Chapter 40
Marty stood there, gaping at him.
‘Now, where was I?’ Jake looked at the blank cheque. Now he had a figure from the sales person less the deposit money he’d just put down over the phone via his bank card. Jake wrote the cheque and handed it to Marty. ‘There. Take that in, along with some proof of identity. I took the liberty of passing on the details of a solicitor friend of mine who can deal with your purchase.’
Although Jake’s intention had been to sever all ties with the Ross Corporation when he had started teacher training, and he had not been pleased to discover he was still on the company payroll, the money had given him the opportunity to give Marty and Derrick a much-needed leg-up. He was starting to rethink his position. He wasn’t about to chuck in the towel with the new teaching job he loved, but he was still on the Board of the Ross Corporation. Perhaps it was wrong to sever all ties with the company. After all, the Rosses had always been a big part of his life.
Marty finally found his voice. ‘My parents are going to freak out. They’ll think I’ve been drug dealing, or something.’
Jake’s smile faltered. He wished Marty hadn’t said that. ‘Just tell your father that you’re a Ross employee now, part of the Ross family. You’ve got a job for life, Marty. Your job might involve a bit of foreign travel, here and there.’
‘Foreign travel?’
‘There are other properties around the world belonging to the Rosses, and the people who work for them. Obviously you wouldn’t be expected to fly off somewhere just to mow a lawn, but if there was a big landscaping project, say of a new Ross building project, that sort of thing, I take it you’d be interested? You’d be well remunerated, of course, with flights and hotels paid for.’ Marty was going to be on the company payroll now, with all the benefits that came with it.
‘I … I really, really don’t know what to say.’
Jake just smiled. ‘You don’t have to say anything. But I do expect an invite to your housewarming party.’
‘Oh … oh, of course.’
Jake shook his head. ‘I am kidding. You do not have to feel obligated to invite me over to your house when you move in, honestly.’
‘But I want you to come. You and William Ross, and Marcus Ross, and whoever they want to bring too.’
Jake sighed. It was a nice thought, the Rosses dropping in on Marty in his little show home on a new development outside of Aviemore. But unfortunately, that was just never going to happen. This saddened Jake. It was always the same at Christmas; they all met up at The Lake House, but they had never once made friends in the area, or invited anyone else from the local community over to the house at Christmas or New Year in Aviemore. It was about time things changed.
He looked at Marty. ‘You know what? I’m going to take you up on your offer, and I’m going to bring along as many family members as I can.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Jake tried to sound confident, although he wasn’t sure, with their busy schedules, and William’s withdrawal from everything, save the golf course, whether that was just a pipe dream.
Marty bent down and picked up his rake. ‘I’d love to meet—’
‘Jake!’ Marcus’s breathless voice came up behind them, cutting straight across Marty. Jake turned to see Marcus taking great gasps of air as he struggled up the small grassy slope to the house.
Ignoring him, Jake turned back to Marty. ‘You were saying?’
‘Yeah, I was just saying I’d love to meet them.’
‘Jake!’ Marcus called out again.
Marty leaned to the left, looking past Jake. ‘Your friend there looks like he could use a helping hand.’
‘He is not my friend,’ said Jake, cheesed off with Marcus for interrupting the conversation. He rolled his eyes. Marty was about to meet one of the family straight away. ‘Do you remember Marcus?’ he said to Marty as they both watched Marcus reach the top of the slope and bend over, hands on his sides, trying to catch his breath.
‘Yes I do,’ he sounded uncertain. ‘He looks … different.’
Jake stared at the hunched-over figure and wondered what had happened to that muscular, athletic frame, that guy who used to sprint up these slopes like it was a walk in the park.
Finally, Marcus caught his breath and stood up straight. He looked past Jake.
Jake followed his gaze to Marty. ‘You remember Marty?’ he said to Marcus.
The look on Marcus’s face said he didn’t.
Jake said, ‘Remember the gardener? He retired a while back.’
‘Yeah, sure. Sometimes he used to bring along a fat kid.’
Jake groaned. Looking wide-eyed at Marty, he said, ‘Please excuse Marcus. I don’t know if he behaves like this on purpose or if it comes naturally.’
Marty sniggered.
Marcus shot Jake a black look. ‘What did you just say?’
Jake rolled his eyes at Marcus. ‘That fat kid is standing right in front of you.’
‘Oh.’ Marcus looked him over. ‘Well, you’ve certainly changed. Last time I saw you, you were, like, this tall.’ Marcus’s shaky hand hovered in thin air around chest height. ‘How old were you back then – nine, ten?’
