Moving On (18 page)

And whatever Tasha said, he was going to continue his campaign.

He wished the fellow renting the house would come outside so that he could see what he was like, but there were no signs of life. It was such a pretty house. And big. He’d always liked living here.

After a while he drove off. He and Tasha had a charity event to attend tonight, useful people, but a pricey affair. He was only going because he’d had it on good authority that the chairman would be attending. He just hoped it’d be worth it.

Tasha looked superb and he enjoyed the praise and envious remarks from other guys. But as the evening wore on, it became clear that the chairman wasn’t going to turn up, so Craig had wasted a good sum of money.

There was a guy at the top table, however, whom he thought he should recognize. It took a while for the penny to drop. Could it be . . . ? Yes, it was. Surely it was – the tenant? ‘Who’s that fellow?’ he asked his neighbour. ‘The bald one next to the fat old woman with the white hair.’

‘That’s Stuart Benton, and his wife isn’t fat. She’s just a normal size.’

Craig didn’t argue, but in his opinion, that woman was well overweight. ‘Of course! I knew I’d seen him before. I used to live next door to his mother.’

‘Rising fellow, Benton. He’s left the army now and word is he’s helping set up a big international security company. It’s all very hush-hush at this stage, though, and no one can get any details. I’d invest in it like a shot if he went public. He knows his stuff.’

Craig made a sound that could have been agreement, but wasn’t. He watched sourly as Benton smiled and chatted. Normally he’d go over and say hello, renew the acquaintance, but he and the neighbours had never got on. Not his sort of people. Nothing useful to be gained from associating with them.

Funny how he wasn’t enjoying tonight. He usually revelled in functions like this. He was glad when Tasha signalled she was ready to leave.

‘What’s got into you?’ she demanded as the taxi pulled away. ‘You’ve had a sour face on you all night.’

‘Got a bit of a headache. And the chairman wasn’t there, so no use staying late.’

‘A lot of other useful people were there. I met several women who asked where I got this dress. They’ll be coming into my boutique this week.’

‘Good.’ But he was glad to get to bed and for the first time in ages, he didn’t want to make love, just go to sleep. Which didn’t please madam at all.

Well, too bad. He was a man, not a sex machine.

Nine

On Thursday Euan rang Molly at seven thirty. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I? You said you usually got up early. Oh, good. Would it be asking too much for you to come here and help me finish packing? I’m never going to be ready to move house tomorrow otherwise. Would you mind?’

‘Of course not. I’ve already had my breakfast, so I can come straight away.’ She was supposed to have the morning off and hadn’t been looking forward to it, because there wasn’t much to keep you occupied in a caravan, and there was only so much shopping to do when there was only yourself to feed.

She followed the directions to Euan’s house and stood admiring it for a moment or two – old, beautiful, built of stone, with picturesque gables, in a lovely village setting. She couldn’t imagine why he wanted to leave this to live on what was little more than a building site.

The front door was open and when she rang the bell, a voice yelled, ‘Come in!’ The hall was at least two metres wide, but it was full of boxes and oddments of furniture, two dark oak chairs, a small table, a bookcase. She edged her way cautiously past these obstacles and followed the voice upstairs, finding Euan frowning at a bare mattress topped by piles of folded bed linen. He looked so frazzled, her heart went out to him.

‘Thank goodness you’re here, Molly. I seriously underestimated what needed doing and it’s taking far longer than I’d expected.’ He waved one hand around. ‘This used to be my grandparents’ house, and my grandmother left it to me when she died. I knew living here would just be temporary, so I didn’t get round to clearing out all the cupboards.’

‘Did you never think of living here permanently? It’s a beautiful house.’

His expression darkened. ‘It may be but it doesn’t have good memories for me. I spent a few summers here with my grandparents. My father didn’t get on well with his parents so he didn’t stay. All I have left from that side of the family now is this house and the name, Santiago. My grandfather’s family came from Portugal, and I think he and my grandmother were stuck in a time warp when it came to raising children. They were very strict and not at all loving.’

