54. Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Four
‘ W ho’s that?’ asked Bertie, as I turned off the engine.
‘I don’t know.’
Outside the farmhouse, a couple were busy washing all the windows on the front of the house. ‘I’m going to ask them.’
Bertie jumped out of the car and ran over to where the man was busy wiping a rag across one of the windowpanes. I walked over to where Bertie seemed to be spilling our entire life story to the bemused-looking stranger.
‘Hello, I’m Michael,’ the man said, holding out a damp, soapy hand. ‘Sorry,’ he said, wiping his hand on his jeans.
‘I’m Liv. Pleased to meet you.’
‘This is my wife Carly,’ said Michael, as a pretty redhead abandoned her window cleaning apparatus and walked over to us.
‘Are you living here now?’ asked Bertie.
‘Yes, we are for a while,’ said Carly, giving us a shy smile.
‘I’m Liv, and this is my son, Bertie.’
‘We’ve heard all about you,’ said Michael. ‘Harry said you’d be arriving today.’
‘How long have you been here?’
‘Not long,’ said Carly. Her voice was so soft it came out as a rushed whisper.
‘How are you finding it?’
‘Wonderful so far,’ said Michael.
‘I see they’ve put you straight to work.’
‘Oh, we’re happy to help,’ said Carly. ‘Actually, I’d better get back to it. Harry asked us to send you down to the lake when you arrived.’
‘The lake? I hope she doesn’t expect me to join her for a swim before we’ve even unpacked.’ I laughed, and Carly flashed me another smile, before scampering back to her bucket of soapy water.
‘Let’s drive down there,’ I said to Bertie. ‘Then we can come back and unpack our things.’
We climbed back into the car and followed the track down to the lake. After parking, we walked through the woods, which were now teeming with life and colour.
‘There they are,’ said Bertie, pointing to a group of figures sitting out on the veranda of Pat’s cabin.
I waved as Bertie sprinted over to Harry, Pat, and Seb.
‘You’re here,’ said Harry, jumping down from the veranda and swinging Bertie around. She put Bertie down, and he giggled, stumbling like a drunkard over to Pat, who reached down and shook his hand.
‘It’s wonderful to be back,’ I said, hugging Harry. Seb smiled at me as I approached the veranda, causing butterflies to flutter their wings in my stomach. ‘I was expecting you all to be at the house.’
‘There’s been a bit of a change of plan,’ said Seb, standing up so I could take his seat.
‘Thank you.’ I sat down in the wicker chair.
‘You’re probably expecting to have your old room back,’ said Harry. ‘But I’m afraid it’s not available.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yes, we’ve given it to the new couple who’ve moved in, Michael and Carly. You may have met them?’
‘Yes,’ said Bertie. ‘They were cleaning windows. Will we have to sleep outside?’
‘Good Lord, no,’ said Pat. ‘Actually, I’m responsible for this turn of events. You see, all this walking back and forth to the farmhouse is getting a bit much for me. Old legs, you know.’ Pat tapped his knee with his hands. ‘Luckily for me, Harry has kindly made a couple of rooms available in the farmhouse. So what I propose is that you two move in to my cabin.’
‘But this is your home, Pat. We can’t take your home from you.’
‘Ah, no, my dear. It’s just bricks and mortar, or logs, in this case. Don’t think I’m offering charity. I mean it about my legs. Seb’s tried getting me on that damned quad bike, but that sets off my hip. Not much fun, this getting older lark.’
‘We’d be neighbours,’ said Seb, his hand brushing against mine, sending tingles up my arm.
‘And there’d be no excuse not to join me for a swim each morning,’ said Harry, glancing down at the lake, which sparkled in the hot summer sun.
‘I don’t know, Pat. It feels like we’d be kicking you out of your home. It doesn’t sit right with me.’
‘Listen, Liv. If I’m to continue living independently at my age, I have to be sensible about these things or, before you know it, I’ll be stuck in an old folks’ home.’
‘We’d have to come to some sort of financial arrangement.’
Pat waved my comment away with a flick of his wrist. ‘What use is money at my age? You can’t take it with you, as they say.’
‘I’m afraid I insist.’
Pat let out a dramatic sigh. ‘Fine. But not today. Today, you need to settle into your new home. And once you’ve done that, I wouldn’t mind a game of chess with Bertie up at the farmhouse.’
‘Deal,’ said Bertie with a grin. ‘But watch out, Pat, I’ve been practising. I found an app on my iPad where you can play against a bot.’
‘You’ve been playing against a bottom?’
‘Not a bottom,’ said Bertie with a roll of his eyes. ‘A bot.’
‘I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about, dear boy. But I have been practising too, or trying to.’
‘He’s roped me into a few games,’ said Seb, ‘but I’m not up to Bertie’s standards.’
‘No,’ said Pat, ‘I think young Seb could do with that practice bottom of yours, Bertie. Right, if you don’t mind, Harry, I’d like to be getting back to the farmhouse. I need to get a good rest before facing such a fierce opponent as Bertie.’
‘Of course,’ said Harry. ‘Take your time settling in, Liv. There’s quite a lot we need to update you on with the Lake project, but that can wait until tomorrow. We’ll see you at dinner later, though.’
‘I’d better get going too,’ said Seb. ‘I’ve got a local builder arriving any minute to plan out the treehouse build.’
‘Do you want me there?’
‘No, it’s fine. We can talk about it tomorrow. Like Harry says, you need time to settle in.’
It was only once our friends had left that we ventured into our new home. It was similar to Seb’s cabin, but a little larger. Just like Seb, Pat had whitewashed the pine, painting the kitchen units sage. I’d never been inside Pat’s cabin and was amazed at the amount of light flooding in from the sliding doors that enjoyed uninterrupted views of the lake. Beyond the open plan kitchen and living area was a small bedroom containing bunk beds.
‘This is my room,’ said Bertie, climbing up onto the top bunk and pretending to snore.
‘Fine by me,’ I said.
Next to the bunk room was a small, functional bathroom. A staircase rose from the middle of the living room. I climbed the stairs, trying to shake the feeling I was invading Pat’s personal space. He had removed all of his belongings and there was no reason to feel like an intruder, but I still struggled to believe all this space was ours.
At the top of the stairs, a mezzanine area looked over the living space and I decided it would make a perfect office space. Beyond it was the second bedroom, a simple room containing a bed, chest of drawers and writing desk. Light flooded in from two skylights and the bed looked so tempting I could’ve curled up in it there and then.
Bertie was still lying on his bunk when I came downstairs. ‘Come on, let’s go to the car and start bringing our things in. The sooner we unpack, the sooner we can start living our new life.’