Goldhill's Treasure

by Jilly Bowling

  Before she could say anything he went to her and knelt down by her side, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry love; you know I appreciate you and all you do. And by the way you looked lovely yesterday. I’m just so stressed and tired over this film, the producer and director are slave drivers and Carla is so demanding...”

  Sophie frowned “Demanding? In what way?”

  “Oh, you know, my muscles aren’t defined enough, I don’t work out hard enough and I don’t look vicious enough in the fight scenes. You’ve no idea how difficult it is!”

  With his arms wrapped around her Sophie could feel the hardness of his body. Obviously he’d been training hard, no wonder he was like he was. He wasn’t being unfaithful, just stressed over his first big role. The relief that swept over her made her throat tighten.

  “Don’t worry about me” she said “I understand and while you’re here don’t think of doing anything. Everything’s in hand anyway, Mick is doing a grand job and his men are good too. Would you like a bacon sandwich, there’s some nearly ready under the grill?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great” he said standing up. “What’s this on my plate?”

  “Parsley to chew, get rid of the smell of garlic.”

  Calum picked it up and put it in his mouth “Nearly everything we eat in London seems to be laced in garlic, Carla loves it. Everyone’s the same so we don’t notice it.”

  “Not to worry, just remember, chew parsley after a meal in future. “ Sophie laughed suddenly feeling much happier.

  Once they’d eaten Calum insisted on having a tour of the building site, telling her what a good job she’d made of the barn and praising Mick and his lads on the progress they had made. Taking Mick to one side he said “I’m going to be away for four or five months, don’t know if I’ll be able to get away for even a couple of days until I see how things work, so I’d be grateful if you’d keep an eye on Sophie for me. She tries to do too much and I don’t want her hurting herself. I know she’ll want her studio up and running and will still be trying to tame the garden.”

  “Why don’t you get a lad in to help her, I could probably find a youngster. Wouldn’t cost too much.”

  “Mmm, at the moment we have to watch how much we spend. I don’t get the kind of money top stars get and have agreed to take a percentage, a small percentage, of the returns as part of my acting fee, so that won’t come in until the film is released. Could be a long time. Maybe if we could find somebody part time, just two or three days a week.”

  “We wouldn’t get a youngster part time but there are lots of healthy retired blokes I know, leave it with me and I’ll find someone. Now what do you think about taking the hill back a bit further off the kitchen?”

  They left the subject of help for Sophie to go and look at the soil above the pad that had been laid for the kitchen. Calum agreed that it was a good idea and gave the go ahead once the pad and foundations were completely dry.

  Down in the barn Sophie had co-opted one of Mick’s labourers to help lift her work benches into place and it was already beginning to look like a potter’s workshop. Calum found them just in time to help move the stone sink into place ready for a plumber to run water to it.

  “Won’t you need a heater of some kind in here?” Calum asked looking around the space.

  “Mmm, maybe, but once the kiln is working that will throw out a lot of heat, so I’ll see how it feels when the winter starts. Maybe a couple of oil filled radiators will do.” Sophie said looking around happily.

  “It’s really light in here, for an old barn. “ Ron, the labourer said.

  “Well I had the skylights put in but it was pretty light anyway, the windows are an unusual fitting in a barn like this.” Sophie told him.

  “Everyone’s talking about you opening a studio here” Ron told her “wondering whether it’ll be out of our price range.”

  “That’s nice to know. There’ll be a wide range to choose from, from cheap to expensive. Plus I’m hoping other local artists will put their things in here to sell.”

  “That’s a good idea, something for everyone.” Ron said. “Well I’d better go see what Mick wants me to do next.”

  Left alone Calum turned to her “You don’t want to make things too cheap. You need to aim at a high class market!”

  Sophie frowned “I have a high class market! Reasonable prices don’t mean low class. The cheaper pots will just be smaller.”

  “Don’t get defensive; I’m just thinking about your career.” Calum bristled.

  Sighing she said “I know, but I do know what I’m doing.”

  “OK, OK, don’t let’s fight, I’ve only got a couple of days.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m not fighting.” Then changing the subject she asked “Have you any washing and what do you need to take away with you. I’ll need to go to the launderette in town if you have a lot of washing.”

  “Oh, yes, well I didn’t have a chance to get anything washed so there’s quite a lot.”

  Sophie sighed quietly to herself. He’d been in a five star hotel, for god’s sake, they must have had a laundry service, but of course he didn’t think of things like that. Hadn’t had to think about it for all the time they’d been together. Sighing she told herself that it was her own fault, she’d run around after him ever since she’d known him.

  Was it just the strain of the building work or was she finally seeing the reality of their relationship?

  “Let’s get it together and I’ll take it to the launderette first thing tomorrow,” she managed to say reasonably.

  “I’ll need to sort out more things to pack if I’m going to be away for so long.”

  “Yes I know, let’s do it now and then it’s over with.”

  Grumbling a bit but doing as she asked he followed her into the caravan. Unpacking his bag Sophie found lots of dirty clothes, some looking as if he’d rolled in mud in them.

  “Those old thing are what I wore during the fight training. Honest it was murder,” he moaned as he stood and watched her.

