‘Wonderful so far,’ said Michael.
‘I see they’ve put you straight to work.’
‘Oh, we’re happy to help,’ said Carly. ‘Actually, I’d better get back to it. Harry asked us to send you down to the lake when you arrived.’
‘The lake? I hope she doesn’t expect me to join her for a swim before we’ve even unpacked.’ I laughed, and Carly flashed me another smile, before scampering back to her bucket of soapy water.
‘Let’s drive down there,’ I said to Bertie. ‘Then we can come back and unpack our things.’
We climbed back into the car and followed the track down to the lake. After parking, we walked through the woods, which were now teeming with life and colour.
‘There they are,’ said Bertie, pointing to a group of figures sitting out on the veranda of Pat’s cabin.
I waved as Bertie sprinted over to Harry, Pat, and Seb.
‘You’re here,’ said Harry, jumping down from the veranda and swinging Bertie around. She put Bertie down, and he giggled, stumbling like a drunkard over to Pat, who reached down and shook his hand.
‘It’s wonderful to be back,’ I said, hugging Harry. Seb smiled at me as I approached the veranda, causing butterflies to flutter their wings in my stomach. ‘I was expecting you all to be at the house.’
‘There’s been a bit of a change of plan,’ said Seb, standing up so I could take his seat.
‘Thank you.’ I sat down in the wicker chair.
‘You’re probably expecting to have your old room back,’ said Harry. ‘But I’m afraid it’s not available.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yes, we’ve given it to the new couple who’ve moved in, Michael and Carly. You may have met them?’
‘Yes,’ said Bertie. ‘They were cleaning windows. Will we have to sleep outside?’
‘Good Lord, no,’ said Pat. ‘Actually, I’m responsible for this turn of events. You see, all this walking back and forth to the farmhouse is getting a bit much for me. Old legs, you know.’ Pat tapped his knee with his hands. ‘Luckily for me, Harry has kindly made a couple of rooms available in the farmhouse. So what I propose is that you two move in to my cabin.’
‘But this is your home, Pat. We can’t take your home from you.’
‘Ah, no, my dear. It’s just bricks and mortar, or logs, in this case. Don’t think I’m offering charity. I mean it about my legs. Seb’s tried getting me on that damned quad bike, but that sets off my hip. Not much fun, this getting older lark.’
‘We’d be neighbours,’ said Seb, his hand brushing against mine, sending tingles up my arm.
‘And there’d be no excuse not to join me for a swim each morning,’ said Harry, glancing down at the lake, which sparkled in the hot summer sun.
‘I don’t know, Pat. It feels like we’d be kicking you out of your home. It doesn’t sit right with me.’
‘Listen, Liv. If I’m to continue living independently at my age, I have to be sensible about these things or, before you know it, I’ll be stuck in an old folks’ home.’
‘We’d have to come to some sort of financial arrangement.’
Pat waved my comment away with a flick of his wrist. ‘What use is money at my age? You can’t take it with you, as they say.’
‘I’m afraid I insist.’
Pat let out a dramatic sigh. ‘Fine. But not today. Today, you need to settle into your new home. And once you’ve done that, I wouldn’t mind a game of chess with Bertie up at the farmhouse.’
‘Deal,’ said Bertie with a grin. ‘But watch out, Pat, I’ve been practising. I found an app on my iPad where you can play against a bot.’
‘You’ve been playing against a bottom?’
‘Not a bottom,’ said Bertie with a roll of his eyes. ‘A bot.’
