Nina cleared her throat. ‘Well – er – I wouldn’t know.’
‘Do you have brothers?’
‘No. I’m an only child,’ she said.
‘Oh, yes. Sorry, I’d forgotten,’ Olivia smiled an apology. ‘But you’re lucky in a way. I was one of four and it was nothing but fight, fight, fight. We all get along screamingly now, of course, but that’s because we don’t have to share a house, clothes and the same bath water.’
‘But the boys get on okay, don’t they?’ Nina said, surprised that she, too, was referring to them as boys, despite having somehow become romantically involved with two of them.
‘I’m not sure,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘I sense there’s a bit of tension at the moment. Whenever Alex and Dommie are together, they always seem to be fighting with one another and that’s not normal. Of course, they’ve always teased one another – that’s what brothers do – but it’s more than that this time, and I need to know what’s going on!’
Oh, dear, Nina thought. They weren’t terribly far from Grime’s Graves and Nina had a vision of Olivia throwing her down one of the Neolithic flint mines if she were to confess being the root cause of tension between Alex and Dominic. Or, at the very least, she could be thrown out of her job at the mill.
‘I haven’t heard from Alex for an absolute age,’ Olivia said. ‘Not since—’ she paused. Was she expecting Nina to fill in the gaps?
‘But he’ll be back for the party, won’t he?’ Nina said, anxious that she might have driven him away at such an important time.
‘Oh yes – no doubt – but it would be nice to see a bit more of him. But I expect he’s keeping himself busy in London. We might even see him today!’ Olivia sounded cheerful at the thought.
Nina fidgeted in her seat. The last thing she wanted was to run into Alex when she was with his mother. That would be really awkward.
‘So, where are we going to start shopping?’ Nina asked, eager to change the subject.
‘Why not be really ambitious and make for Knightsbridge?’
‘Harrods?’
‘Start at the top and work your way down! That’s what I always say,’ Olivia smiled. ‘I want something devastatingly elegant for the party in silver. But Dudley won’t know if I’ve spent fifty pounds or five-hundred pounds. So we can keep this little treat just between the two of us. Plus, we must get something for you, too.’
‘Me?’ Nina asked in surprise.
‘Of course! You’re one of our special guests, Nina. I think a beautiful shade of raspberry for you. Blondes always look stunning in red. I’m sure my boys won’t be able to resist you.’
Nina’s eyes widened at Olivia’s words. Were they deliberately provocative? Was she expecting a confession from her on this outing? Was that the real reason behind it?
‘I know the perfect place to leave the car. We can catch the tube in – much easier. I always love the excitement of the tube, don’t you?’
When they reached London, Olivia parked the car in a leafy, suburban avenue that she knew from her days as a student. The tube station wasn’t far and they were soon moling about on the underground; dodging and dancing around commuters and consumers. Nina couldn’t help feeling nervous at the experience, even though it wasn’t her first time on the tube. She’d always been a little claustrophobic, but tried not to think how far below ground they were as they stood at the top of an escalator.
‘Isn’t this fun?’ Olivia enthused. Nina nodded back, her face white with fear.
They reached the bottom and Nina would have fallen over her own feet if Olivia hadn’t caught her by the shoulders.
‘Are you all right, Nina, dear?’
‘Erm – I’m fine,’ Nina said quietly. ‘It’s just that I get a bit nervous underground.’
‘Well, don’t worry. Stick close by me,’ Olivia said, ‘and just think of it as an adventure.’
Nina smiled hesitantly, unable to shake the thought that Olivia hadn’t quite finished her cross-questioning of her yet.
The evening dresses in Harrods could not be described as anything other than elegant. One in particular that caught Olivia’s eye was a streamlined, silver backless number, as fine as gossamer. Unfortunately, the price wasn’t streamlined. Olivia picked up the price tag and dropped it as if it had burnt her fingers.
‘Can I help you?’ a leggy assistant with palomino-blonde hair approached them.
‘We’ll let you know when you can, thank you,’ Olivia smiled. The young assistant looked down her aquiline nose and clicked her tongue before walking over to a more promising-looking customer.
