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Will yawned as they drove across Canterbury on roads pleasantly devoid of the weekday rush hour traffic.
‘God, I’m shattered,’ he said. ‘I was looking forward to a nice lie in with you this morning.’ His masculine appearance had an even more rugged edge that morning, as there had been no time to shave off his dark stubble.
Will’s train had been delayed and he’d not arrived until after eleven the previous night. They had stayed up until after midnight, catching up on news, and sharing a bottle of wine to help them relax. Will had followed his wine with a couple of whiskies and Gina practically had to drag him out of bed that morning.
‘We can go back to bed later,’ she said. ‘I want to speak to the estate agent myself and emphasise that we haven’t changed our mind about Augustine Avenue. At least we can see them in person instead of phoning and wires getting crossed again.’
‘True,’ said Will, yawning again, ‘I’m just a lazy sod.’
‘Hardly,’ said Gina. ‘Anyway, after this we can relax and enjoy ourselves. Also, it does no harm to have a back-up in case there is a problem with the other house.’
‘It’s strange we couldn’t see it on the web,’ said Will. He was paying particular attention to the sights as they made their way through the city and out towards Downfield Close. ‘I think I’m beginning to get my bearings,’ he said. ‘The station is just down there, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, the West Station, where you arrived last night.’
‘How far is it to where we are going?’
‘Er, less than a mile,’ she replied. The satnav continued to direct them. Gina’s face looked strained, she frowned as they turned into the next road. ‘Wait a minute,’ she pulled over and stopped.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I just want to check the slip of paper Carly gave me.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, it just seems a bit, well, not the sort of place we would be interested in. I’m sure this is mainly student accommodation around here.’
Will checked the address again. ‘Well, it’s the address on the paper. Do you think Carly made a mistake?’
Gina shrugged. ‘I don’t know. She seems efficient and she’s not made any mistakes since I’ve been at Barker and Hinds. I should have looked on street view, but I was so busy trying to finish my paperwork last night.’
‘Look, it’s a long road, we aren’t anywhere near number twenty-seven yet.’
Gina drove slowly as they checked the numbers of the houses.
‘This is it, unfortunately,’ said Will. ‘God, what a dump!’
‘There must be some mistake. I’m not living here, it’s awful!’ shouted Gina. ‘I’m going to give them such a bollocking when they arrive. Two mistakes, what a nuisance. It’s no wonder they are described as the most hated profession.’
‘Isn’t that traffic wardens?’
‘I don’t fucking care,’ said Gina. ‘I could give someone a slap!’
‘Well, don’t take it out on me,’ joked her husband. ‘I could be in the land of Nod. Wake me up when they arrive.’ He slid down in his seat and closed his eyes.
It was now after 8 a.m., and there was no sign of any estate agent. Gina took out her phone and phoned the office but nobody from Briggs answered. She checked their website for their opening hours which were stated as 9 a.m. on Saturdays. Gina felt a horrible creeping sensation as if her skin was crawling with insects. Something definitely felt awry.
‘Ahhh!’ shouted Will, as his body jerked. ‘Oh, where am I?’ he asked. ‘I must have dropped off.’
‘Will, I think there’s been a mistake or not really a mistake. I think we’ve been set up.’
‘Set up? What do you mean?’
‘I mean someone is playing tricks on us.’
‘Well, it’s not very funny. Have you phoned Brights, or whatever they are called?’
‘Briggs. Yes, they aren’t open. I didn’t think to check last night. I was so tired and there’s been so much going on, then the confusion about us having changed our mind, my mind is overloaded.’ Gina began to cry.
‘Hey, darling, it’s not that bad. We’ll go back to the flat, and then walk into town and speak to them at the office. These sort of mix-ups happen all the time. We can get some breakfast in town! That will be nice.’
Gina blew her nose. ‘Yes, that will be nice, but you don’t understand. I think someone is taking it out on me. I’m being targeted.’
‘Targeted? Gina, you aren’t making sense.’
