A huge grin stretched itself across his face that Clancy was thinking about Nelson’s Bar in the long term. ‘If hunting me is what you’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks then I’m not tired of it yet.’ He watched her pacing in the limited area between the table and the white pot sink.
But suddenly apprehension won control of her expression. ‘But, seriously,’ she said, pausing, ‘it has only been a couple of weeks. If I buy into the B&B then I’d be around indefinitely. What I don’t want—’ she hesitated, obviously choosing her words ‘—is for me to do something either one of us later regrets.’
‘Right.’ He processed her words, watching her continue to fidget. Either one of us she’d said … so this wasn’t necessarily about him feeling ‘hunted’. His grin faded a notch. She was still trying to extricate herself from one man, Will, with whom she’d shared not just a home but a business as well. Back in July it had taken an emotional toll on her to return to her old life specifically to tear it apart. He’d focused on the positives of that, particularly the positives that affected him, but it must have been hard and stressful. He didn’t blame her if she was now wary of tying herself to anything. Or anyone.
‘Am I overthinking?’ she demanded, when he said no more.
‘Of course not. It’s a huge decision and I don’t think you should take it lightly.’ He wanted to catch her to him but her continuous pacing was putting distance between them. Was he supposed to sweep her into a happy dance because buying into the B&B would mean she’d stay? Or remain neutral while she made the best decision for her, regardless of him? He watched, hoping for a clue.
She stopped pacing to stare into his eyes. ‘Decisions can be easy to make but hard to overturn.’
So it was the enormity of reversing out of her London life that was on her mind. He tried the neutral thing. ‘I think you should do what’s best for you.’
She dropped her gaze. ‘That’s sensible. I suppose I don’t even know there’s a decision to make until Kaz has talked to Oli, so I can just shelve it for now.’ She smiled. ‘Thank you for your input,’ she added brightly.
He frowned. He’d already learned to distrust her bright voice. It was what she used when she didn’t want you to know what she was thinking. ‘Input? I feel as if you were all enthusiastic and I brought you down to earth,’ he said hesitantly. This time he did slip his arms around her, pulling her to him and stilling her restless movements, wanting to feel her against him, as if she’d be able to absorb all his questions through her skin and give him reassuring answers.
She leaned her cheek on his shoulder so he couldn’t see her face. ‘I’m a down-to-earth person,’ she said resolutely. ‘Both feet, firmly planted.’ Then she freed herself to return to working on the village website on her laptop.
He wished he understood whether it had been his reaction that had quenched her sparkle. Or her realisation that she was moving dangerously close to jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As evening neared, Clancy returned to the Roundhouse. Aaron had a long-standing arrangement with Mick, Nick and Rick to go to the Princess Cinema in Hunstanton to see a live streaming of the Flow Festival in Helsinki. He’d be back by eleven, he’d said, and made her welcome to stay and await his homecoming. But she couldn’t settle to work on the website.
The day’s events were on her mind. Buying into the B&B would anchor her in Nelson’s Bar and … and … and … what? She wished Aaron’s reaction had been easier to read. Nothing he’d said was wrong. Buying into a business was an enormous decision and it did have to be the right one for her.
She would have welcomed a beaming smile or maybe even, ‘It would be so great if you stayed!’
Her feet slowed as she squeezed up to the hedge in Long Lane to let a car nose past, exchanging nods with the woman behind the wheel. OK, think this through.
She and Aaron were sleeping together. Sleeping with someone wasn’t a decisive tie. People had sex all the time. You found someone who made you feel desire, you used a condom and bingo. The deed was done.
It wasn’t a commitment unless you made it one.
And they hadn’t talked about what their relationship was. They’d talked roundabout it, and that was a different thing. That was what people who didn’t want to commit did. It didn’t matter if a couple set fire to the sheets … if that was all they wanted then that was all they wanted.
Aaron hadn’t committed to Genevieve. In fact, she hadn’t asked him the direct question and so Clancy didn’t know that he’d ever committed to any girlfriend in a joint-future way. He might not want to commit to her either.
