A Home in the Sun

by Sue Moorcroft

  Melanie fanned herself harder. ‘With Shelley, his ex-wife, would you believe. They were never what you’d actually call devoted, you know, but they’re still fond of each other.’

  Judith wondered whether Adam would appreciate this conversation if he could hear it but asked anyway. ‘So why did the relationship end?’ She’d only heard from him that it had, not why.

  A shrug of Melanie’s round shoulders. ‘Who knows what goes on in a marriage.’ She blotted her pink face with a napkin. ‘You remember him from school, don’t you? A bit of a star attraction in the sixth form, was Adam. Too much sought after to bother with us fifth years.’

  Judith let her lips curve up in a tiny smile. ‘I think I spoke to him once but, other than that, yes, we were too lowly.’ She’d gone to pains to hide her crush on Adam from Mel at the time so wasn’t going to give it an airing now.

  On Saturday, Adam came to call.

  Judith’s heart misstepped when the doorbell rang and via the sitting room window she caught sight of him hovering on the path. When she opened the front door his smile was polite but his eyes were wary. ‘Are you safe to be spoken to, yet? Or still likely to erupt?’ His brows drew down intently.

  She decided to begin with a neutral stance. ‘Depends what you have to say.’

  ‘That’s a typical Judith answer.’ He turned and beckoned. Caleb stepped into view, cheeks fiery red and eyes darting to Judith and away. ‘Don’t be shy,’ Adam said. ‘This is your conversation, not mine.’

  Gingerly, Caleb edged closer. His thick, dark hair looked combed, his jeans were unripped and his T-shirt bore no offensive slogan. Judith could imagine Adam instructing him to make himself presentable. Caleb cleared his throat. ‘Hello, Mrs McAllister.’ He’d obviously decided calling her ‘Judith’ as he’d begun to, was now inappropriate.

  She folded her arms. ‘Hello, Caleb.’

  He eyed her, apprehensively. ‘Would it be OK if we came in for a minute, please?’

  ‘Of course.’ She stood back and let them troop past and into the sitting room, having trouble keeping a straight face at Caleb’s hunted expression as he trudged back to the scene of his recent crime.

  Once in the room, Caleb and Adam waited to be invited before they sat down on her cottage-style sofa and, after one horrified look, Caleb averted his eyes from the still-damaged fire surround, the Victorian tiles cracked or missing because the insurance company was being tricky about what they should cover there. ‘I’ve come to, like, apologise.’

  Judith, seating herself across from him in an armchair, raised her eyebrows. ‘Only like apologise? Something similar to an apology, but in actual fact not one?’

  Adam coughed to cover a laugh, amusement flickering in his eyes.

  Caleb looked bewildered. He hesitated. ‘No, I have come to apologise.’

  ‘Go on then,’ Judith invited him, affably.

  He scratched his head and stared at her. ‘Um, sorry,’ he said, sounding baffled.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘For, like, trashing your house. No!’ Before she could open her mouth. ‘Not like. I am sorry for trashing your house. I thought it’d be cool to have a party while Dad was away but it got completely out of hand. People turned up that I’d never met and they were seriously out there. Know what I mean?’

  Judith frowned as if perplexed, thoroughly enjoying the conversation and not just because she’d wondered whether she’d ever see Adam and Caleb again. She hadn’t indulged in the gentle sport of teasing a teen for a while. ‘Not really,’ she deliberated. ‘Everybody’s out there, aren’t they? Except we three, I mean, because we’re in here.’

  He stared at her again, clearly wondering how anyone could be so difficult to communicate with. ‘I mean that they were … they went mad,’ he explained with great patience. ‘Smashing stuff up and everything. And I think some people had too much to drink.’

  Judith assumed a look of mock-horrified amazement. ‘Really? I wonder how that happened?’

  Silence. Then, softly, Adam prompted, ‘Caleb …’

  Caleb heaved another huge, mournful sigh. ‘Yeah, OK. Everyone had lakes of stuff to drink and most people were stoned, too. There’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have had a party here. It was totally out of order and I’m totally sorry.’

  For the first time, she smiled. ‘Thank you.’

  He looked relieved but still shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘Dad thought … no, I thought that I might do something, you know, something to help you out. To make up.’

