The Lake House

by Christie Barlow

  As soon as Callie mentioned the word ‘privacy’ it triggered something inside Ella. For some strange reason, she felt a slight sense of panic. ‘I’ve just had one of those moments… déjà vu.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘It’s just, that’s exactly what Alex used to do and say. “I need my privacy.” Sometimes he’d go to the bottom of the garden to take phone calls. He used to say it was to do with work, patient confidentiality, which of course we now know was all lies…’

  ‘Are you trying to tell me that Roman is a fraudster and pretending to be a doctor on the side?’

  Ella stood up and cleared away the dishes. ‘Call it woman’s intuition, but there’s something going on in Roman’s life – he’s hiding something. Gut feelings are always right. Anyway, I need to go and get showered.’ She began walking towards her bedroom, when Callie shouted after her.

  ‘I know one thing. When he threw in that comment about shopping for one, that wasn’t for my benefit. He was letting you know that he’s single. That’s my woman’s intuition!’

  ‘You’re reading way too much into it. He’s a friend, and we’ve only just met,’ protested Ella.

  ‘No one needs extra friends at our time of life.’

  ‘Actually, I do, and I’m not listening to you.’ Ella was chuckling when she closed the bedroom door behind her. This was exactly how she imagined life would be, living with Callie – fun days and full of laugher.

  After a quick shower, Ella swiped her clothes from the wardrobe and plumped for a pair of baggy ripped jeans, a Levi’s T-shirt and an over-sized cardigan. As she pulled a brush through her hair, she sat down at the dressing table and stared at herself in the mirror. How things had changed in such a short time. Even though she’d only been in Heartcross a matter of days, her old life was beginning to feel like a lifetime ago. The flat already felt like home, she felt settled, and that’s when Ella realised she could count her good friends on one hand – Callie.

  She thought back to when she’d started to date Alex. As he became a permanent fixture in her life, her friends began to dwindle away. Looking back, Ella had come to realise that Alex had manipulated situations and isolated her from her friends. Every time she’d arranged to go out with a girlfriend, Alex would turn up, sporting a huge bouquet of flowers with a posh restaurant booking under his belt. Each time he made out that she must have forgotten their arrangement and, in the end, she started to believe it and doubt herself, but it was all part of the game. Alex was a professional narcissistic fraudster. Her friends had warned her, but of course she didn’t want to hear it. She was in love and each time she’d put him first. One thing she’d learnt from the whole situation was, that was never going to happen again. Friends were important.

  After applying her make-up and a squirt of her perfume, Ella pulled on her Converse and wandered into the living room to find Callie rummaging in the overstuffed drawer in the kitchen that was full of knick-knacks. ‘Here it is,’ she said, holding up a key. ‘The spare front-door key. You may be needing this.’

  ‘Thanks. I feel important, having a key,’ Ella grinned, grasping it in her hand. ‘Will you be gone by the time I get back?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but say hello to Dolores from me and keep those fingers crossed. Hopefully this afternoon we’ll come up with the best plan to keep The Lakehouse afloat.’

  ‘I’ve got everything crossed,’ Ella said before grabbing her bag. ‘Right, I’m off. I’ll catch you later.’ When she reached the bottom of the stairwell, she closed the door behind her and watched Roman for a second. He was leaning against an old battered green Land Rover, reading a newspaper.

  She coughed lightly and he looked up. A huge smile hitched on his face as he closed his newspaper and stood up straight.

  ‘There you are… meet Bette!’ Roman patted the Land Rover with such affection that Ella burst out laughing. ‘She’s reliable,’ he continued. ‘Never failed to start, in all the years I’ve owned her.’

  ‘Bette? You’ve named your car Bette?’ Ella walked around the battered old car, which had seen better days.

  ‘After Bette Davis, my grandma’s favourite actress, and as my grandparents bought me the car, they got to name her.’ With a gentlemanly confidence Roman went to open the door, but struggled with the lock. ‘However, she can be a little temperamental at times.’ He tried again. Finally, he proudly opened the door.

