‘I knock back a triple espresso three times a day, so everything else tastes like toilet water to me.’ He grinned, realising he sounded like a total knob. ‘Oh, and the taps are all-singing and all-dancing, and can deliver hot water on demand, although I still end up boiling the kettle out of habit.’
‘Can they tap dance though?’ Aria asked.
‘Huh?’
‘Or do they prefer the ballet?’
It took a moment, but he went with it, pleased her combative mood had lightened. ‘They love musicals.Fiddler on the Roofis a favourite.’
‘You wouldn’t believe how many people ask if I can sing because my name is Aria. I’m so bad at it I sound like a frog chorus,’ she grumbled.
‘I’d join your choir. I have all the tenor of a toad.’ They smiled at each other in a momentary truce, and he was struck by the simple beauty of her face. Hardly any women he knew left the house without make-up, and many had regular botox appointments. As Aria joined her friend in exploring the tea chest, he couldn’t help but let his gaze wander to the chest he’d traced. What would it feel like to actually have her skin on his?No. Tearing his eyes away, he wiped his hands on his jeans. ‘I need to dry off, but I can make your tea first.’
‘I’ll do it,’ Aria offered. ‘But not if you want coffee. Wouldn’t do to throw another triple shot down your front.’ They swapped a knowing smile and as he left, he overheard Belinda whispering.
‘Where does he go for all this? Sri Lanka and Brazil?’
‘Fortum and Mason, according to the packets,’ Aria drily replied.
In the bedroom Nic changed into a dry shirt and checked his appearance in the mirror. By the time he re-entered the room, they were sipping from mugs and discussing walking routes, with Aria pointing out parts of the lake people could no longer access.
Belinda squealed in disapproval. ‘I know, right! I give out maps, but I always have to scrawl over the paths that can’t be used. This lake used to be a walker’s paradise.’
‘Swimmers, too!’ Aria interjected.
He tuned out of the complaints and picked up a message from the builder apologising for the glitch with the gate. As he followed instructions to reset the code digitally, he wondered why Aria had brought the town’s chief tourism officer here. Were they planning to influence the planning committee against him? Belinda would have clout in this town, and Aria clearly wasn’t afraid to speak out. Fucking hell, how many obstacles would be in his way before he could put up a few houses on land he either owned or wanted to pay top dollar for? Irritated, he announced Aria would need to contact him for a new code now and again. ‘I’ve been told to change it regularly,’ he said, enjoying the mischief. ‘But if you’re only coming to do some angling it shouldn’t affect you that much.’
Annoyance washed across her face. ‘What’s the current code?’
‘I haven’t decided yet. Just ping me when you need to get in or out.’
‘We’re leaving now,’ she said, pouring her tea into the sink and gesturing for Belinda to drink up. ‘Is that enough notice for you? Come on, Belinda, I will show you the path around the lake. You can go quite a way from here, unless Mr Castle has put in any more gates.’
Nic acknowledged Belinda’s gushing thanks for the cup of tea she didn’t get a chance to drink as he showed them bothout, Tiger following in their wake. And then he glanced around the downstairs area, wondering how he would occupy himself for the rest of the long evening ahead. As he contemplated a steak for one, Theo rang to ask what the weird phone call had been about. Nic shrugged it off, asking after his health.
‘Oh, I’m just grand,’ his brother replied. ‘In fact, I’ve invited an ex over and I’m cooking up some organic salmon, so I won’t be free for our Zoom meeting, after all.’
Nic’s heart sank, and then he reminded himself that his brother should be allowed to have some fun after all the months of hell. He rang off, resigned to spending the evening watching TV on his own. Even the stars above his bed wouldn’t give him adequate company tonight. Noticing the rain had stopped, he stepped out onto his balcony and saw Aria setting out a bottle of wine and two glasses on her wooden veranda. She didn’t look like someone who was preparing to go for the last bus, he thought. And anyway, she didn’t have the code to get out. Washing up the mugs, he decided to head into town, himself. He’d take a walk and go for a pint.
17
‘Londoners are destroying our town and the lake,’ Aria told Belinda as they sat and chatted. The tourist officer had jumped at the chance of a ‘vino with a view’ before she set off for her walk home. As soon as her glass was full, she joined in the chorus of disapproval.
‘You don’t know the half of it. I’ve been doing some research so I feel informed when people come in to ask for advice. There are other less publicised dangers from overdevelopment than the ones you mentioned. The environment office has discovered that the combination of stripped-back land and winter rain creates run-off that’s been depleting wildlife. Our fish are in danger as well as all sorts of smaller organisms. If everyone left the riverbanks and trees untouched, we would have a healthy and thriving lake, but it’s dying as fast as the town. And that’s before you look at the sewage that finds its way in. And when I say find its way in, I mean it is deliberately pumped into the lake. Plus, there’s pollution from all the extra boats.’
‘No! That sounds terrible,’ said Aria, wondering what toxins she’d been swimming in. ‘Dad was always afraid of this happeningon a large scale.’ She sipped her wine, remembering the bottle had been paid for by the kind of man who caused these issues. ‘Did you know my father started the Spring into Summer Swim all those years ago as a protest against pollution in the lake?’
‘Eddie Wilson will be sorely missed in this town,’ Belinda said, lightly placing her hand on Aria’s elbow.
‘I’m beginning to see that,’ said Aria, touched. ‘If the lake is deemed clean enough for this year’s swim, I might do it once more in his memory. I’m pretty unfit but I can feel myself getting stronger all the time in the water.’
Belinda glanced back through the open door of the hut. ‘This is a lovely bolt-hole.’
Aria snorted. ‘If you ignore the damp, the smell, the spores, the slugs, the decrepit furnishings…’
‘Surface issues,’ Belinda insisted. ‘It has character, and the surroundings are idyllic. I’d come every day, if it was mine.’
Aria quickly changed the subject. ‘Right, I’m going to try and get some publicity for these issues. It’s not just our environment that’s suffering – I know the Central Lakes have had loads of problems with sewage. We need to raise awareness that businesses are wilfully destroying our environment. Otherwise, the town will end up having to cancel events like the Spring into Summer Swim on environmental health grounds.’
