The other bathroom was a disgusting mess. Clancy’s towels were soiled and wet, dumped on the floor in pools of water. Even the toilet hadn’t been flushed, to her utter disgust. After a few seconds to take in the awfulness of the scene, she stowed her clothes inside the airing cupboard, which was about the only place they’d remain clean and dry, and set about bleaching the whole room with angry movements and a simmering hatred for the situation in which she found herself.
Finally, she took out clean towels and her clothes and showered away the sweat and dust from her day’s gardening. The anger and disappointment inside her refused to be washed away though.
As soon as she was dressed she set out to corner Alice but was distracted by the sound of footsteps above her. In her bedroom? It was an invasion of privacy too far. Flinging down the towels and clothes she’d intended for the washing machine she flew up the stairs, quite expecting to find Hugo poking around in her things. When she flung open her bedroom door, however, it was Alice she found, gazing out of the window.
‘Haven’t you made it nice up here!’ Alice half-turned. She was wearing a cerise bandeau from which her boobs threatened to jiggle free at any moment.
Clancy tried to keep a rein on her temper. ‘Yes, it is a nice, peaceful oasis. As you’re here, may we have a chat?’ There was a bigger battle to be fought than Alice coming into her room. She guided her cousin over to the bed so they could lounge on it in an echo of when they’d been teenagers sharing a bedroom and tried her speech again. ‘I’m hoping we can sort out some boundaries, as we’re all living together. Like, you buying your own groceries. And about tidiness. Yours and Hugo’s things are everywhere. He seemed to think I should sort it out with you.’ It was a blatant misrepresentation of what Hugo had said, but Clancy was not in the mood to be scrupulously honest if a fib would serve her better.
Alice gurgled with laughter. ‘That’s Hugo,’ she agreed. ‘Isn’t he a pain in the arse? He does not know the meaning of the word “tidy”. He’s a teeny bit spoilt, I’m afraid. Some of the people we met in the States christened him “Hugo Fuck-up” instead of Hugo Suffolk.’ She pealed with laughter. ‘We get on each other’s nerves all the time when we’re in the van.’
Gritting her teeth, Clancy persisted. ‘I am going to have to insist on these boundaries though, Alice. Hugo’s drunk all my wine—’
‘Oh, come on, Clancy! I’ll get you more wine, if that’s all that’s bothering you.’ Alice pushed herself up from the bed.
Clancy put a detaining hand on hers. ‘It’s not. I’m bothered by the bathroom being left like a tip, I’m bothered by being treated rudely, by you coming into my room without a by-your-leave, by you stinking out downstairs by using it as a rubbish dump, by my things being taken without permission.’
Alice withdrew her hand and drifted serenely towards the door. ‘Gosh, aren’t we Miss Bossy? You can’t have everything your own way, Clancy. That’s not fair now, is it? We all have to learn to get along together if we’re going to house-share. You need to learn how to chill.’
Clancy listened to her cousin’s footsteps starting down the stairs and lifted her voice to follow them. ‘If I have no option but to abandon ship it might adversely affect the income you receive from Roundhouse Row. Someone would have to do all the changing of beds and cleaning. Dealing with Aaron …’
The footsteps returned. ‘OK, OK,’ Alice said, laughter in her voice. ‘You’ve been a star looking after things for me while I’ve been away and now doing the caretaker job. You deserve some consideration. I’ll have a little word with Hugo. OK?’ Then she withdrew once again.
Clancy rolled down on the bed and gazed at the ceiling. Everything was far from OK. She felt uneasy, uncomfortable, wound up and put upon. She indulged in a wistful fantasy that Alice had returned alone, the old Alice rather than this stranger Alice, and that the two cousins could have shared the Roundhouse in harmony. Living together could have been fun. Like the amicable sharing of opinions, gossip, films, books, friends and family whenever they’d been together in the old days.
Though she loved her cousin, the old Alice seemed just a memory.
And even if she didn’t agree with Aaron that Alice was all about herself she did feel uneasy that Alice hadn’t seemed one bit worried over how her return to Nelson’s Bar might affect Lee who, after all, she had hurt badly. The subject of Alice and Lee was causing tension between Clancy and Aaron. He hadn’t contacted her today. If he was going to become aloof every time some challenge came along then Clancy was going to be disappointed in him.