She arrived back at the Roundhouse feeling dispirited. Just to cheer her up, she found Genevieve there with Hugo and Alice. Genevieve and Alice were curled on the sofa, chatting and screaming with laughter, a bottle of wine in a cooler beside them, an empty on the table. Clancy didn’t recall Alice even mentioning Genevieve when she’d lived in the village previously but here they were acting like lifelong best friends.
Alice waved her wine glass when she saw her. ‘Clance! It’s wine o’clock! Grab a glass.’
Clancy debated. By the looks of things she was about four glasses of wine behind but here was an opportunity to mend a bridge or two with Genevieve and perhaps recapture some of the old relationship with Alice. Even Hugo seemed to be making an effort, sitting upright in a chair instead of lolling on the sofa. He was even smiling, although that could have been because he was the only one drinking red, which gave him a full bottle to himself.
‘OK, thanks,’ Clancy agreed. Maybe a glass of wine and a giggle would set her on an even keel. Allow her to relax and let the future take care of itself.
She grabbed a glass from the kitchen area and then a new bottle of white, as she saw Genevieve upend the last one over her own glass, giving Clancy a smile she didn’t know how to take. Clancy smiled back though, and tried to initiate a conversation.
‘Is the work finished at your cottage—’
Genevieve turned to talk to Hugo as if Clancy hadn’t spoken.
Irritated, Clancy tried to talk to her cousin but the wine seemed to have made Alice feel combatant as she kept breaking into the conversation between Genevieve and Hugo to snark at Hugo.
Hugo, perhaps to pass the snark on, turned to Clancy. ‘Where do you go when you’re out so much? You can’t spend all day making beds and cutting lawns,’ he demanded loudly.
Clancy bristled. ‘No,’ she said, briefly.
Genevieve turned her attention to Clancy too. ‘Is it true what Alice told us?’ she quizzed her. ‘That you found out your last boyfriend was cheating by seeing video of him having sex on the desk in your office?’
Alice clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘Genevieve! I told you not to say anything!’
‘Sorry,’ said Genevieve, sipping wine with no sign of repentance. ‘Forgot.’ But she cocked her head at Clancy as if still hoping for an answer.
‘His office, not mine,’ Clancy corrected her stiffly, glaring at Alice, hurt she’d over-share like that.
Hugo snorted a laugh, scratching his beard. ‘Will lost control of the head he doesn’t think with, eh?’
Resisting the temptation to throw her glass of wine over someone, Clancy picked up her bag with her laptop in it, made sure she had her purse and car keys, and excused herself, thinking dismally how much she’d loved the Roundhouse before Alice came back.
She spent the evening in a pub in Brancaster, eating alone and working on her laptop. It was a pleasure to have a fast, reliable connection, she thought, then reflected ruefully that it was only a day or so since she’d been happy that Nelson’s Bar was so cut off.
She emailed her parents, putting on a chatty front, enthusiastic about the possibility of investing in the B&B. When my dosh comes through I’ll have plenty of money, she wrote. There’s not much in the way of business opportunities in Nelson’s Bar so while I don’t want to rush into anything, I don’t want to mis
s out either. She went on to tell them about Alice, not saying anything about the ripples her return was causing or that Hugo was a knob.
Or that she’d been spending a lot of time naked with Aaron but she wasn’t sure whether it would go anywhere.
Or that he’d turned cagey today when she’d talked about the B&B. Or that his mother was chilly. Or that his ex-girlfriend was hostile.
Or that she was afraid she was coming to feel more for him than he’d ever be able to reciprocate.
Her parents loved her, she knew that, but when they’d brought her up to be self-sufficient and independent they’d done it for a reason and she never cried on their shoulders. Instead, she signed off, Hope you’re having a great time in Namibia. Lots of love, Clancy xxxxx
Finally, after a luscious salad that she hardly tasted and a glass of wine to make up for the one she hadn’t drunk at the Roundhouse, Clancy shut down her laptop and prepared to drive home through a starry evening with a bright half-moon scooting across the sky half on its back. In no hurry, she looked about her as she drove sedately through Titchwell, then turned right through the pinewoods, tree trunks flashing past in her headlights. Enjoying the peaceful purr of the engine as she rose up Long Climb, she eased into the elbow bend that led into the village.
