‘More like a house of correction than a home,’ Lucy whispered. They dealt with the measurements and assessment of the house first, feeling a sadness enveloping them so they were relieved to escape to the rather more cheerful muddle in the shed. They had brought a flask of tea and they sat in the tidy garden beside the precisely clipped trees and mown grass with its straight edging and wondered at the lack of flowers.
‘They don’t believe life is to be enjoyed, do they?’ It was Meriel’s turn to whisper. There was something about the place that forbade inappropriate laughter.
Fortunately the day was dry so they dragged out the contents of the shed into the garden and listed everything of value. Some of the furniture was of good quality and they discussed the prices they might bring with enthusiasm. The boxes containing china were weakened by damp and in danger of losing their contents so the breakables were taken out and placed in some empty tea chests.
Lucy had been right about the hairdressing equipment and she recognized some of it as having come from the hairdresser’s where she had worked.
‘Jennie must have bought new, but these seem to be in reasonable condition. But I’d have to have them checked and overhauled,’ she said happily.
They were just beginning to replace the sorted items back into the shed, having discarded a lot of broken and unsaleable pieces, when an angry voice called over to them.
‘What d’you think you’re doing? I’m going to call the police!’ A young man in army uniform ran towards them and glared at the stuff spread over the garden.
‘It’s all right, Mr and Mrs Roberts-Price know we’re here.’
‘We’re agents, selling the house and we’re sorting out the contents of the shed,’ Lucy added, as the man came close, glaring at them both.
‘Stay there and don’t move,’ the young man warned. He had red hair and his face was almost the same colour, as anger brought heat to his skin.
Meriel wasn’t having that. ‘We will not! My partner and I will continue with our work. We don’t have time to play games!’ Turning her back on the man she carried a smoker’s chair back into the shed and rather more reluctantly, Lucy began to lift an oak flower-pot stand.
‘I said stop what you’re doing!’
‘Please stop shouting,’ Meriel said with a sigh. ‘Now, Lucy, d’you think we could manage this oak hall stand between us?’
The man ran off and came back with a notebook. ‘I demand to know who you are and what you’re doing in my parents’ house.’
Meriel pointed to her handbag. ‘Pass me my bag and I’ll give you our card,’ she said snapping her fingers, and obediently the man passed her the bag. She thrust a card at him and continued to repack the shed.
‘Where is my father?’
‘I have no idea, now please stop interrupting us or we’ll be here till midnight.’
By this time Lucy could hardly lift a thing, her muscles useless as she struggled to hold back her laughter, and when the man finally went into the house they both collapsed and leant against the walls of the shed, helpless in the throws of wild giggles.
‘Meriel, how can you talk to a stranger like that?’ Lucy gasped. ‘The poor man didn’t know how to deal with you.’
‘You’ve heard of attack being the best form of defence? That was it in action! My father taught me other things besides selling houses, you know!’
They had already finished sorting and repacking the shed and Meriel was in the car when Mrs Roberts-Price returned. Lucy was standing beside the abandoned rubbish and checking through the list she had made. The young man came over with his mother to speak to Lucy and, rather embarrassed, explained that he’d been away on manoeuvres and out of touch with his parents for a few weeks and didn’t know about the sale.
After introducing himself as Noah, and adding that he had a sister called Martha, Lucy smilingly assured him they weren’t upset, trying not to laugh again as she remembered the peremptory way Meriel had dealt with his protest. ‘We’ll prepare a list of the items we think we can sell and pop it in the post this evening. You’ll get it tomorrow,’ she assured them, before joining Meriel.
‘Thank goodness Mrs Roberts-Price arrived or we might have been locked in the shed!’ Lucy said to her friend, as she started the engine. ‘Could we arrange the sale here, in their garden, d’you think?’ she suggested as they drove away. Meriel nodded.
‘Better than trying to move it, and hiring a hall would take some of the profit. Yes, that’s a good idea, Lucy. We’ll sell it on site, and that bossy brat of theirs can do the carrying!’
