The exes, p.17
The Exes, page 17
After Emmanuel had left, I walked round my house and was glad all his things were gone. I painted the room he used to sleep in pale yellow and bought a good upright armchair. It is now my reading room. It is a joy to have my house returned to me after all these years. My hope is I will be able to create great translations again.
Jacques has been everything to me since we met during that life-changing summer. I fear our disagreements about Emmanuel are eating away at our love and perfect trust. He is blind to Emmanuel’s malignant energy. Maybe because the boy takes after him in looks so much. He has the same striking eyebrows as his father. His son and heir. And he turns on the charm for Jacques.
My good times with Jacques are when Emmanuel is away at boarding school. Then we can go days without mentioning him.
In spite of my best efforts to rise above it, I see bitterness is infusing my thoughts. All those years Jacques and I hoped one day we would be able to live together openly and in perfect harmony. We planned to spend half the year in England. Jacques wanted to do some research in the British Library. With Severine dead our time had come. It is not to be. Emmanuel stands in our way. I had harboured such dreams of making Penumbra House a beautiful home for the two of us.
Holly sits for a long time thinking. How must Emmanuel have felt when he found this journal and read his mother’s bitter thoughts about him? Lillian has totally rejected and disinherited him. He must be a very damaged and angry man, her cousin.
Holly scratches her left arm which has started to itch fiendishly.
As Holly comes back from the post office, after sending a paperback she’s just finished and enjoyed to Laura, she sees a young guy in brown council uniform standing by the elm tree on the street right outside Penumbra House. He pulls a piece of the bark away from the trunk with ease, as if he is pulling a sheet of paper off a pad. She approaches him as he examines the bark closely.
‘Is the tree OK?’
‘We’re checking it. Looks like it might have Elm Disease.’
‘Oh no, I hope not. I love having the tree right in front of my house.’
He looks gratified that she cares about the tree.
‘Most people don’t get what’s at stake. Brighton has around 17,000 elm trees and that’s special. But they buy these wretched logs for their wood burning stoves and the logs are infested with beetles which carry the disease. There’s so much ignorance around.’
She likes his passion. ‘I was sorry the ancient elm in the park had to be cut down.’
‘The twin. Losing the twin was a major blow.’
‘Will the other twin survive?’
‘We hope so. We dug a trench to sever any link of interconnected roots with the diseased one.’
‘Oh, I hope it works. Fingers crossed.’
‘And we’ll try to save this one,’ he says.
They nod at each other, and she goes into the house.
James is late with his rent. Holly has waited a week, then ten days. Now it is three weeks past its due date. It’s not a lot of money but she doesn’t want to set a precedent with him. She heads up the stairs.
Spencer has gone for the day, and she peeks into his studio and as always, he has left it tidy with his brushes cleaned and lined up. She rehearses what she’ll say to James. Why is talking about money so uncomfortable?
Reaching the top floor, she taps gently on the door.
‘Come in,’ he calls out.
He is sitting cross-legged on a cushion, his feet bare.
‘Sorry, are you meditating?’
‘I just finished. What’s up?’
She hovers on the threshold, losing confidence and wishing she hadn’t come up.
‘I was wondering… well um… the thing is, your rent hasn’t arrived in my account this month.’
‘Oh yes, I meant to ask you, Holly. Can I pay you two months’ worth in June? I’m waiting on a cheque,’ he says airily.
‘I see.’
‘It’s not a problem, is it? You’re hardly strapped for cash.’
It’s amazing how he knows how to press her buttons and make her cross in an instant.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
He shrugs. ‘Nothing.’
She goes on looking at him.
‘Just saying I can’t believe it makes such a difference to your bank balance. You’ll get double in June.’
She bites back what she wants to say and walks over to his window and looks down at the garden. ‘OK,’ she says with her back to him.
He has made her feel petty. The silence stretches out between them uncomfortably. She searches for something neutral to say so she can get out of his room and away from this atmosphere between them.
‘Barry is doing a good job on the garden,’ she says. It sounds lame but is all she could think of.
James gets to his feet and puts the cushion away in the linen chest by the wall. He turns to face her. ‘You know, Holly, I can’t help noticing you’ve got us all in one place, in your palace, so you can play your games with us. It must make you feel powerful.’
She’s so taken aback by his accusation that she turns and hurries out of his room without another word.
