‘I can’t believe you’d doubt me, or try to ruin my night,’ Ariel hissed as Gilly strode away, heading for the ladies’ to reapply her lipstick and put the mask back on.
I can’t believe you might have slept with a man. She gulped, filled with hurt and fury. The problem was she could believe it, because Ariel had dated men in the past, and the last couple of years had eroded the trust between them. She couldn’t wait to return home to the manor, and the comfort of their home.
CHAPTER 29
Albie
Laugh with Somebody
‘Are you trying to be funny?’ Albie stared at the foreman the following Monday, heart pounding. ‘You can’t just pack up and leave! You haven’t finished repointing Theo’s cottage, Tori’s replastering still needs completing, the carpenters are repairing Gilly’s stairs, and the decorator’s only half-done at Kirsten’s. And what’s this about the thatchers? The roofs aren’t done yet.’
Steve shrugged. ‘Issues have come up at other builds and I’m pulling all the subbies to sort them.’
‘Well, how long will it take? We’re on a tight schedule and lots of time, money and effort has already been invested.’ He didn’t want to think about the total cost of re-thatching the cottages, along with replacing some of the rotting timbers with new ones, which he hadn’t foreseen. They were running out of funds.
‘Don’t know.’ The burly builder raised his voice above the men noisily packing up their tools. ‘You might be better off finding someone else.’
‘B-but…’ Albie gripped the newel post for support, breath quickening, ‘this doesn’t make sense. Surely you can at least leave a skeleton crew here to keep things moving?’ He eyeballed the man, who was tight-lipped. ‘There’s something else going on here. We’ve been making regular payments and signed a contract, so I don’t understand. You’re letting us down badly. It could take weeks to find someone with availability and all the right sub-contractor contacts. It’ll throw us seriously off track with timescales and we’re expecting a visit—’ Something about the way Steve’s mouth twitched at the wordtrackmade Albie hesitate. ‘Is this something to do with the potential development of the train station land?’
A nerve ticked in the man’s jaw as Ariel bustled in, freezing when she saw Steve.
‘Can’t say,’ he gritted, ‘there are a number of contributing factors.’ Bringing his attention back to Albie, he gave a terse nod. ‘Sorry, we’re off, but you’re a nice old chap, Albie. Good luck finding someone to help.’ Without another word, he hefted his bag of tools, strode from the room and roared away in his truck, leaving them both gawping after him.
Half an hour later, every brickie, chippy, roofer and skilled worker had left the village. Ariel and Albie sat on Friendship Cottage’s back patio, trying to process the morning’s events.
‘You and Steve got on well.’ He placed his teacup on the table with a clink, watching her tearing strips of bark off a twig. ‘Did he mention anything about any of this?’
‘No,’ she replied sharply, dropping the twig, ‘why would he?’
‘I just wondered.’ Scooting forward, he put his hand over hers. ‘Are you okay? You look pale. Clover and I were so impressed with the exhibition, but it must’ve been tiring. Do you know what you’ll do about the London show, with you living down here?’
Shooting up, she sent her chair careening across the concrete slabs, where it wobbled on two legs before settling. ‘Why do you have to ask so many questions, and get so involved in everything? Oh, shit, sorry… I-I’ve got to go.’ She darted away, the hem of her purple maxi-dress trailing on the grass.
‘Wait, I didn’t mean to upset you.’ He called, but she was gone, the slam of the back door punctuating her departure through his cottage.
Should he follow? No, probably better to provide space for her temper to cool down. The outburst was most likely attributed to stress. Speaking of which, he still couldn’t believe the tradespeople had abandoned them.
The scarlet rose bushes rustled around him in agitation, a shower of vibrant petals falling to the green lawn. ‘Oh, don’t you start,’ he tutted. After the way the roses had changed colour following his and Clover’s first kiss, he’d concluded that whatever force imbued the manor with the ability to vanish and reappear, together with all sorts of unusual behaviours, extended to the village. Tori’s vague response when he’d asked about her rainbow roses, and one of the workmen questioning him about who’d repaired one of the windows overnight, had clinched it. He’d found himself talking to the village more and more, sometimes earning strange looks from the others.
Taking out the black moleskin notebook he was using for the rebuild, he checked the to-do list for each property, calculating how much work was still needed, and sighing. Of the seven cottages owned by residents, only his was completed. Theo’s was almost there, but Tori’s and Kirsten’s were half done, Kit’s hadbeen cleared out but not much else, Gilly and Ariel’s had fully stripped walls but only two rooms were plastered, and Vanessa’s was untouched. Their intention was to get them finished within the next two months. Meaning when the developers applied for planning permission for whatever monstrosity they wanted to build on the train station land (Ethan confirmed no application had been submitted yet) half of the cottages in the village would be ready to live in. Hopefully, that would make it hard for them to buy and demolish any of the ones for sale. There was also a large, thatched building which could be a pub, a medium-sized stone building beside it that would make a perfect corner shop, and a few other smaller buildings, one of which Albie had a sly suspicion Kirsten might be interested in after catching her eyeing it dreamily one afternoon.
He wished once again he hadn’t needed to make the agonising sacrifice forced upon him to grant Rose’s last wish. Shaking off the regret, he focused on the notebook. They must get new tradespeople in without delay, meaning an association meeting was required to discuss the latest setback and how to forge ahead. With a deep breath, he got out his pocket diary to review dates. Clover was visiting friends in Devon, and he’d prefer her to attend the meeting, but they couldn’t wait until her return.
Clover… What a revelation. After years alone, her companionship was a delight. They laughed together, went on walks, watched classics at the cinema and discussed all manner of things. He couldn’t imagine ever tiring of listening to her forthright opinions and wry observations. They were taking it slowly, sharing one other kiss, and his initial guilt and doubts were fading away. Perhaps Rose would have approved. In some ways, the women were alike. Both kind and generous, but with real gumption, although Clover’s personality was more overt, reminding Albie of a novel he’d read about an eighty-something-year-old woman who’d stubbornly gone off to find penguins in Antarctica. Clover wasn’t half as rigid or bolshy as the main character though.
His mobile rang, jolting him. How peculiar to find himself daydreaming about romance, at his age. ‘Hello, Ethan,’ he answered warmly, thinking of how often the younger man had been visiting the village to help. Wondering how much of that was about the building work, and how much was about seeing Tori.
‘Hi. I’m at work but heard on the grapevine we’ve lost our builder, and all his sub-contractors. Is it true?’
‘Bad news travels fast, doesn’t it?’ Albie’s stomach swirled with tension. ‘I’m afraid so. It was strange. Steve made some fudged excuses and then his crew packed up and left, along with the roofers and carpenters. I tried to pin him down, but he was very shifty.’
‘Apparently they were warned off,’ Ethan supplied in a grim tone, ‘and told if they left our project, they’d be used for the land development. A big pay day, and much more lucrative for them. A colleague who knows one of the carpenters caught wind of it.’
‘That’s shocking,’ Albie sucked in a breath, ‘and underhand. Can they do that?’
‘They shouldn’t, but dodgy stuff happens all the time in the business world. I know we have a contract with the builders, and it’s frustrating, but it may not worth the time or costs pursuing it through the courts, at least immediately. Our priority should be finding other people to get on with the work without delay. I’ll put some feelers out.’
‘Agreed. Thank you. I’m setting up an association meeting ASAP and will send you the details.’ He paused, aware what he was about to do might be construed as meddling. ‘Before you go, thank you for coming to the gallery last week. I’m sure Ariel appreciated the support, and know Tori did.’