She remembered the research she’d agreed to do – was it only three days since the Parish Meeting? – about broadband and mobile signal in Nelson’s Bar and also the subject of crowdfunding for the B&B. Could she justify strolling up to Aaron’s cottage and asking to use his satellite broadband? If she stayed in the Roundhouse this evening her choices seemed to be skulking up here alone or suffering the company of Hugo downstairs …
She jumped up. As the only landline phone was on the wall in the kitchen area where Hugo and Alice could listen in, she decided to stroll up to Potato Hall Row without first checking whether Aaron would be at home. She grabbed the hair dryer and blow-dried her hair smooth, applied a squirt of perfume, then she was ready to run down both flights of stairs to the living area.
‘See you later,’ she called, trying to sound affable, although Alice had now joined Hugo on the sofa watching some action movie exploding across the TV screen, despite Possession Mountain still cluttering up the place. Clancy closed her eyes to the mess and hurried out into the freshness of the evening, where moths danced in the halos around the streetlights that were just coming on.
Her pace slowed as she rounded Aaron’s workshop, her attention stolen away by the beauty of the silver-pink sky and the sun sinking into the sky’s silver-pink reflection. Then a quiet diddle ing-ding, ing-ding, ing-ding ding from a guitar came from behind her and she turned to see Aaron sitting on the bench smiling at her, a guitar across his lap. ‘Hey,’ he said, rising, holding the guitar with one hand so he could hug her with the other arm. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to call me back. I left a message with Hugo this morning.’
Nelson suddenly raced out of the house, performing a little shadow box in front of Clancy before dropping down to let her fuss him. ‘Did you? He didn’t pass it on.’ Her heart lifted to know Aaron had tried to reach her. ‘Honestly, he’s a waste of space and even Alice admits he’s a pain in the arse …’ She halted as a movement caught her eye and she realised that Lee, Yvonne and Norma were seated in garden chairs in amongst the long shadows by the back door. Heat flashed into her cheeks. ‘Oh, sorry. I didn’t realise you were with family. Hello,’ she finished feebly, wishing she hadn’t just said ‘arse’.
Lee, Yvonne and Norma returned her greeting.
Clancy fell silent at the sensation of so many eyes upon her, eyes that belonged to people who were not pro-Alice. Perhaps she should gracefully extricate herself. If Aaron had phoned her this morning and he’d just hugged her in front of his folks, she could probably be reassured that he wasn’t withdrawing from their … whatever it was. ‘Well,’ she began.
‘Well,’ Yvonne got in ahead of her and jumped to her feet. ‘We should be getting back. We’ve left Fergus babysitting Daisy. Ready, Norma? Careful with your crutches. It’s not far to the car.’
‘About the same as it was in the other direction,’ Norma responded testily, rising to her feet and steadying herself.
‘I didn’t mean to chase you away,’ Clancy said uncomfortably.
‘You’re not.’ Yvonne gave Clancy a wintry smile, then glanced at Lee, who hadn’t moved. ‘Coming?’
He raised his eyebrows, looking more like Aaron than usual. ‘I wouldn’t want Dad to think I didn’t trust his babysitting capabilities. I’ll see you later.’
After a still moment, Yvonne kissed the cheeks of each of her sons and gave her arm to help her aunt to depart.
‘Oh, dear,’ Cl
ancy said unhappily when the two women had made their way out to the lane, soon followed by the sound of a car starting up. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ Aaron wiped away a frown and looped an arm about her waist. ‘Have a beer with Lee and me.’
‘OK.’ Clancy tried to hide her dismay because Aaron was clearly uncomfortable at the chilliness of his family. She felt unwelcome everywhere at the moment.
Lee wasn’t chatty. When Aaron came out with a fresh supply of Becks he drained the can in his hand and took two more. They were large cans too.
While Lee stared out to sea like a sad grey cloud, Aaron told Clancy about the garden he was working on, one that had been beautiful once, full of winding paths and native flowers. The new owners wanted the whole lot ripped up and laid to lawn with a massive blue gazebo in the middle. He’d told them he couldn’t lay turf in the present dry spell unless they were prepared to water it well every day and they’d said, ‘Can’t you pop by and do it?’
