Renovation, Renovation, Renovation

by Nell Dixon

  The muscles clenched in Steve’s jaw. “It’s an old house, Kate. We’ve lived in and renovated old houses before. Maybe this Mike is putting ideas into your head.

  You’ve always been imaginative and with the stress of your Mum and Lou-”

  I struggled to hold on to my temper. “This is nothing to do with Mike. The freaky happenings started here before I met him, remember. Why you bought this place I’ll never know. If we’d had the barn we’d have been happy now.”

  Steve’s complexion turned pale and I wished I could call my words back. This was too much like when we’d split up all those months ago.

  “You’ve never understood, have you, Kate? I kept trying to find the right words. I thought you’d come here and see what I saw, feel what I felt and then you’d know. I’ve never been much good at talking, explaining things, you know that. You were so set on what you wanted with that bloody cowshed. And maybe I’m a bit slow after all because it’s finally hit me that you don’t want me.” He got to his feet leaving me staring up at him from my seat on the floor.

  He turned and strode away through the back door and a big piece of my heart broke away and left with him.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I wanted to run after him, to call him back, but once again my body let me down. Eventually I managed to stagger to my feet but by then he was out of sight and I’d missed the moment. I collected my mobile from the patio table and locked the back door. Whatever else might happen during the night to freak me out, I knew Steve wasn’t going to come back.

  I woke next morning with a headache, puffy eyes and painful hollow ache in my chest. Jo had given me the day off so that I could spend time with Mum to try and unravel the mess that Chuck had left behind. The first thing I did when I got downstairs was look to see if there was any sign of Steve at his caravan.

  The blinds were still drawn and it had a locked up, deserted air about it. The space next to the skip where he usually parked his truck was empty and everything looked quiet and abandoned. I had been abandoned.

  I sent Lou a text to say I’d be over at Mum’s a little later. I couldn’t go there yet. One look at my red eyes and they would both know something was badly wrong.

  My fingers hesitated over the keypad immediately after I’d pressed send and I wondered about texting Steve. Then again, what could I say?

  My tears started again, leaching out and mixing with the warm water as I stood under the shiny new shower in the shadowy darkness of the bathroom. I scrubbed myself dry and dressed in the garments nearest to hand, uncaring of what they were or how I looked.

  The old-fashioned brass fox head knocker on the front door sounded as I tugged a brush through my hair. Hope sprang irrationally in my heart that it might be Steve even though I knew he wouldn’t be knocking or using the front door. I hurried down the narrow staircase into the hall only to find it was George, the carpenter, with the new frame for the bathroom window.

  Disappointed, I helped him carry it inside the house and into the lounge ready for whenever, if ever, Steve came back. I’d barely seen George off the premises when I noticed Mr Poole the planning officer parking his silver Mondeo in Steve’s spot. I watched from the kitchen window as he clambered from his car clad in his usual Hi-Vis yellow vest and clutching a clipboard.

  I pasted a smile on my face and opened the back door to welcome him into the cottage.

  “Ah, hello, um, Miss Michaels. Is your business partner, Mr Ricardo, not around today, we had a meeting planned?” Mr Poole peered over my shoulder.

  “I’m very sorry, he’s been called away unexpectedly. Can I help you today?”

  My face hurt from trying to keep up a cheery smile.

  Mr Poole gave me a suspicious look. “Our meeting was purely for a quick inspection of the work that’s been completed since my last visit. I’m sure you understand that after the irregularities that have taken place here with the renovations, the department has to keep a close eye on the progression of the work to ensure everything has been done to our satisfaction.”

  “Yes, of course.” I relaxed my face muscles for a moment before trying out a sympathetic kind of smile.

  Unfortunately that didn’t seem to be any better judging by the expression on Mr Poole’s face so I gave up.

  “Hmm, I see the oak window frame from the upstairs bathroom that was removed without permission has not yet been reinstated?” His pen was poised over his clipboard.

  “The carpenter has just delivered it actually. It’s through here.” I led him into the lounge and waited while he scrutinised the new frame.

  “Hmm, and I understand you have the original glass lights?”

  “Yes.” At least I hoped we did. The last time I’d seen them they’d been carefully wrapped in sacking inside the outhouse.

  He scribbled something on his clipboard.

  “Now I’d like to see the progress in the bathroom.”

  I spent the next hour with Mr Poole. He even returned to his car and donned a yellow hard hat to climb the scaffolding to check that we’d done nothing naughty or illegal up there since his last visit. In a way I couldn’t blame him for being suspicious after the fireplace incident and then the fiasco with the bathroom window.

  He finally drove away after drinking a cup of tea and eating the last of my Jaffa cakes. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and discovered I’d had a text from Lou.

  ‘Day off today so U don’t need to come over to Mums. Evything under control.

  See you tonite for supper, get pizza. Evything ok here. L’

  Since my services didn’t appear to be required at Mum’s I wandered back out into the garden feeling redundant and sorry for myself. Steve’s parking space was still empty. I decided I might as well head to the supermarket. I owed Steve two tins of beer and there nothing left on my shelves in the fridge unless you counted one shrivelled tomato and a scraping of Philadelphia Light.

