Lou and I had agreed we would corner Mum together on Tuesday evening after we’d both finished work.
“Wow, who’s upset you?” Lou asked as she got into the passenger seat when I arrived to collect her. “I haven’t seen you look so pissy for ages.”
She dropped her bag into the footwell and fastened her seatbelt.
“It’s a long story.”
“Let me guess, Nasreen?” She pulled a bottle of water from her bag, popped off the top and took a drink.
“She just managed to make a crap few days even crapper.” I’d told Lou about Mike and I deciding to be friends and about Gary doing work on the cottage. But I hadn’t mentioned the other stuff, the Steve and me stuff. “She just managed to push my buttons banging on about how Steve and Chloe were going to gig together at Benny’s Bar and everyone said they were forming a new band.”
Lou frowned, a perplexed look on her face. “But why does that bother you?
Do you think he’s serious about this Chloe?”
“He slept with lots of women when he was in Danger Line.” I released the handbrake and pulled the car out into the traffic. “And he slept with me Saturday night.”
“And sleeping with you is a bad thing?” Lou’s voice sounded very calm. “I think he still loves you.” She folded her arms and stared out of the windscreen ahead of her, her chin tipped up at a determined angle.
“Lou, he’s seeing someone else.” I didn’t know what to think any more and I’d spent all of Sunday and Monday night tossing and turning while I’d tried to sort out my ideas.
“It could be he’s only seeing this girl on some kind of music business.” Lou suggested.
“But what if he is forming a new group? Where does that leave me?”
“Babe, he might be doing a gig for fun, it doesn’t mean it’s going to turn into something serious.”
Louise hadn’t seen Chloe, she was young and pretty. Why wouldn’t Steve be seeing her? I decided to take the heat off me for a moment.
“You could be right. Anyway, enough about me, what’s happening with you and Jamie?”
Lou shrugged. “He’s cute and fun. We hooked up again Sunday night and he’s even better in bed when he’s sober.” She giggled at the look on my face. “Seems as if it was a hot weekend for both of us.”
A few minutes later I pulled the car to a stop outside Mum’s house and we both gazed at the estate agent’s sign in the front garden.
“Okay, here we go.” I climbed out of the car.
We walked together down the drive. Mum must have been listening out for the car because she opened the front door before we had chance to knock.
“Come on through, I’m in the garden. It’s such a nice evening.” She beamed happily at us.
Lou and I exchanged glances as we followed her through the house and out onto the back patio. We took a seat under the big green parasol that shaded the concrete slabs from the evening sun while Mum fussed about getting us both cold drinks.
“Is Chuck not here?” Lou asked when mum finally took a seat on one of the floral padded loungers.
“No, he had a phone call while we were on our way back. He’s had to go to London – urgent business. He’ll be home tomorrow.”
“I though Chuck had retired?” I wasn’t sure what he’d retired from. I recalled he’d said he’d retained a few business dealings when we’d first met him but I couldn’t remember what they were.
“He is. He does some freelance consultancy work, his opinion is very highly sought after in the investments field. He’s given me lots of good tips.” Mum smiled.
Lou quirked an eyebrow. “So, when did you decide to sell the house? And why didn’t you tell us before you went away? It was a bit of a shock getting a phone call saying it was on the market and then we couldn’t get hold of you to find out what was going on.”
Mum had the grace to look a little sheepish. “Everything happened quite quickly. You know we’d said we fancied buying a holiday hideaway by the sea? Well, we saw the most beautiful house. Wait, I’ll get the details.” She jumped up and scurried off indoors.
“What do you make of that?” Lou whispered as soon as Mum was safely inside the house.
“I don’t know but I can’t say I like the sound of it.” I didn’t get chance to say anything more before Mum returned brandishing an estate agent's brochure.
“Now look at this cottage. It’s so beautiful.” She spread the leaflets out on the table in front of us. “Of course on my own I’d never be able to afford it, but Chuck has some money put by.”
