Renovation, Renovation, Renovation

by Nell Dixon

  “I think I’m with Kate on the shoe thing being creepy though.” Lou gave a shiver.

  “It’s an exciting historical find. It’ll be interesting to age it and see if it’s from when the cottage was first built or if it’s a later eighteenth or nineteenth century addition,” Mike explained.

  Personally, I didn’t give a flying fig when it was from, it was freaky and gave me the willies. The only good thing about it was that it gave Mike a reason to call at the cottage. I couldn’t help hoping that Steve might get a tiny bit jealous if I started to have someone showing an interest in me, and I hoped the sinister shoe wasn’t the only reason he wanted to call in.

  “Drop by tomorrow around two if you’re free. Louise and I are busy in the morning, family business I’m afraid.” I gave my sister a look to remind her that she wasn’t about to duck out from telling Mum about the baby.

  “It’s a date.” Mike’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled and my pulse zipped up a notch. Perhaps something good was about to happen in my life after all.

  “Well, it was nice meeting you again, Mike, but I’d better be off.” Lou shuffled towards him, indicating that she needed to get out.

  He immediately stood so she could leave while I started to have a mini panic attack. I knew what she was up to; she thought that if she left me alone with our tutor it would fan the flames of romance. The trouble was, I hadn’t been alone with a bloke who might be interested in me in years. I’d been with Steve for so long I’d lost whatever meagre flirting skills I might once have possessed leaving me with the conversational chat up skills of a retired nun.

  I briefly considered hurling myself at Lou’s ankles and begging her not to desert me. But after gathering up her shopping and promising faithfully that she would be ready by ten the next morning for me to pick her up, she departed. Mike took his seat again. He smiled at me across the polished Formica table top.

  My tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t think of a single opening conversational gambit. I was about to make some lame-brained comment on the weather, when luckily Mike spoke first.

  “I’d love to help you with the research on your cottage, Kate. I looked up a few things in my files which I think might be of some interest to you. If you like I can bring them with me tomorrow? There is a picture you might like to see.” He took a bite from the end of the wafer curl biscuit that had accompanied his coffee, spraying crumbs down the front of his pale grey designer shirt.

  “That’s very kind of you.” I suppose it figured he would be more interested in my house than in me. I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed but I pinned a bright smile on my face and tried to look thrilled that he was so interested in the mouldering old dump that was Myrtle Cottage.

  “Your cottage does have a very interesting history and finding a spirit trap adds to the historic value.” Mike continued, waving the stump of his biscuit around in his enthusiasm.

  “I guess that’ll be good when we come to sell up. I’d like to know about the strange sensations I keep experiencing though. Steve says it’s all in my mind because I didn’t want to buy the house.” So much for Lou thinking it would be romantic to abandon me with Mike. It seemed as if both of us had misread Mike’s interest in me.

  “Um, I think you said Steve was your business partner?” Mike polished off the last bit of biscuit.

  “Yes, he is. We’re stuck in the house together until the renovations are finished and it sells but it’s purely platonic, a business relationship.” My spirits rose.

  Maybe I was wrong and he did fancy me after all?

  “Ah, good to know, I um, wouldn’t want him to get the wrong end of the stick if I help you with your research.” His cheeks took on a dull pink tinge and his obvious mild embarrassment made me go all gooey inside.

  “No, he won’t. He has a girlfriend.” I tried not to emphasise the girl part and was quite proud when my voice came out nice and even.

  “So, um, you have no romantic entanglements, then?”

  My heart thudded in my chest as he asked the question.

  “No, none.” Heavens, I sounded eager.

  Mike’s face lit up. He cleared his throat. “Then would you consider, maybe tomorrow after you show me the cottage, perhaps going for a drink with me?”

  “That sounds lovely.” I smiled back at him. I’d been invited on a date! A real date with a bloke who wasn’t Steve! I couldn’t wait to call Lou to tell her.