  ‘Temperamental, eh? Just like any woman.’ Ella bit down on her lip to suppress her smile. Climbing into the passenger seat, she was surprised to see how immaculate Bette was inside. She was cleaned and polished to within an inch of her life.

  Roman whizzed around to the driver’s side and slipped into the seat beside Ella. He adjusted the mirror and put the key in the ignition while Ella pulled on the seatbelt, but it wouldn’t move. She tried again. ‘I think Bette is having a moment.’

  ‘Mmm, she’s playing up at the minute.’ Leaning across Ella, Roman pushed his wild fringe out of his face before grabbing the seatbelt, which he gave an extra-hard tug.

  ‘Here you go. Don’t worry, she’s as safe as houses,’ he reassured, pulling at his own seatbelt. ‘If you fancy putting on some tunes, all we have is an old-fashioned tape deck.’ He waved his hand towards the glove compartment. ‘It’s full of tapes.’

  Ella opened it up to find it stuffed to the brim with old cassette tapes. ‘Mix tape?’ She waggled it in the air. ‘What’s this one?’

  ‘A little bit of everything – they came with Bette when I got her. History is what those are,’ replied Roman, starting the engine. He looked over his shoulder to check the road was clear. ‘Oh, and we don’t believe in mod cons, do we Bette? Which means we have no air con and the heaters play up too, which means she’s not so great in summer and not so great in winter.’

  ‘So you’re telling me, Bette is not so great.’

  ‘Shh, she’ll hear you.’

  Ella threw back her head and laughed as Roman kangarooed Bette into the middle of the road.

  ‘And sometimes, Bette does exactly what she wants.’

  ‘It may be time to trade Bette in for a newer model,’ suggested Ella, grinning and holding on to her seat until Bette had calmed herself down. ‘I’m thinking it would have been safer to take the bus.’

  ‘We’ve been on so many adventures together, and I really can’t bear to part with her. Everyone should have a Bette in their life.’ Roman clunked the gears as he made his way over the track at the bottom of Love Heart Lane, then headed towards the bridge that took them over into Glensheil.

  Feeling relaxed and at ease in Roman’s company, Ella sat back and watched Heartcross whiz by through the window. He pointed to the rowing boats that were bobbing about on the river and Ella spotted Flynn Carter’s water taxi in the distance. ‘Who drives the boat when you’re not there?’

  ‘Would you believe Wilbur! He loves it. However, he refuses to wear the sailor suit! I don’t know what the problem is. I love a good uniform – I think I pull it off well,’ he joked. ‘And it also saves me thinking about what I need to wear to work.’

  ‘Most women like a man in a uniform,’ agreed Ella, with a glint in her eye, before her thoughts immediately turned to Alex. She couldn’t quite believe that Alex had had the audacity to turn up, day after day, wearing a white doctor’s coat, and often with a stethoscope hanging around his neck, when he wasn’t even a doctor. But she shook the image from her mind. She was learning to give him less and less head space each day. ‘And yes, you do pull it off well.’ Changing the subject, she said, ‘Let’s just hope today’s emergency meeting throws up some good marketing plans.’

  ‘Emergency?’ queried Roman, slowing down at the traffic lights and looking sideward at her.

  ‘If they don’t get more diners on seats soon, things won’t be looking good for The Lakehouse.’

  ‘How do you know this?’ he asked, with a concerned look on his face as he slowed down at the roundabout.

  ‘Callie. That’s where
she is today.’ Ella suddenly wasn’t sure it was common knowledge, if Roman was unaware of the situation. She hoped she hadn’t gone and put her foot in it.

  ‘I’m amazed! I didn’t see that coming. I thought Flynn had all these wonderful ideas to re-open the exclusive club, famous people on Thursdays etc. The restaurant has already had a couple of famous faces eating there. I honestly thought it was doing okay.’

  ‘Think about the number of diners you take across the river each day.’

  Roman thought for a minute. ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right. I’ve never really thought about it. I assumed, with Flynn being the multi-millionaire businessman he is, that it was dead cert that it would be successful. So does that mean I should be looking for another job?’