Illuminated, as she straightened the vehicle up, were a man and woman, barely an inch between them, her face turned up to his.
Luckily, Clancy was able to react fast enough to spin her steering wheel to the right and jink wildly around them, braking to check back shakily in her rear-view mirror, not sure she’d seen what she’d thought she had.
But now both faces were turned her way and it was unmistakeable.
Alice and Lee.
She completed the final hundred yards to the Roundhouse, parked and beeped the car locked, wishing she could unsee what she’d seen. Because then she wouldn’t be put in a dilemma about whether to keep it from Aaron.
Under her breath, she cursed Alice.
She went straight to her room, casting a disdainful look at Hugo sleeping on the sofa in front of a reality show. It was barely ten minutes later when a gentle tap fell on her door. She’d put off undressing in the expectation of this moment. With a sigh, she opened the door and let her cousin inside. She didn’t ask Alice why she’d come because they both knew.
Alice’s cheeks were pink, her eyes glittering, apparently over her tipsiness of the early evening. ‘Lee doesn’t want his family to know yet,’ she whispered, wearing a beseeching puppy-dog gaze.
Clancy sighed. ‘I don’t suppose you want Hugo to know either, do you? What the fuck are you doing, Alice?’
Alice tried to stroke Clancy’s arm. ‘Don’t be angry. We’re only talking … at the moment.’
Clancy pulled away, crossing to the window, staring out at the inky black sky with its spangling of pinprick lights and wishing life were simpler. ‘So you’re asking me to keep a secret from Aaron? Not very fair, Alice.’
‘But you and I are cousins!’ Alice sounded faintly shocked. No doubt she’d thought this little interview was a formality, that Clancy would unhesitatingly see things her way.
‘You only remember that when it suits you.’ Clancy lowered her gaze to the street lamps that curved away up Long Lane in the direction of Potato Hall Row. ‘Seems as if you’ve been talking about my private affairs freely enough.’
‘Sorry,’ Alice said in a small voice. ‘Genevieve had promised not to say anything about what Will did.’
‘So had you.’ Clancy was aware that Alice had moved closer but refused to turn around. For one thing, her eyes had begun to burn. Was it only this morning she’d been so full of hope about making a place for herself in this little village on its headland? It didn’t take much to topple a few dreams. Aaron’s muted response to her idea. Genevieve’s hostility. Hugo’s knobbishness. Alice and Lee … again.
‘I’m going to have a shower before bed,’ she said, moving away from the window, deliberately not giving Alice the assurance she wanted. Without looking at her, she pulled her towelling robe off its hook and went down to the bathroom.
By the time she returned to her bedroom, Alice had gone.
Aaron liked to watch Clancy sleep, especially when it was so warm that she pushed off the bedclothes and lay naked in his bed, as she was this Tuesday morning, the 6 a.m. sunlight outside lighting up his bedroom curtains. It wasn’t that she ever hid from him the soft roundness of her breasts or the sweeping curve of her hip, but in sleep she brought a smile to his face, her limbs relaxed and thrown wide, her expressive eyes hidden but her face peaceful.
She wasn’t asleep now though. She was lying too tidily, her breathing too fast, and she was frowning.
He inched closer, so that his front lay against the smooth, warm skin of her side. He kissed her temple. ‘You OK?’
‘Mm.’ The frown smoothed itself away as if she didn’t want him to see it.
‘Something worrying you? I can almost hear you thinking.’ He wished she’d open her eyes. He couldn’t have a meaningful conversation with eyelids. She’d spent Monday evening and night with him. He’d tried a couple of times to ask whether she’d had her talk with Kaz and Oli about investing in the B&B, because it had felt like an elephant in the room. Both times she’d distracted him by smooching up with her beautiful body and soon they’d been making love, not conversation.
‘I have to get ready for work soon,’ he went on. ‘Make the most of the dry weather. Mrs Edge in Holme-next-the-Sea’s waiting for me to create a stone waterfall water feature beside her patio. She’s hosting a family barbecue for her Silver Wedding anniversary on Sunday and she’s hassling me to get it done.’
