Chapter 4
Four
‘Guess who I’ve just met?’ Kate asked Granny Viv, the moment she returned to the house and had taken off her coat, scarf, gloves and boots.
Her gran was still seated in the sitting room in the chair beside the fire, as she had been when Kate and Rufus had gone for their walk.
Rufus bounded over to her and Granny Viv closed the book she was reading and smiled as she placed it on the table beside her and then she petted Rufus, but Kate didn’t wait for an answer.
‘Raff Gale. The co-owner, apparently, of Rafferty and Hope’s Rescue Centre for Dogs.
Imagine my surprise to discover that, not only has Old Farm been sold, but it’s already got planning consent and change of use to a dog rescue centre.
As the name implies, obviously. Now my question is, how come you never mentioned a word of any of this to any of us? ’
Kate marched to the sofa as she spoke and perched on the edge of the cushion, leaning forward, her elbows resting on her knees and her hands locked in front of her.
‘Raff Gale? Oh how lovely. He’s handsome, isn’t he? Didn’t I mention it? I thought I had. It must’ve slipped my mind.’
‘Yeah right. Nothing slips your mind. Seriously, Gran. Why haven’t you told us about this?’
Granny Viv let out a sigh. ‘I truly thought I had.’ She shook her head.
‘In all honesty, sweetheart, it happened during the summer and, like everything these days, or so it seems to me, it all happened rather fast. The farm was sold at auction. I must’ve mentioned that.
No? Oh. Well anyway, it was purchased by an elderly couple and their son.
’ Granny Viv gave a sudden laugh. ‘Listen to me. Who am I to be calling people elderly?’ She shook her head again.
‘Auctions, as you know, are a way to buy a property quickly and everything was done and dusted within four weeks. Planning was applied for and although that can take weeks, or months, or sometimes years, the new owners had made enquiries prior to the purchase, I believe. I understand the indications were good, so it was really just a formality. Old Farm had been empty for far too long and nobody wanted the farmhouse to sit there for any longer than was absolutely necessary and become completely derelict along with all those barns and outbuildings crumbling into the ground. No one opposed it and it sailed through. I met the owners at some event or other, I forget what it was, towards the end of last year, but by then I was so busy thinking about my upcoming Big birthday that I didn’t give it another thought. ’
‘Really?’ Kate doubted that. Granny Viv took a keen interest in everything that occurred in and around Bluewater Bay.
Granny Viv shrugged. ‘What more can I say?’ She beamed at Kate.
‘But isn’t it good to know that Old Farm is being refurbished?
Rebuilt in places. And that new life will be breathed into the ancient farm.
Granted, it won’t be a farm, but there will still be animals.
A dog rescue centre is such a good cause.
So much better than the alternative. Developers were eyeing the place over the years but no one wanted some soulless housing estate springing up on the other side of High Hill.
Good gracious, I’m feeling parched. Be a darling and make us some coffee, please, sweetheart. ’
Kate knit her brows together. ‘Fine. I’ll make some toast while I’m there, and I’ll give Rufus his breakfast. Would you like anything other than coffee?’
‘No thank you.’
Kate was certain there must be more to this than her gran was saying, but she got to her feet and headed to the kitchen with Rufus right behind her.
The village was usually a hotbed of gossip and yet the grapevine had been oddly quiet and not one tongue had been wagging – or should that be tail in this case?
Kate laughed to herself. Not even Trish, who owned the local pet shop, Paws for Life had mentioned it.
Neither had Maud, the manageress of Bonnie’s Diner.
She, like Granny Viv, usually knew everything there was to know in the village.
And then there was Shirley. She was the Reception Manager at The Cliff Surgery, Captain of the Ladies’ Darts Team at The White Lion pub, musical director of the Bluewater Bay Women’s Choir, one of the organisers of the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Event, a member of the Best Christmas Home committee, and general, all-round busybody ‘extraordinaire’, so for her not to have said anything about it, seemed very strange to Kate.
She returned to the sitting room with a tray on which there was a pot of coffee, jug of milk, sugar bowl, two mugs, and a plate with toast and marmalade.
She placed the tray on the coffee table and poured out the coffee, handing one mug to her gran before sitting where she had earlier, munching on her toast.
