again.
Clancy rose, dusting off the knees of her jeans. ‘Let’s get everything to the Roundhouse and then I can let you two get on with your Sunday.’
Genevieve smiled and patted Aaron’s bum as she passed, as if to emphasise their closeness. ‘I’ll lay a couple of the dust sheets in the bed of the truck. If I know you it’ll be filled with grass and soil.’
Aaron suppressed a snippy remark about the function of the truck being to transport lawn mowers and plants and merely said, ‘Thanks.’
It didn’t take them too long to load up and Genevieve chattered happily to Clancy as they drove down to the Roundhouse, and all through the process of unloading.
Conversely, Aaron found himself working in silent frustration, especially when Genevieve giggled madly at having to squeeze and wiggle the springy mattress through the door at the top of the second flight of stairs, Clancy apparently having chosen the loft as her bedroom.
At that point Clancy called a halt. ‘Thank you both. I can manage from here. Would you like a cuppa before you head off?’
Genevieve blew her hair out of her face. ‘Love one! And Nelson adores a saucer of coffee if there’s enough going.’ She’d obviously taken to Clancy and when she’d settled beside her on the sofa Genevieve returned to her preoccupation with her housing issues. ‘Not being able to live in my place during the building works is going to be a nightmare. I’ve got a whopping excess of a thousand pounds to pay so I’ve nothing spare for rent.’
Clancy blew her coffee. ‘Your insurance company wouldn’t expect you to live under a hedge. They should meet a reasonable rent.’
Aaron paused. He didn’t remember this point being aired before.
But Genevieve was quick with an answer. ‘There’s nowhere available to rent in the village, but the main thing is that I’ll save loads on the utility bills if I can find someone to stay with, which will mean I can afford the thousand pounds.’
Aaron began drinking again. That was true. Genevieve didn’t have a well-paid job and, accordingly, only modest savings.
But Clancy hadn’t finished exploring the subject. ‘That could work in your favour because if there’s nowhere to rent in Nelson’s Bar, they should let you move into the village B&B instead. A B&B rate being inclusive, the utilities won’t come into it so you’ll save just the same.’ She glanced at Genevieve with a faint smile. ‘I interned with an insurance giant when I was doing my MBA.’
‘Oh,’ said Genevieve, smile fading. ‘I suppose I could see if the insurance company will wear it.’ Cheeks suddenly rosy, she kept her gaze away from Aaron’s.
‘I don’t think they have a choice, but I’m happy to talk to them for you if you encounter resistance. You’ve helped me today.’ Clancy began to smile. But then she looked from Genevieve to Aaron and back and whatever she read in their body language caused doubt to flicker in her eyes.
Genevieve drained her coffee. ‘Thank you. It seems my knotty problem isn’t a knotty problem after all. I should have known to ask the insurance company about alternatives.’
Aaron rose, as awkward for Genevieve’s obvious discomfort as it was possible to feel at the same time as being so relieved his whole spine flexed. He wanted to hug both women: Clancy in jubilation for resolving the Genevieve situation without apparently trying … but Genevieve in consolation because he felt guilty. It was really tough to disappoint someone you were fond of. But now she had no reason to pressure him he hoped Gen would return to her old independence and their relationship could revert to the easy-going thing it used to be.
He became aware of Gen’s eyes on him, as if she were reading his mind, seeing and being hurt by his relief, so he hunted for a neutral subject. ‘Clancy, are you starting work tomorrow? It might be a good idea for us to run through things in more detail.’
Clancy nodded. ‘That would be great.’
They arranged a time for first thing tomorrow, Monday, then Aaron and Genevieve said their goodbyes, Nelson stretching and shaking in preparation for leaving.
Outside, the sky had become inky and big drops of rain had begun to spatter the dust of the lane as Aaron opened the passenger door of the truck. ‘Gen, I’m giving Mum a ride to visit Aunt Norma. Fancy coming along?’
Genevieve was standing still, staring up Droody Road towards the centre of the village. ‘I think I’d better go home and examine my insurance policy,’ she said, all signs of her earlier vivaciousness gone.
As he had so often lately, Aaron experienced an uneasy feeling of guilt, which prompted resentment that he felt it. ‘Want me to ask Mum and Dad if you can store your furniture with them if Clancy’s B&B idea works out?’ He winced, conscious he’d called it Clancy’s idea as if to distance himself from it.
She shook her head, still not looking at him and ignoring the rain pattering on the leaves of nearby trees. ‘If the insurance will pay for the B&B then they’ll pay for my furniture storage.’
‘OK. Hop in. I’ll give you a lift home. It’s going to pour down.’ He clicked his fingers to tell Nelson to jump in the back seat. Big, hairy dogs took a lot of drying.
Genevieve did look at him this time. ‘It’s only half a mile. I’ll walk. Clancy’s pretty, isn’t she?’
He nodded, because he’d have been blind not to notice that. There was something in Genevieve’s expression that he didn’t particularly like. Jealousy? Suspicion? He was reasonably certain that he’d never told her about the episode in the darkness of his parents’ garden but had she picked up some lingering vibe between him and Clancy?
She began to turn away, and suddenly he found himself commenting, probably more bluntly than he should, ‘You don’t seem very happy that Clancy might have solved your accommodation issue.’ He hesitated, trying to find a way to put into non-contentious words something that had been bothering him. ‘You’ve always loved your cottage so much. I know it will be a wrench to leave it, even temporarily.’ So why angle to move in with me and make it sound permanent? was his subtext.
She sighed and answered. ‘Yes. But I suppose the problem has made me face things I hadn’t realised existed. It’s ended up being more about my future than about four walls … hasn’t it?’ Then she began striding away from him, her hair flying, head up as if she were confronting something other than the rain on her face. She didn’t offer him a kiss goodbye.
And Aaron didn’t mind that she hadn’t. He watched her go and knew they’d just acknowledged that the subsidence had been the cause of cracks in more than her cottage walls.
He drove to De Silva House, a solid, red-brick Victorian, the home still echoing in his imagination with childhood games shared with Lee in the tall rooms or the sprawling garden. Five granite steps swept up to the black front door, bay trees like sentries on either side, and each gracious bay window gleamed in the emerging sunshine. His father’s car was absent but Lee’s van was outside, indicating that Lee and their mum had returned from shopping.
Aaron found them in the kitchen. Four-year-old Daisy was helping put the shopping away by darting about to grab whatever caught her eye and getting under the feet of adults. It occurred to him that Daisy’s existence was something he hadn’t mentioned to Clancy. Probably just as well. She didn’t need additional emotional pressure right now.
‘Uncle Aaron!’ Daisy bellowed when she saw him, smile wide and arms out in the certainty of a good welcome.
‘Oof!’ He caught her in mid-air and swung her up. ‘Crazy Daisy!’
‘I want to say hello to Nelson,’ she said, trying to scramble down the instant she was up.
‘Sure thing.’ He set her carefully on her feet. ‘In fact, I think he wants you to take him in the garden and play tug o’ war with his rope toy.’
‘Yeah! I