Maria wondered what his mother’s reaction had been to them going out together.
Then, as if he had read her mind, he said, “She was really pleased when I told her we were going to the cinema tonight. She said you were a lovely, well-brought-up girl.”
She felt a sense of relief. “That’s very nice of her to say.”
Paul looked straight at her now. “I don’t think she would have said the same thing about Stella, if she’d seen her with Tony tonight.”
She hadn’t been sure whether he had noticed all the behaviour in the cinema. “In fairness, Stella is not normally like that. But I have to admit I was surprised by her tonight.”
“I could tell you were as uncomfortable as I was. First, it was the way Tony railroaded everyone into going into a pub, then all the carry-on in the cinema. I think I should have had a word with him about it all, but it was awkward. I’ve never really socialised with him before so I don’t know if this is the way he usually goes on. As I said, our friendship is mainly based on work.”
“Well, I definitely thought I should have said something to Stella but, again, it wasn’t the right time to say it tonight. It would have ended things on a sour note. As soon as we’re on our own, though, I’m going to say something.”
“Well, I’m glad we feel the same about things.”
He reached out now, took her hand and held it lightly as they walked along. They chatted about random things and, when the topic came around to talking about school, he told her that he hated it. Maria was surprised and asked him why.
“I suppose I’ve never really fitted in with the mainstream type of guys. I don’t like rugby or football or any of those team sports, so it’s not that surprising. I have a couple of friends, but they live a bit of a distance away so I only really see them in school. Part of it’s my own fault too, because I’m so involved in the stables and the horses. It’s a huge family thing – we live and breathe horses. That’s why I’ve become sort of friendly with Tony – we have the whole equine thing in common.”
“And is this what you want to do full-time when you leave school?”
“Definitely,” he said. “I’d have left school long ago if I’d had the chance, because I know exactly what I want to do – which is eventually run my own stables and stud farm – but my mother and father really wanted me to do my A-Levels, so I’d have something to fall back on in the future. Thankfully, I’ll be leaving school next summer and then going on to do some sort of equine course.”
“Well, I suppose you can see their point about getting qualifications. At one point I told Dad I wanted to leave school to work in Leonardo’s – learn the management side of the business, that sort of thing, but he wants me to stick in at school. I don’t mind really, as I quite like school.”
“Lucky you!” he said, laughing.
“Well, I’m in a different position from you because I enjoy the company at school because I spend so much time on my own at home when Dad is working. Though I’ve really got used to it now, and I quite like my own company. I like listening to music and reading and watching telly.” She laughed. “I’m spoiled not having to share things with anyone else – I’m lucky it’s always my choice! I know Stella complains about having to take turns with her younger brothers in choosing what she wants to watch on telly!”
He tilted his head to the side. “Have you any idea what you want to do when you leave school?”
She shrugged. “Not a clue. I’m hoping that I’ll get careers advice next year which will give me some ideas.”
“You do loads of things outside of school, don’t you?”
“Mainly the ballet and horse-riding, but I’m getting fed up with ballet.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “I hope you’re not getting fed up with the riding lessons?”
“No, no – I really enjoy it. It’s far more fun than ballet, and I always feel great after it.”
“I hope a little bit of that has something to do with me being there?” He gave a small, self-conscious laugh.
“You never know . . .” She looked up at him and then she laughed too.
“Well, it’s good that we know a bit about each other and what we like and don’t like. And horses are obviously a big part of it.”
“Talking of horses . . .” Maria took a deep breath, “I haven’t told anyone else yet – not even Stella – but we’re going to be more involved in horses in a different way because my dad has just bought a half-share in a racehorse.”
“Really?” Paul came to a standstill. “Wow! That’s fantastic!”
She then went on to tell him about Bella Maria and how her father had just told her about it recently.
“I’d no idea he was so involved in racing,” said Paul as they walked on. “You know my dad was a jockey, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course,” she told him. “Everybody knows your dad was really famous.”
“He had to give it up after a serious accident in one of the big races when he hurt his back. He was thrown off the horse and then got trampled.”
“That sounds terrible – I’m surprised it didn’t put him off horses for life.”
Paul shrugged. “It’s part and parcel of being a jockey. He knew all the risks, and it certainly hasn’t put him off. He knows he’ll never race professionally again but he still loves being involved in the whole racing world. But isn’t it great your dad has bought a racehorse? That’s a complete departure from running a restaurant.”
Maria bit her lip. “To be honest, I’m a little bit worried . . . Dad enjoys watching horses racing, but I’m not sure he has the necessary experience to actually own one. Up until now he’s been more involved in betting on horses.”
“As long as he has a good trainer he doesn’t need to worry about having experience himself. That’s not what the owner does – that’s the trainer’s job. The trainer will take care of everything like the exercise routine and organising all the training schedules, and he’ll take the responsibility for the horse’s health.”