  Unfortunately my cosy cuppa with Mike got cut short by an irate phone call from Steve wanting to know what had been taking me so long and telling me to buy more teabags. Mike looked a bit worried when Steve called and I hoped it hadn’t put a dampener on his interest in me. It did occur to me as I dashed through the ten items or less checkout with a box of PG Tips that most men probably would be concerned if they fancied a girl still apparently living in a cosy domestic situation with their ex.

  Chapter Nine

  “Where have you been?” Steve was busy wrenching up the rotten floorboards in the lounge when I arrived home with the teabags.

  “I had some errands to run and you owe me for the teabags.” I didn’t tell him about meeting Lou, and I especially didn’t tell him about meeting Mike. I was a free agent now, the same as him, and what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander or something like that.

  It still didn’t stop me from feeling a few pangs of guilt. I made him a mug of tea once I’d changed into my ancient, plaster-speckled work jeans and a ratty tee shirt I’d acquired years ago from a Comic Relief fundraiser.

  I opened the lounge door to pass Steve his tea. The air was thick with dust. He pulled down the bandana he had tied over his nose and mouth and took a slurp.

  “Ta Kate, I needed that. This floor is worse than I thought. You’ll need to get on to the salvage site and see what boards they’ve got in stock.”

  There was a grime demarcation line across his cheekbones from where the scarf had been tied and the skin around his eyes was stained grey-brown. My guilt chip went into overdrive. I shouldn’t have dallied in town. It was me who had been pushing to hurry and finish the renovations after all.

  “I’ll have a look later. What do you want me to do in here?” I hoped he didn’t want me to do anything. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to work, I didn’t want to linger in the same room as the creepy fireplace.

  Steve scratched his nose and looked around at the pile of debris on the floor behind him. “Well, this lot needs to be barrowed out to the skip for a start.”

  Bugger. “Okay.”

  “I suppose you were in town gossiping with Lou.” He took another sip of his tea.

  “We only had a quick coffee.” That’s the thing when you’ve been with someone a long time, they know your habits too well. Except I hadn’t really known Steve’s, had I?

  “Is she okay?”

  Steve’s very fond of Lou. He’s always treated her like the kid sister he never had. Way back when I’d first started seeing him Lou had only been a teenager and he’d always been very protective of her. Being in a boyband he’d known exactly how men could and did take advantage and so he’d always looked out for Lou – and for me too I guess. Yet I suppose as we hadn’t a Dad or an older brother he’d taken on that role. I didn’t know how he’d react when he knew she was pregnant.

  “Um, she’s okay. I’ll go and get the wheelbarrow then, and make a start.” I started to sidle out of the room. I’m a rubbish liar so I needed to escape.

  “Kate?”

  The question in his voice stopped me in the doorway. Too late. He’d noticed I’d been trying to hide something.

  “Look, she hasn’t told Mum yet, so I shouldn’t say anything.”

  His dark brown eyes surveyed me levelly over the brim of his mug.

  “She’s pregnant.”

  The words hung in the air. Steve continued to stare at me as if he hadn’t quite heard.

  “You can’t say anything. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.
I’m going with her to Mum’s in the morning and she’s going to tell Mum then.” Lou was going to kill me.

  “Pregnant? Is it Gary? Bloody Hell, the useless waste of space. I always thought Lou would see sense one day and dump him for good.” He placed his mug down on the edge of his work bench as if ready to set off in search of Gary right away.

  “No it’s not Gary, well at least, well probably not.” Double bugger. The hole was getting deeper.

  “What does that mean? Doesn’t she know?” His voice held an incredulous note.

  A telling silence stretched between us as the implications of my big mouth began to sink in. The air grew still alongside us, as if the house too was waiting for the penny to fall.

  He rubbed his hand across his face, smearing the grime into the fine crinkles around his eyes. “Bloody Hell.”

  “Promise you won’t say anything to anyone.” I knew if he ran into Gary then he wouldn’t be able to resist interrogating him and since Gary was in the dark about the baby then the cat really would be out of the bag.