‘Fourteen.’ Marty’s cheeks coloured. ‘I was small for my age.’
‘Well, you’ve certainly made up for it now,’ said Marcus, sounding way too cheerful.
Jake gave him a sideways glance.
‘So, how long has it been?’ inquired Marcus. ‘You must have finished school – right?’
Marty nodded. ‘I’m in college now, studying horticulture. My parents retired to Edinburgh.’
Marcus nodded. ‘Lovely city.’
Jake was surprised at the genuine interest Marcus was taking in Marty, because lately Marcus seemed to have his head lodged so far up his own backside that he didn’t seem at all concerned by the effect he was having on those around him. Lydia came to mind.
Jake wondered in passing whether he had even told his fiancée that he was in Scotland. Jake imagined he had, otherwise he would have got a call from Lydia. He guessed that Marcus would not have told Lydia the specifics of his trip, notably regarding his recent sojourn in a prison cell. Jake did wonder how long Lydia would put up with Marcus’s behaviour before she chucked in the towel and left him.
‘Well, we’d better get going.’
In the car, Jake wound his window down. ‘Marty, if there’s anything you need, just let me know.’
‘I will.’
‘Oh, and I’ll be waiting for that housewarming party invite.’
Marty grinned.
Jake started to wind his window up when Marty tapped on it. ‘I wanted to ask you something.’
‘Go ahead.’ Jake prompted.
He seemed uncomfortable and shifted nervously from one foot to the other. Jake could see his hand tensing around the rake. ‘It’s about the garden.’ He lifted his eyes in the direction of the hidden garden.
‘Go on.’
‘You like the flowers I planted?’
‘Sure, they’re …’ Jake glanced at Marcus who just shrugged his shoulders, ‘very colourful.’
‘Good,’ he said, although his face didn’t register that he was pleased with Jake’s response. ‘I was worried you wouldn’t like how I changed the garden.’
‘Why was that?’ Jake imagined that most people would have liked the change, but Jake had a feeling that what Marty was really asking was whether Eleanor would have approved. And there was the rub; Eleanor never had been one for flowers, and if Marty had really known Eleanor, he would have been aware of that. Still, it was a nice gesture, and Jake wasn’t about to rubbish such thought and hard work, which had transformed a dull, lifeless patch of grass.
‘It was just something Robyn said …’ Marty scuffed the earth with his shoe.
Marcus leaned across Jake, peering at Marty through the car window. ‘What’s she got to do with anything?’
Jake shoved Marcus back into his seat. ‘Never mind him,’ he said to Marty. ‘Now why don’t you tell me exactly what she said?’
‘Robyn liked everything I did to the garden – everything, that is, except that part of the garden through the hedge.’ He hesitated. ‘She said it was wrong.’
‘Wrong?’
Marty crouched down beside the car and nodded at Jake. ‘She said the hidden garden was all wrong.’ His eyes were distant.
Jake thought perhaps Robyn had met Eleanor and she knew that she wasn’t particularly into flowers.
‘Those were her exact words. I tried to get her to be more specific, to tell me exactly what was wrong so I could do something about it, but I couldn’t get anything more out of her.’
Jake chose his words carefully. ‘Maybe Robyn was right,’ Jake said softly, ‘perhaps it would be better to have asked first.’
‘I know that.’ Marty looked from Marcus then back to Jake and lowered his voice. ‘But no one was around to ask.’
Jake felt a sudden pang of guilt – how could he have let all these months go by without visiting just once?
‘What’s it all got to do with that damn Robyn?’ Marcus said gruffly.
Jake sat in the car, staring past Marcus out of the side window and watching Marty disappearing down the grassy slope. ‘She knew her.’
‘Who knew who?’ Marcus snapped his fingers in front of Jake’s face to get his attention.
Jake recounted the conversation with Marty while he drove.
‘So why do you think she pays to have the garden maintained like that?’
Jake cast an exasperated glance in Marcus’s direction.
‘What?’ Marcus said.
‘You figure it out, Einstein.’ Jake looked back at the road ahead.
Marcus fell silent. Finally, he muttered, ‘Guilt money.’
‘Pardon?’
‘She stole Eleanor’s designs and then she starts feeling guilty, so she pays for a gardener – big deal.’
‘Actually, I’ll tell you what it is.’ Jake took his eyes off the road for a second taking in Marcus’s sour expression. ‘It’s a kind gesture.’
‘Perhaps she was an old friend from school,’ Marcus offered grudgingly.
‘Perhaps,’ said Jake, but he knew that was not true. He’d never heard of her.