Quite suddenly, Hattie was no longer looking at an early summer garden, but at a hotel bedroom. In the bed was Lance, but the woman was dark-haired and very thin; she looked nothing like Fiona. Andshe was wearing nothing but scarlet stockings and a suspender belt.
Hattie shook her head to clear the vision. It didn’t happen often but she sometimes found herself seeing things. Possibly things that hadn’t yet happened, but she knew they would happen eventually and she found herself unable to ignore them. She’d had these visions all her life and quickly learnt not to mention them to her family; they struggled with her enough as it was.
She took some deep breaths and glanced in the mirror; she saw that her freckles were standing out against her suddenly pale face, and her eyes looked greener than ever. She didn’t want to look as if she’d just seen a ghost, although in a way she had. Now she ran her fingers through her hair, her dark curls being forgiving of such treatment.
She then went to the kitchen for a drink of water. She could hear Lance and Fiona coming down the stairs.
‘The upstairs is a vast improvement on down here,’ said Lance. ‘We’d like to see the garden now. On our own.’
A flash of anger stabbed her. Not only was Lance a man who was about to, or already had, cheated on the lovely Fiona, but he was rude and unappreciative too.
‘What a good idea,’ she said. ‘Late May is the very best time for gardens.’
Fiona gave her a quick, shy smile, and followed her fiancé out of the house, leaving Hattie wondering what on earth she could do with this new information about Lance. Her visions were anything but a gift at times like these.
Chapter Two
It seemed that a summer house covered in white wisteria, beds full of roses, and love-in-a-mist spilling over the lawn didn’t impress Lance. Although there was space for one, and money in the budget, there was no swimming pool. The drive needed repairing and the paddock (Hattie couldn’t remember why they needed a paddock) was too small.
She took a breath and gave it one more shot.
‘One of the many joys of this house,’ she said, ‘and yes, I am trying to sell it to you, is that the village is only a short distance away and it’s lovely. It has the usual general store – run by volunteers—’
Lance groaned.
‘And a few delightful shops selling other things. My friend Rose – I’m sure I’ve mentioned her before?’ Fiona nodded. ‘She has her shop that sells lovely things, soft furnishings, scarves, vintage finds from France. And there’s a wine shop that is also an amazing delicatessen, as well as a proper little haberdashery and fabric shop.’ She paused. ‘The pub is excellent too.’
‘I’m sure you’ll be telling us the village hall has tai chi, Pilates and Hatha yoga classes,’ said Lance. ‘As well as an active WI. I’m not interested.’
Hattie forced a smile. She loved the village because, apart from anything else, her favourite house in the world wasn’t far away.
‘Or maybe you don’t think this is the one? I may have a couple of other houses we could consider but I need to do a bit more research first.’
‘This one is close, but no cigar,’ said Lance with a smile that made Hattie feel patronised and murderous at the same time.
She took a breath and returned his smile with one of her own. ‘Don’t forget you will need to compromise. No one ever gets everything on their wish list for a house: it’s like finding a partner.’
Then she wished she hadn’t made that analogy. Poor Fiona had no idea quite how much she was compromising with Lance.
‘I don’t expect to have to lower my standards, Hattie,’ Lance said.
‘Well, just have a think about it,’ said Hattie briskly. ‘I’m afraid I have to leave now. There are a couple of dogs at home who need to be fed.’
It seemed to take ages to usher them out of the house.
Once in her car, she forced herself to stop and think for a moment. She couldn’t in good conscience ignore her vision of Lance. He was cheating on his fiancée before they’d even got to the altar. He didn’t deserve Fiona, with her dimples and her messy bun. And he certainly didn’t deserve that lovely house! Fiona had told her at their first meeting, held at her mother’s house, that her parents had given them a very generous deposit. So if they married, when the inevitable divorce came along Lance would get half of it. This was so unfair. No, she’d have to find a way to help Fiona see what was going on.Hattie might even be able to find her a lovely home to buy for herself in the wake of it all.
It was all very well having visions, she reflected, but it would be more useful if they offered solutions. Instead they just gave her dilemmas which, in this case, seemed impossible to solve. Although they did sometimes show her a glimpse of a happy couple and when she had those she knew she needed to help pair the two up. It had led her to being known as a bit of a matchmaker. It didn’t work on her own account, of course. Nothing so useful!
She did a couple of shoulder rolls and looked at herself in the mirror. She still looked a bit pale, her freckles prominent. She looked very different from the other women in her family, who were blonde and angular. Apparently she took after her wild Irish great-grandmother, who had eyes ‘as green as gooseberries’ and was hardly ever mentioned – and was missing from most of the ancient family photographs.
As she started the car, she wondered why she was worried about her appearance when it was only Luke who was likely to see her. He was due to pick up his dogs soon and although he had a key to her house and could help himself to them, she always preferred to do a proper handover.
Frank and Fearless were Springer spaniels that he’d had from puppyhood. They were so good and beautiful with their white and brown coats and dark brown eyes to match. She would miss them.
‘Were they all right?’
Luke didn’t bother to say hello. He was leaning in the door frame wearing his working clothes, which were dusty and hung off his tall frame but somehow suitedhim. His work boots always made him look like he meant business, Hattie thought. Looking at him you could somehow tell he was the best builder around. He’d spent the last few days working in Cornwall, which was out of his normal territory: he was involved in a huge restoration project on the coast and kept having to disappear for days or weeks at a time. Hattie missed his easy-going presence in her life when he was away – but right now she was indignant about even the faintest suggestion that Frank and Fearless might have been anything but perfect. Usually he took the dogs with him, but he was staying somewhere unsuitable this time and so Hattie had offered to have them; it was always a pleasure.
