over my head, sucking his lip and looking like a child who had lost his comforter. I didn’t know what had come over him.
‘Right,’ said Simon as the air between the three of us began to crackle with the same electricity I’d felt when the lightning touched down next to me the day before. ‘I’d better get on.’
‘I thought you were going to show me this fuse box,’ I reminded him.
‘You’ll be able to suss it out,’ he said. ‘Everything’s labelled up so if something does trip out you can see exactly where the problem is.’
‘It really couldn’t be simpler,’ said Matt, clearing his throat.
‘Fair enough,’ I said, addressing Simon and ignoring Matt. ‘If I’m not sure about anything I’ll give you a call.’
‘Please do,’ he smiled.
‘And thank you for putting in the new shower.’
‘Is this the model you went for?’ asked Matt, pointing at the empty box which was now propped next to the back door ready to go in the recycling bin. ‘I thought you’d have gone for something with a bit more power, Lottie.’
So grateful to have gotten off the subject of the barns, I grabbed this new twist in the conversation and ran with it.
‘I was going to,’ I said without thinking. ‘But a neighbour mentioned the water pressure might not be up to it.’
‘That wouldn’t be the same neighbour who fixed your fuse box yesterday by any chance, would it?’ asked Simon with a wink.
I could feel my cheeks blazing, but I had no reason to keep Will’s help and advice a secret. He was a neighbour and he was just being neighbourly after all.
‘It was,’ I said.
‘I thought as much,’ he grinned when I didn’t offer up a name.
I was sure Matt had already worked out who we were talking about so there was no need to spell it out and aggravate the situation further.
‘So are you coming to the pub tonight, Matt?’ asked Simon.
‘I thought I might pop in,’ he nodded. ‘That was actually what I drove out to ask you about, Lottie. I was wondering if you fancied a night out in town, or do you still have an aversion to everything alcoholic after the Skylark party?’
‘Afraid so.’
‘Oh, come on,’ he wheedled. ‘It can be my way of thanking you for giving me the go-ahead to get on with the work here.’
‘Well, I suppose I could avoid the Scrumpy, couldn’t I?’ I said with a little shudder, thinking back to the hangover from hell and wondering if I could have a catch-up with Jemma as well as enjoy a night on the town.
‘Exactly,’ laughed Matt, sounding suddenly far cheerier. ‘You could stick to something less potent. How do you feel about vodka?’
I shook my head, but didn’t say anything. My mind was too preoccupied with the warming impact whisky could have on a girl’s insides. If indeed it had been the whisky that had been responsible.
‘It’s going to be a good night,’ Simon joined in. ‘Jim’s booked three live bands so it’ll be packed. Everyone I’ve spoken to is planning to go.’
If he was right, there was every possibility that Jemma would be there. I decided to let Matt’s earlier sulkiness pass.
‘All right, then,’ I nodded. ‘I’d love to come, but there’s one condition.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Matt.
‘You don’t leave me to take on the town gossips alone and you certainly don’t let me touch a drop of cider, no matter where it’s from or what its alcohol content is.’
The last thing I needed was to be making a show of myself in front of my critics.
‘Deal!’ laughed Matt, holding out his hand to seal the agreement.
I shook it heartily, but realised with a jolt that even though he was giving me his widest smile, there was absolutely no spark between us whatsoever.