One Minute Later

by Susan Lewis

  Shelley looked up as Josh came in from the boot room, all long limbs and rain-soaked hair. ‘Hey, Giles,’ he said, helping himself to an apple and a towel. ‘You’ve heard about the money-laundering thing?’ He pulled out a couple of chairs, slouching into one and plonking his feet on the other.

  Giles nodded. ‘Daft buggers. Trouble is, they always thought themselves cleverer than the rest of us, reckoned the world was their playground and they had a right to it all, and look where it’s ended them up.’

  ‘Do you reckon Charlie and Felix will go to prison?’ Josh asked, biting into the apple, and seeming not in the least bit sympathetic to the fate of the Bleasdale sons, or their wives, since both were already married with kids.

  Giles shrugged. ‘Depends what the Inland Revenue have got on them, but I shouldn’t think they’d be squealing on anyone after this, so yes, it’s likely one of them at least will carry the can, if not both.’

  Feeling again for Jemmie and Humph, and already worrying about how this terrible business was going to affect their future, Shelley looked at Josh as she said, ‘When you go off to uni promise me, if you need money, you’ll always come to me.’

  Josh looked stricken. ‘Do I have to wait that long?’ he protested, ‘because Glastonbury’s coming up and they’ve asked me to play the Pyramid Stage.’

  Shelley slapped his feet off the chair and sat down. ‘Stop talking nonsense,’ she chided, ‘and anyway, if they really were inviting you they’d be paying you, not the other way round.’

  ‘This is true, I think, but The Vet Shop Boys – we changed our name again, by the way – have been given a ten-minute slot at midnight in the New Bands Tents and I’m in dire need of a new guitar.’

  Chuckling as he got to his feet, Giles said, ‘There are a lot of different ways to die, young Josh. Best you choose this one, is what I say.’

  Scowling at the inappropriate timing of the remark, Shelley walked outside with him, and was about to ask if he thought she should go to see Jemmie when the phone inside started to ring. A moment later Josh called her back.

  ‘It’s Jemmie,’ he said quietly, his hand covering the mouthpiece.

  With her eyes on his, Shelley took the phone and said, tentatively, ‘Hello. How are you?’

  ‘I’m sorry to bother you with this, Shelley,’ Jemmie sounded frail but coherent, ‘but I thought I should let you know that Charlie and Felix have been arrested and Humphrey’s collapsed.’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  VIVIENNE

  Present Day

  By the time Sam returned from his mission to Deerwood Farm the children had been bathed and changed into their pyjamas, and Michelle’s parents, Yvonne and Paul, had turned up. Although Vivienne had called to invite her mother to the barbecue, Gina apparently already had plans for dinner with friends in town, taking advantage of the fact that Vivienne was going to be out for the evening.

  It was balmy and beautiful, with the sun casting a rich golden glow over the distant bay, and the sound of birds tweeting and cawing mingled with the chafe of invisible insects. In spite of being in Kesterly for all the wrong reasons, Vivi couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now. It felt so important to be with people she’d known all her life, friends who were as dear to her as if they were family, who wanted to be there for her until there was no more they could do. Or until she got a new heart, but the hope for that was as unpredictable and ephemeral as the foam on the waves.

  ‘Right,’ Sam declared, clearly meaning business as he strode onto the deck rubbing his hands, ‘have you got the beers on ice, Paul? I’m gasping. OK, OK, Yvie,’ as his mother-in-law turned a baleful eye on him, ‘I promise I’ll have someone come and straighten up your mailbox by the end of the day tomorrow.’

  ‘Just don’t send the guy who put it up in the first place,’ she admonished as he embraced her. ‘It makes me feel drunk every time I look at it. Oh, Josh, hi, good to see you.’

  Vivi turned to find a tall, dark-haired man, probably in his early thirties, standing behind her, and for no good reason her heart gave an unsteady beat. He had the tousled look of a Romany about him, or an eighteenth-century poet, or someone who was simply too handsome for his own good. His hair was thick, almost jet-black, his strong jaw unshaven and his smile as he turned it to her was so captivating that it made her own falter. She’d never seen him before, she knew that for certain, but there was something about him that seemed … familiar? Maybe he was reminding her of someone, though who it was she couldn’t say. She only knew that he didn’t feel like a stranger …

  ‘Vivi and Josh, I don’t think you guys have met,’ Sam said, slipping an arm around her.

