Chapter 13
Thirteen
It was no good. Lara had to get out of the cottage.
The drilling, banging, sawing, and hammering, were bad enough.
Add to that the crashing sounds of metal poles, the ripping up of floorboards, and the chiselling of walls, together with all the dust those things created, and the situation became close to unbearable.
Colin’s radio blaring out at full pelt made matters worse, even if everyone but Lara seemed to be enjoying it.
But when Bob and Colin, who happened to be in the kitchen at the same time as Lara had dashed in to make more coffee, gave their somewhat out of tune rendition of the song, I Will Survive, Lara wasn’t sure she would, and it was the final straw.
‘I need to get some fresh air,’ she yelled to them, over the din.
Colin broke off mid-flow for a second to say, ‘Okey dokey,’ and then he continued the caterwauling.
‘Can I leave you to let your son and Bob’s nephew in when they arrive? I may be some time.’ Colin nodded and gave Lara a thumbs up, this time not stopping to speak.
Lara abandoned the coffee she had been making and dashed into the hall where she spotted Nicodemus going about his business in the make-shift, cardboard cat tray. He looked almost as fed up with the noise and general chaos as she was.
‘I’m going out,’ she said, opening the front door, and for a second she thought he might follow her. But a scaffold pole landed on top of one of the weed-entangled bushes just to the right of the path, and Nicodemus fled back upstairs.
‘Is it safe for me to come out?’ she called out.
‘Yep,’ Roger shouted in reply from somewhere above her head.
Lara grabbed a jacket from the hooks beside the front door and peeped her head outside. Roger was standing on the first level of one section of scaffold to the right.
‘I’m going out,’ she repeated, this time looking up at Roger. ‘I’ll leave the front door unlocked, so help yourself to tea and coffee. Bob and Colin are expecting their … colleagues, so you can tell them to go inside when they arrive. I’ll be back before lunch.’
‘Right you are,’ Roger said.
The front garden was a jungle of overgrown trees, shrubs and plants, all being strangled and overshadowed by giant weeds and long grass when Lara had first arrived.
The torrential rain yesterday had battered down some of this jungle, making it look even more untidy and unkempt somehow.
Now most of it had been flattened by rows of scaffold boards, poles, and heavy boots.
Lara wasn’t sure if this was a help or a hindrance but right now she didn’t really care.
She hurried down the path, dodging various bits of scaffolding paraphernalia and noticed the front gate was missing.
It had only been hanging on by one hinge, so she wasn’t that surprised.
It might have fallen off during the dreadful weather yesterday.
When she stepped out on to the lane, she spotted it leaning up against the front hedge.
As if reading her mind, one of the men, who had come to the back of the flatbed lorry to get more scaffold poles, said, ‘That fell off in my mate’s hands. Don’t worry. We’ll fix it back on when we leave.’
‘It was only hanging on by a thread,’ she said, ‘so don’t worry.’
‘It’s not a problem.’ He threw her a smile. ‘It’ll only take a few minutes.’
‘It would’ve come off anyway. It’s not your … friend’s fault.’
‘I didn’t say it was. I just said we’d fix it.’
‘There’s really no need. It’s on my list of things to do.’
‘Well you can take it off your list, because we’ll do it for you.’
‘I don’t want to be a nuisance. I can do it.’
He furrowed his brows. ‘You’re one of those women who like to do everything yourself, are you?’
‘No. I’m simply saying that it’s not your job, and I can’t ask you to fix my gate.’
‘You didn’t ask. I offered. I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t.
Look. If you really want to fix it, that’s fine by me.
But we’ve got the tools right here on this lorry and it’ll take one of us less time to fix the thing than it has for us to have this conversation.
I’m not being rude, love, but when someone offers to do you a favour, it might be an idea for you to just say thanks and accept the help.
By the looks of this place, you won’t be short of things to add to that list of yours. ’
Lara was about to say she would do it. But the man was right. It would be far quicker for him to fix it than it would be for her, and despite his words, his tone had been friendly and he was clearly well-meaning.
She gave him a smile. ‘Well … if you’re sure you don’t mind. That would be lovely. Thank you.’
He smiled back and threw her a wink. ‘You’re welcome.’