She could hear the unhappiness in his voice and blessed her own normal childhood.

‘Anyway, I’ve been more busy than I expected setting up the leisure village. Now, I’m finding so much stuff to pack I’m panicking. I know I could throw things away but they’re not worn out and that seems wrong, and some are family mementoes, while others are probably quite valuable.’

‘Hmm.’ She inspected the piles of bedding, most of which was in excellent condition, then let him show her the five large bedrooms on this floor, all with cupboards and drawers full of items. They looked sad, with the beds stripped.

‘There’s another floor,’ he said, ‘and there’s still stuff up there, too.’

She followed him up to some smaller bedrooms with dormer windows. Most of them were unfurnished but a couple had beds and wardrobes, though these were very plain, unlike the beautiful furniture on the floor below.

Narrow stairs led above them to a long, thin attic running across the length of the house under the highest point of the roof.

‘Thank goodness this was clear of everything except these pieces of worn luggage,’ he said. ‘I can just throw these out, at least.’

She went over to look at them. ‘This is antique luggage and I’d guess it’s worth quite a bit of money.’

He came to stand beside her. ‘What? Are you sure? I was going to get a skip delivered and chuck this lot into it.’

‘Very sure. I’m interested in antiques. I’ve watched a lot of those programmes on TV.’ Molly opened one suitcase and found it full of old clothes. She pulled out a dress and held it against herself. ‘Nineteen-thirties. Isn’t it gorgeous?’

‘I suppose that’s worth money too.’

‘Bound to be.’

‘I can’t throw this stuff away, then.’

‘You could sell it on line.’

‘I wouldn’t know where to begin.’

She hesitated.

‘You know how to do it, don’t you?’

‘Well, I have bought and sold a few things on line. Craig wasn’t interested, so I never talked about it to him, but I enjoyed it and I usually made a profit.’

‘Sell this lot for me and we’ll split the proceeds fifty-fifty,’ he said promptly.

The old Molly popped her head up and she nearly said she wasn’t sure she could get him the best deal, then the new Molly took over. ‘All right.’

‘What about the rest of the furniture and stuff?’ he asked as they went back downstairs.

‘There’s no way you can be packed in time for tomorrow, even with my help. Don’t forget we have the sales office to open later today.’

‘I have to have the house clear by tomorrow so I can’t cancel the removalists. Tomorrow’s exchanging contracts day.’

‘Why don’t you ring the removal firm and see if they have a packing service and could send someone straight away to help you? Have you hired storage space for the things you aren’t sure about?’

He nodded. ‘One of those self-store places.’

‘Hire some more space, then. Hire one area just for possible resale stuff. You’ll be able to go through your grandmother’s things at leisure, then.’

‘Or you will. Molly – do you think you could work for me full-time? Still as a general factotum, not just in the sales office. It’d be a big help if you could go through this stuff with me.’

‘I’d love to do that.’

He held out one hand and they shook solemnly, then he took a mobile phone out of his pocket and spoke to someone at the removal firm. Next he rang the storage complex and asked for more space, giving her a triumphant signal with his free hand.

Once he’d finished, he leaned against the wall and beamed at her. ‘I feel better just to have you here. I’m good at the big stuff, but not at the details. I’ve had back-up teams before and I didn’t realize quite how much they took off my shoulders. You’re good at details, aren’t you?’

‘Am I?’

He frowned. ‘You keep doubting yourself. Don’t. You’re clearly an extremely capable woman. You’ve made everything seem simple and logical today.’

‘Logical maybe, but it isn’t simple. I’ve recently had the experience of going through a house full of memories and getting rid of most of the trivia. It takes time.’ And it hurt, but she didn’t say that. ‘I’ve got my personal stuff in storage too, waiting until I can sell my house and find a new home.’

