Frisky Business (42 page)

‘I haven’t gone goo-goo over him,’ Romy hissed. But she knew that wasn’t true. It was useless trying to kid herself any longer. She had a full-on heart-pounding, knee-wobbling, massive great crush on Ethan. She just hoped it wasn’t as obvious to everyone else as it was to Lesley – especially when
they were all going to be spending the whole weekend together. That would be mortifying – not to mention the fact that she was supposed to be with Kit. It would be awful if everyone could see she was lusting after his brother.

‘I’m going to leave my car here,’ Lesley said as she pushed another camp bed into the back of the van. ‘Unless you need me to bring more stuff?’

‘No, that’s everything,’ Romy said, slamming the doors closed. ‘You can come in the van with me and Kit.’

‘Why don’t I go with Danny?’ Kit called across to her as he loaded the last box into the Land Rover.

‘I don’t mind,’ Danny said, shrugging. ‘Whatever.’

‘Cool.’ Kit grinned. ‘I’ve brought my iPod. This way we can have one car with good music.’

Huh, Romy thought, so much for Kit playing the devoted boyfriend. She thought he’d be all over her this weekend, grabbing the opportunity to convince Ethan that they were really a couple. But then, of course, he didn’t know that Ethan needed convincing because he didn’t know that he and Hannah suspected anything. Maybe she should warn him.

Lesley climbed into the middle passenger seat of the van, and Ethan got in beside her.

‘So you’re the doctor?’ she said, turning to him as they set off. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you.’

‘You have?’ Ethan glanced across at Romy. He seemed a little subdued and she hoped he wasn’t still upset with her over the threesome thing. ‘Not all scandalous, I hope.’

Shit! He
was
still brooding about it. ‘Look, Ethan,’ she said, ‘I’m really sorry about … what I said.’

‘What did you say?’ Lesley asked Romy.

Ethan shrugged, pouting sulkily – which only made his mouth more gorgeous than ever. ‘Romy thinks I’m a total sleazeball.’

‘I
don’t!’ she protested. ‘That’s not true. I just … wasn’t thinking. Forgive me?’

‘It’s fine,’ he said, a smile spreading across his face. ‘I’m just winding you up.’

‘What happened?’ Lesley asked, looking back and forth between them.

‘She thought I’d had a threesome in my parents’ house.’

‘Fair play to you!’ Lesley said.

‘But I didn’t.’

‘Good man yourself. I’m glad to hear it.’ Ethan grinned at her.

‘So, Ethan, you’re a man, right?’ she asked.

‘Um … yes. Last time I checked.’

‘Right, because I’d like to get your opinion on this date I went on last week – from a male perspective. And in fact, from a doctor’s point of view as well, so you’re ideal for the job.’

‘Oh? Sounds … intriguing.’

‘Yes, well, I don’t know if “intriguing” is the word, but there was a rash involved that was certainly the wrong side of mysterious. So, anyway …’

Romy relaxed as Lesley kept up a steady stream of chatter the whole way to Wicklow.

When
they had unpacked the cars and carried everything into the gate lodge, they wandered around the little cottage together, inspecting the rooms, while Romy made mental notes about what needed to be done. There were two bedrooms, a small bathroom and a cosy combined kitchen/living area. The plan was to make it habitable as quickly as possible so that she could stay on-site to oversee work on the renovation. It really wouldn’t take much. The cottage was dingy and grubby, but it had been lived in much more recently than the main house and had no major problems. With a bit of work, it would be perfectly adequate as a temporary home for the duration of the project. It would need more extensive redecoration and updating before it
could be sold as an adjunct to the main house, but that could wait until the major work had been completed.

‘I hope you’re not planning on moving in anytime soon,’ Lesley said, wrinkling her nose as she peered into a built-in wardrobe and the smell of mildew wafted out. ‘There’s no way we’re going to get this place in shape in a weekend.’

‘Oh, we’re just the advance party,’ Romy said. ‘There are reinforcements coming down for the day tomorrow.’

‘I didn’t know that,’ Kit said. ‘Are we paying them?’

‘Just in beer and grub,’ Romy told him.

‘Really? I know times are hard, but can you really get people to work for food?’

‘I
can. I told you I’d be calling in some favours.’

‘Wow, you’re a handy girlfriend to have,’ Kit said, putting an arm around her and grinning at her. ‘It’s like I’m going out with Don Corleone. Though you’re much better looking, obviously,’ he added hastily. ‘And slimmer … and less mumbly. And you don’t have that jowl thing going on.’

‘So, hardly like Don Corleone at all, then,’ she said, smiling.

‘Just in having troops of people at your command, ready to do your bidding.’

‘Right,’ Romy said, pulling away, ‘before we do anything else, I’m going to see if I can get the boiler going. Then I think we should start on the kitchen.’

In an airing cupboard beside the bathroom she had found an immersion heater which seemed to be working, so at least they would have hot water.

They all trooped into the small, grungy kitchen, falling silent as they surveyed it despondently.

‘It’s not as bad as it looks,’ Romy said. ‘What it mainly needs for now is a really good scrub. But first, let’s have some lunch while we’re waiting for the water to heat up. I brought a picnic.’

‘Yay,
lunch!’ Lesley said, visibly brightening. ‘I’m starving.’

‘Me too,’ Kit said, ‘but isn’t it a bit cold for a picnic?’

‘I meant indoors. Having a picnic means we don’t have to bother about cleaning anything first. There are a couple of blankets in that box,’ she said, pointing.

‘Okay, we’ll sort that out while you go and look at the boiler,’ Lesley said, shooing her out the door.