  Beside him, Adam caught Judith’s eye and nodded.

  Completely on board with the idea of redemption, she cast around for a job she could reasonably expect Caleb to accomplish without taxing him unduly or placing herself or her property in too much jeopardy. The lawn had already grown after her half-hearted attempts at taming it so she said, ‘How are you at cutting grass?’

  ‘I expect I could do it,’ he admitted cautiously.

  ‘Shall we find out?’ She led the way into the kitchen and through the door to the back garden.

  Judith and Adam took to the patio bench while Caleb got the mower out, a bench that had been green wrought iron with white slats last time Judith saw it but was now all black, which she rather liked. Adam had been the perfect tenant; he’d decorated everything in sight, kept the house immaculate, then, precisely when she wanted to evict him, had made it possible by fouling up so comprehensively. Or, at least, having a son who fouled up on his behalf.

  Her conscience twinged afresh. Poor Adam.

  Once settled on the bench where they had a good view of Caleb trying the lawnmower’s pull-cord starter, they swatted gnats and drank tall glasses of orange juice that Judith fetched from the kitchen. To her relief, they seemed to slowly rediscover the easy companionship that had developed prior to Caleb’s party.

  He shaded his eyes as the lawnmower failed to respond to Caleb’s energetic efforts with the pull-cord. ‘I kept thinking you were going to giggle.’

  Judith sniffed. ‘I wasn’t aware that anything about the episode was funny.’

  He swung around accusingly. ‘Your eyes were laughing.’

  She shrugged, and sipped at her juice. ‘Perhaps,’ she admitted, her lips curling. ‘A teeny bit.’

  Adam grinned briefly. Then he touched the back of her hand. ‘And now Caleb’s made his apology, it’s time for me to offer my thanks. Thank you for not involving the police. I’m sure you must’ve considered it – I wouldn’t have blamed you but I’m grateful you didn’t. Caleb’s wayward enough, he doesn’t need a police record, however minor.’

  She kept her face straight. ‘Really out there, is he?’

  Adam dropped his head back and laughed, eyes gleaming silver in the sun. She thought, objectively, what a very attractive man he was, especially with his day’s growth of beard to emphasise the angle of his lean jaw. Then he sobered and sighed. ‘You’ve been brilliant, and now I have to give you some really bad news and you’re going to hate us all over again. And you’ll be right to hate us, because it’s something really annoying.’ He put down his glass on the floor, and leant forward on the bench to look into her face with an expression of concern and apprehension. In fact, he looked a lot like Caleb had in the sitting room.

  ‘Go on, get it over with,’ she said, resignedly.

  He hesitated. ‘You’re really going to hate it.’

  Disquiet stirred in the pit of her stomach. ‘You’re scaring me.’

  He ran his hand over his hair. ‘After the party, I noticed something was missing from the smallest bedroom.’

  She felt herself relax. Why should he think this would make her hate him again? ‘Camera equipment? I’m afraid there were two lads messing around with it but I wasn’t in the mood to attempt a rescue at the time. It’s up to you if you want to take it further – I could give a reasonable description of the thugs involved.’

  But he was shaking his head. ‘No … although my equipment was rather mauled about by those disresp
ectful bastards. I’d love to get my hands on them.’ He broke off, glancing down as if tripped by a sudden and unwelcome reminder of the state of one of those hands. He gathered himself. ‘But there was something else I kept in there and I think it must still be in your house, somewhere.’

  He blew out a breath. ‘Caleb moved the tank when we moved out and obviously funked telling me it was empty. I’m afraid it’s Fingers who’s missing. My snake.’

  Chapter Eleven

  For a moment she didn’t absorb the full import of his words. ‘You called your snake Fingers?’ Her eyes flicked involuntarily to his hands. He’d clasped the left one around the right, keeping the damage, as he so often did, out of sight.

  He smiled, faintly. ‘Caleb’s idea of a joke. He bought Fingers for me after I lost mine and at first I thought I’d take him straight back to the exotic pet shop. But then I began reading the book about keeping corn snakes and I got interested. In fact, I got to like Fingers.’

  All at once, Judith developed a funny sensation in the pit of her stomach. A pulse began behind her eyes. ‘I hate snakes. Is he dangerous? Is he poisonous? Is he big?’ Sweat broke out on her neck.