He leaned forward and plonked a quick kiss on her cheek. ‘You’re an even bigger treasure than I thought, Molly Peel, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

She felt flustered. ‘Oh. Well, that’s all right. I like to keep busy. Shall we . . . um, start sorting out what you want to take with you to the village?’

‘There won’t be much, mainly clothes and personal stuff. I’ve got modern furniture going into the big house at the end of the row today, specially designed to make the place look like a million dollars. I’m moving it from the other big house I’ve just sold.

‘I’ll be living there and only showing selected customers through. Just the fact that I live there myself says something, don’t you think? My house won’t be open to the people who’re just being nosy.’

The two of them worked steadily, helped by the removalists’ team of packers, who turned up a short time later.

At half-past twelve Euan said, ‘One of us needs to go back and open the sales office. Do you think you can hold the fort there on your own? I really need to stay here. I’ll give you the key.’

‘Yes, of course I can. Do you have any appointments?’

‘No. I kept today clear on purpose.’

‘So you’ll be in your new house tonight?’

‘Yes. We’ll be neighbours. I’ll take you out to dinner at the hotel to celebrate.’

‘That’ll mean getting smartened up. Let me make us something quick and easy instead, then we can stay scruffy. If you want that house perfect, you’ll need to get your things put away quickly.’

He gave her an appraising look. ‘You know, sometimes you remind me of Avril.’

‘What a lovely compliment! But I’m not in her league.’

He grinned. ‘You’re close. But you’re much prettier.’

She felt her cheeks heating up.

‘I love it when you blush.’

‘Let’s just . . . keep things businesslike.’

‘They aren’t. You can’t close Pandora’s box.’

He didn’t touch her, but he might just as well have. One of the packers came to ask him something and he turned away, so she went into another room before he could say anything else like that.

The effect Euan had on her was disconcerting and yet, she loved being with him.

She ought to work out a way to keep her distance from him. A man like him wouldn’t stay with a woman like her, and she wasn’t the sort to hop into bed with anyone just for a temporary pleasure – was she?

Brian confided the full extent of his recent troubles to his boss and asked permission to pick up his emails at work at lunchtime.

Mr Simmonds looked at him thoughtfully. ‘I’m glad you’ve told me that. We all learn some things the hard way. Certainly, your work has improved lately, which is a good sign.’

Brian smiled ruefully. ‘I hope so.’

‘And yes, you can go on line with our system. Set your laptop up in our interview room. In your own hours, though.’

‘Of course.’

Brian went to pick up his emails at lunch time, but had difficulty writing to his mother. It upset him even to try. Where the hell did he start to apologize for treating her like that? She was the one who was good with words, not him. In the end he kept it simple.

It wasn’t quite what he wanted to say, but he figured it was better than nothing, and after a quick glance at his watch, he clicked on the ‘Send’ button and went back to his desk.

The afternoon was busy, with several people coming to look round the development. Molly could have done with someone else to help, but luckily most of the visitors were only looking and didn’t mind being sent off on their own. One older couple called Sarcen seemed serious about buying, however, so she took them round the houses herself, answering their questions patiently, envying the easy way they showed their affection for one another.

She left the office unattended with a sign on the desk saying she’d be back in a few minutes and people should help themselves to brochures. She ran the sign off on the computer in a large font but it still looked amateurish. They needed to get a proper sign made for busy times, a stand-up one on glossy white card, not a floppy piece of paper stuck to the lid of the box the brochures had come in. She made a quick note of that on her list of things to do.

It took longer than she’d expected to show the houses to the Sarcens, who asked a lot of shrewd questions. This might be her very first sale, and Euan had said she’d get commission if she made any sales on her own. What a lucky thing she’d come here that first day!

As she got near the office she stopped dead, and all her happiness evaporated abruptly, because she recognized the two people inside going through the brochures, even with their backs to her – well, she recognized their car as well. There couldn’t be two Citroëns with that idiotic pink fluffy animal in the back, nodding at the world.