Holly heads for her kitchen and she’s angry. Very angry. James thinks she’s on a power trip with her exes and is playing games with them. That really stings. She hadn’t known what to say at that moment. But what she should have said was ‘but it was you who invited yourself into my house. It wasn’t my idea, and I went against my judgement when I said yes. You are twisting things to put me in a bad light’.
How familiar this feels to her. James putting her in the wrong. She paces the kitchen resisting the urge to go back upstairs and put the record straight. It would escalate their row still further. More conflict. She pushes her feelings down.
She has a craving for comfort food and will cook herself a big bowl of tagliatelle with tomato and basil sauce. She bought a bag of fresh pasta and fresh pasta is such a treat. When she opens the fridge, she can’t find it. Did she put it in the cupboard? Unlikely, but she searches for the next few minutes without success. She knows she hasn’t eaten the pasta.
This is ridiculous. Is someone taking her food? They aren’t students anymore. She resents how everyone thinks they can come into her kitchen whenever they want and help themselves to her things. Then she stops herself from the spiral of her negative thoughts. She must not let herself sink into resentment of the men. It will make her unhappy.
She makes herself toast with her butter substitute and marmite and eats the hot greasy slices too quickly, standing up, looking out at the garden, angry thoughts still churning in her head despite her best intentions to let it go. You shouldn’t eat when you are angry.
Her left arm has started to itch again. She boils a kettle, makes a mug of tea, and goes to fetch her laptop. Her life was simpler and more peaceful in London and being honest she was happier then. Penumbra House is such a mixed blessing.
She misses her teaching job, misses Gabriel, and Usain, her two surprising and original students. Teaching made her feel she was doing something worthwhile. Their exams are soon and she wants to wish them luck. Turning on her laptop, she writes a personal message to each of them, and doing this calms her a bit. She should try to get a teaching job in Brighton next year.
But she can’t get James’s accusation out of her head. Does he resent her good fortune in inheriting Penumbra House? That snide use of the word ‘palace’. It signifies a complete reversal in their fortunes.
When she met James, he had been the one with the money. Now he has to pay rent to her.
Her father used to say good intentions often go punished, because we want the best for people and never learn they won’t change. That is her and James in a nutshell.
Chapter Thirty
PENUMBRA HOUSE
* * *
It’s Friday and Laura is coming for the weekend, arriving that afternoon, staying three nights. It’s a nice gesture, and is probably to make up for her sharp words to Holly when the horrible Julie got promoted.
Holly waits for her, thinking she needs her friend. It’s as if Penumbra House is coming together and she is falling apart. Her tiredness has been worse this week, and she has a dry mouth and a near-permanent headache. She feels physically and emotionally fragile and the itchiness in her left arm keeps flaring up. Why is she getting these mysterious symptoms? Yet she is determined not to complain to Laura about her health or about the other things going on in the house. This weekend she’ll be upbeat.
The taxi draws up outside, and the women embrace on the street. Cooper runs around them in excited circles.
‘I’m so glad you’re here. Now, come see what we’ve done to my sitting room.’
‘Oh, I love this colour, it really works,’ Laura says.
Holly’s bed is now next to the sofa bed. ‘We’re both in here this time. Max is still painting my bedroom.’
They sink onto the sofa and Laura leans in.
‘Is Max still here?’ she asks in a low voice.
‘Yes.’
‘Will you introduce me? You know I’m keen to meet the mysterious Max.’
There is a febrile air about Laura and Holly recalls her questions about Max over the last few months. Her friend tends to fixate on things and get what she wants, but she also has the fatal flaw of making what is in front of her fit what she wants it to be.
Holly takes Laura through to her bedroom. Max always wears an overall over his jeans when he’s painting and as they walk in he is disrobing from it. He laughs nervously, and they wait for him to recover himself. Cooper pads behind the women and plonks himself down at the threshold, not moving into the bedroom.
‘Max, this is my very dear friend, Laura.’
They shake hands quite formally.
‘You’ve done a fantastic job on the sitting room,’ Laura says.
‘Thank you, you don’t come across many rooms like that.’
‘Absolutely stunning. Looking good in here too. I love the pale blue. When I think of Holly’s tiny flat in London and now she’s living in this palace. Happy days.’
‘I’ve enjoyed painting these rooms,’ he says.
‘I’ve brought two bottles of red. Will you join us in a glass of wine, Max?’ Laura asks.
He smiles. ‘I’d love to, thanks.’