‘Who does she think she is?’ Nina said, infuriated.
‘Nina – she’s a shop assistant. Just remember that. We’re the customers – the ones with the money to spend here.’
‘Not enough though, I fear,’ Nina said, picking up another price tag at random and grimacing at it.
‘I know,’ Olivia sighed, ‘but she doesn’t know that, does she? Just stick your nose in the air and keep saying the word “haughty” to yourself.’
Nina giggled, but still couldn’t help feeling that the assistant knew exactly how much money they didn’t have in their handbags.
‘Come on – let’s get out of here,’ Olivia said, after looking at another price tag with more figures than a phone number.
Three hours later, they left the changing rooms of a shop on Bond Street with two perfectly beautiful gowns at a fraction of the price, yet still with a carrier bag worthy of having driven all the way to London.
Olivia had found her dress in a skin-like silver fabric and Nina had opted for a simple cocktail dress in a dark crimson. Olivia had thrown a piece of plastic over the counter and insisted that Nina thought nothing of it.
After an overpriced sandwich and cup of coffee in a cafe off Oxford Street, they headed towards the tube before the rush hour. Nina was just beginning to breathe easily after having managed to dodge Alex all day when Olivia suddenly shouted his name as they were crossing the road.
‘Where?’ Nina said aghast, her eyes scanning the length of the street.
‘No – I was just thinking – this is where Alex had his first job after leaving college. See that building there, with all the dark glass?’
Nina peered up at the windows, anxious that Alex might be glaring down at her.
‘Come on,’ Olivia said, sighing heavily, ‘let’s go home.’
Thankfully, it didn’t take them long to leave the great metropolis behind them and find their way back to the leafy avenue where they’d left the car.
‘Mission accomplished!’ Olivia declared as they got in the car. ‘Well, almost.’
Nina looked at her. ‘Have you forgotten something?’
‘No, not exactly,’ Olivia said.
‘What is it?’ she asked her.
Olivia turned her eyes to her passenger. ‘Nina, you know I think of you almost as a daughter,’ she paused.
‘But?’ Nina suggested, her heart hammering in her chest. Had the moment for the confrontation come at last?
‘Yes, there is a but,’ Olivia admitted. ‘We all love having you at the mill and we’d hate to lose you before the end of the summer, but I do realise that it might be necessary.’
Nina frowned. What could Olivia mean? ‘I don’t understand,’ she said.
‘I think you do,’ Olivia said quietly. ‘I have an idea of what’s been going on – between you and Dominic. I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.’
Nina quickly shook her head. ‘Oh, no – Olivia! Nothing’s going on.’
Olivia frowned as if she couldn’t quite believe she might have got things wrong. ‘Nothing?’ she blurted. ‘Are you sure?’
Nina was surprised by the question. ‘Of course I’m sure. I’m absolutely positive. There is nothing going on between me and Dominic, I promise you.’
‘But he’s always hanging around, he’s always asking questions about you and I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Don’t deny i
t. You must know how he feels about you!’
Nina sighed. ‘Olivia, trust me, nothing is going on. I admit, at first, Dominic might have had a bit of a crush on me, but I told him I didn’t feel the same way.’
‘You did?’ She took her eyes off the road for a moment and looked at Nina.
‘I don’t think I could ever be involved with Dominic, even though he’s one of the sweetest boys – men – I’ve ever met.’ Nina gave a little laugh. ‘You see – I still think of him as that little boy I used to babysit, and no amount of growing up will ever be able to shake that image from my mind.’
Olivia nodded. ‘Well I’m very glad to hear it, because you know I’m hoping he’ll see the light and get back together with Faye sometime soon and I’d hate for anything to happen to prevent that. They really are meant to be together, don’t you think?’
Nina nodded. ‘I do,’ she said. ‘In fact, I’ve been encouraging that myself.’
Olivia gasped in surprise at this news. ‘You have?’
Nina smiled. ‘Faye would take him back tomorrow – we both know that.’
