An Unwanted Inheritance, page 8
Lucy nodded and Ellie felt guiltily relieved. It was so much easier to have a decent chat away from little ears. She paid for the items, refusing the change, and then watched Lucy head off to Olivia where she was greeted enthusiastically and a space made for her at the table. With her daughters settled, Ellie made for her own friends.
It was apparent as soon as she arrived that they were in the middle of imparting some choice and rather confidential gossip. The women had all huddled in around the table so their heads were almost touching. Women really were just overgrown teenagers, Ellie thought. This reminded her of her and Caroline as girls, eyes stretched wide and jaws dropped at whatever scandal had just been revealed.
She pulled up a chair from a neighbouring table and the others separated a little to make a gap for her to squeeze into.
‘Hi, Ellie,’ said Margo with a beaming smile.
Margo was the leader of the gang. Her house was the biggest, her husband’s car the fastest and her highlights the blondest; she was the acknowledged alpha female. But she was also lovely, which was how she managed to hold on to her coveted position. Even the young pretenders for her crown were happy to defer to her in all things and the expressions ‘What did Margo say/think/do?’ were very often to be heard.
‘Have you had a good fair?’ she asked Ellie, politely breaking away from whatever it was they had been discussing the moment before.
‘I have,’ said Ellie. ‘Although this year was the first time Liv wanted to go round by herself.’ She pulled a sorrowful face and the women around her mirrored it, as if they all understood the implication of this coming-of-age moment.
‘Oh, I feel your pain,’ said Krista, whose youngest was Olivia’s age. ‘And it only gets worse,’ she added with a good-humoured eye roll.
‘So,’ said Ellie, ‘what have I missed?’ She wanted them to get back to the conversation that had clearly been in full flow when she had interrupted it.
‘Well,’ said Fiona, ‘I was just saying, you know Emma Powell, who has Daniel in our class and Rosie in year four?’
Ellie nodded. ‘The one whose husband left her for his personal trainer,’ she clarified.
‘The bastard,’ said Fiona with a slight pursing of her lips. ‘Yes. Her. Well, she’s only shown up this afternoon with the most beautiful’ – she stretched the word out so the vowels went on forever – ‘man on her arm.’
‘Well, good for her,’ said Ellie, feeling genuinely pleased that something was going well for Emma after the ignominy of having been rejected in such a public and hurtful way.
‘But wait, there’s more,’ added Fiona, holding her finger up to prevent further comment. ‘Said gorgeous man can’t be older than, what would you say, girls? Twenty-five?’
‘I’d say younger,’ chipped in Krista.
‘Blimey!’ replied Ellie. ‘Doubly good for her.’
‘You can say that again,’ said Fiona. ‘Honestly, Ellie, you have to see him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a model. He made me salivate.’
There was a loud groaning and Margo said, ‘Oh God, Fiona. Must you?’
‘What?!’ replied Fiona indignantly. ‘Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking exactly the same.’
There was a general sniggering at the thought of what they might do given half an hour with Emma Powell’s new beau.
‘I’m pleased for her,’ said Ellie. ‘Her husband was such a shit. She deserves to have something go well for a change.’
They all agreed.
‘I tell you who things aren’t going that well for,’ said Margo, her voice so low that Ellie struggled to pick it up amidst the rumble of voices in the tent. ‘Sarah Coombes.’
Ellie knew Sarah Coombes a little. Her daughter was in Lucy’s class and Lucy had been invited round to play from time to time. They lived in a house that made Ellie envious – an old manor house rather than a new build like her place. It was so classy, everything that Ellie aspired to for herself. To the outside world, it appeared that Sarah Coombes had everything going for her. But were appearances deceptive?
‘Why? What’s happened?’ Fiona asked, adopting Margo’s conspiratorial tone.
‘Well, you didn’t hear it from me,’ continued Margo, ‘but their business has gone bust. They’ve had to call the receivers in.’
‘Oh, that’s awful,’ said Ellie.
‘I know,’ agreed Margo. ‘They live next door to a friend of mine. Apparently the bailiffs turned up and took the cars, just like that.’