Kitty and Bob had managed well, dealing with a few enquiries and even arranging an appointment for a prospective buyer to call the following morning.
‘It was fun,’ Kitty told them, ‘and any time you need to be out of the office, just ask and we’ll help, won’t we, Bob?’
‘We certainly will, and if you like I’ll make you a display board for that wall, in case you get a lot more clients. Best to be prepared, eh?’
They stayed late that evening, arranging lists of the items they had found in the shed, then typing them out with a carbon copy for their file. When the letter was posted they sat for a while and went through their achievements so far. There had been very few sales.
‘The truth is, there isn’t the work for two estate agents in this small town,’ Meriel said. ‘Dexter’s have been here so long they’re the automatic choice for the locals. I don’t know what we can do to change that.’
‘If only we could let people know that they cheat.’
‘That’s difficult ground, Lucy. It’s an impossible thing to prove, following you and persuading the man to change from us to Dexter’s, and possibly intending to cheat the Roberts-Prices out of the sale of the shed contents. Who would believe us?’
‘The best thing we can do is impress people with our expertise. Sell the Roberts-Price’s house quickly and make them some extra money from the auction. News gets around fast, specially in a small town like Cwm Derw.’
Fortunately someone came into the office the following day and after looking around the Roberts-Prices’ house, and being assured that the shed would be cleared of the contents, they agreed to buy.
Leo Hopkins came to the auction and bought a hall stand for a little more than they hoped to get. ‘It’s a birthday present for my mother,’ he told Meriel. Most of the stuff went that day and later, Elsie and Ed Connor, who owned the bed and breakfast establishment, bought all the china and some of the other items that were left. Lucy acquired the hair drier and a box of sundry items in case she decided to start hairdressing and Meriel bought even more chairs and a side table for Badgers Brook.
‘Not more chairs?’ Lucy laughed. ‘How many visitors do you expect?’
‘Lots!’ was the reply. ‘It’s that sort of house.’
*
George Dexter drove past the house soon after the sale had ended. He stopped and looked back at the house and, as he was parked, he was overtaken by a stream of cyclists. Eight in all, each bicycle loaded with pannier bags and saddle bags, obviously touring the area. They stopped and one of the men walked back to ask him if there was a place where they might spend the night. ‘We lost our way, then there were a couple of punctures so we’re a long way from the youth hostel where we intended to stay,’ he explained. ‘We all have sleeping bags, it’s just a bit of someone’s floor we need.’
George mentioned Elsie and Ed Connor’s Bed and Breakfast. ‘But I don’t know whether they’ll have room for all of you,’ he said doubtfully. Then he pointed to the recently sold house. ‘Religious family in there, they wouldn’t turn you away I’m sure. Shall I knock and ask them for you?’
The young man in uniform opened the door but he shook his head. ‘We’ve no room, I’m afraid. There are only three bedrooms and they’re in use.’
George returned to the cyclists and shrugged. Then a thought occurred to him and he smiled. ‘I’ve just thought of the perfect place.’ He directed them all to B
adgers Brook. ‘There’s a woman there who is sure to help. Good Samaritan she is. She won’t turn you away.’
When Lucy saw the group of people walking up the path carrying assorted bags she called Meriel. She opened the door to their knock, listened to their request and called Meriel again, this time more urgently.
Meriel shook her head, but a reminder, that the day was ending and they were still a long way from their original destination made her give in. ‘But I have to ask my landlord before I let you come in,’ she said.
Lucy offered to go and see Geoff. She grabbed her coat and after making Meriel promise she wouldn’t let the eight strangers inside before she returned, she hurried off up the lane towards the town. She fortunately found Geoff and Connie at home.
Geoff had no complaints, but he insisted on coming to see them and make sure Meriel would be safe with the house full of strangers. ‘I’ll stay with her tonight,’ Lucy said at once. ‘I’ll call to tell Mam I won’t be home tonight, and go straight back.’