Clancy sipped her beer. ‘I heard on the radio that we have rain coming soon.’ They were seriously talking about the weather? Where was the easy way they’d developed between them over the past three months?
‘How do you feel about me hooking up to your internet to research broadband and crowdfunding?’ she asked brightly, taking out her phone. At least if she brought up her supposed reason for being here they’d have something real to talk about.
‘Sounds a great idea. It might be easier if we use my laptop.’ Aaron got up and went indoors, glancing at Lee as he passed. Lee continued to watch the last of the sun sinking below the horizon.
When Aaron returned, he and Clancy sat together on the bench over the laptop screen. It didn’t take them long to discover that Nelson’s Bar’s copper telephone lines were ancient, the village was a long way from the exchange, they had none of the vital modern ‘cabinets’ – those green boxes you scarcely noticed in urban streets – and the village, on its headland sticking out to sea, was not within mobile signal mast range.
‘No surprises there,’ Clancy observed. ‘Let’s look for crowdfunding information for the B&B.’ Clancy tapped rapidly at the laptop keyboard, feeling better now that Aaron’s knee was rubbing against hers and his right hand had settled cosily on her thigh. It was like a private hug.
‘I’ll bet crowdfunding will be a hard sell to Kaz and Oli,’ Aaron observed. ‘They seem to be pretty conservative to me.’ His thumb was drawing slow circles on her thigh and Clancy was beginning to find it distracting. Especially when his hand drifted slightly higher. Even in the last of the light, she could see by the expression in his eyes that he was absolutely aware of where his hand was. To the millimetre.
Lee’s voice emerged from the dusk. ‘Anyone for another beer?’
Clancy jumped. She’d considered him lost in his own thoughts. ‘I haven’t drunk this one yet,’ she said, surprised Lee had apparently drunk two beers in the short time she and Aaron had been internet browsing. Although she’d never got to know him very well, he’d never struck her as someone who drank much. But then, she’d never considered the easy-going, slightly reserved man she’d known when he was Alice’s partner likely to be beset with depression, either.
Aaron gave her thigh a parting squeeze before he moved his hand and turned his attention to his brother. ‘Maybe we should make some pasta or something to soak it up. We’ve all got to be up for work tomorrow and you’ll need to be up to get Daisy’s breakfast.’
‘All right.’ With a shrug, Lee let himself be shepherded into the kitchen and together the three of them made pasta with a jar of sauce and whatever vegetables they found in Aaron’s fridge.
When they sat down to eat, Lee took yet another beer – the fifth Clancy had seen him with, let alone whatever he’d drunk before her arrival. Aaron didn’t say anything, but Clancy noted his quick frown.
Lee ate morosely, gazing at a spot in the middle of the kitchen table as if it held the secrets of the universe. Aaron and Clancy talked over what the evening’s research had shown them, trying and failing to draw Lee into the conversation. He’d shrug or give yes/no answers but then return to staring at the table top.
When he took a loo break, Aaron put down his fork in favour of lifting Clancy’s hand from the table and kissing it. ‘I’m going to see if I can get him to go home before he drinks any more, which I think will mean me walking along with him. Do you mind?’
‘Of course not,’ she replied, though conscious of the sinking knowledge that she did mind a bit. ‘I gate-crashed your evening.’
He carried on as if she still needed to be persuaded. ‘I think Alice being in the village has knocked him for six.’
She sighed unhappily. ‘Much as I love her, her appearance has definitely caused issues.’
When Lee returned, Clancy was already on her feet. ‘Got to go,’ she announced. ‘Loads to do.’
Lee managed a smile as he wished her goodnight. He remained in the kitchen as Aaron saw Clancy out, Nelson padding at their heels as if checking they weren’t going anywhere good without him.
Once they were out in the darkness of the patio, Aaron drew her into his arms. ‘Thanks for understanding. It’s just that he’s so …’
‘Sad,’ she finished for him.
He stroked her hair and caressed the back of her neck. ‘I was going to say as down as when Alice first left, but, yes, sad.’ Then he lowered his head to trail kisses along the side of her neck and she closed her eyes to enjoy it.