They move to the kitchen. Holly takes down three glasses and polishes them to a shine before putting them on the table. Laura uncorks the red and pours three generous portions. They clink glasses.
‘To Holly’s palace,’ Laura says brightly.
It’s another of Laura’s nicknames, ‘the palace’, and it’s starting to grate on Holly. James used it the other day too. Maybe he heard Laura using it. It points to an element of envy from them both about her legacy. For most of the years of their friendship Laura has lived in her beautiful spacious flat on Camden Square while Holly perched in her pretty shoebox up the road.
Laura’s flat is way beyond what she could afford on her salary as an event organiser. Her father is a judge, and although he disapproves of his daughter having a child out of wedlock and of her continuing status as an unwed mother, he helped her to buy the large flat on the desirable square. Now Holly has the bigger residence. Is it possible Laura resents this?
Holly sips her wine. She has been drinking much less alcohol recently, thinking it might be contributing to her dizziness. Laura is generous with her gifts, and this is an excellent wine. Focus on the good things, Holly tells herself, and shake yourself out of these stupid negative thoughts.
‘This is very good, thanks, Laura,’ she says.
‘Holly tells me you’re new to Brighton, Max?’ Laura leans towards him.
‘Indeed I am.’
‘How are you finding it?’
‘It’s a nice town, but you get the feeling it’s seen better days.’
‘I thought the same,’ Holly says. ‘It looks shabby. I’m sure it looked smarter when I used to visit Lillian.’
Cooper has not settled and is skittering around the perimeter of the kitchen.
‘Are you nearly finished here?’ Laura asks Max.
‘The bedroom needs more work. The cornicing takes time.’ He glances at Holly. ‘I’d love to be considered for the job of painting the hall and landings once it’s done.’
Holly’s cheeks heat up. She goes over to the sink and runs water into a bowl for Cooper.
‘Ray thinks it might be too big a job for one person, and I don’t like to go against Ray,’ she says as she kneels and strokes Cooper.
Max has made her feel awkward. He has been working for her for weeks and couldn’t have been more helpful, but two men would get the job done in half the time. Laura leans over and pours more wine into Max’s glass.
‘Shall I let Cooper into the garden?’ Holly asks.
‘Please.’
Laura flicks her hair back in a way Holly has seen her do before, unabashedly flirting with Max.
‘I better fold the loungers up too. Heard it might rain tonight,’ Holly says.
Laura and Max are looking at each other, not at her. Holly opens the door and Cooper bounds down the steps.
As Holly goes out, she hears Max saying, ‘I need to build up more contacts, so if you have friends who need any decorating, please tell them about me. I’d be happy to work in London.’
Holly walks over to her new sun loungers, folds them up and leans them against the wall. She breathes in and out slowly to ease the tension she’s feeling at watching the way Laura is being with Max. Cooper is digging by the fig tree. Again.
She heads to the top of the garden and sees Barry has uprooted the blackberry bush leaving a large bare area. They should put a flowering plant in there, something pretty and fragrant. Maybe white lilac.
She fights her reluctance to go back to the kitchen. Cooper refuses to leave the tree and as she reaches the bottom step, she hears Max mention her name. She stops.
‘Holly was lucky to inherit this great big house,’ he says.
‘Yes, but it’s odd, when she got the news, she didn’t seem especially happy, not at first. I would have been thrilled. She deserves good things. She’s such a dear.’
Laura’s voice is warm, and Holly takes the first step, but Max’s next comment stops her.
‘I’m surprised Holly and James split up. They’re both so nice and have both been supportive to me.’
‘Well, James used to be super successful and he’s intolerant of anything he perceives as failure. Holly had a few health issues and I think that derailed their marriage.’
‘Health issues?’
Holly recoils. Surely Laura isn’t going to tell Max about her miscarriages.
‘Just take it from me that Holly’s had some tough stuff to deal with and she deserves all the breaks. And who knows why a marriage fails really?’
‘As well I know!’ Max says. ‘Did you know Holly’s aunt? Was she an eccentric woman?’
‘I never met her. Lillian Hilborne. I’m told she was very intellectual and formidable.’
Holly cannot stand outside any longer, eavesdropping on these two, and she stamps up the steps so they will hear her.
‘What is it with the fig tree? Spencer is obsessed with it and Cooper can’t keep away either!’ Holly is falsely bright.
Laura looks up and is flushed and excited.
The wine bottle is empty. Neither woman moves to open the second and Max gets to his feet and says his goodbyes.