As she listened to the list of things that Paul said the horse would need, Maria’s heart sank. She started to work out in her head all the things that her father would have to pay for like a trainer and stables for the horse. Those things would not come cheap.
Another thing occurred to her. “Will my father have to find a jockey for the races as well?”
“Yes, but there will be other people involved and don’t forget he’ll be sharing all the work and the cost with someone else.” He seemed to sense her anxiety. “You don’t need to worry – if he’s been interested in racing for a few years he’ll know all this. Regular punters know everything there is to know about horses and trainers and jockeys.”
“I hope he does know what he’s taking on,” Maria said.
“He will have worked out all the costs – don’t forget he’s been running his own successful business for years, so he must be doing something right.”
“That’s true, and he’s definitely a hard worker. He throws his heart and soul into things. I remember all the time he used to spend at the restaurant when it first opened. We spent more time there than we did at home. It’s only in the last few years that he’s been able to take it a bit easier.”
Paul’s face became serious. “Well, my mother has often said that my dad’s accident made them look at life differently. They both said that they actually enjoyed all the time he had at home when he was recovering from the accident and wasn’t allowed to drive or even walk very far. She said they had been worried that he would be bored out of his mind, but after a while he got used to it. They started doing more things together like going to concerts and doing a bit of gardening, and then Dad started reading again and even watching television. Things he never had time for.”
Maria thought about her father now. He rarely had time to relax at home. Most evenings or afternoons he was at home he spent them working on the restaurant books at the big dining-table or on the phone to suppliers. She wondered now h
ow much of his time Bella Maria would take up and whether her father fully understood the huge commitment both time-wise and financially he had signed himself up for.
When they turned down the avenue the Contis lived in, the noise from the busier roads faded almost into silence.
“We’re nearly at my house now,” Maria told him, “and I’ll be fine walking the last little bit on my own if you want to head back to catch up with Tony.”
“There’s no rush,” he said, and tightened his grip on her hand.
As they slowly walked along the tree-lined street, he commented that it was a nice street with well-kept houses and gardens, and it crossed her mind that her house was very obviously not in the same league as Spencers’ huge rambling house with all the acres of land surrounding it.
“That’s our house at the top of the cul-de-sac,” she told him. Then she noticed a light on in her father’s bedroom. “It looks like my dad is already home.” She wondered what had brought him home earlier tonight. He hadn’t mentioned that he would get away before his normal time. Maybe tonight was exceptionally quiet, Thursday was one of the nights that could never be anticipated. Some weeks it was busy and others it could be deadly quiet.
Paul slowed to a halt. “Will it be a problem if he looks out of the window and sees me?”
“No, I don’t think so . . . He’s never been funny about my friends.”
“What about boyfriends?”
Maria looked at him. “He’s never really met any. I haven’t really had a serious enough boyfriend for him to meet. Anyway, it’s handy that he already knows you and your family and likes you.”
“Will it sound too corny if I tell you that my mother really likes you?”
He caught her eye and they both laughed. Then, before she realised what was happening, he had swept her up in his arms.
“Do you mind if I give you a goodnight kiss?”
She stared up at him, her heart racing at his closeness. “No,” she said lightly, “I don’t think I mind . . . very much.”
He guided her back a few feet into a gateway with deep bushes and overhanging trees where they wouldn’t easily be seen, and she thought that he must have spotted this as they were walking along and planned to stop there. The idea made her smile.
At first his lips were soft but the longer they kissed the harder his mouth began to feel on hers, almost as if he was going to crush her and, after a while, she felt that she was kissing an entirely different boy to the one she had imagined. She had presumed Paul Spencer would be hesitant and shy, and not this confident boy who seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
Then, when he pulled her so close to him that she could feel his heart beating, it occurred to her that he was every bit as keen on kissing her now as Tony had been with Stella in the cinema. The only difference was that they were kissing in private and not in the back seat of the cinema where anyone could see them
When he eventually stopped kissing her, he continued to hold her in his arms. Every so often he would hold her out at arm’s length, and say, “You know you’re gorgeous, don’t you?” Then at one point he said, “I’ve fancied you for ages.”
She looked at him and said, “What took you so long asking me out?”
“I suppose I’m a bit shy,” he said. Then, he gave her a really tight squeeze and gave her another kiss. “But now I’ve finally got the courage up, there’ll be no holding me.” He looked deep into her eyes. “I’ve really, really enjoyed tonight . . . and I’m glad that the next time we go out, we’ll be on our own.”
She looked back at him and said, “So am I.”
There was a pause.
“I think,” she said, “it might be best if I went – I’ve still some homework to do for the morning.”
He dug his hands deep into his coat pockets. “And so have I – bloody Geography if I remember correctly. I hate it and I’m less than useless at it.”
The way he said it made her start to laugh and that was when he took his chance for one final, very careful kiss. “Okay,” he said, walking backwards and grinning at her. “I’ll ring you!”