  Josh held out a hand and Vivi felt the physicality of him closing around her like a small force of nature. His eyes were remarkable, almost unsettling in their intensity, for he wasn’t just looking at her, she realized, he seemed to be seeing or reading her in a way that felt … It should have felt presumptive or even invasive, but they were too friendly for that.

  ‘Vivi,’ he said, holding the gaze with no apparent self-consciousness. ‘Michelle’s best friend from your first day at school. It’s good to meet you.’

  Surprised, and faintly embarrassed, she said, ‘You have me at a disadvantage because … Well …’

  He laughed, and she almost blinked without being sure why. ‘Don’t tell me, no one’s ever mentioned me,’ he protested. ‘I guess I’m just not important enough, but …’

  ‘Oh, someone pass me a violin,’ Michelle cried. ‘I’m sure we have mentioned you.’ She looked at Vivi, but Vivi was certain no one had. ‘We must have,’ Michelle insisted. ‘Josh and Sam have been friends for years, and Josh’s family are our best clients. Millie, darling, please don’t do that with the cat.’ Millie was holding the large, long-suffering tabby, Bitsy, in her tiny hands, carrying him awkwardly across the deck.

  ‘I’m taking him to Josh,’ Millie explained. ‘Please can you make him better?’ she implored, holding him up for Josh to inspect.

  Going down to her height and smoothing the cat’s soft grey fur, Josh said, ‘What’s the matter with him?’

  ‘He’s not very well, because he sleeps all the time.’

  ‘I see,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Well, that’s what cats do during the day. They mostly sleep, and at night, they go out hunting.’

  Millie’s eyes dilated. It was clear her mind was whirling around that little revelation and those who loved her, which included everyone present, were waiting to hear what she made of it. ‘You mean, when I’m asleep and my toys get up to play so I can’t see them, Bitsy goes out … What’s hunting?’

  With a smile, Josh said, ‘He goes out looking for mice and birds and even fish if he can catch them.’

  Millie was entranced. ‘Mummy! Did you hear that? Josh says Bitsy can catch fish. Grandma, maybe it’s not the gulls stealing from your pond, it could be Bitsy.’ She drew in a sharp breath. ‘Bitsy, you bad boy. You mustn’t steal Grandma’s goldfish, because they’re very expensive and it’s naughty.’

  ‘OK, seems like I’ve started something,’ Josh said wryly, as he stood up again.

  ‘Thanks for that,’ Michelle replied sweetly. ‘Now, make yourself useful and pour some wine. Sam, I’ve put everything for the barbecue on a big plate in the fridge. Dad, could you get it? Ash, that’s not a good thing to do with your food, sweetheart.’

  As Vivi picked up the bowl Ash had hurled from his high chair, Josh unscrewed the cap from a bottle of wine and began filling glasses. When he handed them around Vivi declined with a simple, ‘Thanks, I’m on iced tea.’

  Millie followed this up with, ‘Auntie Vivi can’t have wine because she isn’t very well, but I take care of her with my doctor’s set, don’t I, Auntie Vivi?’

  ‘You do indeed,’ Vivi confirmed, aware of Josh’s eyes on her.

  ‘I’m going to make her better,’ Millie declared. She gave a sudden gasp of excitement and turned back to Josh. ‘Can you make her better?’
/>
  ‘Josh is a vet,’ Sam reminded her. ‘He treats sick animals, not people. Now, have you eaten all your supper, young lady?’

  ‘Yes,’ she cried, jumping up and down. ‘Grandma, can we go and feed your goldfish?’

  ‘Not right now, sweetheart. It’s almost time for bed.’

  ‘I don’t want to go. It’s not fair, I always have to go to bed. You’re really mean …’

  ‘Millie, that’s enough,’ Michelle cut in. ‘Go and put a DVD on or learn to let someone else speak for a while.’

  Opting for the DVD, Millie hurried off inside, leaving the others to cook and drink, and take Ash and eventually her off to bed, before they sat down to eat.