  ‘I’m in exactly the same boat – no pun intended.’ She smiled, but Ella had to admit, the last thing she wanted to do was look for another job when she hadn’t even started work there yet. And jobs were hard enough to come by as it was, never mind in a small place like Heartcross – and she really didn’t fancy moving back to the city. She was enjoying the slower pace of life and actually talking to people.

  ‘Let’s hope our jobs are safe,’ she said. ‘Sometimes business ventures take their time to get off the ground.’ She pointed to the cassette player. ‘I know this one, top tune.’

  ‘This is one of my absolute favourites. It must be about twenty years old,’ replied Roman, keeping his eyes on the road. ‘The music of today isn’t a patch on the olden days.’

  ‘The olden days,’ she repeated, laughing, noticing the red hospital signs as they drove through the main town of Glensheil. ‘This place is just like I imagined it too,’ remarked Ella, thinking it was such a pretty town with its outstanding coastal views and surrounding countryside. There was a small sailing club based on this side of the estuary which was already a hive of activity. The streets were lined with boutique shops, art galleries – this was the sort of place Ella could spend hours mooching around in. The restaurants looked amazing, there were carts selling seafood on the street corners, and Ella noticed a sign for delicious ice-cream and a whole shop dedicated to Glensheil Gin.

  ‘It’s a great town and complements Heartcross perfectly if you want a change of scenery.’ Roman slowed down at the traffic lights and indicated left. ‘That’s my place just there,’ he pointed, as he drove up a quieter road that ran parallel with the River Heart. ‘I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I mean, look at that view – its peaceful, tranquil, walking distance to the shops and the pub, everything you need.’

  Roman’s house was not what Ella was expecting. She’d pictured him in a trendy one-bedroom apartment filled with the latest technology, overlooking the High Street with a balcony – but here she was, driving past a period semi-detached cottage built in a gorgeous traditional stone. The garden was charming – an area of lawn with a shrub border and a sunken paved terrace which provided a wonderful place for outside dining.

  ‘I have fishing rights and a boat dock, so if I’ve forgotten anything I can sail across the river and moor the boat outside my house, even though I’ve had a few funny looks from the neighbours.’

  ‘How long have you been there? It’s a beautiful property.’ Roman’s house was the kind of place she’d imagined herself living in one day, but thanks to Alex, she’d be lucky to be able to just pay rent on a place one day.

  ‘A little over six months. I moved in when I started the job on the river.’

  ‘You have the best of both worlds – the tranquillity of the water and the local town for bars and restaurants. Just perfect. So where were you before?’

  Roman was slowing down and concentrating on the cars in front of him. ‘Edinburgh.’

  Ella was surprised. Her geography wasn’t up to much, but that must be around two hundred miles or so. ‘That’s a hell of move,’ she said, sharing her thoughts. ‘Edinburgh must be around three hours away, at a guess.’ Ella took a sideward glance towards Roman.

  ‘Yes, about that,’ he replied, not adding any more to the conversation.

  Ella was curious. What had brought Roman over to Heartcross? ‘Have you always sailed boats?’ she asked.

  Roman kept his eyes on the road ahead. ‘No, it’s a fairly new thing. I was a tour manager, making sure concert tours run smoothly. I looked after the finances, the road crew, and made sure everyone was where they were supposed to be and were on task.’

  ‘That sounds like an amazing job. You must have met some very famous people.’

  Roman nodded. ‘That I did.’

  ‘So why the change?’ Ella was genuinely interested.

  Roman paused. ‘Sometimes things happen.’ His answer felt quite guarded, he didn’t elaborate and kept his cards very close to his chest.

  Ella felt that Roman was holding back; there was something he didn’t want to talk about. But she knew better than most that life sometimes throws you curveballs when you least expect them, and things in your life change and you have no control over them. She only had to look at herself. One minute she was a business woman with her own property and a hefty inheritance in the bank, and the next she was living with her friend and working as a waitress and was broke.

  ‘And what about you?’ he asked, swiftly changing the conversation back to Ella. ‘What brings you to Heartcross?’

  ‘Callie, saving my life… That sounded quite dramatic!’

