‘I went to see Nina earlier, took her a casserole,’ saidCamille as Leo took off his shoes. ‘I mean it’s no fun cooking for one is it, thought she might be surviving on pizzas and takeaways.’
‘You know she’s not doing that, Gran. Walt has had her over for dinner enough.’
She kept her voice low. ‘She told us you were going to the bank.’ He shouldn’t be surprised.
‘She told you?’
‘I was there when she came to see Walt. She wanted to be upfront about the other offer and let him know all the options. Said she felt it only fair.’ She said it in hushed tones and Leo would’ve almost laughed if his bad luck with the bank wasn’t still lodged in his psyche. ‘And Walt doesn’t want to sell to that man. He’s so very happy that you want to buy it.’
All Leo had to do was look at her.
She looked as deflated as he felt. ‘Oh, your meeting didn’t go well.’
He sealed the envelope and slumped onto the grand chair in the hallway that really was for show unless anyone sat there to put their shoes on. ‘No, it did not.’
‘Well at least you tried.’ She sighed. ‘Does Nina know?’
He shook his head. ‘She’ll be disappointed and she’ll have to go with the higher offer I suppose.’
Camille didn’t say anything at first but then looked at him tenderly, the way she’d done when he was a boy. ‘Be patient with her, Leo. She’s doing her best.’
‘I know she is.’
‘You still care about her, don’t you?’
‘We were together a long time.’ He closed his eyes a moment. ‘Perhaps both of us need to let go of the nostalgia.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘She never came back for me, Gran.’ Camille put a hand on his shoulder as he fought back emotion, some of it to do with his failure at the bank, most of it tangled up with Nina. ‘I waited for her then, waited for her to come back to the bay or for her to get in touch and tell me what was going on. For such a long time I thought she would. And she never did.’
‘I know how much it hurt you. She was hurt too and she’s desperate to do the right thing now.’
‘Buying the cabin would’ve been perfect, that’s all.’
‘I know, love.’
‘I don’t expect Walt to turn down the other offer.’
She harrumphed. ‘He won’t take it, not now he knows it’s a businessman who plans to make changes so the rest of us no longer recongnise the place.’
‘But this would set him up for the rest of his days.’
‘Would you take it if you were him?’
Leo shook his head. Walt loved the bay as much as he did. ‘No, I wouldn’t.’
‘He’ll wait to get the asking price.’
Now he felt worse. He’d got Nina’s hopes up, Walt’s, and all for nothing. And now they’d have to wait, endure the pain of trying to sell a property which could be a drawn-out process in the best of circumstances. It didn’t matter that the cabin was in a top location, that it was done up as the perfect seaside escape, buyers could play games and change their minds and mess Walt about. And knowing that made Leo feel even lower.
‘Walt thinks the world of you, Leo.’
‘And I him.’
‘When he heard you might be interested in buyingI’ve never seen him so happy,’ she smiled. ‘He always wanted to keep the cabin, he wanted to see his grandkids in it, keep it in the family. But he’s always thought of Nina and William’s future too, you know how close they are. When Elsie died he retreated into himself a bit and had the family worried. Nina’s mother was next to useless – no surprise there – but Nina was back and forth to his bungalow every few days or nights to be with him.’
That piqued his interest. He’d never seen her. ‘I never realised she’d done that.’
