‘You’re Eddie Wilson’s daughter? I was sorry to hear he passed. He was a good ’un. A man who followed his owncompass.’ The older guy held out a rough hand and his clammy fingers clamped around hers.
‘I thought I recognised you from school,’ said the younger builder, looking up briefly. ‘Ayla, right?’
‘Aria.’
‘That was it! You said you have a lake-front hut? I think it’s worth quite a bit more than next to nothing.’ He winked his approval.
The old man folded his arms and focused on Aria. ‘Let me put you right on matters of lakeside security. When the yachts and rich people arrive, the marina will be a magnet for thieves. I’ve seen gates much bigger than this demolished in a ram raid. People can still hop over these, mind, so I’m suggesting my lad adds something to discomfort anyone who does.’
‘Discomfort?’
‘Castrate,’ the lad said with another grin.
‘Letmeputyouright on matters of lakeside etiquette,’ she parroted. ‘As I’m sure you will remember, my dad believed in open access to the lakes and fells for everyone. No matter how much money you have, who your family is or where you are from. He built paths for prams and wheelchairs and managed the annual Spring into Summer Swim which everyone was invited to take part in. He’d never turn a single person away, as long as they respected the environment and enjoyed the outdoors. The Lakes should be for all. It’s vital that we breathe the air and connect with the natural world.’ Ironically, she ran out of breath in the delivery of her speech. ‘If you’re short of work, I’m sure Mr Castle will have plenty more in the coming months to occupy you, as I believe he’sdue to build twenty houses if all his planning applications are approved.’
‘Forty. And we’re not short of work, I can assure you.’
‘Forty! Look, please can you stop until I’ve spoken to him? Tiger, put that down!’ She pointed at the floor and her dog dropped a thin pipe he was trying to swipe, making her feel quite pleased at the improvement in their communication.
‘This’ll be nothing compared to the disruption when he builds the marina,’ said the older man, as she clipped Tiger onto his lead. ‘And you’re right to keep a close eye on the little chap there. It’s a busy road.’ She thought about telling him she knew the road around the lake like the back of her hand but didn’t have the energy. Instead, she tugged at her dog, who responded by cocking a leg on the weeds.
‘Are you around tonight?’ the young guy asked. ‘If you’re only just home you might not have set up much of a social life for yourself yet. Fancy the pub quiz? We’re short of someone for our team.’
She shook her head, as the last thing she wanted to do was hobnob with the enemy’s staff. ‘I’m hopeless at quizzes.’
‘Dad is too. He mostly comes along to complain about the stout.’
‘Hey, I’m good at the sport and farming!’ the old man exclaimed.
Aria was a little annoyed to see him start digging again.
‘I’m Spanner, by the way,’ the younger man said.
‘You take your dad on all your dates?’
Spanner grimaced. ‘I wouldn’t bring him if it was a proper date. But you need at least three to make a team. You canhitch a ride on the back of my pick-up truck if you have no transport?’
‘Hard pass. I couldn’t take a space from one of your sheep,’ Aria said with a gentle laugh. ‘Maybe you should ask one of them to join you. They’d be great at questions about geography and nature.’ She walked on towards the bus stop, wondering if the forty houses would ever materialise. The foundations were being laid for the first house when she’d left the Lakes and it still hadn’t sold.
Aria briefly wondered why there had been a toothbrush in the bathroom of a show home, before picking up a signal. A voicemail from the agent informed her Stephen had phoned to cancel his viewing earlier. Wait, what? If that insufferable man wasn’t Stephen, who the hell was he and what were his intentions? Feeling sick to the stomach that she’d committed a security breach on her first day at work, she tried to remember if the handsome imposter had managed to catch sight of the door code and whether she’d left him alone at any point. She sighed at the irony of the owner installing all the gates, shutters and codes, only for her to open his house wide and show a potential burglar around.
12
Nic was annoyed when the builder’s number flashed up several times during his meeting. He couldn’t afford to be distracted, and almost missed a piece of information that could put the brakes on everything.
‘Can we rewind on that?’ he said, muting his phone as he processed the snippet of news the council planning officer had offered up. ‘You’re saying only locals can build houses going forward?’
‘I’m saying they will be favoured. People from out of the county will go to the back of the queue. It seems a popular proposal among the council.’
‘It feels like we’re already at the back of the queue! What timescale? And why?’
‘The district council is looking at it now. Officers are taking their cue from central government. I think we all know why. They need to accelerate affordable housing projects and provide more homes for local people who can’t afford the rocketing prices. They’ll have been influenced by the protests in some of the Central Lakes villages last summer. People are angry their children and grandchildren are being forced outof the area. The shortage of houses to live in has had a knock-
on effect on rental too.’
Nic remembered the protests. They had ramped up bad feeling on social media and someone had put graffiti on one of his new banner signs at the roundabout. ‘We’re catering for an entirely different demographic,’ he argued.
‘You are still facilitating the rise of second homes. It’s one of a handful of proposals they’re taking quite seriously, I’m afraid.’