‘You were flirting with him,’ Holly says as soon as she hears the front door close behind him.
Laura giggles. ‘I was a bit. I mean he is attractive, isn’t he?’
‘I guess he is.’
‘Will you let him do the hallways?’
‘I don’t know what to do about that. He’s always helpful; almost too helpful.’
‘Really?’
‘I know I’m being mean.’ Holly sighs.
Laura is holding a piece of paper with Max’s name and number written on it.
‘Max Clancy,’ she says thoughtfully. ‘He asked me to see if any friends need decorating done. Said it would be worth his while to do the short hop to London. It’s slightly odd, isn’t it? What is a man in his mid-forties who seems well educated doing scrapping around for decorating jobs?’
‘He’s starting out again.’
‘Maybe, but I noticed his jeans and trainers are expensive.’
Laura knows about brands and can tell the price tag at a glance. ‘I liked him. He’s easy to talk to,’ she adds.
Holly pushes herself up from the table, takes a ready-made meal out of the fridge and turns on the oven. ‘I’ve been lazy and bought us this for supper. Sorry. I haven’t planned a roast dinner for the guys either.’
‘Why’s that?’
Holly hesitates. She planned to be upbeat with Laura but, hell, she feels bone tired. ‘I’ve lost my mojo.’
‘I thought you seemed subdued.’
‘Guess I am. I’m still feeling tired all the time.’
She feels guilty about being a misery, but Laura gets up at once and takes the foil box from her.
‘You sit down, and I’ll pop this in the oven. And I’ll help you cook for the guys on Sunday if you want.’
‘OK. We’ll do the meal. It’s more of an occasion when you’re here.’
‘You know how I love to participate in your soap opera.’
SATURDAY MORNING
Holly and Laura walk up to the parade of shops at Fiveways with Cooper on his lead. Laura stands outside the butcher’s while Holly buys two chickens. They cross the road to Fiveways Fruits.
‘Salad as well as vegetables,’ Holly says.
They drop the bags of shopping at the house and head into town with Cooper. Holly is carrying the black-and-white photograph of Lillian and Jacques Pichois, which she first thought of as The Lovers’ Picture and now thinks of as The Doomed Lovers’ Picture. There is a framing shop in the North Laine and Laura helps her choose a simple black wooden frame. Afterwards they go in search of a coffee.
Jacques has been everything to me since we met during that life-changing summer. I fear our disagreements about Emmanuel are eating away at our love and perfect trust. He is blind to Emmanuel’s malignant energy. Maybe because the boy takes after him in looks so much. He has the same striking eyebrows as his father. His son and heir. And he turns on the charm for Jacques.
My good times with Jacques are when Emmanuel is away at boarding school. Then we can go days without mentioning him.
In spite of my best efforts to rise above it, I see bitterness is infusing my thoughts. All those years Jacques and I hoped one day we would be able to live together openly and in perfect harmony. We planned to spend half the year in England. Jacques wanted to do some research in the British Library. With Severine dead our time had come. It is not to be. Emmanuel stands in our way. I had harboured such dreams of making Penumbra House a beautiful home for the two of us.
Holly sits for a long time thinking. How must Emmanuel have felt when he found this journal and read his mother’s bitter thoughts about him? Lillian has totally rejected and disinherited him. He must be a very damaged and angry man, her cousin.
Holly scratches her left arm which has started to itch fiendishly.
As Holly comes back from the post office, after sending a paperback she’s just finished and enjoyed to Laura, she sees a young guy in brown council uniform standing by the elm tree on the street right outside Penumbra House. He pulls a piece of the bark away from the trunk with ease, as if he is pulling a sheet of paper off a pad. She approaches him as he examines the bark closely.
‘Is the tree OK?’
‘We’re checking it. Looks like it might have Elm Disease.’
‘Oh no, I hope not. I love having the tree right in front of my house.’
He looks gratified that she cares about the tree.
‘Most people don’t get what’s at stake. Brighton has around 17,000 elm trees and that’s special. But they buy these wretched logs for their wood burning stoves and the logs are infested with beetles which carry the disease. There’s so much ignorance around.’
She likes his passion. ‘I was sorry the ancient elm in the park had to be cut down.’
‘The twin. Losing the twin was a major blow.’
‘Will the other twin survive?’
‘We hope so. We dug a trench to sever any link of interconnected roots with the diseased one.’