I blinked when I saw the price tag. “You know the market is still flat Mum.
Did you negotiate a reduction?”
“We got some money off, that’s why we had to act so quickly to secure it.
Coastal properties are still selling, so the agent said, and there were other people interested in the house.”
“You’ve paid a deposit?” Lou frowned.
“Oh, it's okay, we’ll get it back if anything goes wrong. It just shows the buyer that we’re serious. Chuck was marvellous. He’s handled all of that.” Mum pointed to the pictures in front of us. “It’s got sea views from virtually all the rooms.”
My head had begun to reel. “So Chuck’s paid the deposit?”
Mum tutted. “No silly, obviously he hasn’t transferred all his banking here yet.
He’s going to see to that while he’s in the city. I used my savings bonds and Chuck sorted it all out with the agent.”
“You’ve had a receipt and everything?” Lou asked.
Mum frowned at us. “You two could be a little bit more excited for me.
Chuck’s got all the paperwork.”
“It does look like a lovely house, Mum,” Lou said.
“We are pleased for you, Mum. I think we were surprised because you hadn’t said you were selling up here.” I made a mental note of the name of the estate agency and decided to call them to verify what was going on.
“I hadn’t intended to sell this house but it’s the only way Chuck and I can afford this new one and you’ll be able to come and stay with us. There are five bedrooms and think how lovely it’ll be for the baby.” She smiled at Lou.
Lou smiled back at her but I wondered what my sister really thought of the idea. With Mum living miles away she wouldn’t be around to give her much help when the baby was born.
We stayed a while longer while Lou and Mum chatted about the forthcoming baby scan and Mum’s grand plans for her new home. By the time we left it was getting dark and my tummy had started to grumble for supper.
“Okay, so what do you think about all this house moving business?” Lou asked as soon as we’d finished waving goodbye and were safely inside my car.
“I didn’t like Mum saying she’d used her savings bonds for the deposit. It could all be above board I suppose.” I wished I could be certain. I didn’t like having suspicious thoughts about Chuck but at the end of the day we still didn’t know anything very much about him. Perhaps Lou and I had watched one too many episodes of The Bill or Hustle but I couldn’t help feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
Lou snorted, “Yeah, and I’m the tooth fairy.”
“I’ll check out with the estate agent tomorrow. They may not tell me much but I’ll try and find out if Chuck has given them a deposit.”
We halted outside Lou’s flat. “Mum will kill you if she gets wind of you poking around in her business.” Lou released her seatbelt.
“I know, but we can’t just sit back and do nothing, can we?” She was right of course about us snooping but what else could we do?
“I’ll see if she tells me anything else tomorrow while we’re at the hospital.”
“Thanks Lou.” I leaned across to give my sister a hug. “I hope it all goes well, and I want to see pics of my nephew or niece.”
A big smile lit up her face. “I’m quite excited about it now. Maybe I’ll get to work out who the daddy is, too.”
“Maybe.”
She clambered out of the car. “See you at class tomorrow night.”
I waved goodnight to her and set off back to the cottage, still fretting about Mum and Chuck. The late shop was still open so I called in on my way home to stock up on some groceries.
My mobile rang before I’d reached the checkout with my macaroni cheese for one.
“Hello, this is Brian. We can come this Saturday night. There’ll be myself, a couple of mediums who I usually work with and Beaner himself is coming too.” He spoke as if I was being granted some high honour.
“Yes, that would be great. Um, I may have a few friends here. Will that be all right?”
“It is a serious investigation, so they can't get in the way,” Brian warned.
“They won’t.” Lou would want to come and Mike was quite sensible. “Beaner has some family connections with your cottage so it’ll be interesting to see what we find.”
My heart gave a little leap. “Oh, I’m researching the families who’ve lived here to try and find...um” I was the only customer around but I felt embarrassed talking about ghosts in the middle of the corner shop.
“He’s got a rare talent has Beaner. He only accompanies us on exceptional cases as he has so many demands for his services.”
