“Oh, nice. You swore. Telling Mum.”
She gave me a smug smile. “And don’t play innocent with me. Tell me something, Timothy. You are the boss, you employ eight men and two women, and still, you’re doing the Balfour job yourself instead of supervising one of your lucrative new constructions. Which you like doing, which you specialize in,which you are known for. You are not known for renovating run-down old houses. So, your denials don’t add up.”
For a second, I didn’t know how to answer her.Why was I doing this job?
Because I felt some loyalty to Tabitha’s family and wanted to make sure it was done right.
“Amy, you know you are justplayinga detective in this TV show. You’re not actually one in real life.”
After finishing this job, I could go back to focusing on my business…and I’d be freed up at night to maybe try to spend more time with Tabitha, to see if we could be friends after all. A big emptiness yawned in my chest. Friends. Who was I kidding? I didn’t want to be just friends with her. But that wasn’t something I should think about now. I had to forget about all that for six weeks. In the meantime, I had to handle this myself, because that was what I promised my dad, and that was the man I wanted to be.
20
Tabitha
Sitting in bedwith my laptop, I clicked open the link I’d saved. That purple velvet chair would work brilliantly for reading around the fire in the kitchen, but it was backordered. I scrolled up and clicked on the next one. How was I going to find furniture that could be delivered by the grand finale?
Then my favorite ringtone blared out.
Why was my editor calling me at 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday night?
Digging through my comforter, I finally found my phone.
“Hey, Felicity.”
“Hello, Tabitha.”
“Everything okay?” It was rare for Felicity Barnfield to call me late at night, so this felt strange.
“Yes, sorry to ring so late, but I thought you’d want to know immediately. Things are actually better than okay. I just got off a call with the Wainwright brothers.”
I’d been chasing an exclusive with them for a year. These brothers had just built a massive shopping mall, West City, with apartments, park, pool, and gym complex on what used to be a scrappy part of West London. Darcy and William were both dashingly tall and handsome, but the elder brother, Darcy, drove the media bonkers with his refusal to give interviews.
“Really? What did they call to talk about?”
“I wish they’d called you first, but apparently, they wanted to get my assurance that their story was going to be highly placed in the paper. They’re going to give you an exclusive interview—they’ve agreed to a four-page spread.”
“What?An interview with the Wainwrights?”
This washuge. I squealed internally, bounced off the bed, and danced around the room, a ball of excitement lighting up my limbs. The whole West City enterprise set out to supposedly reconfigure the idea of what a shopping mall could be, creating a complete community rather than just a collection of shops. What I’d spied from the road were glamorous waves of a glass building surrounded by verdant stretches of grass, playgrounds, lush gardens, and mature trees. I always tried to stay impartial and detached as a journalist, but on first sight, I thought it looked beautiful, like an urban oasis. I’d met the brothers at a few events, and I’d been emailing and texting them for an interview. This was an enormous coup.
“They want to start the interview in two weeks’ time on the Monday,” she explained. “You’ll stay at one of the apartments at the complex and join them at appointed times for the final push and at night for dinner at some of the bars and restaurants.” She chuckled gleefully. “To be honest, I imagine there will be a lot of shit hitting the fan and conflict, becausethey have such a strict opening deadline, and I think our readers will be fascinated as to how these two enigmatic men handle it. Which, as you know, is gold for a newspaper. They’ll also have a TV crew following them around, but we’ll get your story in the paper first. Congratulations, Tabitha. All your tenacity has paid off.”
“Oh my God, this is so exciting.” I danced around the room some more and let out a squeal of glee, then held out the phone, too late to protect her ears. Hugging myself, I sat down on the bed so we could talk through the logistics.
She cleared her throat. “Now, some housekeeping. Your parents’ inn, the TV show. That’s totally under control, right? You will be free and back in London by that Monday, won’t you? You won’t be recalled out on any disasters during that week?”
“Please don’t worry about my commitment. We’ve still got six weeks, so we have loads of time, and the builder can take care of any issues that arise. As you know, I’m in London all week. We’re only filming on the weekends. I’ll turn up on Monday morning to the Wainwrights’ offices, packed for the week’s stay at one of their apartments.” I still couldn’t believe I’d go out with them every night. Such a privilege I wouldn’t take for granted. “I won’t let you down, Felicity.”
“You’ve always been a rock, Tabitha. I know I can count on you.” There was a slight hesitation on her part, and I didn’t like it, but I got it. Because although I’d not technically taken off any time from work as I’d done my parents’ house on the weekends, usually I went into the newspaper at least Saturdays and often Sundays to get everything done, and energy-wise, it had to be obvious this renovation was taking its toll on me.
After pressing end, I finally gave the loud whoop I’d been wanting to let out. I tripped around the house to find Mum and Dad. Hopefully when the project ended, they’d be ready for their new adventures too.
I found their shadowy outlines on the pond, Dad raking something, Mum chatting to the chickens. Bursting with excitement, I told them about the assignment with the Wainwright brothers, but their faces creased with confusion, no doubt because they seldom read newspapers or ventured to London if they could help it.
I led them through the house into the makeshift kitchen Tim had set up in the drawing room to take them through my spreadsheet.
“See here?” I showed them the first entry. “I have advertisements for a daily cleaner and a cook.” I clicked into a link. “I’ve also mocked up a basic website.”