Lara was still smiling as she set off down Old Oak Lane.
She was so used to fending for herself that she had almost had an argument about fixing a gate.
How silly was that? Why hadn’t she simply thanked him the minute he had made the offer?
He had even told her that was precisely what she should have done.
The problem was, she didn’t trust many people. She had learnt fourteen years ago that the only person she could rely on was herself and that a smile isn’t always as friendly as it seems.
And yet, she had just left a group of virtual strangers with free access to her cottage. Then again, she didn’t have much in there for them to take. Not that she thought they would take anything. Especially because of Tom.
Jenny had told Lara more than once that not everyone was like her aunt, uncle and cousins, and that most people were basically okay, but that some were cheats, liars, and worse.
Lara knew that, of course. When her parents were alive, she had trusted everyone.
Well, almost everyone. Even then she hadn’t particularly taken to her aunt, uncle, and cousins.
But she had given them the benefit of the doubt.
Until they had shown their true colours.
She had learnt to depend on no one but herself and to trust only her own instincts. She believed she had mellowed since she became friends with Jenny, but the truth was, she had virtually shut herself away and even now, she found it hard to mix with other people.
And yet, in the space of just a few days, she had felt a little like she once had, all those years ago. Was it because of where she was? In Bluewater Bay. The place she had been so happy with her parents during that last holiday. Or was it because of the people she had met? Like Tom. And Ula.
Perhaps she should try to be more like she had been back then. Yes. That’s what she would try to do.
When she spotted the pothole in the middle of the lane, it was as if it was a test. A test she couldn’t resist.
She glanced around, checking if anyone could see her before giving in to the overwhelming urge. With no one in sight, she hoisted up the hems of her jeans with her hands and was about to take a leap when an image flashed into her mind’s eye.
Spotting the broken branch on the grass verge, she picked it up, and poked one end of it into the pool of water stretching out in front of her. She was no fool. Like millions of others, she had seen that famous puddle sketch from The Vicar of Dibley sitcom.
Reassured that she would not disappear up to her neck in water, she hoisted up the hems of her jeans once more, took a deep breath, and jumped forward.
She let out a screech of surprise. The water was colder than she had expected. Even so, she giggled like a toddler as water, and unfortunately some mud, splashed, and splattered her jeans.
‘Cute.’
The male voice startled her and she lost her balance, her arms flailing wildly as she tipped forward and back trying to regain her composure. She probably looked like one of those tall, gangly air dancers often seen wobbling around outside stores, businesses, car showrooms, and the like.
Embarrassed and surprised, she glowered at Tom’s grandson.
‘Where did you come from?’ she snapped, taking in how athletic and tanned his long legs looked in the shorts he was wearing, and how the T-shirt clung to his perfect frame.
‘Gramps’ cottage,’ Jasper replied, striding towards her as his mouth curved into a smile and laughter filled his eyes.
‘That’s further down the lane and you’re coming from the wrong direction.’ She narrowed her eyes at him.
‘I was out for a run. I’ve been along the shore and I came up over the cliff just there.
’ He pointed to the part of the cliff that sloped gently down to the sandy beach, and then he nodded towards the pool of water in the pothole in which she still stood.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said, with a laugh and a cheeky wink. ‘I won’t tell anyone.’
‘I’m not worried.’ She raised her hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. ‘Tell anyone you want. Not that there’s anything to tell.’
With a dramatic huff, she turned her back to him, and stepped out of the pothole.
She was cross that he had seen her doing such a childish thing.
Last night it was the purple unicorns; this morning it was jumping in a puddle.
Well, a pothole Which might actually be worse.
But she didn’t look quite as graceful as she hoped she would when she marched off.
The wet and now muddy soles of her boots gave scant grip on the surface of the lane and her feet were slipping and sliding as she walked.
She heard the loud splash and glanced back over her shoulder to see Jasper standing in the centre of the pothole, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
She tutted and swiftly turned away, but in her haste, she tripped on a lump of grassy mud that had fallen from the verge. She might have fallen had he not dashed forward and grabbed her arm to steady her.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, still holding her arm.
In a flash of recognition, Lara realised that he was the man she had run into last night in the hospital car park. And yet she hadn’t realised that when he had visited her at her cottage.