  “Who else could it be? Is she seeing someone else? He’d better do the right thing by her.” He looked positively murderous and I wondered what he meant by do the right thing.

  “There was someone else. It might not be Gary.” I stood in the doorway so he couldn’t get past me. I don’t know what I thought he might do, go charging off to confront Gary, or drive over to Lou’s place to get an answer from her.

  “Who?”

  “Um, she didn’t catch his name.”

  His eyes locked with mine. “What’s she going to do? Is she keeping the baby?”

  I nodded.

  “I don’t believe it. Of all the people...” He seemed to be talking to himself now more than me, genuinely bewildered as to how my little sister had managed to get herself into such a mess.

  A big lump rose in the back of my throat. It was nice that Steve still cared about Lou even if he didn’t love me any more. I wondered would have happened if I’d announced I was pregnant while we were still together. Would he have wanted to marry me then? Maybe we would have been picking out cribs for the little room in our lovely barn conversion instead of being up to our eyeballs in dirt in Myrtle Cottage.

  “I’ll go and get the wheelbarrow.” Something in my expression must have betrayed my thoughts because Steve’s face changed. I couldn’t bear the look in his eyes so I shot out of the room and out through the kitchen into the back garden before the tears I’d been holding back could escape. Once out of sight behind the big yellow skip, I started to cry fat, silent, self-pitying tears that rolled down my cheeks and plopped onto the front of my tee shirt.

  Mr Flibble appeared from beneath a clump of overgrown sage and rubbed himself against my legs. I fished a tissue from the front pocket of my jeans and blew my nose.

  “Come on cat, we’d better get barrowing or we’ll be stuck in this house forever.”

  Mr Flibble stared up at me out of his one good eye. I caught the faint scent of lavender and my skin turned to gooseflesh in the damp air. I bent to stroke my cat’s soft ginger fur but Mr Flibble’s back arched before I could touch him and he made an angry hissing, spitting noise.

  “What is it? What have you seen?” I turned to look in the same direction but all I could see was a pile of reclaimed bricks and the wheelbarrow I was supposed to be collecting.

  * * *

  I think Mother suspects that I’m with child. My clothes have grown tighter and I am sure my waist has thickened. I must have conceived that night some moons ago when we lay together in the hayloft.

  Joshua has not been these past few weeks and there are rumours that the King’s army is encamped some thirty miles from here. It is said they number several hundreds.

  Already several of the men from the town have left to join one side or t’other.

  If Joshua has gone with them then I am undone. Yet I can not believe he would leave without seeing me.

  My skirts brush against mother’s lavender bush releasing a soothing scent into the air, drawing the bees and I must hurry to finish my chores before the rain begins.

  * * *

  The sun had reappeared the following morning. After the events of yesterday afternoon I’d pretty much kept out of Steve’s way. I’d fetched and carried, barrowed and skipped until my back was sore and my arms ached, but we hadn’t spoken much while we’d worked.

  He’d showered, changed and gone out while I’d been fixing myself cheese on toast for supper. I’d assumed he’d gone to the pub. Left on my own I’d soaked in a long hot bath, accompanied by a large glass of wine and gone to bed early. Steve still hadn’t surfaced before I left for Lou’s place, although I’d heard him crashing about in his room.

  Lou was in a bad way when I arrived. She opened the front door for just long enough to let me in before dashing back off to the bathroom to chuck up again.

  “Are you okay?” I called. Stupid really, since she patently wasn’t okay.

  “I’ll be fine in a while.” She entered the lounge, looking puffy-eyed and green around the gills.

  “Isn’t there something you can take to help?” I didn’t know much about pregnancy but I vaguely remembered reading an article once in a magazine at the dentist’s that had said something about ginger biscuits.

  “I’m okay, I feel a bit better now.” She perched on the arm of the sofa and blew out a breath. “The sooner we tell Mum and get it over with the better.”

  “We can go a little later if you want. I don’t want you puking in my car.” I was relieved to see a tinge of pink returning to her cheeks.

