by Jenny Kane
Mabel blushed. ‘With a little career advice ringing in his ears.’
Thea felt a surge of love for Mabel that she’d never have believed possible a few weeks ago. ‘John aside, Mill Grange has been sold. Whether that sale will go ahead now that the mill has suffered a fire remains to be seen. According to the police and firefighters I spoke to, the fire report will state that it was an accident. If the Trust suspected arson in an attempt to stop the sale going ahead, then we could all have been facing some questioning from the police.
‘However, that is not the case. It was an accident. The wind banging the door closed caused a candle to fall and it hit the paper tablecloths under the fleeces.’ Mutters whisked through the group again as Thea pressed on. ‘We thought the flame had gone out. We were wrong.’ Thea sighed. I’m blaming myself for dropping the candle, while Tina’s blaming herself for having lit it in the first place.’
This time the mutters of protest were louder, each and every one telling the girls that it was nobody’s fault. A fact underlined by Sam who, asking for silence stated, very firmly that if the firefighters, who were experts, could see it was an accident straight away, then that’s exactly what it was.
Thea swallowed painfully as she moved the subject on. ‘The Open Day will happen. The new owner wants us to hold it. A way of us thanking everyone for their support and giving the locals a chance to see the house.’
For a while all that could be heard was the crackle of the branches Derek and his students had piled into the blazing bonfire. Thea nervously shuffled as she awaited the outcry of protests and declarations that they wouldn’t run the Open Day with her. She wouldn’t blame them. Why should they put more effort into the manor when it had been taken away from them?
It was Sam who broke the contemplative mood. ‘I think we should make the Open Day something special. It was going to be amazing anyway. Let’s make it something no one will forget. We’ve sold how many tickets?’ He turned to Tina.
‘All fifty pre-sales. We were hoping for another fifty on the day.’
‘And in the house, how many people could you comfortably have wandering around at one time?’
Thea leant forward, wondering where Sam was going with this. ‘Fire regulations put the limit at seventy people at once, spread throughout the house.’
Sam thought for a moment. ‘Let’s work on the assumption that the mill is lost, for the time being at least, and certainly for the purposes of the Open Day. So, as the three crafts folk booked will need somewhere to work, or at least display their work if power issues stop them doing demonstrations, we need an alternative location. Marquees would seem a sensible answer. Anyone know someone local who supplies them?’
Bill raised a hand. ‘There’s a firm in Wiveliscombe. Does hire for events and stuff. I’ll bring the phone number tomorrow.’
‘Excellent.’ Sam glanced at Thea, silently asking if she was alright with him making suggestions. As she nodded, he added, ‘And perhaps we could go beyond the cups of tea and coffee, as well as Tina’s excellent lemon cake, that we were going to provide in the kitchen.’
Sybil cut in from her spot by the fire. ‘If we can rustle up an extra tent, then I’m happy to do an afternoon tea service. Cream teas and dainty Victorian style sandwiches.’
Thea felt bewildered. She’d expected them to be less than excited about Open Day now they’d lost the manor. It appeared the contrary was true. The restoration of Mill Grange was going to end on a high.
‘A hog roast!’ Derek announced. ‘I know a bloke who does them. He’d come; I’m sure he would.’
Thea’s head began to swim. She’d been so worried about them taking the sale of the house badly, yet here they were, happily pouring ideas into ways to let go of their project with a bang. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that the budget was all but used up and that there was simply no money to hire marquees and hog roasts.
Chapter Forty
June 15th
Thea leant against the trunk of a tree opposite the mill building.
The police tape barring the doors flickered half-heartedly in the breeze. No one had been allowed inside the building to see the extent of the damage since the fire two weeks ago.
Once the health and safety inspectors had been, Thea knew she’d have to go inside – assuming they said it was safe – and start to clean it up. Going into the mill again was not an appealing prospect. Just the notion made her feel nauseous. She thought of the three crafts folk waiting to use the space. They were all happy to use marquees instead, but if the mill was okay to use, Thea was going to have to make herself go inside.
