Grabbing her bag, she hurried down the stairs and stood in the hallway.
‘Nina?’ Alex’s voice came from the living room, and he appeared in the doorway, smartly dressed in beige linen trousers and crisp white shirt, his face clean-shaven and smelling citrussy. ‘Ready to go?’ he asked and Nina nodded.
As they left the house, Nina gasped at the car that greeted her in the driveway.
‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ she said, looking at Alex for confirmation.
‘Only the best for you!’ he dismissed casually, his eyes twinkling as he shook his keys in the air.
There before her, gleaming in the bright rays of the sun, was a sleek white Alfa Romeo Spider. Nina didn’t know much about cars, but she knew the difference between an old classic and an old banger and, up until now, her boyfriends had only driven the latter.
‘Is this really yours?’ she asked as Alex opened the door of the two-seater for her.
‘Of course,’ he grinned, walking around to the driver’s door and lowering himself into the seat. ‘Well,’ he added, ‘for the summer, anyway.’
Nina looked at him. ‘Hired?’
‘No, no. It belongs to a friend. One good turn deserves another and all that.’
‘And he trusts you with it?’ Nina said mischievously.
‘Yes! I’m no boy-racer, you know. I can handle a car sensibly.’
‘Well, I’m glad to hear it,’ Nina said, as he turned the key in the ignition, wondering what kind of favour would warrant the lending of such a car for the duration of the summer.
‘Got your belt on?’ Alex looked at her briefly as they turned out of the lane onto the main road. She nodded. ‘Okay, hold onto your hair!’
He wasn’t kidding. As the car picked up speed, Nina began to wish she’d tied her hair back as it blew both horizontally and vertically behind her. It was exhilarating, thrilling and ever-so-slightly terrifying. The back lanes of Norfolk had always been on the narrow side, but Nina had never seen them at such a close range before. Being exposed to the elements in a tiny car really made her feel a part of the landscape. It was almost like flying. They were literally driving through the air. At one point, she almost stretched a hand out to touch the banks, but thought better of it as they sped by a bramble hedge.
She looked at Alex, who was sporting a grin that almost tickled his ears. She could still see the naughty little boy there, dancing around the brown eyes. He’d always been determined to have the best, and he looked as if he’d got it now.
‘Happy?’ he asked, as he slowed to avoid a pothole in the middle of the road.
Nina looked at him and nodded. ‘Yes!’ she yelled back, her voice carried far behind them as he accelerated again. ‘I thought you said you weren’t a boy racer?’ she shouted to him.
‘I lied!’ he said and Nina couldn’t help but laugh. His exuberance might verge on the dangerous, but it was also highly infectious.
Solitary houses, farms and churches blurred past as the Spider tunnelled further into the Norfolk countryside. Nina almost called out several times as she saw likely candidates for the pub grub they were allegedly looking for, but Alex seemed to know where he was heading.
When he finally pulled over at a small pub whose black and white flints glinted in the evening sun, Nina sat for a moment, allowing her body to adjust to the sensation of being still again.
‘You look like a little haystack!’ Alex laughed as he looked at her.
‘Thanks a lot!’ she cried, self-consciously flattening her hair with her hands.
‘No – I like it!’ he said quickly.
She threw him a look of disbelief. ‘Well, you look like you’ve had electric shock treatment,’ she retorted.
‘That’s the price you pay for a good ride,’ he said, looking Nina straight in the eye and making her blush. ‘Come on,’ he said, getting out of the car. ‘The other thing a good ride’s renowned for giving you is an appetite.’
The Bittern was on one of the many broads that made Norfolk a favourite holiday destination. Its garden sloped down to the water and several bright white boats had been moored along its banks whilst the thirsty occupants drank their fill in the pub. Nina wondered if there were regulations about drinking and sailing as there were with drinking and driving. For the sake of the bitterns, and the other wildlife, she sincerely hoped there were.
She looked at the depiction of the large, rather unpleasant-looking bird on the signpost and wondered if it had just been made up. After all her years in Norfolk, she’d never seen anything that looked like that.