“Yes, of course.” I was desperate to know more.
“See you on Saturday.” Brian rang off and I went and paid for my supper.
I wondered what Beaner’s family connection with the cottage was. Whatever it might be it would have to wait till Saturday.
The next day started badly. Nasreen made sure she mentioned that she intended going to Steve and Chloe’s gig at least seven times to other people whenever I was in earshot. In the end even Jo lost her patience with her and moved her to work in one of the offices so we didn’t have to keep hearing her.
As soon as I had the chance I called the estate agent’s office listed on Mum’s details. I’m not terribly good at fibbing so perhaps it was as well that I was fishing via phone rather than visiting them in person.
“Morris, Gilbert and Smith, how may I help you?” The estate agent on the other end of the line sounded brisk and efficient. I crossed my fingers and took a deep breath.
“I saw a cottage listed for sale a few weeks ago that I was quite interested in and wondered if it was still on the market. Seacliffe, I believe it came with an acre or so of land?” I held my breath.
“Ah yes, a delightful house with extensive seaviews. There have been quite a few people interested in purchasing.” The agent sounded a little friendlier. No doubt the price tag of the cottage would ensure a nice commission for whoever sold it.
“I live outside the area at the moment and plan to relocate. I'm considering a visit soon to look at a number of properties. I thought I’d check that Seacliffe would still be available if I were to include it in my list?” I held my breath. This was the agent’s cue to say that it was under offer.
“We have a couple interested in the property but at the moment it is still available. Would you like an appointment to view?”
I almost dropped my mobile. Chuck was supposed to have paid a deposit with Mum’s money so the house should be off the market.
“Er… I’ll have to get back to you when I’m coming down.” I gave her my mobile number in case there had been some mix-up in the office and she was unaware of Mum’s offer.
I finished the call and debated texting Lou. A quick glance at the clock on the staff room wall though told me she was probably in the maternity unit with mum right now. I decided to wait until we met up for our evening class.
Jo let me finish work five minutes before Nasreen so I could make my escape without being subjected to more of her snide remarks. When I switched my mobile on I saw I’d got one text and one message. The text was from Lou.
‘Gud news, not having twins. Baby ok, see you ltr.’
Lou’s text made me smile even if it didn’t mention which of the baby’s potential daddies was in the frame.
The message was from Steve.
“Bloody Po-faced Poole turned up today and went nuts about the window.
Lots of problems. I’ll see you when you get home.” My spirits sank. Steve sounded both angry and upset. I wasn’t surprised that Mr Poole had been angry about the window; I only hoped that we weren’t going to get a massive fine.
I stashed my phone back in my bag and drove off. On impulse I called in at the supermarket on my way back to the cottage and picked up a couple of bottles of Steve’s favourite German wheat beer. Since he’d sounded so upset on the phone and he’d given me my lovely and expensive bath products, I wanted to do something nice for him in return.
He was sitting out on the patio when I walked along the garden path, a can of lager open in front of him.
“Bad day?” I took a seat opposite. “Got you a present.”
I fished in the carrier and presented him with the beer.
“Thanks, Kate.” He flashed me a brief smile.
“What happened when Mr Poole came?”
Steve raked his hand through his hair and sighed. “He went loco when he saw the boards over the bathroom window and found out the frame was smashed.”
“You did tell him we’d got the glass though?” It didn’t seem a good time to say ‘I told you so.’
He nodded. “Yes, I told him. And I assured him we had a good carpenter.”
“And?”
Steve studied the table top, disposing of a stray ant that had come to explore.
“He wasn’t impressed. He wanted to stop all the work.”
“Could he do that?” I didn’t know why I asked. I felt sick. Stopping all the renovations would cripple us. Every delay or setback meant we would be later going on the market eating up our profit margins.
Steve lifted his head. “Yeah, he could do that. It took me almost an hour to persuade him not to.”
I relaxed back in my seat. “Then we’re okay?”
He didn’t reply straight away.