‘And your friend saw?’ said Fiona. ‘God, how mortifying. You’d think they’d do that kind of thing under cover of darkness. Spare everybody’s blushes.’
‘I don’t suppose they care,’ said Krista.
‘But the worse part,’ continued Margo, ‘is that they can’t afford the fees for here. They’ve had to pull the kids out.’
‘What, now?’ said Ellie. ‘In the middle of the school year?’
Margo nodded but Fiona shrugged. ‘Well, if you can’t afford to pay . . .’ she said.
‘God, that’s terrible,’ said Ellie. ‘Those poor kids. Where will they go?’
‘Manor High, I suppose. That’ll be one hell of a shock to the system. From here to there.’
‘But surely they must have seen it coming?’ said Krista. ‘I mean, that kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight.’
Fiona shook her head. ‘I don’t know. But even if they had they were hardly going to share the news around, were they? It’s not the kind of thing you tell everyone.’
‘No, I suppose not,’ agreed Krista. ‘God, what a mess.’
A stunned silence fell over the table.
‘What a mess indeed,’ said Margo finally, and they all nodded in sympathy, lost in prayers of gratitude that they were each okay with their cars on their driveways, their houses secure and their school fees paid up until the end of the year.
‘I reckon the fair must have done really well this year,’ said Krista, deftly changing the subject. ‘It seems busier than normal.’
‘Someone told me the PTA wants to buy a new 360-degree camera and a drone so the Media department can make some snazzy films. And there was talk of new equipment for the students’ gym too.’
‘They won’t get that at Manor High,’ muttered Fiona under her breath.
Nobody wanted much supper that evening, so Ellie gave the children beans on toast and put them to bed early. James had had a good day at the golf club and was in an ebullient mood, telling Ellie about how he had played each hole and then who he had been chatting to in the bar afterwards. He knew everyone there, and if he didn’t know them, he made it his business to meet them. He reminded Ellie so much of her dad.
‘I heard some awful news today,’ Ellie said when the golf stories were completed. ‘A mum at school has had to pull her children out because their business has gone bust. Apparently there’s no latitude on fees. If you can’t pay then you’re out. That felt a bit harsh to me. I mean, it’s the kids that suffer.’
James let out a sigh. ‘The school is a business too,’ he said. ‘They can’t afford to carry families who can’t afford to be there. Actually, I’m glad to hear there’s no leeway. I want our fees to be spent making sure our girls get the best education available, not propping up someone who can’t keep their finances in order.’
‘But those poor children,’ objected Ellie. ‘Can you imagine how horrible it will be for them? Maybe I should invite her round for coffee, see if I can do anything to help. What do you think?’
‘I’d leave well alone, if I were you,’ replied James. ‘I’m not sure she’d thank you for interfering. In my experience, people try to keep these things to themselves for a reason. No one wants to be talked about behind their back, nor do they want to be made to feel stupid by some do-gooder.’
Ellie bristled. ‘I’m not a do-gooder,’ she said. ‘I’m genuinely concerned for the poor woman. It’s awful what’s happened to her and her family.’
‘Well, they’re not the first and I’m sure they won’t be the last,’ replied James. ‘It’s a tough world out there. You need to keep your wits about you to survive. One bad decision or a dodgy throw of the dice and it can all come tumbling down around you.’
Ellie gave a little shudder. ‘We’re okay though, aren’t we?’ she said, her voice tiny. She knew they were but she just wanted to hear James say it.
He reached across and gave her a squeeze and she snuggled into him, smelling the familiar peppery tones of his aftershave and feeling the slow beat of his heart through his shirt.
‘Of course, we’re okay,’ he said. ‘I’ve built all this for you and the girls and it’s rock solid. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.’
Ellie felt reassured. ‘We’re so lucky,’ she whispered.
‘There’s nothing lucky about any of it,’ said James, trotting out one of his favourite truisms. ‘Everything we have is a result of a series of sound decisions. And the best one you ever made was to marry me!’ He planted a kiss on the top of her head.