‘You go and grab a seat and I’ll get us a menu. What do you want to drink?’ Alex asked.
‘Just a mineral water, thanks.’
‘You sure you don’t want a proper drink? You’re not on babysitting duty now, you know.’
‘A mineral water is fine, thank you.’
‘Okey-dokey,’ Alex said, winking at her and disappearing into the pub, leaving Nina to enter the garden and choose a bench. She was glad she’d brought her jacket with her and she slipped it on as she chose a seat not too close to the water but with an unrivalled view of it.
As she waited for him to return, she couldn’t help thinking how strange it was to be going out for the evening with Alex. If somebody had told her the week before that she’d be back at The Old Mill House and enjoying the company of Alex and Dominic, she would never have believed them. She could see now why Olivia was so proud of her sons – Dominic with his budding career as an artist and Alex leading an exciting life in London. Olivia had said that Alex hadn’t quite settled in the right job yet but he would be brilliant in whatever he set his mind to, and Nina was apt to agree with her. Alex had spark and she was quite sure that he would set the world alight once he had found his focus.
Then there was Dudley. She wouldn’t exactly say that he’d made her feel at home yet – he was too wrapped up in his own world to worry much about how Nina was feeling – but there was a gentleness in his manner that she so appreciated after the way she’d been treated by her last boss, and they were beginning to work really well together, with him giving her a little bit more responsibility each day and her taking it with alacrity. She really had never felt happier in her life.
It was then that Alex appeared with the drinks and menu and sat down opposite her. They placed a quick order and Nina sipped her drink, her vision blurring somewhere over the water to the reed beds beyond.
‘So, you’re Father’s new secretary,’ Alex said, breaking the silence and claiming Nina’s attention.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Why – have there been many?’
Alex laughed. ‘You could say that.’
‘Oh dear,’ Nina’s mouth dropped.
‘No, don’t worry – I’m sure you’ll last longer than the others.’
‘I’ve only been here a few days but I was just beginning to feel at home,’ she said, thinking of how much happier she was in her new job than she had been in any other.
‘Good,’ Alex smiled. ‘It’s nice to have you back again.’
Nina looked into his brown eyes. They were a feature he had in common with Dominic, but there was something quite different about Alex’s eyes: they had a mischievous quality – a note of naughtiness.
‘It’s been a long time,’ he said, in the kind of tone that made Nina think he was about to reach across the table to hold her hand.
‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘Alex – do you know what happened to Teri?’
He almost choked on his drink. ‘Teri? Why? What have you heard?’
‘Nothing, really. Your mother mentioned she was Dudley’s last assistant and I wondered why she left.’ Was it her imagination, she wondered, or had Alex’s cheeks developed a rosy hue?
‘Well, it was …’ he paused, ‘it got a bit much for her, working with Dad. He can be difficult at times. Not that you’ll have any problems with him, I’m sure,’ he quickly added.
‘Is that the only reason she left?’ Nina held his gaze, a
nd she could almost see Alex buckling underneath her – just like when he’d been a young boy trying to convince her that he’d finished all his homework and should be allowed to watch TV for the rest of the evening. Then he cleared his throat nervously and gave a grin.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘we might have had the tiniest misunderstanding.’
‘Oh, really?’
He shrugged and took another sip of his drink.
‘Alex?’ she probed.
‘Hey,’ he said, ‘you’re not my babysitter any more. I don’t have to answer to you.’ There was a twinkle in his eye as he said this. ‘But, if you must know, I was sort of seeing her for a little while.’
‘Sort of seeing her? What does that mean?’
‘It means that we weren’t – you know – mutually exclusive.’
‘Oh, right,’ Nina said, clarity dawning.
‘Well, Teri got really narked when she saw me with Katy. I’d invited her home for dinner and Teri had stayed late to finish something for Dad. I had no idea she’d be there but – like I said – we had an understanding.’