  It didn’t seem right to be doing my grocery shop in the middle of a working day. I ambled around the store lobbing bits and pieces into my trolley without properly concentrating on what I was buying. My head was too full of Mum and Chuck, me and Steve and Lou and her baby. It wasn’t until I unpacked the bags back at the cottage that I realised I’d be eating rather a lot of noodles and cereal over the next few weeks.

  I’d just stowed the salad away on my shelves in the fridge and folded my carriers ready to reuse them when the knocker sounded once more on the front door.

  Who was it this time? Usually only delivery men used the front door. Everyone else simply wandered around the back. I opened the door to stare blankly at her, Steve’s girlfriend, Chloe.

  “Hi, I’m really sorry to bother you, but I wondered if Steve might be here?”

  I’d known she was young but apart from that one quick glimpse of her buying underwear in M&S I hadn’t seen her close up before. Now, as she stood before me on my doorstep all shimmery lip-gloss and black eyeliner, I realised she must only be about eighteen or twenty.

  She gripped the strap of her bright red oversized shoulder bag a little more tightly. “I need to get in touch with him and he isn’t answering his phone so I thought maybe he was here. It’s quite important or I wouldn’t have come…” she tailed off.

  “Um, no, I don’t know where he’s gone.” My response came out as a croak.

  “Oh, okay. If you see him could you tell him I was looking for him? My name’s Chloe.” She gave me a doubtful smile.

  “What shall I say it’s about?” Please don’t let her be pregnant with Steve’s baby.

  “Oh, it’s only a business thing. I need his advice.” She gave me another hesitant smile.

  “Sure.” I forced an answer out, relieved that my first wild thought seemed to be totally off beam.

  “Thanks.” She hitched her bag a little higher onto her shoulder and I watched her totter away on her heels before I closed the door.

  I sagged against the doorframe with my heart thumping and knees trembling like badly-
set jelly. Why would Steve be involved with someone so young? What was going on between them? If I hadn’t been such an idiot I could have asked him and then at least I would have known. I remained where I was for a moment while my pulse settled back down into its normal rhythm.

  My eyes prickled again with the unfairness of it all and I knew I had to get away for a while and go somewhere calm where I could think. Overhead the landing floorboards creaked and, as I looked down the hall towards the kitchen, two bright yellow sparks of light shimmered, danced and disappeared.

  * * *

  Father continues to pressure me for the name of my lover. I long for Joshua’s return and look for him daily from the window of my chamber as the time draws ever closer for our baby to be born. Some of the local men have returned to town telling terrible stories of the battle. There has been no word to tell me if Joshua is safe. All the time I wait and pray.

  Sometimes, as I am lay upon my bed I think I hear the voices of the spirit people, yet strangely I no longer fear them. It is a most strange sensation as if their world is somehow connected to mine for reasons which are not yet become clear.

  * * *

  I didn’t wait to see what might happen next. I ran into the kitchen, grabbed my bag and car keys, locked the back door and hurried away down the garden path. The ghosts could have the cottage to themselves for a while, I had other things to worry about.

  The traffic was light as I made my way back into town. I’d jumped into my car without thinking about where I planned to go but as I’d pulled away I’d noticed my file on the history of the cottage in the passenger footwell. A few minutes later I snagged the last empty spot on the library car park.

  Having a task to concentrate on that wasn’t directly connected with my love life or my family felt soothing. I spread out my notes and read the list of leads that Mike had suggested I might follow to try and go back further into the history of the cottage. I started with the trail from the auction that we’d found in the newspaper archive, following the leads back through the parish registers and census papers.

  The quiet ambience of the library engulfed me and once I started to focus in on my tasks time slipped away. I worked on building up a trail of ownership right back until seventeen-ten when the records became patchy and all my leads finally petered out. I still had no candidates to be either the JT or MB carved into the trunk of the walnut tree and nothing to give me any kind of clue as to who the mystery female spirit haunting the cottage might be.

  I raised my arms above my head to stretch and noticed that everyone else had gone. A quick glance at my watch told me why. It was almost six and time for the archive section to close. Lou would be arriving at the cottage soon for our regular Friday night supper. I grabbed my notepad and papers, stuffed them into my bag and set off through the traffic back to the cottage.

  “I’m sorry – traffic was awful!” I hurried up the garden path to where my sister waited for me, seated on one of the patio chairs.

  Lou stood as I reached her and I gave her a hug.

  “I’m starving, I hope you remembered to get the pizzas.” Smudges of fatigue marked the skin under her eyes.

  “Sure, I went shopping earlier, ham and pineapple for you, four seasons for me. I can even offer you salad to go with your supper. Got to make sure the baby gets his or her five a day.” I tried to joke as I unlocked the back door, hoping the spooky events that had been starting up before I left would have stopped by now.

  “I thought you were in at first. I thought I saw you up at the window when I knocked on the front door. Then, when no one answered I walked around the back to wait.” Lou followed me into the kitchen and dumped her handbag down onto the table.

  The hairs on the back of my neck prickled when Lou mentioned the woman at the window.

  “I was at the library, doing some more research to get as much information as possible before the paranormal people come tomorrow night.” Much to my relief the kitchen looked and felt normal again.