‘Oh, was it now?’ replied Ellie, rising to his challenge in mock indignation.
‘It was,’ he said. ‘And you know it.’
He was right, of course.
‘Now, shall we see if we can find a new box set to watch, or would you prefer an early night?’ he asked, running his finger down her spine and letting it come to rest in the waistband of her jeans.
‘Oh, I think an early night,’ she said, and all thoughts of the day just gone were forgotten.
14
ONE MONTH EARLIER
They had made it a rule that the four of them met up to do something at least once a month. Caroline and Ellie policed it, making sure that the dates were in the diary, but the men were happy to go along with whatever was suggested. Generally, it would be dinner, either in or out, but sometimes they might go to the cinema or a gig. They had even been known to get Max and James to the theatre, as long as it wasn’t a musical, which James refused to tolerate despite Max assuring him that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounded.
This month, a new Italian had opened on the high street and they were all happy to try it out. Caroline was pleased. She liked to think that her tastes were fairly cosmopolitan, but you knew where you were with Italy. To her mind it was hard to beat a simple pasta dish done well and a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio, and it was much easier to relax and enjoy the evening when she didn’t have to worry if she’d chosen something she wouldn’t like.
Ellie and James were already there when they arrived, perched on stools in the bar area, each with a gin and tonic in front of them. It had been a chilly day for April, but Ellie was wearing a pretty sheer top in a pastel green that radiated positivity and optimism about the season to come. Caroline instantly regretted the black turtleneck jumper she had chosen.
‘Oh, you look all ready for spring,’ she said to Ellie as she leant in for a kiss. ‘I feel a bit like the harbinger of doom.’
Ellie shook her head. ‘Rubbish. You look lovely, Caro, and I’m bound to be too cold in this top, but you know what I’m like; a bit of sunshine and I’m convinced I’m in the Med.’
‘It’ll be summer before we know it,’ said Caroline, ‘and then it’ll be your party. How are the plans coming along?’
Ellie was to be forty on Midsummer’s Eve and celebrations for the event had long been in everyone’s diary. Ellie winked at her and put her finger to her lips theatrically.
‘I’ll tell you everything when we’re on our own,’ she said, throwing a meaningful glance at James. Caroline gave a small nod to show that she understood, and the subject was dropped.
The usual questions concerning the children and their lives in general followed and were answered, and then they were shown through to their table where they discussed the decor, the menu and the ambience of the place, and all concluded it to be to their liking.
‘Have you seen that they’ve started to put up some new houses out on the old road?’ asked Max as they waited for the main course to arrive. ‘That’s not one of yours, is it, James? I didn’t see your hoardings.’
Given what Caroline knew was coming next, she was sure her husband would have checked this point before he brought the development up in conversation.
James shook his head. ‘No, I don’t have anything down that way,’ he said. ‘Are you talking about the site that backs up on to Marshall’s Wood?’
‘That’s the one,’ said Max. ‘It’s a bloody eyesore. It looks like they’re cramming in twice as many houses as it can stand. And the access isn’t great either. It’ll really slow the traffic down when there are so many cars trying to come out from there to turn on to the main road.’
James shrugged. ‘Well, the planners must have thought it was okay,’ he said. ‘Access and traffic flow are one of the main things they look at. If they hadn’t thought it was adequate, they’d have made them put in a roundabout or a set of lights.’
Max seemed unconvinced. ‘And it backs straight on to the woods. I thought that was all green belt land.’
‘It was,’ replied James with another shrug. ‘But it got released in the last round of site allocations. The new housing quotas are so high and developers are struggling to get their hands on sites in places where people actually want to live. They keep eating into the green belt.’
‘But there must have been objections,’ Max pressed.
He was like a dog with a bone. Caroline had already had the benefit of his opinion on the building site more than once and she wished he would just drop it. Conversations like this were always tricky when James was there because he was always going to side with the developer.
‘Maybe not as many as you’d think,’ James replied. ‘The grounds for objections are very specific. You can’t just object because you don’t like the idea. And if the need for new housing stock is greater . . . well, that’s the way the decision will fall.’