Clancy turned and slid her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder, one hand drifting down to his hip. ‘I could walk Nelson for you after you’ve gone. Then we’d have time to …’ She ran her fingertips over the morning erection that was a reliable result of waking up next to her nakedness. ‘It’s a shame to waste this.’
His focus changed to what her hand was doing and he allowed himself, once again, to be distracted by sex. He couldn’t make her talk if she didn’t want to but, by giving her pleasure, he could try and take her mind off whatever was bothering her. Not very selfless, he knew.
By the time they finally parted he’d only time to say, ‘Will I see you tonight?’ as he opened his back door, half of his mind already on the day ahead.
‘I have the interim Parish Meeting about broadband and the website at eight,’ she reminded him. She was standing in his kitchen with Nelson’s lead in her hand and Nelson staring fixedly as he waited for her to connect the lead to his black leather collar.
‘I’d forgotten. I’ll see you there.’ He blew her a kiss and hurried out to his truck to raid his stash of cereal bars to breakfast on as he drove the few miles to leafy Holme.
A day of slog followed as he tried to get the stonework for the water feature finished so the lime mortar that held the stone together could be going off in the next day or so. Mrs Edge was ultra-conscious of the Holme conservation area and had commissioned him to build her water feature of the same materials as her house – red and white chalk or ‘clunch’, mixed with flint. Getting the mix of the three stones right was vital, because he sure as hell didn’t have time to knock it apart and start again if she wasn’t happy. He’d got the hole in the ground dug, and the mound for the waterfall lined with sand and a waterproof liner before the weather turned wet.
It was past seven when he drove back into the village, pleasantly exhausted but content in the knowledge that Mrs Edge had approved her several-stepped waterfall and pool with shining eyes. Tomorrow he could get the planting done around the stonework and then on Friday afternoon he could call in to fill up the pool and set the pump so the water would splash gaily down the waterfall.
Nelson was there to greet him when he got home, though there was also a note on his kitchen table in Clancy’s flowing handwriting. Took Nelson to Old Hunstanton beach fo
r a good walk this morning. Cxx
He gave the big dog a fuss, knowing how he liked to be appreciated when they’d been parted for several hours. ‘The beach, eh? Lucky old dog!’
Nelson put his ears back and panted, tail waving.
‘I’ll feed you before I go out,’ Aaron promised as he stuck a chicken leg and a jacket potato into the oven to cook while he went up to shower away the dust of the day. ‘The meeting should only take an hour.’
In fact, the meeting must have speeded by as it was almost over by the time he arrived at Megan’s house, going around the back to find the French doors open to the warm evening. He entered with a whispered apology.
He could see Clancy sitting at the front. It seemed she’d already said her piece as Megan was summarising the action to be taken now the Village Committee had voted to consult a company Clancy had unearthed who provided broadband via platforms on church spires as there seemed no realistic hope of major providers seeing Nelson’s Bar as a commercial proposition.
As this was an interim meeting, attendance was sparse. Apart from the committee members and Clancy, only eighteen villagers were present. Aaron’s parents were there, he was unsurprised to see, as Yvonne liked to involve herself with village matters in every way save actually standing for the committee herself.
And, seated behind his parents, sat Genevieve and her mum and dad, Viv and Warren. He registered the fact with the familiar inner sigh about the awkwardness of your ex living in the same tiny village as yourself, and your families inevitably knowing one another.
Still, when the meeting ended and everyone began getting ready to leave, he made sure he greeted Viv and Warren, who responded briefly before turning to say goodnight to Genevieve with big hugs.
It gave Aaron the opportunity to head in Clancy’s direction. As his parents moved towards him at the same time, the four of them converged. He was glad to see Yvonne making an effort with Clancy, complimenting her on the village website. Though it was a work-in-progress, Clancy had apparently projected sample pages onto Megan’s lounge wall for everyone to see. Clancy seemed more relaxed than he’d seen her around his parents and she wore a natural smile as they talked.
A Summer to Remember Page 25