‘Yes!’ Olivia said.
‘So, I kind of set them up. I told Faye that Dominic wanted to paint her.’
‘And that’s why she was coming back from The Folly the other night?’ Olivia said.
‘I expect so,’ Nina said.
‘Then you might be onto something,’ Olivia said. ‘I saw them together on the bridge in the dark and I’m certain Dominic was almost about to kiss her.’
‘Really?’ Nina said. ‘Then why did you think he was interested in me?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘Oh, this is all so confusing. I really don’t know what on earth is going on with you young ones!’
‘But I can assure you that nothing is going on between me and Dominic,’ Nina said again.
Olivia took a deep breath. ‘So, what’s going on with you and Alex, then? I presume something is going on there?’
Nina bit her lip. She was on the verge of hiccups but managed to suppress them. She’d never been interrogated like this before and couldn’t help feeling horribly guilty, even though she was quite sure that she had nothing to feel guilty about.
‘Have you been seeing Alex?’ Olivia continued.
‘No,’ Nina said. ‘Not really. We went out a couple of times. I really shouldn’t have, but he’s hard to say no to.’
‘Yes,’ Olivia said knowingly. ‘I know a lot of girls who have had trouble saying no to our Alex.’
‘But it’s over now. I mean, it never really began,’ Nina said, wincing at how she must be coming across to Olivia.
‘So, Dominic was in love with you, but—’
‘I wouldn’t say in love,’ Nina interrupted. ‘Not really.’
Olivia nodded. ‘Well, a massive crush, then? Is that what we’re calling it?’
Nina didn’t know what to say and so said nothing.
‘And I suspect that Alex declared his undying love for you in the kitchen that day, didn’t he?’ Olivia went on.
‘Oh, I wouldn’t put it like that,’ Nina said.
‘No?’ Olivia took her eyes off the road again. ‘How would you put it?’
Nina stared at Olivia in dismay. What on earth could she possibly say? She knew she’d brought this situation on herself and she felt truly awful about it, but she couldn’t seem to find the words to explain her way out of the terrible muddle she now found herself in.
‘I’m so sorry, Olivia,’ she said at last. ‘I never meant to cause any trouble.’
‘My darling Nina – you are just the sort of girl I would pick out for one of my boys. You really are.’ Her voice seemed gentler now and Nina hoped that Olivia was in the process of forgiving her. ‘But my boys are – well, my boys, and I can’t bear to see them unhappy.’
‘And I wouldn’t want to make them unhappy – really I wouldn’t. They still mean the world to me.’
‘Do they?’ Olivia asked.
‘Of course they do. Your whole family is so precious to me and I’d never do anything to hurt any of you.’
Olivia sighed. ‘I know you wouldn’t, Nina,’ she said.
‘But, if you think ill of me, I’ll perfectly understand if you want to find a replacement secretary for Dudley,’ Nina said, blinking back tears that were threatening to spill at the thought of leaving The Old Mill House even earlier than anticipated.
‘Leave? Are you mad? I don’t want you to leave!’ she cried, much to Nina’s relief. ‘We all adore having you at the mill. It’s just that I’ve been trying to find out what on earth’s been going on. Nobody tells me anything – not when it comes to matters of the heart, anyway, and I do like to be kept informed about these sorts of things.’
Nina gave a little smile. ‘Then we’re friends?’
‘Of course we’re friends. The very best of friends, in fact. Anyone who can handle my Dudley is right up there in my books, and anyone who can handle Ziggy deserves a medal. Anyway, you can’t possibly think of leaving just yet – because I want to see you in that gorgeous party dress!’
Nina laughed in relief. She was staying. For the time being at least.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was a week after her trip to London with Olivia and, after a morning of typing up Dudley’s notes for a rather convoluted in-depth plot synopsis for his novel, Nina’s eyes felt sore. She needed a break and the best place for that was the garden.