“Steve?” My anxiety flooded back. “He isn’t going to fine us is he?”
Steve shook his head. “He’s going to be visiting every week. We can’t start anything new without his express permission and he’s going to double check every item of work we complete that could potentially affect the listed status.” He scuffed the soles of his work boots against the surface of the patio sending a small stone flying into the buddleia bush.
“At least he didn’t stop the work completely or hit us with a huge financial penalty.”
He took a sip from his lager tin. “Yeah, I suppose it could have been worse.
How was your day? Heard anything yet from Lou?”
I showed him Lou’s text and told him our suspicions about Chuck and the results of my conversation with the estate agency.
“Is the agency on the level? Or are they hoping to get the seller a better deal?”
“I looked them up on the web and they seem very reputable.”
Steve frowned. “Perhaps the agent made a mistake if she wasn’t the one who dealt with it?”
“I’ve left my mobile number and thought I’d call again next week. I am worried though, Ste. It doesn’t sound right to me and with Chuck going away I’m wondering if he plans to come back.”
“All you can do is wait and see what happens.”
“I know, you’re right.” It didn’t make me feel any better though. “I’d better go and make supper, I’m meeting Lou for our evening class.” I picked up my bag.
“Is that the one with the spooky people?” He made the question sound teasing but there was a definite undercurrent of some other emotion I couldn’t quite work out.
“No, it’s the history class with Mike. The paranormal team are coming on Saturday night to do the vigil. Do you want to take part?” Part of me wanted him to refuse. The other, scaredy-cat, part of me would feel a lot less frightened if he was there.
“Who else will be there?” He traced his finger around the top of his can.
“Mike is coming and I expect Lou will want to be there. Brian, the paranormal team man, says we have to take it seriously.”
“Is it still on then, between you and Mike?” Steve’s question startled me. We had deliberately avoided asking one another about people we might be dating. The surprised look on my face must have given him his answer.
“Forget I said anything, after all it’s none of my business, is it?” He stood abruptly and strode away towards his caravan.
I’d arranged to pick Lou up from her flat. I barely had time to pull the car to a halt outside the block before Lou wrenched the door open and slipped inside the car.
“Do you want to see your niece or nephew?” She brandished a brown envelope at me.
I took the envelope from her and extracted some black and white pictures.
“I’ll explain.” Lou snatched them back and began to twist them round. “Look, here’s the head, and the bone in the top of its leg.” She pointed at various white and grey splodges while I tried to recognise what I was looking at.
“They aren’t very good pictures because it wouldn’t keep still. But, Kate, I saw the heart beat and everything.” Lou’s eyes shone with excitement and emotion.
“It’ll be a beautiful baby.” I slid the pictures back carefully inside the envelope and handed them back to her.
“I kept thinking while the woman started the scan that I’d feel stupid if there was nothing there. You know, if I’d misread the pregnancy tests or I’d been having a phantom pregnancy.” She dashed her hand across her eyes. “Then she turned the screen towards me and Mum and said, ‘there’s the heartbeat’, and we started crying.”
Lou sniffed. “I really am having a baby, Kate.”
“I know.” I grinned back at her. My own eyes had become a bit blurry with tears.
“Anybody seeing us will think we’re both daft, laughing and crying at the same time.” She pulled a tissue from her bag and blew her nose.
“Did they work your dates out?” She still hadn’t mentioned who the father might be.
She tucked her tissue and the envelope with the scan pictures away inside her bag. “Yes, they were pretty much what the doctor and the midwife had said.”
“So?”
“So, it could still be either Gary or Jamie. I can have a paternity test done when the baby's born if I want to.”
I sat and silently digested this piece of information.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s my baby. I don’t want to share it with one of them.” Her lower lip trembled.
“But one day the baby will want to know who its daddy is.” My heart squeezed as I looked at my pretty, stubborn little sister.
“I know, that’s what Mum said too.” She reached for her seatbelt and clipped it into place. “I’ll cross that bridge later on.”