  ‘He’s harmless, honestly,’ he hastened to reassure her. ‘He’s not poisonous, he’s a couple of feet long. Not much longer, anyway. He’s still young, his markings haven’t changed into stripes, yet. But I’ll get him back, I promise. Just don’t go around spraying wasp killer or whatever.’

  Judith felt her toes curling off the floor as if the snake might be slithering towards her. ‘That would harm him, would it?’

  He nodded earnestly. ‘Of course. Snakes are alive – they breathe air, drink water and like sunshine, just like us.’

  Judith’s calm crumbled. ‘They’re not like us at all. A snake, yuck! A snake in my house. And this is what you term “annoying”?’ She hadn’t even liked the eels she’d come across on dives, and eels weren’t snakes. They were fish, even if they had no legs and a lot of attitude.

  Adam spoke earnestly. ‘I’m really sorry, Judith. But it’s not his fault he’s a snake. If you’ll just give me a chance to find him …’

  She shuddered, thinking words she didn’t like, such as ‘slither’ and ‘coil’. ‘Snakes are green and slimy.’

  His half-smile tipped one corner of his mouth. ‘Not Fingers. Autumn colours. Rather pretty. And snakes are quite dry, actually.’

  She shucked this minor point off. ‘Where could he be hiding?’

  ‘Well, I’ve already checked my stuff, inside my sofa and chairs, for instance. So I’m thinking now about under your floorboards or behind the fire. Or maybe under the kitchen units …’

  ‘Fantastic.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Bloody fantastic!’

  ‘Bloody sorry.’

  She glared. If Adam had once been the perfect tenant, those days were certainly over. ‘Don’t you laugh about this, Adam Leblond.’

  ‘Never, Judith,’ he declared, firmly. ‘Never in a million years.’ But he looked the other way so she couldn’t see his face.

  He didn’t find Fingers that day. Caleb finished the lawn, then left with an air of virtuous relief, while Adam systematically took the house apart upstairs. ‘Good job you haven’t had the new carpet down yet,’ he panted as he pulled the existing carpet off its gripper and began to lever up the floorboards.

  ‘Yes, good job.’ She pulled a face. ‘How on earth would the snake get down there?’

  He flashed his torch into the hollow he’d just exposed. ‘They can squeeze their way into seemingly impossible places.’

  Judith backed away. ‘I don’t know whether to feel safer here or in the sitting room. I don’t want Fingers jumping out at me.’

  He snorted a laugh, his eyes gleaming as he looked up at her. ‘Snakes aren’t well known for jumping.’

  The hunt for Fingers drew to a close at about nine p.m. By then, Adam had stopped making jokes. He rubbed his jaw sheepishly. ‘Shall I come back tomorrow to do the same demolition job on the downstairs?’

  She groaned. ‘Yes! It’s either that or I walk around scared to death in case he appears. He just better not slither into bed with me, that’s all.’

  ‘He wouldn’t dare,’ Adam told her. As he was looking studiously elsewhere as he said it she couldn’t tell if his eyes were laughing.

  Judith spent a jumpy and wakeful night. She remembered Giorgio telling her the legend of how Malta had no poisonous snakes after St Paul was unharmed though a venomous viper bit him. Fingers wasn’t a viper and wasn’t poisonous but none of those things seemed to comfort her. Where was he? Snakes were nocturnal, weren’t they? Adam had told her Fingers fed on rodents so unless she had a colony of mice beneath the floorboards by now he’d be getting hungry. Looking for food. Coming out from hiding. Slithering out. Coiling up.

  With a shudder she tucked the duvet firmly around her shoulders and left the light on.

  Next morning, nerves jangling, Judith found herself examining every patch of carpet before stepping on it as she moved around the house. She had to stay in until Adam appeared as he no longer had a key but the moment he arrived she dropped the spare key into his palm. ‘I’m going to have lunch with my stepson. If you find your scaly, slimy friend please lock up after you when you leave.’ Grabbing her handbag she scurried out into the street, relieved at the sight of a summery blue sky dotted with cotton-wool clouds.