‘Thank you, sweetheart.’ Granny Viv took a sip of her drink and then drew her brows together. ‘Did you know that anyone can open an animal rescue centre? Absolutely anyone. Well, probably not someone with a criminal record, but other than that, anyone at all.’
‘No,’ said Kate after she had swallowed a mouthful of toast. ‘Is that true?’
‘I believe so. Raff told me.’
‘Raff? When? Surely not at that event you mentioned? Why would he tell you that?’
Granny Viv looked as if she might be hiding something, but she threw Kate her sweetest smile – a definite sign that she was – and nonchalantly waved one hand in the air. ‘Who can recall when or where?’
‘Apparently not you. Or so you’d like me to believe. What else did this man, Raff, tell you? Or has your mind gone completely blank?’
Granny Viv smirked sarcastically. ‘You wait until you’re one hundred, and see how your memory does.
And no. I can’t recall him telling me anything else.
’ She gave Kate a thoughtful, but also a somewhat odd, look.
‘What did you think of him? I’m sure someone mentioned that he was formerly a teacher at one of those posh public schools.
Isn’t it strange that they’re called ‘public schools’ when the majority of the public could never afford to send their kids to one? ’
Kate narrowed her eyes. ‘If you’re suggesting that he and I have something in common, forget it.
’ She was surprised by that news though.
And yet, there was something about him that …
No. She wasn’t going there. ‘As for being called public schools, that’s because they once were.
Now, as you say, only the wealthy can afford them.
Public, Private, Independent. They’re all fee-paying, and way out of most people’s reach.
Mind you, so are universities these days.
But don’t get me started on the Education System. ’
‘God forbid. Oh, and I believe he’s single.’
‘Gran.’ Kate ground her teeth.
‘What? I’m only saying.’
‘I know exactly what you’re saying and the answer is no.’
‘Isn’t it curious that you met one another on Valentine’s Day of all days? Perhaps it’s a sign.’
‘It was a sign that I might need to leave Rufus’s ball behind in future when we walk on the beach.’
Kate met Granny Viv’s look of confusion and at the same moment, Rufus rejoined them, having finished his breakfast. He sprawled out on the rug just as he had last night.
Despite knowing full well that she would probably end up regretting it, Kate relayed the tale of the morning’s events.
Granny Viv’s astonishment was evident without the fact that she raised her voice. ‘No! He took off his shoes and socks and wadded into freezing water to rescue Rufus’s ball for you?’
‘No. He made that very clear. He did it for Rufus, not for me.’
‘Oh. Even so. What a hero!’
‘What a fool. He could still die from hypothermia. With any luck. Sorry. That was mean. And an exaggeration. But I behaved like a bumbling idiot and there is no way I’m going to have that man portrayed as a hero just for paddling in a few inches of sea water and retrieving a cheap old tennis ball.’
‘Freezing sea water, remember.’
‘Foolish behaviour and entirely his choice.’
‘Damsel in distress?’
‘Hardly a damsel. And I wasn’t distressed.’
That wasn’t exactly true. Although distress was the wrong word. Bemused, bewildered, nonplussed, flummoxed, confuzzled (Kate loved that word) all aflutter.
Any or all of the above, but not really distressed.
In fact, if anything, the feeling Kate had experienced in his presence was actually a little exciting.
No it wasn’t. The man was rude.
So was she.
He evaded her questions. Did he have something to hide?
She had no right to ask them. Just because she had been stupid enough to blurt out so much about herself and her family, it didn’t mean he had to do likewise.
‘Kate? Did you hear me?’
‘What? Sorry, Gran. What did you say?’
Granny Viv laughed. ‘I asked what you had felt, if it wasn’t distress?’
‘Nothing. I felt nothing. So, what are we going to do? Lunch? Shopping? I might take a nap while you have coffee with Millicent. Unless you think she would mind?’
Granny Viv met Kate’s look. Until Kate looked away.
‘I’m sure she won’t mind, darling, if I tell her that you had such a bad night. And … a … let’s say, an unsettling experience on your walk. Although I still think it was Fate.’
Kate tutted and got to her feet. Rufus remained where he was, his paws twitching as though he were dreaming. Which he probably was judging from the snoring.
‘I’ll put these in the dishwasher and go for a nap. You know where to find me if you want me.’
Why on earth she heard Raff’s voice in her head, saying something similar, as she collected the mugs and placed them and her empty plate, back on the tray, was beyond her comprehension.