Lily felt tired and tense at breakfast the following morning.
She had been on edge knowing that Jack was staying in the house and had endured a spectacularly rubbish night’s sleep.
And her jitters seemed to set everyone else off as well.
‘I’m not sure I finished that cup of coffee, actually,’ said Alex, taking the half-full cup from Lily that she had just picked up from the table.
‘Oh!’ She blushed furiously. ‘Sorry. I’m not sure where my mind is this morning.’
‘Must be post-fete blues,’ said Alex.
But Lily knew it wasn’t that. It was Jack’s presence in the kitchen, the way he was staring at her from across the table. She could feel his cool eyes watching her as she moved around. It was awful.
Even when she went to empty the kitchen bin outside, she found that Jack was sitting on the bench with Arthur, who was feeding small bits of toast to the dog.
‘It’s getting a bit chilly in the mornings now,’ Arthur was saying. ‘I must get my big coat out before autumn arrives.’
‘Then let’s head indoors,’ Jack told him, standing up.
But Arthur shook his head. ‘Our good lady housekeeper here says that Dylan can bring in a bit of a mess. So it’s probably best we eat out here.’
Jack frowned. ‘It’s your house,’ he said, flicking a hard stare at Lily.
In the end, it was all so awkward that Lily made her excuses and went to find Lauren to start cleaning up after all their house guests. The trouble was that there were so many people staying over she was tripping over them.
The drawing room was full of musicians lounging around. Sam’s and Arthur’s studies appeared to have an open-door policy and everyone was just coming and going. There was no routine and nothing that she could get a handle on. Her to-do list was raging out of control and her stress-filled stomach made her feel worse than ever. There was so much pressure on her that she thought she would explode very soon. But she kept her feelings to herself, as usual, and soldiered on.
She was somewhat grateful when Alex and the band left. But that still left Jack hanging around, although she didn’t know why.
On the stairs later that morning, she watched Will walk across the entrance hall with Jack, having come from the grounds at the back of the house. Wiping down the balustrade, she could hear every word.
‘The stables are now almost full with small businesses,’ she heard Will say. ‘That definitely needs rewiring. And then there’s the barn on top of that.’
Lily peeped through the staircase and saw Jack nodding thoughtfully.
‘We can’t pay you loads,’ added Will. ‘You’ve seen how tight things are around here. But we could pay the going rate.’
‘You know what? Don’t pay me at all,’ said Jack.
‘I don’t know about that,’ began Will.
‘I do.’ Jack folded his arms across his chest. ‘Listen, I’ve done alright for myself. I’ve got more than enough to tide me over for a while. Savings and all that. Let me do this for the family.’
‘Then you must stay here for free, if you’d like to,’ Will told him. ‘We can’t let you do the whole lot for free.’
‘I’ve got a house just down the road, you know,’ said Jack, grinning. ‘That’ll do just fine.’
This surprised Lily. She didn’t think he even used the place from what she’d heard.
‘None of this is your fault,’ Will replied. ‘If you hadn’t come here, it would have been someone else. You were just doing your job. I’m sorry you lost yours, though.’
‘I’m not,’ she heard Jack say. ‘This whole episode has made me rethink my priorities.’
Will smiled. ‘I had a similar thing happen to me last year. So, what do you say? Would you like to help us out?’
Jack nodded. ‘Yeah. Just until the job is done.’
‘Excellent.’ Will slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Let’s go and tell Sam. He’ll be pleased.’
Lily watched them disappear into the west wing corridor and sat down on the top step of the huge staircase. Jack was going to work there? How long for? And how on earth was she going to handle that?
‘You OK?’
With a start, Lily looked up and saw Annie staring down at her.
‘I really don’t know,’ said Lily, the shock making her speak the truth for once.
‘What’s the matter?’ Annie eased herself down onto the top step to sit next to Lily.
Lily hesitated before she spoke. Surely it wasn’t a big secret? ‘Will’s just invited Jack to stay on for a while. I think he’s going to be working on the electrics for the barn.’
‘That’s great.’ Annie’s face lit up. ‘That means we can finally go ahead and start to hire it out. Although who knows who’s going to handle those bookings on top of everything else?’ Then she looked at Lily. ‘Is this a problem for you?’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘That’s all ancient history.’
‘If you say so,’ said Annie. ‘Look, I know it might be awkward, but perhaps seeing him every day will help you two work out whatever it was that happened. Maybe you can get to know each other again.’
‘I know everything I need to about Jack Carter.’ Lily suddenly realised that she was being terribly unprofessional. ‘It’s OK. It’s really nothing for you to worry about.’
She stood up and helped Annie to stand up as well.
‘Are you sure you’re OK with this?’ asked Annie, rubbing her baby bump.
‘Absolutely,’ Lily told her.
Except she wasn’t. And it sent her into even more of a frenzy that day. She was determined to be a professional, to keep her job, and to be there long after Jack left.
Having slept badly, she found her patience almost at breaking point later that afternoon when Lauren broke yet another glass with her clumsiness.
‘I can’t do this!’ wailed Lauren.
Lily took a deep breath. ‘Yes, you can. But you must be more careful.’
‘No! I can’t. I’m really trying!’
‘Can’t you just try a little harder not to break everything in sight?’ snapped Lily, losing her patience.
Lauren burst into tears. ‘I can’t deal with this. I quit!’
Lily was horrified. ‘No, look…’
‘I’m out of here,’ cried Lauren. ‘It’s too much.’
‘I’m sorry,’ began Lily, but she could only watch in dismay as Lauren rushed out of the front door in tears. Of course, being Lauren, she managed to catch the hat stand as she went past and sent everything crashing to the floor.
Not knowing what else to do, Lily went over to the front door and closed it before picking up all the coats and umbrellas strewn across the floor.
Well, it appears as if I’m going to have to find another maid, she thought to herself. And it was all her fault. What on earth was she going to tell Megan? And Annie?
She was failing at the job that she so desperately wanted to keep.