Creature Comforts. Trisha Ashley

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СКАЧАТЬ the three of us, till Guy got his hands on her, so now we’d just have to help her get some zippity back into her doo-dah.

      She returned the hug, looking both pleased and relieved to see me. ‘Thank goodness you’re here!’

      ‘You said to come early, but it doesn’t look like you need me except for support, because you’re very well organised.’

      She had a flip chart, a blown-up wall map of the whole valley, with numbered stickers all over it, and a stack of printed leaflets. She also carried a fat notebook and had a pencil stuck in the thick dark curls behind one ear.

      ‘Outwardly, perhaps, but inside I’m petrified!’ she confessed.

      ‘It’ll be fine,’ I assured her. ‘Come on, I’ve got some pecan biscuits here from Judy, for refreshment time, so let’s add them to the supplies.’

      There wasn’t a kitchen as such because the Hut was too small, but tea, coffee, milk and a kettle were arranged by the small sink in the curtained-off storage alcove, along with a stack of paper cups and plates. There was a biscuit tin there already.

      ‘Myra’s bringing one of her famous marmalade cakes and Bruce’s latest batch of madeleines are in that tin,’ she said, following me over. ‘He says he’s perfected them now, but he’s had so many attempts lately, we’re all completely sick of them.’

      Her brother was an excellent chef and since he and his wife, Kate, took over the restaurant side of the Screaming Skull, I’d heard it had gained quite a reputation for good food. When I said so, Lulu sighed.

      ‘He and Kate have really made a success of it and Mum and Dad could manage the hotel and pub side of things in their sleep, so I know they only gave me the Haunted Weekend breaks to give me something to do. I really feel I’ve got to make my own mark by expanding the holiday bookings.’

      ‘Well, that’s what tonight’s all about, isn’t it?’

      ‘Yes, and that’s what’s making me nervous, because maybe I’m being too ambitious in trying to involve everyone else. And you do look lovely, by the way,’ she added enviously. ‘Is that dress made of sari material?’

      ‘Yes, do you like it?’ I gave a twirl. ‘My own design, and it’s going to feature in my first collection, with a matching quilted patchwork jacket.’

      ‘It wouldn’t suit me, now I’m so skinny.’

      She’d always had more curves than I, so it was odd that now I was the one with a modest figure, though if Bruce kept feeding her up with madeleines, she could soon overtake me again.

      ‘I’m sure it would look good on you because I’ve draped it sari-style and saris suit every size and shape. But I’ll design something especially for you one of these days, and then you can model the prototype for the online catalogue. Meanwhile, here’s a little something I brought you back.’

      I gave her an amber silk scarf, which was a colour that really suited her, and a pair of silver and citrine earrings. She put them on straight away and draped the scarf around her neck so the two ends drifted behind her as she walked. It looked a little incongruous with her plain white T-shirt and jeans, but then, I liked incongruity. The clothes I was designing might be inspired by my collection of vintage Indian cotton garments from the seventies, but there was also more than a hint of classical Greek drapery and other influences thrown into the mix.

      ‘I’ve had an eventful afternoon,’ I told her, after the Tompions, having decided we might need yet more chairs, had gone to raid the stack kept in the church vestry. By then, Jonas had switched seamlessly to ‘Jerusalem’, by way of ‘Lead, kindly Light’.

      ‘I went down to the Spring for a dip just after lunch and had a run-in with Dan Clew on the way, which I’ll tell you all about later. But then I had another – with Rufus Carlyle!’

      ‘Who?’ she said absently. She was now riffling through her notebook, her mind obviously elsewhere.

      ‘The new owner of Sweetwell! You know, the missing heir who popped up just in time to scoop the jackpot when Baz had the heart attack?’

      ‘Oh, right.’ She looked up and focused. ‘Is he living in Sweetwell now, then? I knew he was moving his business here from Devon because there’s a garden antiques sign over the gateway, but if I’d known he’d be around, I’d have invited him to the meeting.’

      ‘Judy said Myra wasn’t expecting him till tomorrow, so running into him earlier was a bit of a shock … especially when I wasn’t wearing any clothes.’

      ‘What?’ she said, giving me her full attention at last.

      ‘Remember when we both bought white bikinis, for that holiday in Greece with your parents?’

      She nodded. ‘I still have mine somewhere, but I don’t know why, because I haven’t been that plump for a good ten years and it would just drop off me.’

      ‘I have the opposite problem, because I’ve definitely got much more hip and boob than I used to. Anyway, I couldn’t find my old cossie and I haven’t unpacked my bags yet, so I grabbed the bikini instead. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be around at that time of day, not even Tom, but once I realised how tight the bikini was I double-checked that the clearing was deserted before I left the changing hut.’

      I gave her a graphic description of my ‘rescue’.

      ‘There wasn’t a soul about when I got into the water and I was floating there feeling soothed and quite happy, considering I’d not only just broken up with the love of my life but also had an encounter with the ghastly Dan … Then suddenly, a total stranger had me draped over one arm and was thumping me on the back, before tossing me out onto the side of the pool like a drowned rabbit.’

      Lulu giggled and I gave her a look, before reluctantly grinning myself.

      ‘OK, I suppose it was quite funny, in retrospect. But at the time it wasn’t, and when I’d finished coughing up all the water I’d inhaled when he grabbed me and got my first real look at him … well, it was a bit of a shock, because for a second I thought he was Harry.’

      ‘Why, is he so like him?’

      ‘Not really, it was just a momentary impression, though he does have the exact same green eyes as Harry and Baz did, and his hair is that really dark chestnut shade when it started to dry out a bit.’

      ‘It’s hardly surprising that Baz passed his colouring down to both sons, is it? Is he nice?’

      ‘No. I think if he’d known who I was before he rescued me, he’d have let me sink instead,’ I said morosely. ‘Dan told him I’d killed his half-brother while drink-driving and of course he lapped it up.’

      ‘I don’t know what Dan’s problem is,’ Lulu said indignantly. ‘He seems to have a down not just on Debo, but you and Judy too.’

      ‘Hell hath no fury like a gardener scorned,’ I said.

      She went back to staring at her notes. ‘I’d have invited this Rufus man to the meeting anyway, if I’d known he’d moved in. What does he look like, apart from the green eyes, in case I see him about?’

      ‘Big, broad shoulders, СКАЧАТЬ