Page 110 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

‘Acting manager,’ Jo heard his colleague mumble under her breath.

‘How can I help you?’ said Tarquin. ‘I’m afraid we’ve not got much at the lower end of the market. There’s a little studio flat near the centre of town, but it’s leasehold with less than fifty years to go.’

‘I’m not looking to buy anywhere.’

He nodded. ‘I thought as much. Jo, we had fun. I can understand you wanting to rekindle things, but I’ve moved on now. It isn’t appropriate to come to my place of work and…’

‘Sorry, can I stop you there? I’m not here to rekindle things.’

Jo glanced over at the woman in the navy dress. Funny how you could tell when someone is listening to a conversation even when they were pretending not to.

Tarquin’s eyes followed her gaze.

‘Ginny, could you have a look through the files in the back office, please?’ he said. ‘Dig out the details of that farm near Golcar?’

‘Sure,’ she said.

When she’d gone, he said, ‘Shit, Jo. It isn’t mine.’

‘What isn’t?’

‘The er… I mean, we took precautions. Didn’t we?’

Jo was baffled for a few seconds. Then she realised.

‘I’m not pregnant. We didn’t actually…’

‘We didn’t?’

‘No.’

‘Oh, shame.’

It wasn’t, Jo thought. But never mind.

‘Tarquin, I wanted to talk to you about that church hall you’ve got on the market. The one in Hebbleswick. With planning permission for two executive homes.’

‘Moving into property development now, are you?’

‘No, of course not. That church hall is where we hold our Scrabble club.’

He snorted. ‘Scrabble club?’ He laughed, then called through to his colleague in the back room, ‘Ginny, cancel the marketing on that church hall that’s up for development. Jo holds a Scrabble club there.’

He laughed again.

‘It’s not funny,’ Jo said. ‘Loads of people come to those evenings. Families. Older people. People who are lonely.’

‘Hmm. Wouldn’t be my scene.’

‘A few more weeks. That’s all I’m asking. I know we can’t stay forever. I know it’s going to be demolished. But if we had a bit longer, we’d have more chance of finding a suitable alternative without having to cancel any of our meetups. Please, Tarquin.’

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then Ginny appeared and put a file down in front of him.

He didn’t thank her, Jo noticed. Typical.

‘I’m popping out for a few minutes,’ she said.

He nodded and watched her go, then his eyes turned back to Jo.