  Roman glanced across at her and Ella continued. ‘If I’m honest, I was struggling with life, I needed help and Callie came to my rescue. I lost my parents, my home and my business. I think it’s safe to say the last twelve months of my life have been the worst ever.’ Ella swallowed down a lump in her throat. She turned towards the window while she blinked away the tears.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear about your parents.’ Roman’s voice was soft, and he turned down the volume on the cassette deck.

  ‘Tragic accident,’ added Ella. ‘Carbon monoxide poisoning, and to add to everything, I lost my inheritance and my fiancé, when he went to work one day and never came home. I’ve not seen him or my money since.’

  ‘You are kidding me, right?’ Roman narrowed his eyes. He really wasn’t sure whether Ella was being serious.

  Ella shook her head. ‘I kid you not. It’s so far-fetched, you’d never believe it in a million years.’

  ‘I’m absolutely shocked! It’s like something you’d read in a magazine. Is he still missing, your fiancé?’

  Ella nodded. ‘Yes, my guess is he’s living it up with my inheritance. You see, Dr Alex James wasn’t even a doctor – who knows what his actual name is! But I was conned and he took my heart, my money and left me with a parting gift that I wasn’t expecting… He’d maxed my credit cards up to the limit, leaving me with thousands to pay off.’

  Roman looked shocked to the core. ‘How could anyone do that? He literally went to work and never came back?’

  ‘Exactly that. I spent a short time thinking he was dead, lying at the bottom of a river, but when the police investigated, they discovered everything. It all sounds so stupid when I say it out loud. Although we were together twelve months, it wasn’t me he was interested in – he was just interested in stealing everything I owned, including my self-worth.’

  ‘I’m actually lost for words. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all this!’

  ‘I’ve spent the last six months sinking so low that I thought there was no way out, pretending I could manage when I couldn’t. The only friend I have left in the world is Callie, who has literally saved me. Sometimes you’ve just got to let people help and swallow your pride. Good friends are hard to find, but if it wasn’t for her…’ Ella’s voice faltered. ‘There you go, that’s me in a nutshell.’ It had been a long time since she really opened up like this and was surprised at how good it felt to talk to Roman.

  ‘Ella, I really don’t know what to say.’

  ‘There’s nothing to say. I’m here, and hopefully getting my life back on track. Heartcross is my brand-new star
t.’

  ‘And from what it sounds like, you deserve your new start and happiness.’ Roman turned into the hospital carpark, which was already busy with cars lined up, waiting to grab the first space available. He drove around a couple of times until he was lucky enough to spot a space and park up. ‘I don’t mind waiting here for you. I have a few phone calls I need to catch up on.’

  ‘You can’t do that! I really don’t know how long I’m going to be.’

  ‘That’s okay, honestly – take your time.’

  For a second, Ella hesitated. ‘Okay, thank you. As long as you are sure?’

  ‘Absolutely sure.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said again, stepping out of the car.

  ‘And pass on my best to Dolores.’

  Heading towards the main entrance, Ella walked past the line of ambulances and through the revolving doors. A fleeting thought of Alex passed through her mind. She’d waited so many times in the hospital carpark to pick him up after work, and she wondered now what the hell he’d actually done all day with his time? She gave a little shudder. Every time she thought of him now she was angry.

  Hovering in the hospital entrance, Ella stared up at the white signs hanging above her head and slowly made her way to Ward 17, situated on the second floor. Within five minutes she’d arrived, to find a nurse sitting at the desk outside the ward talking to a doctor. As soon as they finished their conversation the doctor smiled at Ella before disappearing down the corridor. ‘Can I help you?’ asked the nurse, shuffling a pile of papers in front of her.

  ‘I’m looking for Dolores Henderson,’ replied Ella. ‘I’ve come to visit.’

  ‘Dolores is in the bed on the right, closest to the window. She’ll be pleased to see you.’

  Ella stepped on to the ward and noticed many of the cubicles had the curtains pulled around the bed to give a little privacy. She walked towards the windows; the sun was shining through the cracks in the blinds, painting narrow, vertical bands of light on the magnolia walls. There were other visitors sitting at patients’ beds, but Ella noticed everyone seemed to be talking in a whisper.