She checked her watch. The inspector was due in ten minutes. Malcolm had told Thea she didn’t have to be there, but she felt responsible, and despite telling Shaun she wasn’t going to go, she’d found herself heading towards the mill anyway.
Now however, as she confronted the smoke-scarred structure, anxiety built in her and the taste of the smoke, which seemed to permanently live in her throat, started to cloy her senses. Ever since the fire she’d experienced a fatigue like she’d never known. Perhaps it’s not just reaction to the fire making me tired. Maybe it is relief that John is finally out of my life. Thea breathed deeply as flashback images of being trapped inside the building somersaulted about her head.
Before she’d considered what she was doing, Thea strode away from the mill towards Sybil’s place. She needed coffee to take away the sooty taste that her recent memories carried with them. Resolving to be back at the mill in time to see the inspector as they left, so she could get the verdict direct rather than waiting for Malcolm to report back to her, Thea pushed the bottom half of the par-open stable door. She wished Tina was with her. Her friend was visiting and assessing a long-abandoned church on the other side of the moor. Not having Tina’s daily support was worse than not having her extra pair of hands to help out.
For the umpteenth time, she told herself it shouldn’t matter. The sale was going ahead, with or without the mill. They were no longer fighting to restore the manor for the good of the village, but as an act of professional pride so that Mill Grange was in as good a state as possible when it was handed over.
Then there was Open Day.
Now likely to be confined to the manor itself, Thea was amazed at how much the volunteers were rallying around, even though their dream of having a house ready to open to the public permanently had been dashed. Even having to dig into their own pockets or ask for favours to acquire the required marquees hadn’t dulled their spirits.
Waving at Sybil as she took a seat in the far corner of the café, Thea hoped no one would ask her questions about the house sale – questions she couldn’t answer. She still didn’t know who’d bought the house, or what use they had purchased it for.
Not waiting for Thea to place her order, Sybil walked over to her table with a black espresso in her hand. ‘Scone, cake or crumpets this morning, love?’
‘One of your gorgeous scones please. Cheese if you’ve got them. And a heart-attack-inducing amount of butter.’
Sybil laughed. ‘Looks like you need it. You’ve lost weight since the fire.’
‘I didn’t mean to.’
Passing Thea’s food order onto one of her waitresses, Sybil sat down. ‘Are you sleeping?’
‘Not as much as I’d like. At least I haven’t had to move out of the manor yet. I’ve packed up the few bits I’ve got apart from my clothing. Tina’s storing it at her place. There seems no point in me leaving Mill Grange until the night before the Open Day. That way I can be on hand to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible and last-minute disasters can be tackled.’
‘Which is only a few weeks away.’
‘Yes.’ Thea downed her espresso in one.
Sensing Thea didn’t want to talk about what was going to happen to her once the mill was sold, Sybil changed the subject. ‘I thought I’d offer a choice of plain or fruit scones for the Open Day cream teas, along with a selection of jams and homemade
clotted cream. Then maybe Bucks Fizz for those who want to splash out and tea and coffee for everyone else. How does that sound?’
Smiling, Thea could picture the sumptuous display Sybil was describing. ‘Perfect. Just perfect.’
*
Shaun arrived in time to witness a drip of butter dribble down Thea’s cheek as she took her last mouthful of scone.
‘Lick that up before I’m tempted to do it for you.’ Shaun winked as he sat down. ‘As you weren’t in your office or at the mill I assumed I’d find you in here.’
‘I couldn’t face seeing the inspector in the end. I’ll intercept him as he leaves.’
‘It was a she, and she’s already gone.’
‘What? I was told it would take an hour to do the initial assessment?’
Thea made to get to her feet, but Shaun put out a hand to restrain her. ‘There’s no point in haring off after her, she’s gone to report to Malcolm.’
‘Did you talk to her then?’ Thea picked up the coffee jug that Sybil had delivered to her after the initial espresso had taken the edge off her desperate need for caffeine.