  She sorted out the clothes into two piles, noticing once again the reek of perfume from the cleaner pile. However she bit her lip and said nothing, she really didn’t want to start an argument.

  “I’ll have to do two loads, dark and light, so let’s see if anything else you want to take away needs washing.”

  By the time she’d finished she had two black bags full of washing and was quietly seething.

  “Really Calum, you should have put this stuff out to wash before you went away.”

  “Oh come on, Soph. I was busy and you had enough to do. I didn’t want to give you extra work.”

  Sophie shook her head at his twisted logic. He’d given her more to do, in a hurry, as usual! ‘Never mind’ she thought ‘I’ll get up early and be back before he wakes up, then we can spend the day together.’

  At that moment Mick shouted that they were off and she realised it was nearly five o’clock. Where had the day gone?

  “I’d better sort something out for our meal. Is an omelette OK?” she asked.

  “No let’s go to the pub to eat. You’ve done enough today.”

  “I don’t mind, we could have a quiet night in together.”

  “No, I insist, you deserve a night out. Go and have a shower and get changed, you smell of bacon. I’ll put the washing in the car ready for you in the morning.”

  ‘Don’t react, he’s meaning to be nice’ she told herself as she sniffed her tee shirt. Of course she smelled of bacon, she’d grilled enough for twelve builders and she’d worked up a sweat moving the benches in the barn.

  As she stepped out of the shower, a towel round her head and in her towelling robe she heard the van door close. Curious she knelt on the bed and peered out of the tiny window, in time to see Calum walking up the drive with his pho
ne to his ear. He was waving his hand in the air as if the person on the other end of the phone could see him. Wondering who he was talking to so earnestly Sophie watched him until he was out of sight around the curve of the drive.

  Shrugging her shoulders she thought, ‘he’ll tell me who it is’ and set about drying her thick hair. It was getting longer and longer and she’d mostly been wearing it in a ponytail. She’d leave it down tonight, Calum liked it like that, although it took more styling to get it to lie flat.

  When her hair was dry she got dressed, choosing a pretty, short tunic dress and flat sandals. Normally she didn’t bother with makeup but tonight she decided to make a real effort and applied eyeliner, mascara and lipstick before brushing her face with powder. Picking up a short wool shrug, in case it got colder later she let herself out of the van.

  Calum hadn’t reappeared so she went up the drive to join him. He was sitting on a pile of bricks still talking on the phone. Because he was looking in the opposite direction he didn’t see her and she heard him say “I know it’s difficult, it is for me too. I’ve got so much invested here. OK, OK, I’ll see what I can do,” he listened for a minute then went on “me too, don’t worry I’ll be there.”

  As he rang off he turned and saw Sophie “My god, what are you doing sneaking up on me?”

  “I’m not sneaking up on you! I just came to find you to tell you that I’m ready.”

  “Right I’ll come down. I just need to change my shirt and I’ll be ready,” then rubbing his hand over his stubble he went on, “I can’t have a shave as the rough look is part of my character.”

  Walking down the drive by his side Sophie said “That’s alright, I rather go for the caveman look.”

  “Mmph, don’t think caveman fits the bill,it’s supposed to be designer stubble. Very sexy, evidently,” he grinned looking his sexiest.

  “Mmm, as long as it’s not too bristly. It plays hell with a girl’s skin.”

  “I’m told it turns a woman on, especially when it’s between her legs,” he growled as he swung her into his arms.

  “Calum” she squealed, “I’m all dressed up, watch what you’re doing.”

  Usually he would have overruled her and taken her to their bed and made love to her, but tonight he just growled “You women, watch my hair, watch my makeup, this dress cost a fortune!”

  Back on her feet Sophie once again felt that odd feeling of trepidation come over her, when had she ever said that or had a dress that cost a fortune? Calum flung the van door open and went through to the bedroom peeling off his tee shirt, revealing bruises and scratches all over his back.

  “What on earth happened to your back” she asked going to touch him.

  Shrugging away from her he said “Leave it Soph, I told you the training was murder. That’s all it is.!” and he disappeared into the tiny bathroom.

  He was quickly ready and joined her in the bedroom dressed in a short sleeved shirt, open just enough so his pecs could be seen. He’d also slapped on some aftershave, not one Sophie had smelled on him before and she wasn’t sure if she liked it. It was very sharp and strong.

  “New aftershave?”

  “Yes I ran out and this is all the rage evidently.”

  Wondering who had told him that Sophie kept her mouth firmly shut. She would not give him an excuse to snap at her.

  “We’ll walk shall we? Then we can both have a drink.”

  “Yes, a walk would be nice.” Sophie said waiting for him to take her hand.

  He didn’t, just kept walking onto the road ahead of her. She caught him up and they walked towards the pub in silence for a while. Then Calum said “That phone call, mmm, it was the producer’s secretary. Evidently there’s a big do, in the evening, day after tomorrow. It’s for the money men to meet the main actors, and I’ve got to go. I’ll have to go on Friday morning as I need to get a dinner jacket etc. to wear in the evening. So I’ll only be here tomorrow. Sorry Soph, but I’ve got no choice.”