‘I know. It’s because I’ve not told you what’s been happening. There have been other things.’
‘Gina! What’s been happening? Tell me!’ Will had turned around in his seat and was now facing her. He held her hands. ‘I want to know what has been going on.’
‘I don’t know what it is really. I’ve had a couple of odd things in the post. It might be someone from the inquiry.’
‘Let’s swap seats, I’ll drive. We are going to go home, make some coffee and then you can explain. I am not having you intimidated. We are going to sort all this out.’
Gina duly complied and Will started the car. He entered their home address in the satnav and they set off. After their disagreement the other night, he had hoped they were back on a more even keel and this weekend would be a couple of days of reconciliation. Now it was as if the rug had been pulled from beneath their feet. He sincerely hoped this was a slight hitch along the way and not a portent of even worse times ahead.
**
Tom returned from his run to find Trish sitting out in the garden having a coffee and a croissant.
‘Oh, hi, there’s some coffee left, want some?’
‘No thanks, I’ll get some water.’
He returned with a large glass which he drained almost in one gulp.
‘That’s better.’ He stretched. ‘I had a good run this morning. Went out along the river towards Chartham. I love that route. There were some swans swimming along, and I saw a couple of rabbits hopping along the path.’
He looked at the table and frowned. ‘What’s that?’
‘Oh, it’s a new gadget, it helps me monitor my stress levels.’
‘Really? How does it work?’
‘Well, you hold it here, between your thumb and finger and it links to an app on my phone. See?’
‘Yes, I see, then what do you do?’
‘Well, you can change your breathing and check how your stress levels reduce. I found that I wasn’t aware of how I was over-breathing and that makes things worse.’
Tom seemed unimpressed.
‘Was it expensive?’
‘Not hugely.’
‘Which means?’
‘Tom, I don’t ask you how much your new trainers cost! I don’t have to explain how I spend my money.’
‘Sorry. I hope it works. I didn’t mean to seem negative.’
‘Well, I could take up my old habit? Would you prefer that?’
‘You know I wouldn’t. Besides, I guess a twenty a day habit is expensive.’
‘Exactly. Look, whilst I’m building up my medication I think it will help. It takes a while for anti-depressants to reach their full effectiveness.’
‘I know, sorry, I didn’t mean to seem critical.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Anyway, you’ve got your birthday coming up soon. Think about what you’d like to do. We could go away for a few days. I don’t mean abroad, somewhere not too far. Suffolk, Norfolk? Anywhere you fancy.’
‘I will, thanks. At least by then, I’ll have lasted longer than my Dad did. Fifty-two. It was no age really.’
‘Oh, no, don’t say that. He was so young, it must have been a shock for you to lose him when you were only a teenager. Do you think that might be causing you extra stress?’
Trish shrugged. ‘No idea. Possibly but it’s a long time ago. It wasn’t a pleasant relationship, but he did work hard. That was one thing in his favour, perhaps his only redeeming quality.’
Tom sighed. He felt so sad that Trish had suffered such a painful childhood. ‘Didn’t you say it was the stress of his promotion that caused his heart attack?’
‘Most likely, although he developed the arrhythmia before that, and don’t forget medicine has moved on a lot since those days. He would probably have survived nowadays. They have more drugs available to treat things like that.’
‘Well, that’s true. I don’t think people realise just how far medicine has developed. Anyway, what do you fancy doing today?’
‘Nothing too strenuous, I’ve increased my dose today so I might feel a bit sleepy. Can you drive me to Waitrose?’
‘Sure, no problem. I’ve got a bit of work to do this afternoon, but we could watch a film this evening? What do you think?’
‘Sounds good. You go and take a shower, and I’ll get my stuff together. We can get another coffee at Waitrose, as we are entitled to a free one!’
Trish had considered keeping her recent purchase a secret from Tom but had decided to grasp the nettle and tell him. Somehow it felt better this way. She didn’t want to start having secrets in their relationship.