‘She was throwing her hard hat into the back of her car as I arrived. Said the state of the mill was confidential information until she’d made her report to the Trust, but that we should not attempt to go inside. She also told me that she’d arranged for someone to come and put stronger padlocks on all the doors.’
Thea groaned. ‘It’s had it then.’
‘Either that or it needs a great deal of work to make it safe to enter again. Clearly it wasn’t safe enough for the inspector to do more than stick her head inside.’ Shaun placed his palm over Thea’s as Sybil drifted across the café with a second cup, so Shaun could partake of some coffee.
Quiet for a while, Thea murmured, ‘We’ve got four and a bit weeks.’
‘Yes.’ Shaun reached across to steel some crumbs off Thea’s plate. ‘I should start work on my speech. Not sure what to say to be honest. I was going to rattle on about the benefits of the manor to the local population, but that’s not really relevant now.’
‘I wish I’d had the money to buy it.’ Thea cradled her empty cup. ‘Then I could have opened the place to everyone and I would only have to worry about finding a new job, not finding a home and a job.’
‘If you could afford to buy Mill Grange, then you wouldn’t need a job beyond running it, would you?’
‘True.’ Thea played a pair of silver tongs through the lumps of brown and white sugar in their Spode bowl. ‘I keep wondering what will happen to the chickens. Gertrude and the gang are so settled together. What if the new owner cooks them or something?’
Shaun couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I’m sure the new owner will appreciate the need for fresh eggs every day. Just because they’ve got the house, doesn’t mean they’ll be barbarians with it. They might still open it to the public, even if it’s just on bank holidays and stuff.’
‘I suppose so.’ She shifted uneasily in her seat. ‘I’m not going to stay to find out.’
‘What?’ Shaun frowned. ‘You’re leaving before Open Day? But what about us?’
‘Us is happening – at least I hope you still want us to as much as I do.’ Shaking her head fast to dispel his worries, Thea gripped Shaun’s hand tighter. ‘I’ll do Open Day, but then I have to go. It’s lovely here, but I couldn’t stay and watch everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve go to waste. Logically I know that what’s happened isn’t my fault, but I still feel as if I’ve let Upwich down.’
‘But Thea…’
‘I know what you’re going to say, Shaun, but I can’t help it. I came here to save Mill Grange and get it open to the public. Now it’s been sold off, the restoration is short of completion, although only just, and the mill is all but destroyed. I just thank Minerva that we didn’t pull down the greenhouse. At least that isn’t on my conscience.’
‘Thea love, you can’t take responsibility for everything that’s beyond your control.’
‘I know, but I do! What if the new owners don’t care about the place? What if it’s a status symbol purchase? What if they fill the place with hot-shot city people all complaining about the lack of Wi-Fi?’
‘How about the possibility that they’re good people, with a love of the countryside, but simply don’t want people traipsing through their home all the time?’
Thea dabbed a fingertip over the crumbs on her plate. ‘It makes no difference either way. I have no home and no job. I haven’t even sorted out where to live during Open Day.’
Shaun was surprised. ‘Surely you’ll join me? That’s what I was coming to tell you this morning. I’ve booked a room in a local hotel. I was going to invite you to come with me.’
Despite an immediate positive reaction from her body to this prospect, Thea was despondent. ‘I’d love to, really I would…’
Shaun looked resigned, ‘But?’
‘But it’s one thing our friends knowing that you and I are together, but do we really want Open Day overshadowed by newspaper reports of “celebrity archaeologist in romance with restorer of Mill Grange” type headlines?’
‘Romance?’ Shaun grinned. ‘I like the sound of that.’
‘You know what I mean. The radio and all the big regional papers are sending journalists thanks to Mabel and Tina’s phoning round. I just want to slip into the background and let Mill Grange take centre stage. What if that awful Becky Gibson sees an article about us and does one of those “I slept with a celebrity” articles to The Sun or something?’
