‘Even if that means giving it to Spencer?’
He glances at me, knowing I’m still digging for the truth. ‘January? Can I ask you something?’
‘Depends what.’
‘Has anything ever happened between you two?’
‘You can’t ask me that. No,’ I add, lightly crossing my fingers. ‘Why?’
‘Well, I don’t think he pops round to see Graham, do you?’
‘He likes Spud.’
He raises an eyebrow. ‘He likes beautiful women.’
I turn away, unsure how to react to his compliment, knowing I liked it a little too much.
After stopping for a coffee and Danish pastry at a service station, and Spud has had a couple of pees, I feel more comfortable, especially since we’re closer to Uley. We’re now heading through Tetbury, a small market town in the Cotswolds, the street lined with antique shops. I’m looking forward to seeing the house now and watching Ward in action. My list of things to do seems a world away.
‘Most memorable pitch?’ I ask Ward.
He taps the steering wheel. ‘There was one time when I drove away with Felix the cat. Almost got home before I saw him sprawled on my back seat.’
‘Oh shit. What did you do?’
‘What do you think I did?’ There’s something flirtatious in his tone.
‘You turned round.’
‘Chucked him in the hedge.’
‘You didn’t!’ I hit him on the arm.
Spud barks in agreement.
‘If I’d only been a mile or so away, then maybe, but I was longing to get home, put my feet up, pour myself a large drink.’
‘Ward, please tell me you didn’t chuck Felix in a hedge.’
He hits me back, saying ‘I can’t believe you asked.’ His hand rests on my arm a moment too long and I feel a shot of energy or electricity, something I haven’t experienced for a long time, race through me.
To try and distract myself from his closeness, I tell Ward about some of the pitches Jeremy went on, including the one where he was shooed off the property, mistaken for being drunk. Ward finds this insanely funny. ‘I do remember one time feeling badly hungover and the owner insisting he take me out for a spin around their estate. Driving over their bumpy fields.’ He pulls a queasy face.
‘Jeremy once had to buy some mousetraps for a client who was away.’
‘You get some weird requests.’
‘You get some weird people.’
‘I once walked in on two people in bed and they weren’t sleeping.’
‘A vibrator in the airing cupboard, the most enormous you haveeverseen, according to Graham.’
‘Who never exaggerates,’ says Ward.
‘Never.’
Ward takes a sharp turn to the right, down a narrow road with fields on both sides. We head down a steeper hill, the road twisting and turning. The satnav tells us to turn at the T-junction into Uley. There’s a church on the left, a pub on the right. Two horses trot in front of us, so we make slow progress up the hill before seeing a handsome Georgian house on the edge of the village. Ward and I guess it was built around 1780, Cotswold stone, with a pale-green door and pillars on either side. We fork right and drive through a gate, parking in front of the house. A balustrade and stone steps lead down into their back garden with its sweeping lawn and small pond. ‘This looks great,’ says Ward.