Nina frowned. ‘It seems to me that this understanding was all on your side, Alex.’
He grinned again. ‘Yeah. You might be right about that.’
Nina shook her head in despair – but she couldn’t help smiling, too, because he’d grown into just the sort of cheeky, flippant young man that she’d guessed he’d become.
‘I believe Mum’s roped you into helping with this crazy party idea,’ he said, changing the subject.
‘Yes, and typing your father’s novel, too,’ Nina said.
Alex laughed. ‘If Dad’s a novelist, then I’m a monk!’
Nina looked up, surprised at his disbelief. ‘Looks like you’ve got a change of vocation then, because I’ve read the first few chapters.’
Alex almost did a double take. ‘Really?’
‘Yes. And it’s very good,’ Nina said with a hint of pride at her new employer’s talent.
‘What’s it about?’ Alex was suddenly very earnest.
‘Well, I think that’s a secret for the time being.’
He eyed her for a moment. ‘I admire your loyalty,’ he said, ‘but you can tell me, can’t you?’
Nina smiled and shook her head. She hadn’t been at the mill long, but she already felt enormously loyal towards her new boss.
‘Oh – go on!’ Alex said, leaning across the table. ‘Nina!’
‘No!’ she said.
‘Please!’ his voice was getting louder. ‘I won’t let on,’ he said, standing up and moving to sit next to Nina on her side of the picnic bench.
‘Alex – the bench will tip over!’
‘Go on!’ He pushed his head closer to her.
‘I’ve said no!’ She felt as if she were turning into the old babysitter once more.
‘Tell me – tell me!’ he chanted and began tickling her.
‘Alex – get off!’ she cried, aware that several pairs of curious eyes were looking in their direction. ‘STOP IT!’
Alex sat up and stared at her, startled at her command, his face very close to hers. Nina looked at him, aware that her heart was beating ten to the dozen. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
‘Cottage pie twice?’ a shrill voice came from behind them, breaking the spell. Alex leapt up to move back to his side of the bench, knocking over his drink in the process, and spilling the contents onto the grass. The waitress looked on, unamused. She’d seen it all before.
‘Er – better make that another cola, please,’ he said. The waitress nodded and left them to their meal. ‘Ooops!’ Alex grinned and started to chuckle.
‘You idiot!’ Nina whispered, but she was giggling, too.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said, catching her gaze and holding it.
‘We’d better eat this whilst it’s hot,’ Nina said.
On the drive back, Nina glanced at Alex, wondering if she dared to pry a little into family affairs.
‘Alex?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘Yeah?’
‘What exactly happened between Faye and Dominic?’
Alex’s eyes narrowed but his gaze remained fixed on the road ahead. ‘Why do you want to know?’
‘Oh – no reason. It’s just that it seems rather odd, don’t you think?’
‘Odd? How?’
‘That she spends so much time at the mill in the hope of patching things up with Dominic when he obviously isn’t interested in her anymore.’
Alex was silent. ‘Faye’s a lovely person,’ he said as the countryside flashed behind them.
‘That’s why I can’t understand why Dominic broke up with her,’ Nina said. ‘I bet they were absolutely brilliant together. They’re both such lovely people, and I can’t bear to see Faye so sad about it all. Do you have any ideas what might have happened? She talks to you, doesn’t she?’
Alex shook his head. ‘Not about Dominic.’
‘Oh,’ Nina said.
‘I’ve told her that she really needs to move on, but I guess she’s one of life’s great romantics and just won’t give up,’ he said.
Nina smiled. That was sweet, she thought. Behind the facade of a typical lad, Alex really was very caring.
Suddenly, a memory from the past flashed before her that reminded her that Alex had a darker side. It had been an evening just before Christmas when she’d been babysitting. She’d been making hot chocolate in the kitchen and had heard the young Alex and Dominic squabbling in the front room under the Christmas tree. She’d tiptoed towards the door, wondering if she could overhear what it was they were fighting about, and had heard their voices clearly from the hallway.