  Vivi listened to the conversation as it ebbed and flowed, joining in at times, laughing in a way that felt … how did it feel? Liberating, she decided, because she hadn’t felt this relaxed in a while. She was conscious of Josh watching her from time to time, and while wondering what he was thinking she wished he’d talk more, so she’d have an excuse to look at him. She did anyway, because she couldn’t help it, and each time their eyes met she found herself feeling, fleetingly, as if they did know one another …

  For a few uneasy moments she found herself wondering if this evening had been planned to get them together, until she realized that Michelle and Sam wouldn’t be so insensitive as to try to do that either to her or to Josh.

  Nevertheless, she was intrigued by the man, and of course attracted to him; it was impossible not to be when he looked and sounded the way he did. But she stayed mindful of the fact that Michelle had mentioned his family, so he was presumably married, probably with kids, and was no doubt used to women everywhere feeling attracted to him.

  It wasn’t until the meal was over and they settled into the more comfy chairs that she got to learn a little more about him.

  ‘So how’s everyone at Deerwood?’ Paul asked, as Michelle came out with a tray of coffee and chocolates. ‘It’s been a while since I was out there.’

  ‘Oh, they’re all fine,’ Josh replied, taking an espresso. ‘Crazy and busy as ever. Sam’s come up with some great plans for the latest expansion.’

  Apparently realizing Vivi was in the dark, Michelle handed her a peppermint tea as she said, ‘Josh’s family own Deerwood Farm, out on the old Dean Valley Road.’

  Vivi said, ‘I think I’ve passed it a couple of times when I’ve been out that way. I’ve seen the signs, but I can’t say I know it.’ She vaguely remembered wanting to stop and buy fruit there, but her mother hadn’t wanted to, had even behaved oddly over it, but it was a faint recollection from a time when she’d still been so weak ….

  Yvonne was saying with a laugh, ‘You’ll be the only one around here who doesn’t know it. His mother’s a legend and his sisters are saints.’

  Josh immediately protested. ‘Not quite how I’d describe them,’ he corrected. ‘In fact, not at all how I’d describe them.’

  Enjoying his humour, Vivi said, ‘So how would you describe them?’

  After considering the question, he said, ‘Actually, I tend not to get into that. It always ends me up in trouble.’

  As the others laughed, Yvonne told Vivi, ‘They adore him. In their books he can do no wrong …’

  ‘Huh,’ he scoffed. ‘In their books I never do anything right.’

  ‘If you don’t know Deerwood,’ Michelle put in, ‘then we should probably explain that it’s a farm extraordinaire.’

  How could Vivi not be intrigued by that? ‘Which means?’ she prompted, wanting to hear it from Josh.

  ‘Which means,’ he replied, ‘that it’s time to change the subject and talk about something far more interesting, like what brings you to Kesterley at this time? I know you and Michelle have been friends most of your lives, so I guess …’ He broke off, and Vivi realized from the sudden darkening of his eyes, that he’d just reconnected with what else he’d heard about her. She tried desperately to think of a way to smooth it over with something humorous, even dismissive, but she was afraid she’d make a fool of herself and embarrass him.

  Michelle was there. ‘You guessed right,’ she was saying. ‘She’s here to babysit while Sam and I go off to France and Spain for a month to recreate our honeymoon. Sam, that was a hint. Would be lovely, when you can fit it in, my love.’

  ‘But every night’s a honeymoon with you, my darling,’ Sam countered, refilling his glass.

  ‘Hang on,’ Paul protested, ‘that’s my daughter you’re talking about.’

  ‘Oh my God, is that who she is? I’ve been asking myself for a while, but I kind of like her, she’s good to have around and great with the kids …’

  Throwing a napkin at him, Michelle said, ‘Speaking of not knowing who people are, Vivi’s about to trace her ancestry using DNA.’ Realizing her indiscretion too late, she tried a hasty retreat with, ‘I was going to do it too, but you lot are enough for me, can’t cope with any more.’

  Josh looked fascinated as he turned to Vivi. ‘I’ve seen it promoted on Facebook,’ he said. ‘They say that most of us who think we’re British aren’t even close.’

  ‘Speaking personally,’ Sam piped up, ‘I’m sure I’m from Planet Macho. I kind of feel it in here, you know what I mean,’ he said, punching his chest.

