Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
W arren was saying something, but Anna didn’t register the words as she stepped out of the car at the end of the sprawling driveway and gazed up at the stylish Georgian house, built from the distinct golden-coloured Bath stone.
Having expected a quaint cottage, the building – which was more of a small manor house – was slightly intimidating.
Two rows of miniature fir trees, tastefully decorated with soft orange fairy lights, were lined up like soldiers to lead the way to the front door.
“This is where you came on childhood holidays?” Anna asked, glancing at Warren as he lifted their bags from the boot.
“Yes.” Gravel crunched underfoot as they moved towards the front door. “You heard what I said, right? You got yourself into this? If you have a terrible time, you only have yourself to blame.”
“I’m not worried,” she said. “I think it’ll be fun.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
“I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me,” she replied, amused.
“You know what I mean,” he said with a hint of an eye roll .
He insisted on carrying her bag as they ascended the few steps to the front door. Weirdly, she felt pretty confident while they waited in silence after the extended melodic chime of the doorbell.
“They probably forgot we’re coming,” Warren said, giving up on waiting and trying the handle to find the door open. He walked into the spacious entranceway, at the centre of which was a tall Christmas tree, decked out with stylish blue and silver baubles.
“Hello!” Warren called, depositing their bags at the foot of the wide staircase. “Anybody home?”
Anna’s eyes flittered over the selection of abstract paintings on the white walls. She was no art aficionado, but she’d guess they weren’t cheap.
“Where is everyone?” she whispered, feeling suddenly like an intruder.
“They’ll be around here somewhere.” He tipped his head and set off along the hall.
“It’s huge,” Anna remarked when he opened the second door they came to and revealed a large but cosy living room with three walls lined with glass-fronted bookcases and the other wall containing a huge wall-mounted TV.
“It’s too big,” Warren said. “You can’t find people. Let’s try the kitchen.”
They hadn’t got much further along the hall when a voice reached them – loud and assertive and seemingly mid-argument.
“That’s my sister,” Warren said flatly.
He knocked on the doorframe of the open doorway at the end of the hall as he stepped through it.
Anna followed him into the large open-plan kitchen/dining room.
At the marble top island, a young woman sat perched on a high stool with a laptop and a bunch of papers spread in front of her.
She glanced up, her eyes landing on Warren and Anna before darting back to the laptop screen to continue her video call .
“I have to go,” she said. “My brother and his girlfriend just arrived. But make the changes to the contract. If we have to redo it later, so be it. And if Peter Fisher gets back to you, I want to know about it straightaway.” Her lips pulled to what might have been a smile, but was so fleeting it was hard to say for sure.
Then she closed the lid of her laptop and slid off her stool.
Even if it weren’t for the logos on her crisp white shirt and the buckle of her belt, the perfect tailoring of her jeans and shirt made it clear the outfit was all designer labels.
Together with her neatly styled blonde hair, perfectly made-up face and subtle but striking jewellery, she looked as though she’d just stepped out of a high-class magazine as she strode over to them.
“It’s so great you could make it,” she said, leaning into Warren and greeting him with an air kiss beside his cheek. “I said to Mum, I’d believe it when I saw you, but here you are.”
“Here I am,” Warren parroted, then gestured beside him. “Selena, this is Anna.”
“Lovely to meet you.” She smiled, but made no move for physical contact. “Mum’s been telling me all about you.”
“It’s good to meet you too,” Anna said. “This house is gorgeous.”
“Yes, I love it. Sometimes I just need to get out of the city. It’s the perfect escape.”
“Where are Mum and Dad?” Warren asked.
“In the study.” Selena grimaced. “Mum said to tell you something came up with the deal they’re working on. They’ll probably be on video calls all afternoon, but she said you should make yourselves at home.”
Her phone rang, and she backtracked to her makeshift desk.
“That’s my assistant, Patricia. I should probably take it.
” She cast Anna an apologetic smile. “It’s a little chaotic today, but we’ll all have dinner together later.
” She swiped her finger across the phone screen.
“Hang on one second, Patricia.” Setting her phone on the worktop, she collected up her papers and lifted them into the crook of her arm with her laptop.
“Where’s Josh?” Warren asked.
“With Tamara. I think she was taking him to some play centre in Bath. They’ll be back for dinner. We’ll eat at seven.” With her phone at her ear, she waltzed past them, then stopped in the doorway and turned back. “You’re in the back bedroom. The one that used to be the playroom.”
“I thought we’d be up in the attic,” Warren said.
She wrinkled her nose. “Why would you be up there?”
“Because that was always my room.”
“You must have been a teenager the last time you slept in that room. Of course you wouldn’t sleep up there. Besides, Josh sleeps up there with Tamara.”
“Right,” Warren said wearily.
Selena looked as though she was about to speak into her phone, but shifted it to her shoulder at the last minute.
“I can recommend afternoon drinks in the hot tub. There’s plenty of champagne in the fridge out there.
See you later.” As she turned, she pressed her phone to her ear.
“Patricia, are you still there? What’s the latest from Peter? ”
“She seems nice,” Anna said as Selena’s voice receded along the hall.
Warren snorted a laugh. “It looks as though we’re entertaining ourselves for the afternoon. Do you want a drink?”
“Champagne in the hot tub, please,” she said dryly, then grinned when she caught Warren’s eye. “Or a cup of tea would be fine, too.”
While he filled the kettle, Anna drifted to the console table at the end of the dining room, which was loaded with framed family photos – all of which appeared to have been taken professionally. She frowned as she got closer.
“These are all of your family,” she said, picking up one of the four of them, where Warren looked to be a young teenager .
“Yes,” he said, coming over to stand beside her.
Anna’s jaw slackened, and she turned to look at him. “I thought this was a place they rent out for one week a year, but… is this…?”
“My parents own it.”
“They own it and rent it out?” Anna asked, confused. “Or they just have a second home?”
“Second home.”
Anna’s eyes felt huge. “Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’ve spent a lot of time here?”
He nodded. “Most school holidays when we were growing up.”
“I didn’t realise,” Anna whispered, then turned to look at the place with fresh eyes. It was stylish in a minimalistic way, but it didn’t have much warmth to the decor, which was all white and chrome and glass.
“I haven’t been here for years.” Warren drifted back to the kitchen and opened a few cupboards before finding mugs.
“Why not?” Anna asked, leaning against the island.
A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he seemed to avoid looking at her as he focused on making drinks. “I don’t really know,” he said eventually, but it felt like a lie. Anna suspected he knew exactly why and just didn’t want to say. “I’m usually busy with work when they’re here.”
“That’s a shame,” she said, taking the elegant white mug with the gold rim.
His hum of response was ambiguous as he sat on a stool at the island.
“Let’s drink these and see what the playroom looks like these days,” he said after a moment.
Anna supposed they wouldn’t be in separate rooms after all. She lifted her mug to hide the smile that crept over her face.