Max shook his head, clearly still having difficulty accepting it. ‘It would have to be passed by the district council, though, right? They’re a proper bunch of reactionary old farts. I can’t believe they’d let something like that through.’
‘You’re just pissed off because they wouldn’t let you build that extension on the back of your place,’ laughed Ellie.
She was right and Caroline threw her a subtle smirk. Max’s view of the planning system had been severely tarnished following his own meagre but unsatisfactory brush with it.
‘Well, maybe,’ he conceded. ‘But still. It feels like it’s one rule for the big boys and another for the rest of us.’
‘Well, it is,’ replied Caroline, one eyebrow raised. ‘That’s just life. I’m not sure why you find it so surprising.’
The food arrived and Caroline hoped that would break the conversation, but Max just wouldn’t let it go.
‘I don’t know how you put up with it, James,’ he said. ‘It must drive you absolutely crazy.’
‘Don’t get me started,’ said James, forking pasta into his mouth and then speaking through it. ‘Local politics is a bloody nightmare and planning is the worst of the lot.’
‘Do we have to talk about planning?’ sighed Ellie. ‘I get enough of that at home.’
‘I bet they’re all bent,’ said Max bitterly.
‘Who?’ asked Caroline.
‘The planners, of course,’ said Max.
James shook his head. ‘It’s not the planners making the decisions,’ he said. ‘They just make recommendations.’
Max harrumphed. ‘Well, something about it stinks.’
‘Anyway . . .’ said Caroline, cutting across him and throwing him a warning glance. ‘We’ve just booked our holidays. We’re going to this lovely cottage in Abersoch. We’ve been to a different one just down the road before, but I’ve always had my eye on this place because the garden backs on to the beach. The boys will be able to spend the entire week in the sea no matter what the weather, and I can sit wrapped up in my thermals and watch them from the patio.’
‘I’m sure the weather will be fine,’ said Ellie, although she could obviously be sure of no such thing. ‘Doesn’t it have its own little microclimate there? Someone once told me that it’s always warm.’
‘I’m not sure about that,’ said Caroline. ‘But it suits us. Where are you lot going this year? Somewhere amazing, I don’t doubt.’
Ellie liked to be warm on holiday, and James liked to be looked after, which generally came together in the shape of some amazingly smart hotel in the tropics. There was the briefest of hesitations and Caroline saw Ellie’s eyes flick to James and back. James’s focus stayed on his pasta.
‘We’ve not actually booked anywhere yet,’ said Ellie.
‘That’s not like you,’ said Caroline, surprised. ‘You’ve usually booked something before the plane has landed from the last one.’
‘That’s true, but this year there are a few things up in the air around the dates, so we decided to go somewhere last minute instead,’ Ellie replied, taking a drink from her glass and avoiding looking at Caroline.
‘Excellent plan,’ said Max. ‘To have no plan, I mean. Plans are definitely overrated. If you don’t have a plan then nothing can go wrong.’
‘That’s what I said,’ agreed James. ‘And there are so many great deals if you go last minute.’
Caroline thought that the days of great last-minute deals were behind them now that people were happy to go away at the drop of a hat, particularly with the kind of holidays that Ellie and James favoured, but she didn’t say so.
‘Shall we get another bottle of this white?’ asked Ellie as she tipped the previous one over her glass and only a few drops trickled out.
‘Let’s,’ said James. ‘And the red too?’
Without giving Max a chance to respond, he stuck his hand up to summon the waitress. Caroline prayed that he didn’t click his fingers too – he had an unfortunate tendency to do just that when he was drunk, but luckily his hand was spotted quickly and the order was taken. Caroline didn’t really want another bottle of wine. Alex and Theo had football matches early the following morning and it was her turn to take them. Standing on the chilly touchline was bad enough but she didn’t relish having to do it with a hangover. Still, Ellie was clearly on a roll and she probably wouldn’t notice if one glass was filled a lot faster than the other.