  Adam walked out with her and stood grinning on the top step, watching her unlock her car. ‘Snakes aren’t slimy. Did Fingers try to slither into bed with you?’ His T-shirt blew against his body in the breeze.

  Horror wriggled up her body. ‘No!’

  He swung the key slowly. ‘He’s a gentleman, evidently.’

  ‘And this lady’s going to stay out of the house all day.’ She jumped into the driver’s seat and, with a wave, was soon on her way. First, she met Kieran at a new pub called The Cider Tree and, for once, he was without Bethan. Kieran didn’t seem in a very good mood. He hardly smiled at all and was more interested in gazing morosely at other people in the pub than in holding a conversation.

  ‘Have you and Bethan had words?’ Judith tried, gently, concerned to see him so uncharacteristically low.

  ‘No!’ he said, as if horrified she’d even ask.

  Hmm, OK. Well, it wasn’t her business. Maybe Bethan was out with her mates and Kieran was possessive and wanted her always with him. Tom had been the same irksome way. ‘How’s your dad?’ she asked, as he came to mind as another source of Kieran’s grumpiness. Tom’s brusque, bossy nature could rub anyone up the wrong way.

  Kieran let loose an inelegant snort. ‘Much as ever. Loud, opinionated and critical.’

  ‘Who, Tom?’ she asked, trying to make him at least smile. The attempt failed and when Kieran had eaten a sandwich and her crisps as well as his, he hugged her goodbye and said he had to go.

  Though still perturbed at her stepson’s dark mood, Judith went to visit her mum. Unfortunately, Wilma proved to be out of sorts, too.

  ‘That Mrs Yeats,’ she whispered, indicating with a glance a woman who sat in the chair opposite Wilma in the lounge, ‘has just got a really nice walking frame – and on the National Health.’

  Unable to get a handle on her mother’s dissatisfaction, Judith lowered her voice to a murmur. ‘Is that a problem?’

  ‘She didn’t need a new one,’ Wilma responded uncharitably. She tapped her own walking frame. ‘Mine’s even older but I’ve made sure to keep it nice.’ Then she laughed, returning in a twinkling to her usual sunny self. ‘Listen to me being a moaning Minnie. Tell me what’s going on with you, duck.’

  So Judith told her about lunch with Kieran – omitting the moodiness – Molly, Brinham and the new benches they were putting in the market square, and made her laugh with her story of Caleb’s party and the escape of Fingers. After an hour she kissed Wilma’s soft cheek and left her striking up a conversation with Mrs Yeats, despite the new walker. Probably she was going to on
e-up her with, ‘My daughter’s got a snake loose in her house.’

  She called at her sister’s house next but received no reply so Judith parked up in town and spent the final couple of hours of the afternoon roaming around The Norbury Centre. She bought two new pairs of jeans, one black, one indigo, and a host of mundane items for the house – bin bags, a washing up brush, spray polish, dusters, cling film, a basket of multi-coloured pegs, pens and a turquoise can-opener.

  Then, hoping that by that time Fingers would be safely corralled, she made for home. Unfortunately, she found Adam’s BMW, which he insisted was only just getting in its stride at ten years old, was still parked outside her house in Lavender Row. Judith sighed. Honestly, this having space to herself business was not working today.

  ‘Hello?’ She managed to turn the key in the door with one hand while straining the fingers of the other to grasp six carrier bags, and staggered into the hall. She’d be glad when the carpet was replaced. She didn’t like that bit at the bottom of the stairs where there seemed to be the lingering of an unpleasant smell. She stepped over it. ‘Adam?’

  He appeared from the sitting room, hands in pockets, smile sketchy, his shoulders hunched, expression guarded. ‘I need to talk to you.’

  She dropped her bags in dismay, disregarding the contents spilling out around her feet. ‘What’s happened now? Can’t you find that bloody snake?’

  ‘He was under the kitchen units.’ He stood back and indicated a glass tank on the floor near the sofa and a red-and-russet shape coiled in a corner of it, half under a piece of wood.

  She turned her eyes hurriedly away. Coiled. Urgh. Under the kitchen units where he could have slithered out at any time. Urgh urgh. ‘Thank goodness. Thank you very much. Is something else the matter?’

  His voice was very gentle. ‘Come and sit down, Judith.’