  “Did you find anything?” Lou helped herself to a few grapes from my fruit bowl.

  “Not really. I think I’ve traced a line of owners and occupiers back to the Civil War but then the records are very patchy.” I turned on the oven and pulled the pizzas from the fridge.

  “Old Olly Cromwell had a lot to answer for.” Lou flopped down onto one of the kitchen chairs and continued to pick at the grapes while I bustled about preparing our supper.

  “How’s Mum?” The pizzas duly in the oven and a bowl of salad on the table, I poured a glass of wine for me and one of juice for Lou.

  “Up and down. First she keeps trying to convince herself that we’ve all made some huge mistake and that Chuck will arrive back with some perfectly innocent explanation for everything. Then, the next minute she’s in floods of tears blaming herself for being so naïve and calling him every name under the sun.” Lou frowned and popped another grape in her mouth.

  “Any more news from the bank or the police?” I took a seat opposite Lou and tugged a few grapes off for myself.

  “Not much. They’re checking out his background in the US with the Nevada police. I haven’t said too much yet to mum but it looks from what they’ve said so far as if the wedding may be fake.”

  “Fake? You mean Mum isn’t really married to him?”

  Lou sighed, “They’re waiting to confirm his identity but it seems that good old Chuck has quite a record for ‘marrying’ women and relieving them of their savings.

  The other issue being that he doesn’t bother to get divorces in between all these weddings.”

  I digested this latest revelation along with my grapes.

  “That’s awful! When will they know for sure?”

  “Maybe later today, it’s a bit awkward with the time differences. In Nevada there’s a conman known as the Silver Fox and he’s on their Most Wanted list. Chuck fits the description perfectly. If it does turn out to be him they think he may have married mum and come over here for a while to let the heat die down. They almost caught him after his last scam. Collecting some cash while he was over here as well as having a nice safe spot to lie low would be an added bonus for him.” Lou scowled.

  “Poor Mum.” She’d been so happy when I’d collected them from the airport.

  All her plans for a lovely new life gone, along with her savings.

  My kitchen timer pinged and I retrieved the pizzas from the oven.

  “I had an unexpected visitor today.” I helped myself to green salad and a few cherry tomatoes.

  “Who?” Lou concentrated on slicing the pizzas.

  “Her; Chloe, Steve’s bit of skirt.”

  Lou stopped what she was doing and stared at me. “She came here? What did she want?”

  “Steve isn't answering his phone. She said she needed to talk to him about something important, business advice, she said.” I still couldn’t quite believe that Chloe had come here.

  Lou went back to cutting slices of pizza. “Did she say what kind of business?”

  The ache in the empty, sore space in my chest grew a little deeper. “I didn’t ask, I assumed it must be to do with this band thing. We had a big fight last night, me and Steve. I think I might have done it this time, Lou. I don’t think he’s coming back.”

  Chapter Thirty

  My sister didn’t meet my eyes as she carefully lifted a slice of pizza onto her plate. She picked up a fallen chunk of pineapple with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. “You know, after you two got it together again the other night, I thought maybe you were beginning to have a change of heart about patching things up?”

  “I still love Steve, Lou. I can’t turn my feelings off and on like a tap. But he made it very clear when he bought this place that whatever we had together was going nowhere. I have to face reality, he’s got someone else and he’s drifting back to the music scene.” I blinked back the ever-present threat of tears. I was so sick of crying.

  “Steve still loves you, too, I know he does. You can tel
l by the way he looks at you. Whenever you need him, he’s there for you. I don’t see why you two can’t just get together and work all this out. This Chloe girl for instance, how do you know she’s his girlfriend?” Lou took a slurp of juice.

  “Nasreen saw them together. He goes to the pub to see her all the time.”

  “Oh Kate, lets face it: Nasreen isn’t the most reliable of witnesses, is she?

  She’d love nothing better than for the two of you to properly split up. I’m sure in her head she thinks she’d be in with a chance with Steve if you were out of the picture.”

  “I can’t compete with a girl who’s ten years younger than me.”

  “Have you ever asked Steve about Chloe? I mean properly asked, not just hinted or assumed.”

  I got up from my seat and went and pulled some tissues from the box on the counter to blow my nose. “No. How could I? We’d split up, his love life was his affair.”

  “Well maybe you should, before it’s too late. Is a wedding ring really that important to you, Kate?”

  “It wasn’t about the wedding ring. It was about us wanting the same things, planning a life together, a future. I’m over thirty, Lou, I want a family.” A cool breeze passed over my back.

  Lou’s lips moved and I guessed she was muttering to herself under her breath.

  “I think it’s stupid. You two are so stubborn. Steve’s never said he doesn’t want those things too has he?”

  “Not in words, but he knew what I wanted.”

  “Well, I still think it’s stupid. This house could be your forever house if you can get rid of your ghost, it’ll be fabulous when it’s finished. Otherwise, this way you’re miserable and I’m pretty sure Steve is miserable too.”

  I sat down. “This place? No way, I can’t wait to sell it, and you know Steve isn’t good at talking about things, especially relationship type things.”