Letting Clancy go with a goodnight kiss didn’t hold a candle to taking her upstairs to his bed, but, after walking her out to the lane, Aaron went back indoors.
As Lee was still table-gazing, Aaron filled the kettle and spooned coffee into mugs. ‘All right?’ he asked, when he’d set down the mugs and sat down opposite his brother once more.
Lee answered drearily. ‘Alice living here again makes me feel as if someone’s tossed my life up in the air. I’d just got it sorted out. Bringing Daisy back to the village. I’d made up my mind to find somewhere to live in or around Nelson’s Bar, then suddenly … Alice. With a husband. I feel like running a million miles away but at the same time I’m fighting an urge to go and see her.’
Aaron’s heart sank. ‘You’ve never seen her since she left, have you? What would be your purpose in seeing her now?’
Lee snorted. ‘Beats me. Probably not to talk over old times and agree to be friends. It’s just … she was so beautiful and fun. I keep remembering how I felt about her. Urges can be bizarre.’
Even without bizarre urges, there were a fair number of possibilities, Aaron thought. Anything from committing murder to begging for another chance on bended knee. Immediate short term, his best course of action was to see if he could deliver his brother safely home. He yawned. ‘I want a word with Mum so I’ll walk along with you, shall I?’
Lee looked incredulous, obviously seeing through the thin excuse. ‘You’re seeing me home?’
Recognising that putting Lee’s back up and maybe destroying his trust wasn’t helpful, Aaron laughed. ‘’Course not! But I have to speak to Mum and Nelson needs his bedtime walk. And I have to be up early tomorrow.’ He took down Nelson’s lead and the big dog leapt from his basket, his whole body a-wag.
Lee argued no more. He rose from the table, his movements loose, and he had to pause to achieve the change of direction required to get through the back door. They ambled down through the golden light spilled by the streetlights in Long Lane, peeling off right into Frenchmen’s Way. Glancing left, Aaron thought he could distinguish which of the illuminated windows down the hill would belong to the Roundhouse’s loft. He pictured Clancy getting ready for bed – sliding out of her clothes and brushing her hair.
Lee halted so suddenly that Aaron travelled on a few steps without him. ‘I bet I can have a beer with Jordy. See you later.’ Lee turned and began to jog down Long Lane.
Helplessly, Aaron stared after him. He could scarcely order a thirty-four-year-old home. In the light fr
om the street lamps he was able to follow his brother’s progress, relieved when he swung left onto Droody Road rather than angling right towards the Roundhouse, as Aaron had half-expected. Muttering an oath, he completed his own short journey and was soon letting himself into his parents’ kitchen where he found them seated in easy chairs at the end of the room, watching a small TV. They had an enormous lounge with an enormous TV but they generally seemed to prefer the everyday cosiness of the kitchen.
They both looked up in surprise to see him. ‘Where’s Lee?’ Yvonne asked immediately.
It was logical that they should expect the brother who currently resided at De Silva House, but Aaron was feeling prickly and kept his answer short. ‘He went to Jordy’s.’
Yvonne blinked and he knew the tone he’d used wasn’t the one he usually used with his mother but all evening, through Clancy showing up at his house, even when he’d been sitting pressed against her, smelling her shampoo and watching the way her hair swung, he’d been gently simmering underneath.
In fact, maybe being even ruder might be the way to add weight to what he was about to say. He picked up the TV remote and turned off the darts match they’d been watching. ‘So what was that with Clancy?’ he demanded of his mother.
Fergus glanced enquiringly between Aaron and Yvonne. Yvonne looked uncomfortable. ‘What?’ she asked defensively.
Aaron pulled up a chair and folded his arms as if prepared to sit there all night. ‘If you want it spelling out, I told you that Clancy and I were seeing one another. I got the impression that you were going to make an effort not to blame her for the actions of her cousin. Then you’re in my garden, she walks in and you and Auntie Norma march out. That’s what. You were rude to the girl I’m seeing, in my own home. I think I’m due an explanation.’
He watched his mother’s face, reading the expressions that flitted across it – doubt, sheepishness, irritation – and refusing to fill the silence. His dad, he noticed, was waiting too, his expression one of frowning enquiry.
A Summer to Remember Page 23