Chapter 15
15
‘This is becoming a bit of a habit, you know. I got some right funny looks from Kate next door when I left at 9a.m. yesterday morning. It’ll certainly get the neighbours talking.’
I liked seeing Seamus first thing in the morning. It was a nice way to start the day. He had a really nice energy and I loved being in his company. I wondered, not for the first time, whether he was single. I had already clocked that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.
‘Ah, I only want you for your mind.’ I laughed.
‘Now that’s a shame!’ His eyes locked onto mine again. When he looked at me it was as if he could see right through to the very soul of me. Could read my mind.
‘Coffee?’ I squeaked. ‘Croissants?’ That came out more normally, thank goodness.
‘Anyone would think you were trying to butter me up. Where’s Theo?’
Neither of us had noticed him sneak in but Theo was already in his regular spot in the sun. ‘Cheeky little bugger.’
Theo lifted an eyelid, knowing we were talking about him, and then closed it again, sighing deeply.
‘It’s a compliment, really, that he feels like he can come in and relax.’
‘Why wouldn’t he? I don’t know how you’ve done it, Jo Jenkins, but even without any money behind you, you seem to have created an inviting, cosy, gorgeous, welcoming house that people might never want to leave, you know.’
‘Thank you. That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said and soft furnishings are the easy part. Anyway, while it’s nice that you’re here blowing smoke up my arse,’ he grinned at my choice of phrase, ‘I’ve got a proposal for you.’
‘Can this day get any better?’
‘Stop it, I’m being serious.’
‘Well, so was I, but sorry. This is my I’m-listening-and-serious-face. Better?’ He raised an eyebrow and took a sip from his mug.
‘Much. Thank you. So what can I get for fifty grand?’ Seamus spluttered coffee everywhere.
‘Sorry, Jo Jenkins, but after the last time I saw you, I really was not expecting that.’
‘Well, you and me both, but I’ve been doing some thinking and I’ve got a couple of appointments later and I reckon I could get my hands on about that much money and I was wondering what you could do for me.’
Seamus’s face was a picture. ‘Hang on, yesterday you hadn’t got a penny to your name and today you’ve got fifty grand. How much do you reckon you can have by tomorrow?’
I smiled at him.
‘I’ll have you know, there is no end to my talents.’
‘I can only imagine,’ he muttered.
‘Will you have a think and let me know?’ I asked. ‘I’ve got a little bit of money left over from what my Mum gave me but when I arrived I had to get the roof emergency repaired and most of it had to go on that. And I know my plan was never to rent out the other buildings but you mentioned it the other day and now Michelle has said that she’ll rent one off me…’
‘Michelle who?’
‘Someone I met the other day. The woman I was in the pub with the other night when you were at the bar.’
‘But you’ve only just met her? How do you know you can trust her?’
My eyes widened.
‘I’ve only just met you. How do I know I can trust you ?’
I looked into his eyes and felt like I was seeing deep into his soul. My gut told me that I could trust this man with everything I had. But then I’d trusted Michael too. And look what happened there. Can you really trust anyone except for yourself?
‘Excellent point but are you sure about her, Jo Jenkins? You have to be careful with people these days, especially when there’s money involved.’
‘It would all be above board. I just want to know whether we can get the holiday let to a nice, liveable standard, and how much it will cost me. The garage too.’
‘Can we go and have a look?’
‘Lead the way!’ I said enthusiastically as we reached the garage.
‘You first.’
I’d forgotten that one of the worst things you can do in life is have someone you don’t know well follow you up some stairs, or you following them. It’s mortifying either way because there is literally nowhere else to look. And you know that they’re looking right at your backside. When we reached the top of the rickety staircase, Seamus was smirking and I was bright red in the face.
‘Right, so let’s look at it all realistically.’
I looked around me at the shell of the building that was stuffed full to the brim of boxes with goodness knows what inside of them.
‘You’d need the floor strengthening, plumbing in, and electrics, of course. The downstairs could be the lounge and kitchen area and this floor could be one really large bedroom and bathroom, or you could go for two smaller rooms, both with en suites. Any thoughts?’
I tried so hard to picture it but the solid breeze block walls and no windows were putting me off.
I was frantically scribbling down in my notepad as he was talking, making sure I was getting all the points down so I could refer back to them.
He did lots of walking around, rocking on the floor, clicking his tongue quite a few times and chewing his lip before he finally said, ‘You could have a couple of skylights which would let plenty of light in on the top floor and, to be honest, one big window to overlook the sea would be amazing. Some plastering, heating, a wallop over with some paint, the staircase sanding back and either varnishing or painting again. It would be a shame not to make the most of that gorgeous wood.’ He ran his hands along the banister and I couldn’t help but look at how big and manly they were. ‘The downstairs would make a great open-plan kitchen-cum-lounge-cum-dining room, making the most of a big window. God, Jo, this is such a waste. I had no idea this was even up here and I walk past here every day. Look at that view. You’d get premium rent for this if it was done, you know.’