‘You don’t even like Anna,’ Dominic was saying. ‘She was my friend first.’
‘But she’s my friend now,’ Alex was saying. ‘She thinks you’re boring and she doesn’t want to be friends with you anymore.’
Dominic had got up from where he’d been sitting under the Christmas tree and had stormed out of the room, almost crashing into Nina, while Alex had sat there with a smug expression on his face.
Nina looked at him now, hoping that the past wasn’t repeating itself again and that Alex wasn’t somehow involved in the break-up between Dominic and Faye. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was.
Chapter Thirteen
‘You’ll never believe what I’ve managed to pull off!’ Olivia beamed from the threshold of the study the next morning.
‘What?’ Nina asked, looking up from the computer screen where she’d been typing Dudley’s novel and trying to take her mind off the night before.
‘Well,’ Olivia began, making sure her husband wasn’t about before entering the room, ‘I’ve been thinking about dear Dominic and his determination to be an artist, and I’ve persuaded the ladies at the Country Circle to sit for their portraits!’
‘Portraits?’ Nina said in surprise.
‘Yes! Isn’t it marvellous! They’re all terribly keen and terribly well-off – Dominic could more or less charge whatever he wants.’ Olivia clapped her hands together like an excited schoolgirl.
Nina had a sudden image of a line of little old ladies with perms, hitting each other with their handbags in order to be the first to sit for the handsome young artist.
‘I didn’t know Dominic did portraits,’ Nina said.
‘Well of course he does – he’s an artist, isn’t he?’
Nina thought of his huge abstract landscapes. She’d not seen any evidence to suggest that Dominic’s burning ambition was to paint Norfolk’s population of retired ladies.
‘He’ll make a fortune! I must grab him and tell him whilst he’s here! But this will involve you, too, Nina. You’ll be able to help Dominic, won’t you? There are over twenty women in the circle, and they’ll need to be given appointments and such like. Could you diarise for Dominic? Now that you’ve got the study in some sort of order?’
‘Well there’s the anniversary party to arrange yet, and Dudley’s asked me to make a start o
n some research for his novel,’ Nina indicated the computer screen in front of her.
‘Yes, I know,’ Olivia’s green eyes widened, ‘but you can do it. I have every faith in you.’
Nina smiled hesitantly. Did she have a choice? ‘Well, I suppose I can squeeze it in,’ she said, wondering if Olivia Milton was just a nicer version of Hilary Jackson and that she’d still be expected to break her back at work in exchange for a sweet smile and gentle pleading.
‘You’re wonderful! Whatever did we do before you came?’ Olivia teased, leaving the room as quickly as she’d entered it.
Nina turned her attention back to the novel and became instantly engrossed in the story of Lord Ellis Glavin and the beautiful young Caroline. Dudley had asked her to start typing up the novel as it stood, whilst he’d disappeared with his notepad to a corner of the house where he wouldn’t be disturbed.
The pages of typing she’d found on clearing the study on her first day were now barely visible after Dudley’s pen had scribbled his alterations in his own peculiar shorthand. Nina wished that there were prescription glasses she could get in order to decipher it all, but made do with twisting her neck and the paper at odd angles. She shook her head, forecasting eye strain and neck pain for herself in the near future. Still, she became so wrapped up in her task that she hardly heard the knocking on the French doors a few minutes later. It was Faye.
Nina sprang out of her chair and went to open the door.
‘Hi!’ Faye said, pushing her dark hair out of her face and smearing something green across her forehead in the process. ‘I’m just taking a break after digging up a rather unruly bramble bush and wondered how you were settling in.’
‘Oh, good, thanks. Just trying to work out Dudley’s handwriting.’
‘Rather you than me,’ Faye said and then she cocked her head to one side. ‘Nina?’
‘Yes?’
‘I heard you went out with Alex. Is that right?’
Nina looked surprised. ‘How did you hear about that?’
‘The mill is a very small world. Everyone knows exactly what everybody else is up to,’ Faye said with a grin. ‘So, how did it go?’
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