  “Didn’t you know about it before you came home? It’s a bit last minute isn’t it?”

  “That’s what it’s like down there, honestly it’s crazy.”

  “Oh well, if you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. Doesn’t leave me much time to get your shirts and things washed and ironed.”

  “You’ve got all day tomorrow,” he muttered “how hard can ironing a few shirts be?”

  Sophie nearly stopped dead in the road, a few shirts indeed, there was at least a dozen. But she bit her lip, she would not start a fight.

  They arrived at the pub in silence and Calum was soon standing at the bar surrounded by people, mostly women, who wanted to know how the film was going. Sophie sat at a table and waited for him to remember her. A girl came over to her and said “Hi, do you remember me? I’m Jenny, I run the Riding for the Disabled.”

  “Yes, hi, of course I remember you.”

  “You haven’t managed to find the time yet then? Only the session is tomorrow at ten thirty.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Calum’s home, well at least until Friday and I’m still up to the eyes. I will definitely come along when I can find the time. If there are no problems at the cottage I’ll try and come next time, it is every Thursday, isn’t it?”

  “Yes ten thirty every Thursday. You did say that you rode didn’t you as we are desperate for knowledgeable people to handle the horses and ponies.”

  Sophie smiled “I’ve ridden all my life, but can’t say how knowledgeable I am.”

  “I’m sure you are, you seem very capable to me. Tell you what if you are alone this weekend, why don’t you come up and meet the animals. We usually go for a ride on Saturday morning, up over the common.”

  “Oh yes, I’d love that. I’ve still got my hat and boots somewhere. what time do you go out?”

  “About eightish.”

  “Right I’ll be there at seven to help get the horses ready. I don’t expect you to groom for me.”

  “Great” Jenny said “I think we’ll get on like a house on fire. See you Saturday.”

  As she left Calum appeared with Sophie’s spritzer, “Who’s that?” he asked.

  “Jenny from riding for the disabled. They have a session on a Thursday and she’s asked me to help.”

  “You won’t be able to tomorrow.”

  “I know that but she’s asked me to go for a ride with her on Saturday. I expect it’s to see how competent I am.”

  “Haven’t you got enough to do without taking more on?”

  Sophie bristled “This will be for pleasure and relaxation. I am allowed some time for myself surely?”

  “Don’t get ratty, I’m only thinking about you. I don’t want you to get worn out and ill while I’m away.”

  ‘No’ she thought ‘then you might have to take some responsibility for something.’

  But all she said was “I won’t, I’ll take care of myself, don’t worry. I’ll make sure the cottage is finished in time for you coming home.”

  Missing the irony in her voice he said “Good, I’ll need somewhere comfortable to wind down from this film. Now let’s order, I’m starving.”

  As usual by the time they left the pub Calum had had too much to drink and he fell into bed after dropping his clothes on the floor. By the time Sophie had washed her face and cleaned her teeth he was snoring and taking up most of the bed. She crawled into one side of it and perched on the end tried to sleep. It was impossible, every time she closed her eyes she saw Carla Blaine smirking at her.

  Chapter 6

  At six o’clock the next morning Sophie slid out of bed and putting on a sweatshirt and jeans, picked up hers and Calums’ clothes from the day before, and let herself out of the van. Opening the car she pushed the clothes into the black bags and as quietly as she could shut the door. Getting into the driver’s seat sh
e rolled out of the drive, not starting the car until she was almost on the road. ‘Let him sleep’ she thought ‘ he’s going to wake up grumpy enough without being woken too early.’

  The morning was bright and sunny, just the kind of late June weather she loved. They’d been exceptionally lucky with the weather so far, only minimum rain, which meant that the building work was ahead of schedule.

  As she followed the road along the side of the river Teme, baby rabbits were grazing along the grass verges, and in the field beside the water she could see deer enjoying the early sunshine in peace. Rounding a bend she spotted Charlie fox crossing the road with a rabbit in his mouth. He paused and turning his head gazed at her. She stopped the car and watched him saunter on towards a gap in the hedge, then he was through and running through the deer who watched him for a minute, then seeing that he already caught his cub’s dinner put their heads down again to graze. Driving on she was smiling to herself at the joy of living in such a beautiful spot.

  She arrived at the launderette just after it opened, they opened early so people who worked could either do their own washing before going to work or drop it off for a service wash, which they would pick up on their way home in the evening. The coffee machine in the corner was already being made good use of and once she had sorted her clothes into two machines Sophie got a large cappuccino for herself. She knew a few of the women and so sat socially chatting until one of them looked at her watch and said “The bakers will be opening, I’m going to get a doughnut, anyone else want anything?”

  All the women wanted something and she ended up with quite a list and a handful of change.

  “I’ll come with you! Sophie said “you’ll never manage all that by yourself.”

  When they carried two trays of goodies into the launderette the manager laughed and said “What’s this, a breakfast club?”

  They all had a laugh and started talking about the difficulties of being a working woman, wife, mother and housewife.

  “It’s quite a treat to sit here with a coffee and danish” one said “I left the old man up to his eyes in cereal, school bags and lost gym kit.”