As she opened the back door and stepped out into the sunshine, she realised that she was fast becoming dependent on being able to do this – to work quietly in a beautiful Georgian house with a boss who pretty much let her get on with things, and being able to wander freely around the gardens when she wanted. Gardens that she had now fallen in love with. There was the warm wooden bench with the flaking blue paint that she liked to sit on mid-morning when it received the full glory of the sunshine, and there was the ornate white metal bench under the beech tree, which was lovely in the afternoon when it provided a dappled shade to cool sun-warmed limbs.
The Old Mill House was going to be a very hard place to leave, Nina realised. It was the thought that was occupying more and more of her mind as summer rolled on towards the day when she would no longer be needed there. August had seemed an age away when Nina had arrived at the mill but, now that the party was just a few days away and Dudley’s novel was drawing to a close, where would that leave her? Back at the recruitment agency? Back at Mr Briggs’ flat? Back to being on her own again?
She’d got used to being a part of the mad, chaotic world of the mill. What would she do without Olivia and Ziggy? How would she survive without Dudley’s daily dictation of romance?
She felt she’d really grown since she’d left the wicked clutches of Hilary Jackson. Janey had been right. There’d been more to Nina than taking orders from a bad-tempered battleaxe whose idea of being a good boss was letting her employees go home only half an hour late. Her post at the mill might only have been short-term, but it had let her redefine herself. It had shown Nina that she could be paid for a job and be appreciated at the same time, and she would miss that if she left.
Walking across the velvet-soft grass, she pulled out her mobile from the pocket of her jeans, but there was only a message from Janey.
Any news, stranger? x
Nope! x Nina texted back. And it was true. She hadn’t heard from Justin for three days now. They had been sending each other the usual little texts about day-to-day life and Nina had been keeping him up to date with Ziggy’s antics and the progress of Dudley’s novel. But she couldn’t help feeling disappointed that she hadn’t actually seen him recently.
Everything’s up in the air at work he’d told her. I can’t get back to Norfolk. Miss you. x
Nina didn’t know what to think and, the longer she went without seeing him, the more she felt sure that nothing was going to happen between them – a thought that made her sad.
She looked down at her phone now and the last message she’d received f
rom him.
Miss you. x
She’d texted him back. Miss you, too and her finger had hovered over the ‘x’ for a good long time before she sent the message without it.
It was just as she was putting her phone away that she spied Faye bent double over a clump of some kind of flower Nina couldn’t ever hope of recognising. It felt like an age since she’d last had a good chat with her, and Nina was desperate to find out what had been happening with her and Dominic.
‘They’re all falling over,’ Faye said as she saw Nina approach. ‘I’ll have to stake them.’
‘They’re lovely,’ Nina said, admiring the enormous scarlet blooms.
‘High maintenance, though,’ Faye said.
‘A lot of beautiful things are,’ Nina said.
Faye laughed. ‘Like one of my old school friends that I met up with last night. She couldn’t stop looking at my grubby fingernails,’ Faye said. ‘Look!’ She held out her small hands for Nina to examine. The nails were short and neatly rounded, but there was a fair amount of dirt underneath them. ‘This is just from this morning. I did clean them last night but Sara wouldn’t believe me. She kept showing me hers, which she’d just had done, and insisted that I went along to see her girl. “She’s an absolute wonder!” she kept saying, but Sara’s nails look like some kind of medieval torture that you’d threaten traitors with at the Tower of London.’
Nina laughed, surreptitiously looking down at her own short but neat nails. They were practical rather than pretty, serving her well for her hours at the keyboard.
She watched as Faye crouched down to remove some weeds.
‘How’s the portrait-sitting going?’ Nina asked, desperate to know what had been going on since she’d set up the rendezvous between the ex-lovebirds.
‘Oh, that’s all over,’ Faye said and there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.
‘All over?’ Nina said, feeling her friend’s disappointment and unable to disguise her own, too.
Faye nodded and wiped her dusty hands down the front of her trousers. ‘It all happened so quickly. It was only three sessions and I had to fit it around Dominic’s Country Circle portraits and his preparations for his show in Norwich.’
A Summer to Remember Page 25