‘Oh, I hope it works. Fingers crossed.’
‘And we’ll try to save this one,’ he says.
They nod at each other, and she goes into the house.
James is late with his rent. Holly has waited a week, then ten days. Now it is three weeks past its due date. It’s not a lot of money but she doesn’t want to set a precedent with him. She heads up the stairs.
Spencer has gone for the day, and she peeks into his studio and as always, he has left it tidy with his brushes cleaned and lined up. She rehearses what she’ll say to James. Why is talking about money so uncomfortable?
Reaching the top floor, she taps gently on the door.
‘Come in,’ he calls out.
He is sitting cross-legged on a cushion, his feet bare.
‘Sorry, are you meditating?’
‘I just finished. What’s up?’
She hovers on the threshold, losing confidence and wishing she hadn’t come up.
‘I was wondering… well um… the thing is, your rent hasn’t arrived in my account this month.’
‘Oh yes, I meant to ask you, Holly. Can I pay you two months’ worth in June? I’m waiting on a cheque,’ he says airily.
‘I see.’
‘It’s not a problem, is it? You’re hardly strapped for cash.’
It’s amazing how he knows how to press her buttons and make her cross in an instant.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
He shrugs. ‘Nothing.’
She goes on looking at him.
‘Just saying I can’t believe it makes such a difference to your bank balance. You’ll get double in June.’
She bites back what she wants to say and walks over to his window and looks down at the garden. ‘OK,’ she says with her back to him.
He has made her feel petty. The silence stretches out between them uncomfortably. She searches for something neutral to say so she can get out of his room and away from this atmosphere between them.
‘Barry is doing a good job on the garden,’ she says. It sounds lame but is all she could think of.
James gets to his feet and puts the cushion away in the linen chest by the wall. He turns to face her. ‘You know, Holly, I can’t help noticing you’ve got us all in one place, in your palace, so you can play your games with us. It must make you feel powerful.’
She’s so taken aback by his accusation that she turns and hurries out of his room without another word.
Holly heads for her kitchen and she’s angry. Very angry. James thinks she’s on a power trip with her exes and is playing games with them. That really stings. She hadn’t known what to say at that moment. But what she should have said was ‘but it was you who invited yourself into my house. It wasn’t my idea, and I went against my judgement when I said yes. You are twisting things to put me in a bad light’.
How familiar this feels to her. James putting her in the wrong. She paces the kitchen resisting the urge to go back upstairs and put the record straight. It would escalate their row still further. More conflict. She pushes her feelings down.
She has a craving for comfort food and will cook herself a big bowl of tagliatelle with tomato and basil sauce. She bought a bag of fresh pasta and fresh pasta is such a treat. When she opens the fridge, she can’t find it. Did she put it in the cupboard? Unlikely, but she searches for the next few minutes without success. She knows she hasn’t eaten the pasta.
This is ridiculous. Is someone taking her food? They aren’t students anymore. She resents how everyone thinks they can come into her kitchen whenever they want and help themselves to her things. Then she stops herself from the spiral of her negative thoughts. She must not let herself sink into resentment of the men. It will make her unhappy.
She makes herself toast with her butter substitute and marmite and eats the hot greasy slices too quickly, standing up, looking out at the garden, angry thoughts still churning in her head despite her best intentions to let it go. You shouldn’t eat when you are angry.
Her left arm has started to itch again. She boils a kettle, makes a mug of tea, and goes to fetch her laptop. Her life was simpler and more peaceful in London and being honest she was happier then. Penumbra House is such a mixed blessing.
She misses her teaching job, misses Gabriel, and Usain, her two surprising and original students. Teaching made her feel she was doing something worthwhile. Their exams are soon and she wants to wish them luck. Turning on her laptop, she writes a personal message to each of them, and doing this calms her a bit. She should try to get a teaching job in Brighton next year.
But she can’t get James’s accusation out of her head. Does he resent her good fortune in inheriting Penumbra House? That snide use of the word ‘palace’. It signifies a complete reversal in their fortunes.
When she met James, he had been the one with the money. Now he has to pay rent to her.
Her father used to say good intentions often go punished, because we want the best for people and never learn they won’t change. That is her and James in a nutshell.
Chapter Thirty
PENUMBRA HOUSE
* * *
It’s Friday and Laura is coming for the weekend, arriving that afternoon, staying three nights. It’s a nice gesture, and is probably to make up for her sharp words to Holly when the horrible Julie got promoted.