They looked back and waved at each other a few times and then Maria went running up towards her house. She had hardly placed her key in the lock when the door was pulled open, almost sending her off her balance.
“Maria! I’ve been here worrying about you for the last two hours! What has been going on? What secrets have you been keeping from me?”
Maria looked back at him with startled eyes.
“I thought I could always trust you, but it seems that I have to be told the truth by other people.”
Her mind worked quickly as she tried to work out who might have been talking to him about her. And then it dawned on her that Stella’s mother might have spotted her with Tony and saw fit to tell her father that she was also out and about with a boy tonight.
“Are you talking about me being out tonight?” she asked.
“You tell me, Maria!” he said. “You tell me.”
Chapter 9
It was only when Maria got inside the house that it started to become clearer what her father was talking about and she began to understand why he seemed so upset.
He was pacing up and down in front of the blazing sitting-room fire. A bottle of whisky and a glass with golden dregs were on the side table. “Why didn’t you tell me about the men who called to the house this afternoon? I rang you before you went out tonight and asked if everything was okay and you chose not to tell me the truth.”
Whilst she was still concerned at causing her father to be so upset and angry, a small part of her was relieved that it was nothing to do with her being out with Paul tonight. She was also grateful that he hadn’t seen them together and come rushing down the street all upset as he was quite capable of doing when he was worried.
“Oh, Dad,” she said, “I’m really sorry, but it wasn’t like that. I wasn’t deliberately not telling you, I completely forgot about it.” She felt so guilty lying to her father.
“Forgot?” His brow was wrinkled in confusion. “How could you forget such a serious thing?” He jabbed his finger in the direction of the house next door. “Our neighbours thought the situation was serious enough to ring the restaurant to tell me that two men had come to the door and been menacing and threatening towards you!” He took a deep shuddering breath. “I think, Maria, that anyone would think there was a serious problem.”
Maria’s shoulders slumped now as she thought how it must look to him and tears sprang into her eyes. “Oh, Dad, I didn’t mean to give you such a fright. I’d no idea that Mrs Cox would ring you – if I’d thought for a minute that she would, I would have told you straight away.”
He looked at her for a moment and then he suddenly rushed over to her and threw his arms around her. As he hugged her close she was aware of the smell of drink from him.
He kissed her several times on the forehead then moved to view her at arm’s length. “Okay,” he said, “let us have no more difficulties between us – and tell me right from the beginning exactly what happened.”
She explained, as best she could, everything from the time she opened the door to the two men until they walked away down the street. She repeated, several times, the words they had said to her and then, in as great detail as she could remember, she described how they both looked and the sort of clothing they were wearing.
“And they told you that they were conducting a survey about houses?”
Maria nodded. “They said they were going around all the houses in the area.”
He started pacing up and down the room again. “Mrs Cox has asked everyone she’s seen in the street this evening, and they didn’t call at anyone else’s door.” He closed his eyes and then hit the palm of his hand off the side of his head. “I can understand that people have do these surveys and they might get fed up in the middle of it and abandon it – that I understand – but the one thing I have great difficulty in understanding is why the man tried to push the door
open when you were closing it.”
Leo’s voice was rising now, in an angry way Maria had never heard before.
“Why he should stick his foot in the door and frighten you! What professional man working for an estate agent would behave in such a way? And what decent man does that to a teenage girl?” He brought one hand down on the open palm of the other in a slicing manner. “None! No man I know.”
His eyes narrowed. “But I will find out. One way or another – I will find out.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “How?”
“The police. I’m going down to Stockport Police Station first thing in the morning to report this incident and find out if there have been others. It could be one of those scams that you read about in the newspapers where they keep someone talking at the front door while someone breaks into the house through the kitchen door at the back. I am not going to let this rest until I find some answers.”
Maria noticed his hands shaking now and she went over to put her arms around him, trying hard to think of something that might reassure him. “Dad – Dad – don’t get so upset about it. Nothing terrible happened to me. I’m okay!”
Leo threw his hand up in the air. “But, Maria, it changes everything – I’m afraid now to leave you in this house alone. I’ll have to get Mrs Lowry to come and sit with you every night.”
“You can’t do that, Dad!”
He put both his hands on his head now. “No, no – she’s too old to protect you. I’ll have to find someone more suitable.”
“Dad!” Maria almost shouted. “You’re overreacting, Dad – you really are!”
He suddenly froze. “Am I? Am I really?”
“I’m nearly sixteen years old! I can look after myself.”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “But how can I be sure you are always safe?”
“You can’t. No one can ever be one hundred per cent sure of anything. We just have to do the best we can. From now on, if I’m on my own, I won’t open the door unless I know who it is. And, if anything worries me when I’m in the house on my own, I’ll phone the Coxes or the Grants and ask them to come around. They’re only seconds away.”
Music from Home Page 8
