‘Yep. I am. I’ve been given more blueberry pies than any one person could ever eat. No-one seems to realise that it wasn’t exactly altruistic, because, as you know, it was driving me insane. My next job’s trying to get better phone reception. I’m guessing that you heard that the engineers spent days and days trying to work out why the Wi-Fi was so slow and then tracked the problem down to Laura’s old TV that she had on all day every day. Even when she was out. It was emitting a signal that interfered with the entire island’s broadband.’
‘Yes. Unbelievable.’ Cassie had also heard that James had bought Laura a new TV to replace the old one. She’d wondered if he was sucking up to Laura, too, for business reasons. Laura’s house stood in the middle of a very large plot that ran down to the sea. ‘You know occasionally she switched it off if she knew she was going to be spending several hours out, which was usually dinner or something at someone else’s house, and Dina and I used to joke that she was our mascot because the Wi-Fi worked better when she was with us.’
‘Ouch – so near and yet so far.’
‘I know. So how is Laura?’
‘She’s good. One of the alpacas isn’t, though, which is why I’m calling. Donna’s been behaving oddly.’ James had a lot to say about Donna’s symptoms. By the time he’d finished, Cassie was struggling not to laugh. ‘Did you justsnigger?’
‘Yep. You’ve changed a lot since you arrived.’ And it was hilarious that in order to suck up to Cassie because of her land, which she would never allow to be developed, he was going to all this trouble. ‘In terms of animal interaction.’
‘Needs must. So what do you think’s wrong with her? You don’t sound that worried?’
‘I’m pretty sure that she just has a cold but, yes, definitely a good idea to get the vet out. I have insurance. Her details are in my notes.’
‘Okay, great, I’ll do that. There’s something else that I wanted to speak to you about. I know that I’m being a little unfair putting you on the spot and asking you in person, so if you want to think about it, or just say no straight out, please do just say no, because I know it might feel a bit odd.’ So hehadjust been sucking up to her again. Cassie felt her face drop. Stupid of her; she shouldn’t find it disappointing. She should have known.
‘Right,’ she said.
‘I’m going to be over in London next weekend for a christening. There are a couple of documents in the flat that I’d like to pick up and I’d like to come over to get them while I’m in town, if that’s alright.’Oh.
‘Yep, no problem.’ She’d have to make sure the place lookedimmaculatebefore he arrived. ‘If you could just let me know when you’re coming, just in case?’
‘So that you can clear away all the evidence of the debauched parties, marijuana-farming and illegal pet breeding that you have going on?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Yes, of course. And thank you so much.’
‘Really, in no way a problem. A christening sounds nice.’
‘Yes, it is. My best friend and his wife – their first baby. I’m going to be the proud godfather.’
‘Well, congratulations.’
‘Thank you.’
Cassie should probably finish the conversation and try to get another chapter of the first book in her series drafted, but weirdly she was enjoying their chat. They ended up sharing their top christening anecdotes and then the conversation turned to the animals.
‘What inspired you to get them?’ James asked.
‘They both kind of felt like no-brainers. My mother’s from Jordan and as a child I adored visiting her family there. They had chickens, so I’d always wanted some and it was the first time I’d had outside space as an adult. I lived in a flat in Glasgow. And I happened to read about alpacas and one thing led to another.’
‘So it was a hankering after the outdoors that led you to move to the island?’
‘Kind of. I mean, yes. Basically, I used to be a lawyer, and then I got my first book deal just as I had a bit of a difficult break-up, so I could work anywhere, and it just felt like the right time to move.’ Woah. Why was she giving him so many details about her life? She never talked about leaving Glasgow. ‘What about you? Have you always lived in London?’
‘Yep. Boring.’
‘Always in the same area?’
‘Similar. Quite close by. Anyway, I’d better get on. Call the vet.’ Apparently he had as little desire as she did to talk about his past life. ‘Thank you for your alpaca knowledge. I’ll let you know how Donna gets on and I’ll message you during the week to agree a time to come over to the flat at the weekend.’
‘Great.’
* * *
Cassie straightened up. Her back waskillingher. Ralitza came three times a week and kept the flat spotless, but Cassie had been up at the crack of dawn today making sure that it was even more spotless than usual before James came round. She’d also put away every single thing that could possiblybeput away and had, no joke – she couldn’t even believe in her own head that she’d done this – warmed up some shop-bought bread in the oven just so that the kitchen would smell inviting. Like she was a desperate home-seller when in actual fact her effective landlord was just popping in for a couple of minutes and would then leave.