Holly waits for her, thinking she needs her friend. It’s as if Penumbra House is coming together and she is falling apart. Her tiredness has been worse this week, and she has a dry mouth and a near-permanent headache. She feels physically and emotionally fragile and the itchiness in her left arm keeps flaring up. Why is she getting these mysterious symptoms? Yet she is determined not to complain to Laura about her health or about the other things going on in the house. This weekend she’ll be upbeat.
The taxi draws up outside, and the women embrace on the street. Cooper runs around them in excited circles.
‘I’m so glad you’re here. Now, come see what we’ve done to my sitting room.’
‘Oh, I love this colour, it really works,’ Laura says.
Holly’s bed is now next to the sofa bed. ‘We’re both in here this time. Max is still painting my bedroom.’
They sink onto the sofa and Laura leans in.
‘Is Max still here?’ she asks in a low voice.
‘Yes.’
‘Will you introduce me? You know I’m keen to meet the mysterious Max.’
There is a febrile air about Laura and Holly recalls her questions about Max over the last few months. Her friend tends to fixate on things and get what she wants, but she also has the fatal flaw of making what is in front of her fit what she wants it to be.
Holly takes Laura through to her bedroom. Max always wears an overall over his jeans when he’s painting and as they walk in he is disrobing from it. He laughs nervously, and they wait for him to recover himself. Cooper pads behind the women and plonks himself down at the threshold, not moving into the bedroom.
‘Max, this is my very dear friend, Laura.’
They shake hands quite formally.
‘You’ve done a fantastic job on the sitting room,’ Laura says.
‘Thank you, you don’t come across many rooms like that.’
‘Absolutely stunning. Looking good in here too. I love the pale blue. When I think of Holly’s tiny flat in London and now she’s living in this palace. Happy days.’
‘I’ve enjoyed painting these rooms,’ he says.
‘I’ve brought two bottles of red. Will you join us in a glass of wine, Max?’ Laura asks.
He smiles. ‘I’d love to, thanks.’
They move to the kitchen. Holly takes down three glasses and polishes them to a shine before putting them on the table. Laura uncorks the red and pours three generous portions. They clink glasses.
‘To Holly’s palace,’ Laura says brightly.
It’s another of Laura’s nicknames, ‘the palace’, and it’s starting to grate on Holly. James used it the other day too. Maybe he heard Laura using it. It points to an element of envy from them both about her legacy. For most of the years of their friendship Laura has lived in her beautiful spacious flat on Camden Square while Holly perched in her pretty shoebox up the road.
Laura’s flat is way beyond what she could afford on her salary as an event organiser. Her father is a judge, and although he disapproves of his daughter having a child out of wedlock and of her continuing status as an unwed mother, he helped her to buy the large flat on the desirable square. Now Holly has the bigger residence. Is it possible Laura resents this?
Holly sips her wine. She has been drinking much less alcohol recently, thinking it might be contributing to her dizziness. Laura is generous with her gifts, and this is an excellent wine. Focus on the good things, Holly tells herself, and shake yourself out of these stupid negative thoughts.
‘This is very good, thanks, Laura,’ she says.
‘Holly tells me you’re new to Brighton, Max?’ Laura leans towards him.
‘Indeed I am.’
‘How are you finding it?’
‘It’s a nice town, but you get the feeling it’s seen better days.’
‘I thought the same,’ Holly says. ‘It looks shabby. I’m sure it looked smarter when I used to visit Lillian.’
Cooper has not settled and is skittering around the perimeter of the kitchen.
‘Are you nearly finished here?’ Laura asks Max.
‘The bedroom needs more work. The cornicing takes time.’ He glances at Holly. ‘I’d love to be considered for the job of painting the hall and landings once it’s done.’
Holly’s cheeks heat up. She goes over to the sink and runs water into a bowl for Cooper.
‘Ray thinks it might be too big a job for one person, and I don’t like to go against Ray,’ she says as she kneels and strokes Cooper.
Max has made her feel awkward. He has been working for her for weeks and couldn’t have been more helpful, but two men would get the job done in half the time. Laura leans over and pours more wine into Max’s glass.
‘Shall I let Cooper into the garden?’ Holly asks.
‘Please.’
Laura flicks her hair back in a way Holly has seen her do before, unabashedly flirting with Max.
‘I better fold the loungers up too. Heard it might rain tonight,’ Holly says.
