Two
Having showered, eaten breakfast, and dressed in jeans, a yellow T-shirt and a navy-blue V-neck jumper, Lara made herself another mug of coffee and once again, checked the lists she had written.
She had written two and placed them beside the kettle in the kitchen last night, held firmly in situ by her favourite mug, and she’d checked them earlier while waiting for her toast to turn the exact shade of brown she liked.
One list had been used to help her pack yesterday, but it also listed items she would need to pack this morning, like her favourite mug, once she’d had her fill of coffee, and washed it up. The other list was for today, to make sure everything in her home was turned off and unplugged before she left this morning. A month was a long time to be away and although her best friend Jenny, who lived just over a mile away, had offered to pop round regularly to collect any post and to make sure the place was okay, it was best to be prepared.
Lara had been friends with Jenny Daly for nearly nine years, from the first day Lara had joined Pliny Software asan illustrator at the age of twenty-one. Lara was one of four illustrators employed by the company but she was the only one who would be working from home. She had, however, spent the first week of her employment in the company’s offices in Woking, meeting the various team members of each department and generally getting a feel for how everyone worked – and played (as all software company employees do) – and Jenny had been the person from Human Resources who had shown her around. They had hit it off the first time they spoke to one another and had been friends ever since. Lara was now one of Pliny Software’s top illustrators, and Jenny was now head of Human Resources having worked her way up the corporate ladder.
But Lara had learnt fourteen years ago that the only person she could truly depend upon was herself, and that was a hard habit to break. Besides, it was wise not to rely totally on anyone other than herself, just in case. Lara knew from experience that life had a way of throwing curveballs, and if one of those hit you squarely in the face, you didn’t want that to be the time when you realised no one would look out for you – but yourself.
‘Answer call,’ Lara commanded. Another of her quick phrases, but one the device in the kitchen instantly recognised. Possibly because Lara was directly facing it at the moment the video call came through. ‘Good morning, Jen!’ Lara beamed at her friend.
‘Good morning!’ Jenny’s tone, together with her raised brows, conveyed her surprise, which Jenny then confirmed. ‘This is a surprise. What’s made you so bright and breezy this morning? I half expected you to be quivering in your boots. Or possibly nursing a hangover.’
Lara laughed. ‘I don’t drink and drive, Jen. You know that. But I will admit that I was tempted to have just one glass of wine last night to calm my nerves. Oddly enough though, once I startedpacking, excitement took over. I was awake before the alarm this morning. Can you believe that?’
Jenny raised her eyebrows higher. ‘No.’ She laughed. ‘I can’t. So … no nerves at all? No buyer’s remorse? No doubts or concerns? Not that you should have any. I’m sure the place will be delightful. The perfect seaside retreat and a countryside idyll all rolled into one. Although I still think you should’ve at least gone to take a look at the place before today.’
‘I haven’t had the time,’ Lara said.
‘You’ve had fourteen days. Plus all the time before that, when you first spotted it on the internet.’
That was true. Lara couldn’t deny that.
She had considered going down to look at the property she had bought online, unseen, other than the photos on the auction website, but having committed to the purchase she had made the decision not to do so. Partly because she didn’t want to be disappointed, and there was a tiny, niggling thought that she might be. She had, after all, been rather drunk when she had bought it.
Lara could still remember the look on Jenny’s face that morning, just two weeks ago, when she had called to tell Jenny the news … and to inform her, in Jenny’s role as head of HR, that she would need to take some time off work.
‘You’ve donewhat?’ Jenny had shrieked, gasping in shock at the other end of the video call.
Lara had closed her eyes and rested her aching head in her hands, opening one eye a few moments later and glancing at the large screen on the glass desk in her home office. Jenny’s face wore conflicting expressions of disbelief and amusement, as if she were unable to decide which feeling was uppermost at that moment.
‘Please don’t yell.’ Lara pulled herself upright and sighed deeply before taking several gulps of her, now slightly cool,coffee. Jenny sat in silence, mouth open, blinking at her own screen. It seemed disbelief had won.
Lara coughed and gave a wry smile. ‘To paraphrase Jane Austin, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in need of a cottage by the sea.’
Jenny blinked twice more before snorting a laugh. ‘I’m impressed. Although I’m not sure dear Jane would be. And if I’d known you’d take her name in vain today, I wouldn’t have told you the other day that we were reading Pride and Prejudice at our book club last night. But anyway. You can get out of it, right?’
Lara shook her head and instantly regretted it. ‘Nope. It was an online auction, and mine was the highest bid. Yay me.’ She had waved her hands mirthlessly in the air then groaned and slumped back in her reclining, leather chair. ‘They emailed to congratulate me first thing this morning and to ask me to pay the deposit by the end of the day. Completion’s set for fourteen days’ time.’
‘Bloody hell, Lara! That’s not good. What are you going to do? Do you want me to have a word with Legal? There must be some way out of it. Can’t you tell them you were drunk and not in control of your mental faculties, or something? Not that you ever are.’ Jenny grinned devilishly. ‘I can vouch for that.’
Lara screwed up her face and gave her friend a sarcastic smile. ‘Thanks. It’s good to know I can count on you. But I’ve got a good solicitor, and to be honest, I’m not sure I want to get out of it. To quote our namesake, Pliny the Elder, “In vino veritas”. Even the Romans knew that in wine, there’s truth. I think, deep down, I’ve been secretly wanting something like this.’
‘Oooh! Get you. Two vaguely literary quotes in less than five minutes. And with a hangover. Definitely impressive. You realise, of course, that both were in jest. Well, Jane’s was. Pliny’s is debatable.’
‘Yeah, yeah. But it’s true, isn’t it? We all do, or say, things we’ve always wanted to do or say, when we’ve had too much alcohol, that we wouldn’t do or say when we’re sober.’ Lara drew her brows together. ‘Did that make sense? I think I’m still half sozzled.’
‘Don’t ask me. I’m in a state of shock.’ Jenny had leant closer to her screen. ‘So are you saying that you’re going through with this? That you’re buying a cottage in a village by the sea?’
Lara let out a sigh. ‘Well … I transferred the funds over to pay the deposit, twenty minutes ago, and I’ve left a message for my solicitor to call me when he’s out of the meeting he was in, so I suppose I am.’
‘You’ve already paid the deposit?’ Jenny looked both surprised and slightly hurt. ‘Before calling me?’
‘I knew you’d try to talk me out of it.’ Lara shrugged. ‘For my own good, obviously. But that’s another reason why I believe this was meant to be. I paid the deposit right away even though I had until the end of the day to do so. I think I was half afraid I might try to talk myself out of it once I’d completely sobered up.’
It was Jenny who shook her head this time, closed her eyes, and let her chin fall to her chest.
