Page 5 of The Cottage at Brambleton Hall

‘Oh . . . right,’ she said. ‘I’m actually here by mistake. My friend Chloe . . . she was hired. I’m covering for her. She’s brilliant, honestly. More experienced than me. This sort of thing would be perfect for her.’

‘Indeed,’ Magnus said. ‘Nevertheless, Madam hasn’t met Chloe . . . the offer is extended to you.’

She laughed softly, already shaking her head. ‘No, there’s been a misunderstanding. I just stepped in . . . Chloe’s . . .’

She stopped, opened her mouth to resume, then closed it.

A traitorous thought surfaced, uninvited and stubborn as anything. I could do this. She pushed it aside.

‘I’d need to think about it,’ and talk to Chloe, she added mentally. ‘Obviously. I couldn’t . . .’

‘Of course,’ Magnus said.

From the steps, Stop It belched softly, unrepentant. ‘And we’d need to check the references from your current employers. Mrs Williams leaves us next week, but we have made temporary arrangements. This is not the way we normally handle these things . . .’ he paused – which spoke volumes – before adding, ‘but it’s what Madam wants.’

Madam – that must have been the tall lady in silk and pearls. The one who’d questioned Sammy about her current jobs.

‘The position is live-in,’ Magnus continued. ‘All bills covered. Competitive salary.’ He named the figure.

The salary was more than her combined part-time jobs. Live-in meant no rent; all bills covered – no utilities draining her dry each month. A gull screeched, reminding her of the Swansea flat she shared with Chloe, where something was always on the blink. All those unanswered letters; polite at first, then not so much. They weren’t all her debts. But she’d taken them on because someone had to.

Around her, chairs had been arranged in neat rows, crockery stacked, glasses on trays, napkins in a mound; everything under control.

Magnus inclined his head. ‘Consider it carefully. We do not make job offers lightly.’

He strode away.

Sammy stayed where she was. A little way off, the bull terrier nosed at a fallen napkin, tail thumping steadily against the grass, as if his day had worked out exactly as intended.

She watched Magnus, his back straight, a tray of dirty glasses balanced in his hands.

Her phone pressed against her thigh, heavy with other people’s problems.

Sammy took a step, then another, and crouched to pat the dog. Her fingers sank into the solid warmth of his neck.

It would be so easy to stay here a minute longer. The dog pressed closer, as if certain she would.

Two

Sammy merged onto the M5, the indicator ticking on unnoticed as the traffic closed around her. Early evening light spilled across the tarmac, turning everything a dull gold: road signs, crash barriers, even the inside windscreen smudges she kept meaning to clean off. With the windows shut the car smelled sweet from the air freshener clipped to the vent, something sold as ‘spring meadow’ but landing closer to ‘determined daffodil’.

Fragments of the afternoon kept surfacing, uninvited and vivid. The dog, for one. Ridiculous name – absolutely ridiculous – but the way he had peered at her, all nervous energy and hopeful eyes, as if she might be his new playmate. And then Magnus – composed, unreadable Magnus – offering her the position with perfect professionalism, while somehow still conveying his reservations about it. If he, of all people, doubted she belonged there, what exactly would she be walking into?

A live-in housekeeper. At a private country house. Her.

Sammy waited for a clear stretch of road, before pressing the control on the steering wheel. ‘Call Chloe.’ She smiled to herself, already half-forming what she’d say – how she’d start it, whether to blurt it out or make Chloe guess.

It rang.

And rang.

She frowned, then shook it off, replacing it with a smile. Chloe would be out somewhere – phone buried at the bottom of her bag as usual. She never heard it in there.

The line clicked over to voicemail.

Still smiling, but a little tighter now, she let it play for a while before ending the call.

Sammy drove on, the road opening out ahead of her. Fields stretched wide on either side, edged with hedges full of new growth. In the wing mirror, a car came up fast before slipping past her and pulling in front.