‘I think the thing that’s worrying me the most is that there’s no separate garden though. I don’t know how that would work.’
‘I hear you. I need to have a think about that. You could always let them share your garden for the time being.’
‘Sounds expensive.’
‘Yep, sadly it could be. But we can get some proper prices and work it all out. Maybe you could have a communal garden for the two letting properties. Let’s keep thinking though. You never know what might pop up in this tiny brain of mine. I’ll do a bit of research too, asking around.’
‘If I, that’s the royal I, by the way, could get at least one of the properties ready, I could start renting out the flat. And then the money from that could pay for some of the other stuff that needs doing.’
‘Are you sure about this, Jo Jenkins?’
It wasn’t how I had imagined living in this cottage of Aunty June’s but maybe this was the only way I could make life happen for me down here in Cornwall.
‘Sadly, Seamus, it would seem that my dream house is more of a nightmare house, so instead of me losing my dream entirely, this gives me the next best option. I don’t need all these buildings for just me. It’s kind of daft anyway. If someone could give me six months’ rent upfront, then that’s a big chunk to get some more jobs done.’
Seamus looked at his watch.
‘I need to go to drop Theo off at home before going out to quote for a job. Let me mull it all over.’
We headed back to the cottage where Theo was still snoring away in the morning sunshine.
‘He’s no spring chicken any more,’ Seamus said, by way of explanation, ‘and an hour’s run in the morning wears him out these days.’ He called his name but Theo was dead to the world. ‘He also has selective hearing. I bet if you rustled some biscuit wrappers, he’d soon hear that!’
We both laughed yet still Theo didn’t budge. An idea formed in my mind.
‘How long will you be, Seamus?’
‘A couple of hours.’
‘You could always leave him here. He’d be lovely company for me.’
‘Are you sure? He’d love that, poor thing normally has to stop home all day long because I’m out working. When I first had him, I had this romantic idea of us spending our days together, him sitting peacefully while I was getting on with my work, but lots of the people I go to don’t want a dog in their house and I don’t suppose I can blame them. He’d love a bit of company too, I’m sure. I’ll be as quick as I can.’
Just having Theo in the house with me lifted my mood. Who couldn’t love it when someone looks that excited to see you just when you speak to them? Dogs are meant to be therapeutic and I truly believe this to be the case.
‘Don’t rush. As long as I’ve got time to get into the main town for an appointment at 2p.m., that’s fine by me. Leave me his lead too and we might go for a little potter around the resort. Do you think he’ll be OK with that?’
‘He’d love it. He’s so good on lead. Just don’t let him off unless you’re on the beach and are prepared to go in the sea when he refuses to come out.’
‘Ha. I’ll leave that to you. We’ll just do a lead walk today while we’re getting used to each other.’
Theo was still snoring and didn’t even look up when Seamus shouted, ‘See you later,’ and slammed the door behind him. I realised that I’d missed and liked the thought of someone coming back to me and my home.
While I knew I was still getting used to myself, knowing what I did and didn’t like without having to be told, I would always miss being part of something. I hated the thought of no one really caring about me. The girls cared about me, of course they did, but they were so busy with their lives and jobs that they barely had time during the day to go to the loo, let alone speak to their mum. But it was that very reason that I had to do this for myself. Start living my life for me instead of for everyone else. I couldn’t sit around waiting for life to happen. I had to get off my arse and make life happen.
My phone pinged with a text message, making Theo lift his head lazily and peer at me from one eye.
‘Oh, God, Theo. Michael. What now?’
Jo. Have you found that WIFI code yet? This is getting beyond a joke. Claudia is giving me hell because she’s using up all her data.
I deleted the message, muttering, ‘Oh, fuck off.’
Another ping.
‘Oh, Theo, what does he want now?’
I couldn’t resist opening the message. Years of being available to my family at all times was a habit that I was going to have to work on, but this time it wasn’t my ex-husband, and the person who was texting brought a smile to my face.
Don’t get lunch. I’ll bring something back for us. My treat for you having Theo and it’ll save you getting anything before you go out. Text me if there’s anything you don’t like or are allergic to. Also I may have an offer for you that you might not be able to turn down.
Smiling to myself, I grabbed my laptop and started googling ‘how to find a job when you can’t do anything’. It was time I started to look around, the money I did have wasn’t going to last forever. Strangely there was nothing jumping out, but something would crop up, I was sure of it.