Shaun ran a hand over his short hair, making it spike at divergent angles. ‘Then she’ll have to get on with it. I always think articles like that make the exposer look rather pathetic. And I don’t see how that has anything to do with you and me sharing a hotel room?’
‘I know but…’
Shaun stopped her in her tracks. ‘How about I book another room in the same hotel in your name?’
Thea smiled. ‘Thank you.’
‘Doing the right thing is one thing, love, but you can take self-sacrifice too far sometimes!’ His expression made it perfectly clear he had no intention of them using both rooms even if they paid for two.
Grinning despite her fears for her future, Thea agreed. ‘And then, once it’s all over, you and I can get on with being us and I can get job hunting. I don’t suppose you know where you’re filming next? I would like to stay close, if that’s okay with you.’
Shaun only just resisted the urge to give her a shake. ‘I told you, I need a new archaeologist on the team. I sort of assumed that would be you.’
‘But we’re together now and people might think—’
‘I don’t give a flying fig what people think. And before you say “shouldn’t I have an official interview?” you’ve had one. Richard asked you lots of questions about your archaeological background when he finished up the table, didn’t he?’
‘Well yes, but we were just chatting.’
‘No you weren’t. He was asking lots of questions because I’d already mentioned I was going to ask if you’d fancy the job. So, you’ve done your interview. Therefore, Thea Thomas, I hereby offer you the position of onsite archaeologist for the duration of the filming of series twelve of Landscape Treasures. Do you accept?’
‘I do.’
‘Thank God for that. Now stop being daft and order some more scones.’
Forty-One
July 19th
‘Has Sam managed to go inside the house again?’
Relieved to be having a day off work, Tina sank into the scullery’s empty office chair.
‘Not beyond the bathroom as far as I’m aware.’ Thea, her hands on her hips, surveyed the freshly whitewashed room. Beyond her table and two chairs, the room was empty and ready to be turned back into a scullery for the Open Day in two days’ time.
Tina sighed. ‘Sam did so well to come into the kitchen with me after the fire. I’d hoped it would trigger something in him and he’d keep trying to come in.’
<
br /> ‘Maybe he has. He could easily come in after everyone has gone home in the evenings. He has a key after all. It would be easier for him without the idea of Mabel watching to see how long it takes for him to bolt to the door.’
‘Perhaps.’
Seeing Tina wasn’t convinced, Thea asked, ‘Have you guys seen much of each other since you went back to your proper job?’
‘Virtually nothing.’ Tina slipped off her shoes. ‘I’ve been working on the other side of the county for the most part and, as you well know, Somerset is huge.’
‘Are you going to see him now?’ Thea thought her friend was lacking her usual glow. ‘Sam really cares for you.’
‘Does he? I haven’t heard from him since I left. I know he doesn’t have a mobile, but there are plenty of phones and laptops he could ask to borrow.’ Tina rubbed at the balls of her feet. ‘I hate having to wear grown up shoes all day again.’
‘That’s weeks working in walking boots and then going back to wearing toe-crunchers.’ Understanding Tina’s desire not to talk about Sam, Thea asked, ‘How about you, hun? You still happy with your job?’
‘I suppose so. I used to love it.’
‘But?’
‘I got used to working with people, being part of something that wasn’t just me on the road liaising between the trustees and landlords. And I got used to being more hands on. It’s hard to give all the advice, but then not be part of implementing it now I’ve had a taste of how rewarding putting the ideas into practice can be.’
‘Makes sense.’ Thea pointed to her desk. ‘Well, if you can face doing some implementing right now, I could do with a hand taking all that paperwork out to the boot of my car.’
‘No problem – but let me slip my boots on first!’
*
Tina had almost told Thea she’d been wary about visiting Mill Grange that afternoon. She would have assumed it was because of being trapped in the mill fire, but it wasn’t.
Her orders from Malcolm to get back to her old job had been so sudden, and she’d had so much to do, that she’d left Mill Grange with more haste than she’d have liked. The night after the fire, and the few wonderful hours she and Sam had spent cuddled together with their friends, already felt like a lifetime away.