  “Thanks for your concern. I’m all right now, honest. We can call at the flower stall by the cemetery on the way. I’d better soften the blow.”

  Personally, I thought it would take more than a few flowers to prepare Mum for the shock of finding out she was to become a granny. Since Lou looked more like herself however I bit my tongue, collected my handbag and followed her out of the flat.

  “I am so not looking forward to this,” she said as we drove to Mum’s house.

  I wasn’t looking forward to it either. Even though it was Lou who was pregnant it would still end up being somehow my fault.

  The familiar aroma of beef roasting met us at Mum’s front door. I hoped it wouldn’t start Lou throwing up again.

  “Oh, what a surprise. We were planning to come over to you later this afternoon, Kate.” She ushered us inside and turned the volume down on her Osmonds CD. There was no sign of Chuck.

  We trailed through into the lounge while Mum disappeared into the kitchen. I took a seat on the sofa next to Lou and we waited for Mum to come back.

  “There, that’s better, the veg is turned down. Now can I get you girls a drink?

  Tea or coffee? Oh, we could have wine I suppose but it’s a little early.” Mum glanced at her watch.

  “You’d better come and sit down Mum, Louise has something to tell you.”

  Lou dug me in the ribs with her elbow.

  Mum perched on the edge of an armchair, a frown on her face. “Dear me, that sounds ominous. Shall I get Chuck? He’s out in the garden on his mobile. Business calls.”

  “Mum!” Louise interrupted. “I’m pregnant.”

  The colour leached from my mother’s face.

  “Mum, are you okay? Can I get you anything?” I thought she was about to pass out.

  Mum didn’t speak. She simply continued to stare at Lou as if she couldn’t believe what she’d heard.

  “Pregnant? A baby? You and Gary?”

  Lou’s face turned a delicate pink. “No, well, maybe. I’m definitely pregnant but I’m not sure if it’s Gary’s.”

  I wished I knew where my mother kept her brandy.

  “When is it due?” Mum looked at Lou’s stomach.

  “I’m not sure. I’m booked in for a scan and then they’ll be able to tell me. It’s probably Spring, next year.”

  Mum’s face crumpled and her hand shook as she covered her mouth. “Oh,
our Louise.”

  I passed her the pretty box of tissues she kept on the coffee table next to the pot pourri.

  “And you, our Kate, you knew?” She turned to me.

  “I only found out a couple of days ago.” I’d known somehow I’d get dragged into this.

  “So, if it isn’t Gary, who is it?” Mum turned back to Lou.

  “It’s this other bloke. I only saw him the once.” My sister’s cheeks grew redder.

  “But you know who he is, surely?” Mum dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, smudging her mascara.

  “Um, not exactly.” Lou shuffled her feet uncomfortably on the Wilton.

  My mother shook her head. “I never thought you’d be so daft. I’d always thought it would be Kate and Steve who’d present me with my first grandchild.”

  Yes, well, that’s what I’d thought too. My heart squeezed. We were both wrong on that score.

  Lou didn’t answer. Her lips were pressed tightly together and I knew she was desperately trying not to cry.

  “Oh love.” Mum got up and wrapped her arms around my sister, hugging her tight. “We’ll manage somehow I expect, and the little one will be welcome.” They both started sobbing and hugging each other. I sat on the end of the sofa feeling rather superfluous.

  “I thought I heard voices-” Chuck stopped abruptly as he entered the lounge and interrupted the sobfest.

  “We’re going to be grandparents,” Mum gulped out and over her shoulder I saw Lou grimace. Presumably at the idea of having Chuck as a grandfather for her unborn baby.

  Chapter Ten

  It would have taken someone with a much harder heart than me not to feel a tiny bit sorry for Chuck. I’m sure when he married Mum he hadn’t expected to be landed not only with two grown-up step-daughters but a surprise step-grandchild too.

  Although to his credit, he appeared to hide his surprise quite well.