Geoff gave her a lift in the firm’s van, firstly to her parents where she left a note and gathered a few clothes, then back to Badgers Brook. Kitty and Bob were there as well as Stella and Colin from the post office. Meriel laughed. ‘What a place this is for spreading news! I wonder who else will turn up to help?’
‘Lucky you bought all those chairs,’ Geoff said.
Lucy went straight to the kitchen to start making the inevitable tea and standing at the sink was Gerald Cook.
‘Good heavens! Lucy! Fancy meeting you. How are you? Great to see you. What are you doing here, I thought you’d still be with your mam and dad? Still at the hairdresser’s?’ He was embarrassed and the questions came in a breathless stream.
‘Hello, Gerald.’ His unexpected appearance startled her, and a shyness overcame her, but newly acquired confidence forbade her showing it. Her response was not what he would have expected. ‘You’re still with your mam and dad, I suppose,’ she replied with a sweet smile. ‘Never the adventurous kind, were you?’
‘I’m only there to help out. I’d have been off long ago if Dad hadn’t needed my help. The garden and the bicycle repairs. That’s how I joined this club.’
‘Going to start a new life in Australia, weren’t you? Or was it America?’ Her heart was racing and she wondered where her sarcasm came from. She had been without him too long for resentment, in fact she was amused at his reaction to her casual greeting. She had hardly felt a tinge of a thrill when she saw him standing there. Whatever she had once felt, he was now a rather boring part of a previous life and no longer had the ability to hurt her.
‘What are you doing now?’ he asked, moving aside for her to refill the kettle.
‘Oh, I’m working for an estate agent,’ she replied.
Meriel came into the room then and, after a brief and very casual introduction, she said, ‘Lucy is too modest. We are partners in a successful and fast-growing estate agency – Evans and Calloway.’
‘Really? I’m impressed, Lucy. Where did you learn this new skill?’
Lucy was about to say she was still learning, but again that confidence and the need to impress changed her mind. ‘I’m a business woman, Gerald,’ she said with a casual shrug. ‘It’s something that comes naturally to me.’
‘That’s right,’ Meriel added. ‘Lucy is amazingly clever. She’d succeed at any business she undertook, luckily for me, she chose this one.’
They both walked away from him then, carrying trays holding cups and a milk jug into the living room where people were sprawled around the floor. ‘Shout when the kettle boils, will you?’ Lucy called back. After all the months of waiting for him to make up his mind, followed by the disappointment of their parting, she felt like a new woman and she was enjoying it.
She stayed the night with Meriel but neither of them slept well. With so many strangers in the house they couldn’t relax. They woke early the following morning and tiptoed their way through the recumbent bodies covering the floor. One of them rose and waved sleepily. ‘Morning, Gerald,’ Lucy whispered. He followed them into the kitchen and helped set a tray for three and when Meriel said they would need to go to the baker for bread, to provide a breakfast before the cyclists set off on the next leg of their journey, he at once offered to go.
During the night Lucy had explained about the engagement and its end and thanked Meriel for supporting her as she had boasted in a very uncharacteristic way, to let Gerald know he hadn’t been the cause of prolonged grief. While he set off on his cycle with a couple of emptied pannier bags to collect the loaves they talked some more.
‘I suppose I was unfair when I made veiled criticism about his still living at home. I’m still with my parents and hating it.’
‘Then leave.’ Meriel smiled. ‘You’re here more than you are at home, what you give your mother each week will go into the pot and we would be slightly better off. The rent is cheap and the gas bill is about all we’d have to find. Wood keeps the fire going and we can do some of the cooking on that to save gas.’
Lucy’s eyes glowed as she stared at her friend. ‘I expected to live at home until I married, but that’s less and less likely and I could be there for the rest of my life, playing second fiddle to my three stepsisters. But—’
‘Come on, Lucy, you trusted me enough to leave the hairdressers where you’d worked since you left school. You might as well share Badgers Brook, you’re hardly at home apart from sleeping and it is the most peaceful place you can imagine. The bird song is your wake-up call and the night sounds of gently rustling leaves and owls and foxes become a part of wonderful dreams.’