The boiler remained dishearteningly cold and lifeless, despite Romy’s best efforts at resuscitation – though her knowledge of plumbing was severely limited, so she didn’t have high hopes. After extensive fiddling with the switch to no avail, she gave up and went to explore a large shed to the side of the house. Among the inevitable rusting bicycles, clapped-out lawnmowers and bags of mouldy compost, there was a large chest freezer. That would be handy if it still worked. And the shed would be useful for storage if she got rid of all the junk. She had had some skips delivered during the week so she put clearing out the shed on her mental to-do list. As she headed back to the lodge, she was pleased to see a small pile of logs and peat stacked neatly against the side wall. It wasn’t covered, but thankfully it hadn’t rained much in the last couple of weeks, and touching it with her fingers, she found that it was reasonably dry.

When she stepped back into the kitchen, a picnic blanket was laid out on the floor along with a couple of cool boxes, two large catering flasks of tea and coffee, and a pile of paper cups.

‘Lunch is served,’ Lesley said, gesturing to the blanket with a flourish.

‘Mmm, this looks great,’ Romy said as they all settled on the floor and Danny unloaded the cool boxes, laying open foil-wrapped sandwiches and slabs of cake, while Lesley dispensed tea and coffee and passed it around. ‘What’s this?’ she pointed to a large circular aluminium parcel.

‘Mom
made that for us,’ Ethan said, peeling back the foil. ‘It’s a giant biscuit.’

‘It’s not a biscuit, it’s a cake,’ Kit said.

‘Really?’ Romy scrutinised the flat chocolate-coloured disc.

‘It looks like a biscuit,’ Ethan said.

‘Well, it’s a cake – a chocolate cake.’

‘Are you sure?’ Lesley asked. ‘It could be a chocolate biscuit.’

‘It’s flat like a biscuit,’ Danny said.

‘It’s got layers like a cake – look.’ Kit pointed out its double layer construction with some kind of chocolate coloured creamy stuff in the middle.

‘That doesn’t prove anything,’ Lesley said. ‘Lots of biscuits have layers like that. Custard creams, Oreos, Jammy Dodgers …’

‘Bourbon creams,’ Romy supplied.

‘Well, I know for a fact that it’s a cake, okay? I hope you didn’t call it a biscuit in front of Mom,’ Kit said to Ethan.

‘I don’t think so,’ Ethan said, frowning. ‘Anyway, whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll taste great.’

‘God, it’s freezing in here,’ Lesley said, huddling over her tea so the steam warmed her face, her hands wrapped around the cup.

Romy looked around the circle. They were all still wearing their coats, except Danny and Ethan.

‘We might as well have had the picnic outside,’ Kit said from the depths of his massive down jacket.

‘The boiler’s dead, so I’m not going to be able to get the heating going today,’ Romy said apologetically, ‘but I brought down a couple of heaters. And we can have a fire in here,’ she added, nodding to the open hearth in the living area. ‘The chimney was swept last week and I found some logs and turf by the side of the house.’

‘I
shouldn’t have let you talk me out of buying that arctic sleeping bag,’ Kit said to her. ‘It would have come in handy tonight.’

‘Never mind,’ she said, ‘I’ve brought a load of hot water bottles.’

‘Anyway, you’ll get warm once you start scrubbing,’ Danny told him, smiling mischievously.

‘Great!’ Kit said dryly. ‘It’s like that bloody survival weekend all over again.’

‘Don’t you even think about escaping from this one,’ Romy said. ‘I’ll hunt you down.’

‘I wouldn’t dare,’ he said, reaching for a piece of lemon drizzle cake. He groaned as he bit into it. ‘Oh my God, did you make this?’ he asked Romy.

‘Yeah, I did.’

‘Well, that’s it, then – I won’t be going anywhere. In fact, I think I’m going to have to marry you,’ he said, throwing an arm around her. ‘What do you say?’

‘Okay,’ she said, shrugging. ‘Why not?’ She smiled at him, leaning into his squashy jacket. But then she became aware of Ethan watching them and felt uncomfortable. She pulled away.

‘Anyone for a bit of this, er, thing Mom made?’ Ethan asked, picking it up.

‘I’m game!’ Lesley said.

He broke off a piece and handed it to her.

‘It snaps like a biscuit,’ Lesley observed as he broke off another piece for himself.

Ethan nodded in agreement and they both watched each other as they chewed thoughtfully.

‘It’s crunchy like a biscuit,’ Ethan said when he had swallowed.

‘For God’s sake!’ Kit roared. ‘It’s a
cake!’

When they
had finished eating and cleared away the picnic things, Romy handed Lesley a lump hammer.

‘You can smash up all that mouldy built-in furniture in the bedrooms for starters,’ she said. ‘And save the wood – we can use it for the fire.’ Then she doled out cleaning supplies, rubber gloves, goggles and face masks to everyone else.

‘Hey, why does she get a lump hammer and I just get a pair of Marigolds?’ Kit asked peevishly.

‘Because she bagsied the lump hammer.’

‘Oh, fair enough,’ he said, snapping on his rubber gloves.

‘This isn’t my first rodeo,’ Lesley said, grinning smugly as she gave a few practice swings with the hammer.

‘I can see that.’

While Lesley skipped off to start demolishing wardrobes, and Ethan, Kit and Danny got stuck into cleaning the kitchen, Romy went to work on the bathroom. Time passed quickly, and the more she did, the more there seemed to be still to do, but finally she was finished.

‘You’ve done a great job in here,’ she said, joining the others in the kitchen, looking around admiringly at the sparkling countertops and see-through windows. She moved around, absently opening cupboard doors and peering into the fridge and oven. ‘Well,’ she said, straightening up and leaning against the counter, ‘the good news is that the shower is working. The bad news is you have to take your clothes off to get into it. And the bathroom is
freezing.’

She had got warm as she worked, but as soon as she stopped, she felt the cold start to creep through her again straight away.