11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
E vie could hear the strains of the morning chorus whilst wisps of daylight snagged in the gaps of the dark grey curtains which hung at her cottage window.
It was Monday. Today was the day she and James would discover just how much of a job they had on their hands in overseeing the renovation of Cyan’s house, as well as the creation of the wedding space in the garden.
Evie forced herself out of bed and into the en-suite shower, turning the jets to ice cold in a bid to wake up. Frozen, but refreshed, she cocooned herself in the fluffiest of soft white towels and returned to her room, congratulating herself on hanging everything up the night before as a way of avoiding James. Pausing before she pulled on the right clothes for the day she considered what she’d be doing. More than likely they’d be getting stuck straight in, briefing the team of decorators and carpenters who were due to arrive early on what they would be expected to do. Whilst she wouldn’t necessarily be picking up a paintbrush that day, she couldn’t rule it out.
Practical and comfortable was the order of the day she decided, pulling on some denim shorts and a white vest top. It was going to be another hot summer’s day, the heat was already beginning to fill her room, so Evie left the hooded top she’d pulled out to wear. Chances were she’d only need that if she was working at midnight, and she was hoping that wasn’t on the cards.
Pulling open the door, the sound muffled against the thick carpet, Evie padded down the landing to the stairs staying as quiet as possible so as not to wake James. It was barely six-thirty and she needed a coffee and peace to get her thoughts together before she was required to talk to anyone. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, yelping in surprise as a man in just a pair of shorts leaped from the table he’d been sitting at, banging his knees and crying out.
‘What are you doing sneaking around?’ James asked, holding his knee and wincing.
Evie shook her head, dumbfounded. ‘Me? I wasn’t sneaking, I just came down quietly so I wouldn’t wake you. What are you doing sitting down here half naked?’ As soon as she said the words Evie clamped her mouth shut. She sounded like someone’s mum. She’d also pointed out she knew he was sitting there with his top off. Rolling her eyes Evie turned around to make a start on a coffee. At least, she would, if she could find the machine.
Staring at all the cupboards that weren’t giving anything anyway Evie felt the prickle of tears. They were coming from a place of frustration, tiredness and a lack of caffeine and she blinked a couple of times to clear them.
‘Allow me,’ James reached across her and pressed on one of the cupboards, which immediately sprung open revealing a coffee machine that had so many buttons and options Evie wondered if she’d be better off trying to find a jar of instant. Producing a slate grey cup from somewhere, James placed it under the machine, hit a couple of buttons and soon the smell of roasted beans began to waft up, accompanied by the sound of steam. Evie sat down and let him place the cup of coffee in her hands.
‘Sorry for frightening you. I was cooling down after my run and I’d assumed I’d have the place to my own until a bit later. It won’t happen again. You have my word no half naked men will be in the kitchen,’ James said, the smallest smile playing on the edge of his mouth.
Whether it was the caffeine doing its’ job, or James’ kind approach to her, Evie found herself softening.
‘I shouldn’t have overreacted. Of course it would be you in the kitchen, who else would it be?’ she said, flapping her hand to suggest she was fine. But if James had looked back as he’d walked out of the kitchen he’d have caught her staring at him, deep in thought to a time when seeing him semi-naked had woken something in her she’d never experienced before.
A little later, once fortified by a brief breakfast of eggs, toast and fruit, and another coffee, the two made their way to the main house.
Just before they opened the front door, James exhaled slowly, causing Evie to give him a quick look. It was funny. When you had known someone intimately, you could still read their glances and small facial tics. James was nervous.
‘It’ll be fun,’ Evie said with more enthusiasm than she felt. ‘This is a big opportunity for both of us.’
‘Don’t,’ James’ voice was tight. ‘That’s my worry – I’m in charge of all of this. If it all goes wrong, I’ll have lasted less than a month in this job and I really want it,’ he admitted. ‘It doesn’t matter to you. If it goes wrong you can blame me, or Grace. Or anyone frankly. You won’t be the scapegoat – you’re basically here for numbers. At least it’s a glorified holiday for one of us,’ he added, before unlocking the door, leaving Evie speechless at his outburst.
She wasn’t making up numbers, Evie knew she was there on her own merit. It was still difficult though to hear words like that coming from someone she’d loved once. Admired even. She’d even stupidly – she realised now – harboured a hope that they’d become friends again. Clearly she’d been labouring under false pretences.
‘Excuse me,’ she said curtly, stepping past him so she could take a walk around the house and prepare herself to brief the team who would be along shortly. As she stalked her way down the corridor that had been decorated in exactly the same way as the cottage, a disappointingly drab mixture of greys and whites, Evie wondered if she heard a sorry come from a forlorn James but she ignored him. She had work to do.
Twelve exhausting hours later Evie dropped heavily on the sofa in the cottage living room and exhaled. The house was huge. Immaculate. But almost everything in it had to go to make way for Cyan’s style, or at least the style Evie and James were bringing to her home. They, along with the thirty strong team had gutted every single room. Furniture which had looked brand new was removed and placed on the driveway, whilst another team packed trucks with it all to take away. They had pulled up sparkling fresh grey carpets that hid a stunning Victorian floor beneath it all over the house. One group had dismantled the whole kitchen and when Evie had discovered it was destined for one of the many skips on the drive, she’d posted on her Tik Tok account a video of the kitchen saying she wanted to give it to someone in need. It didn’t take long until she found a women’s refuge. They had offered money but instead she’d asked them to take all the appliances, and when Evie discovered the refuge needed new beds, she made sure one of the delivery trucks took as much to them as she could squeeze in.
By the end of the day the entire house, which had been bought to include all the fixtures and fittings by Cyan, was a shell of its’ former self. But with the distracting over-modernised décor removed, Evie was convinced the house breathed a sigh of relief as it revealed itself for what it could truly be. Original fireplaces were in most of the rooms. They had been boarded and painted over, but the discovery of them in the bedrooms was a delight as each had different brightly coloured elegant tiles. The flooring needed only a sand and a wax to be brought back up. Even the kitchen where they’d gone back and forth on taking up the obscenely expensive slate had been hiding gleaming red brick tiles worn to a high shine by servants and homeowners over the years.
Whilst it had been traumatic to see a completely finished, albeit very boring home removed of everything, Evie could finally see how their design was going to work.
That’s if she could get up. Her whole body had set into the sofa.
What she wanted was an enormous plate of Pad Thai, then a blisteringly hot bath to soothe her aching muscles. Then bed.
James was nowhere to be seen, which was a good thing. Ever since his outburst that morning they’d not spoken to each other beyond the essential and she had no plan to begin now.
Reasoning he’d headed over to the pub with some of the team, she tried to order a delivery, only to find no-one local would deliver before the next day. The next best thing was cheese on toast, so Evie hobbled to the kitchen and made herself the best she could, before disappearing upstairs to a bath so deep she could almost swim in it.
As she tucked herself into bed, her body happily full and relaxed, she realised she’d almost tricked herself into believing everything was fine.