There were stirrings from the living room and at the same time the back door opened as Gerald returned with the bread. Lucy gave Meriel a hug, then held out a hand. ‘Meet your new lodger, unless Geoff has any objection.’
‘I’ll ask Geoff the moment I see him,’ Meriel called, as she ran to relieve Gerald of the freshly baked, delicious smelling loaves.
‘If he’s the man who came last night,’ Gerald called, having heard the last few words, ‘you can ask him in less than a minute, he’s on his way.’
Meriel opened the back door and heard the double slam of van doors, then Geoff came up the path followed by his wife, Connie, who was carrying her inevitable picnic basket.
‘Just in time for breakfast,’ Meriel called.
Geoff and Connie willingly agreed to Lucy sharing the house, and with the departure of the cyclists and the bustle of moving furniture to prepare for Lucy’s move, the day had the air of celebration. ‘Like everything we do in this friendly house,’ Meriel explained happily.
*
A man called at the office the following morning and, glancing around, asked, ‘Oh, I see the men are out of the office. When can I speak to the proprietor, please?’ To Meriel’s surprise, Lucy’s voice changed.
‘Would that be Mr Evans or Mr Calloway you’d be wanting, sir?’ Lucy asked in a slightly stupid tone.
‘Either, as long as it’s a man who knows what he’s doing.’ He spoke with a hint of irritation.
‘He? Oh sorry, sir, we can’t help you there. There’s only us two women and between us we don’t make up the quality of one man.’
Alarmed at the possibility of losing a client, Meriel stood up and offered her hand. ‘I’m Meriel Evans and this is my partner, Lucy Calloway.’
The man threw back his head and laughed. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s unusual to find two pretty women dealing with house sales.’
‘I’m sorry too,’ Lucy said. ‘I’m usually very sensible, I don’t know what came over me, except that it’s a wonderful day, I’ve just found the perfect place to live and I found the opportunity irresistible.’
He sat at the desk and explained. ‘I’m looking for a business premises, a workroom at the back and small shop at the front, in a place where there are lots of passers-by. Can you help?’ he asked. He kept staring at Meriel until she felt a slight glow in her cheeks, he really was rather charming
. She pushed back her long auburn hair and was thankful Lucy had trimmed and washed it the previous evening. It was a great advantage having a hairdresser as a friend!
Meriel pretended to look through the papers for something suitable but Lucy admitted there was nothing on their books that moment. ‘We’ll make a note of your name and address and let you know the moment something comes in,’ she said.
‘In that case, can I take you two ladies to lunch – just to make sure you keep me in mind,’ he added, staring at Meriel with interest brightening his pale hazel eyes. Meriel had no hesitation in accepting.
Although he was talking to both of them his gaze hardly left Meriel’s face through most of the hour. Her greatest disappointment was when he referred to his wife, but she later gathered that the wife had left and a divorce was imminent. The day was certainly looking up.
The reason for his enquiry about premises was unclear. The friend who was the possible client would call them, they were told, and later, when they talked about the man, they both admitted that the explanation was as vague as the man was handsome. ‘And worst of all,’ Meriel added, ‘was that he didn’t give us his name or address. Which was odd because we both asked several times and offered him a pad on which to write it but he avoided doing so. Who on earth was he? And more importantly, what did he want with us?’
*
George Dexter had learned from Teifion that the house of the Roberts-Price family contained some valuable old pieces and he wanted to have a look. They might be persuaded to sell a few and if they did he wanted to be the recipient. Using the excuse of the stranded cyclists he called the following morning and told them a place had been found for them to stay. Mrs Roberts-Price invited him in and showed him into a cold, sparsely furnished front room. It was apparent the room was only used for the occasional visitor. A three-piece suite, table, an aspidistra in a pot on a matching pillar, and a couple of ornamental tea caddies on the mantelpiece was all it contained. He wasn’t going to see much unless he could find an excuse to look at the other rooms. He sat there in the cold soulless place while she went to find her husband.
The Heart of the Home Page 7
