‘Hattie? Can you talk?’ Leonie demanded.
‘I’m driving. Can it wait?’
‘Are you on hands-free?’
‘Of course,’ said Hattie, wondering why her sister always made her feel tired.
‘I can’t bring Xander to you after all. You’ll have to pick him up.’
‘Have to, Lenny? Surely, I don’t have to do anything.’ It was unlike her to challenge her sister but since she’d learnt all those awful things about Lance that morning she felt less ready to be compliant.
‘Oh, you know what I mean! I’ll put him on the train. I hope he’ll be all right. He’s only fifteen…’
‘And so will be fine on the train on his own. Far younger children travel on trains on their own.’
Leonie ignored this. ‘But you’ll collect him from the station?’
Hattie heard anxiety in her sister’s voice, which she knew was her way of feeling love. ‘Of course, otherwise he’ll never find his way to my house. What time?’
Chapter Four
To her annoyance, Hattie was a few minutes late to pick up her nephew at the station. She’d been held up by a solicitor who was being a bit slow doing the conveyancing for a client and Hattie had called on him in person to remonstrate rather than send an email. It had been effective but, having been just a little bit firm with him, she had felt obliged to look at a lot of pictures of his newborn baby and hear how very, very tired he was. It had been one of those days, she thought, sweeping into the station car park.
‘Xander!’
She hugged him and felt him stiffen. Her sister wasn’t much of a hugger. She probably greeted her son with a pat on the back. To his credit, Xander managed a small smile in response.
‘I’m really thrilled you’ve come to stay for a while, but I feel it’s only fair that I tell you just how inexperienced I am in dealing with people under twenty. To be honest, I’m better with people around thirty-five. But I mean well. And you’ve got to promise to tell me if I’m being really annoying.’ Hattie looked at him and decided not to ask how he was feeling about his first day at college just yet. ‘The car is this way.’
Despite her feelings about her sister bouncing her into this situation, seeing Xander standing by his rucksack outside the station had wrenched at her heart rather. She was determined to make his stay with her as good as it possibly could be.
They stowed his rucksack in the boot and got in.
‘Although Lennie – your mum – told me you only ate pasta, I went shopping anyway. I thought it would look so unwelcoming if you arrived at my house and there was a packet of penne on the table next to the vitamins I have to give you.’
Another grunt. Hattie realised she was more experienced interpreting the sounds that Luke’s dogs made than those her sister’s son did.
‘You never know, you may find you have a liking for kimchi you previously didn’t know about. I mean, I think it’s fairly disgusting but apparently it’s very good for gut health.’
She looked across to check for cars at the crossing and snatched a quick glance at Xander. Was there a slight lift to the corner of his mouth or had she imagined it?
‘In theory, it’s ten minutes’ walk from my house to the station, but it’s at least twenty going back. The hills, you know. You’ll get used to them.’
When they arrived Hattie opened the back door to the house she’d been living in for the past six months and she knew instantly that something was wrong. There was a dripping sound. She knew what it was. It had happened soon after she’d moved in. Luke had told her then she should tell the owner and ask him to have it fixed.
‘Go on through to the sitting room. Put the telly on if you want. I’ll just see what I can do about this leak.’
She’d have to call Luke, but felt just a little bit guilty for putting upon him even before she’d done it – and a tiny bitmoreguilty because she hadn’t mentioned the problem to her landlord.
But she paid very little rent for the house, which belonged to a property developer. Hattie was keeping it maintained (after a fashion) and lived-in until it sold. But negotiations had begun and so she’d been given three months’ notice.
It was a nice property. It had three good bedrooms, a cosy sitting room with a wood burner and a kitchen she had made her own. It was one of her better house-sitting spots, she thought, going upstairs with a bucket to catch the drips.
Coming down again, she saw that Xander had opened the double doors on to the garden and was standing on the terrace. She was glad: she so wanted him to feel at home here.
Luke, to Hattie’s huge relief, answered. She usually got his answerphone message. As the builder preferred by people with old houses and people who had pretensions, he was always in demand.
‘Hey, Hattie, what do you need?’ he said.