  ‘We do indeed,’ Michelle responded drily.

  As everyone laughed, chocolates were passed around and Vivi found herself relaxing again, even feeling faintly light-headed, as she listened to the banter flowing as effortlessly and randomly as it had before. Josh was clearly as at home here as she was, which made him feel like a friend already, and it wasn’t surprising that he should feel so comfortable when Michelle and Sam were such easy-going hosts. She just wondered why Michelle had never mentioned him before – unless she had, and Vivi hadn’t really taken it in. Too busy with her own life, her own world …

  It was almost midnight – the latest Vivi had been up since coming out of hospital – when she received a text from her mother asking if she was still at Michelle’s.

  She sent a quick message back assuring her she was, but she’d be home soon. No need to wait up.

  ‘I can guess who it was,’ Michelle smiled. ‘She’s worried, but you can stay here tonight if you like.’

  Mindful of needing to be next to her home monitor, and of the medication she had to take before going to sleep, Vivi said, ‘That would be lovely, but I ought to go. I’ll call a taxi if you’ve got a number.’

  ‘No need for that,’ Josh insisted. ‘I’ve only had a couple of glasses and I should be going myself before I outstay my welcome.’

  ‘Not possible,’ Michelle protested.

  Nevertheless he got to his feet, and to Vivi’s surprise he offered a hand to help her to hers. She felt the strength of his grip as she rose, and wondered if he was feeling the size and shape of her hand too. If he did he showed no sign of it, was already turning to the others to start saying goodnight.

  He drove an old Land Rover, which made sense for a vet who apparently lived on a farm. It smelled, predictably, of hay and animals and a vague hint of something a little more savoury – and of him.

  ‘You’ll have to direct me,’ he told her. ‘I don’t think I’m familiar with your part of town.’

  ‘It’s not far,’ she assured him. ‘I hope it isn’t too much out of your way.’ She knew it was, for Deerwood Farm was in completely the opposite direction.

  ‘I’m staying in town tonight,’ he informed her. ‘I’ve got a flat over by the Botanical Gardens, so definitely not out of the way.’

  She wanted to ask about the flat, how long he’d had it, who he lived with there, but afraid it might sound too inquisitive, too personal, she said instead, ‘Where do you practise as a vet?’

  He smiled. ‘All over. I specialize in farm animals, so I tend to go to my patients more often than they come to me. When they do, I’ve got an office and surgery at Deerwood.’

  Intrigued to know more about the farm, she was about to ask when she realized
he was going to take a wrong turn.

  Hitting the brakes and spinning the wheel with one hand, he threw out the other to hold her in her seat. ‘That was fun,’ he grinned, when they were safely on the straight and narrow again.

  Smiling, she started to pick up where they’d left off, but he said, ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you don’t look ill.’

  Surprised by his bluntness, her eyebrows rose. ‘Well there’s a blessing,’ she commented drily.

  He glanced at her quickly. ‘Am I wrong to mention it?’

  She gave it some thought and shook her head. ‘I don’t much like talking about it, though. It’s starting to define who I am, and I like to think that there’s still a bit more to me yet.’

  He looked at her again, but she kept her eyes straight ahead.

  They drove on quietly, but she was aware of his frequent glances, as though he was trying to get the measure of her. In the end she said, ‘Am I allowed to look at you too?’

  He laughed in a way that made her laugh too. ‘You’re going to find this odd,’ he told her, ‘but I keep feeling as though you’re someone I know, someone I haven’t seen for a long time …’

  ‘Yes, that is odd,’ she agreed, her eyes shining with mischief as she turned to him. She wouldn’t tell him she understood what he meant because she was feeling it too, but she did say, ‘Have we met before?’

  He shook his head. ‘I’d remember.’

  Certain she would too, she fell silent again. This is crazy, she was telling herself. This can’t be happening now. It just can’t. But it was. She was attracted to him in a way that felt both exhilarating and terrifying.

  ‘Do you miss your life in London?’ he asked.

  She could hardly deny it, and yet would she want to be there now, in her weakened, limited state, struggling to be the person she no longer was? ‘I enjoyed it while I was there,’ she said, ‘and I guess I still would if things hadn’t changed the way they have.’