Laura and Max are looking at each other, not at her. Holly opens the door and Cooper bounds down the steps.
As Holly goes out, she hears Max saying, ‘I need to build up more contacts, so if you have friends who need any decorating, please tell them about me. I’d be happy to work in London.’
Holly walks over to her new sun loungers, folds them up and leans them against the wall. She breathes in and out slowly to ease the tension she’s feeling at watching the way Laura is being with Max. Cooper is digging by the fig tree. Again.
She heads to the top of the garden and sees Barry has uprooted the blackberry bush leaving a large bare area. They should put a flowering plant in there, something pretty and fragrant. Maybe white lilac.
She fights her reluctance to go back to the kitchen. Cooper refuses to leave the tree and as she reaches the bottom step, she hears Max mention her name. She stops.
‘Holly was lucky to inherit this great big house,’ he says.
‘Yes, but it’s odd, when she got the news, she didn’t seem especially happy, not at first. I would have been thrilled. She deserves good things. She’s such a dear.’
Laura’s voice is warm, and Holly takes the first step, but Max’s next comment stops her.
‘I’m surprised Holly and James split up. They’re both so nice and have both been supportive to me.’
‘Well, James used to be super successful and he’s intolerant of anything he perceives as failure. Holly had a few health issues and I think that derailed their marriage.’
‘Health issues?’
Holly recoils. Surely Laura isn’t going to tell Max about her miscarriages.
‘Just take it from me that Holly’s had some tough stuff to deal with and she deserves all the breaks. And who knows why a marriage fails really?’
‘As well I know!’ Max says. ‘Did you know Holly’s aunt? Was she an eccentric woman?’
‘I never met her. Lillian Hilborne. I’m told she was very intellectual and formidable.’
Holly cannot stand outside any longer, eavesdropping on these two, and she stamps up the steps so they will hear her.
‘What is it with the fig tree? Spencer is obsessed with it and Cooper can’t keep away either!’ Holly is falsely bright.
Laura looks up and is flushed and excited.
The wine bottle is empty. Neither woman moves to open the second and Max gets to his feet and says his goodbyes.
‘You were flirting with him,’ Holly says as soon as she hears the front door close behind him.
Laura giggles. ‘I was a bit. I mean he is attractive, isn’t he?’
‘I guess he is.’
‘Will you let him do the hallways?’
‘I don’t know what to do about that. He’s always helpful; almost too helpful.’
‘Really?’
‘I know I’m being mean.’ Holly sighs.
Laura is holding a piece of paper with Max’s name and number written on it.
‘Max Clancy,’ she says thoughtfully. ‘He asked me to see if any friends need decorating done. Said it would be worth his while to do the short hop to London. It’s slightly odd, isn’t it? What is a man in his mid-forties who seems well educated doing scrapping around for decorating jobs?’
‘He’s starting out again.’
‘Maybe, but I noticed his jeans and trainers are expensive.’
Laura knows about brands and can tell the price tag at a glance. ‘I liked him. He’s easy to talk to,’ she adds.
Holly pushes herself up from the table, takes a ready-made meal out of the fridge and turns on the oven. ‘I’ve been lazy and bought us this for supper. Sorry. I haven’t planned a roast dinner for the guys either.’
‘Why’s that?’
Holly hesitates. She planned to be upbeat with Laura but, hell, she feels bone tired. ‘I’ve lost my mojo.’
‘I thought you seemed subdued.’
‘Guess I am. I’m still feeling tired all the time.’
She feels guilty about being a misery, but Laura gets up at once and takes the foil box from her.
‘You sit down, and I’ll pop this in the oven. And I’ll help you cook for the guys on Sunday if you want.’
‘OK. We’ll do the meal. It’s more of an occasion when you’re here.’
‘You know how I love to participate in your soap opera.’
SATURDAY MORNING
Holly and Laura walk up to the parade of shops at Fiveways with Cooper on his lead. Laura stands outside the butcher’s while Holly buys two chickens. They cross the road to Fiveways Fruits.
‘Salad as well as vegetables,’ Holly says.
They drop the bags of shopping at the house and head into town with Cooper. Holly is carrying the black-and-white photograph of Lillian and Jacques Pichois, which she first thought of as The Lovers’ Picture and now thinks of as The Doomed Lovers’ Picture. There is a framing shop in the North Laine and Laura helps her choose a simple black wooden frame. Afterwards they go in search of a coffee.
