The Perfect Match (8 page)

Part of her was loving her growing friendship with Michael. It was such fun to check her emails to see if there was one from him and, if there was, to analyse it for signs that he ‘liked’ her, as Bella would have said. But she was also torn between wanting to keep Michael secret and wanting to talk about him all the time. The previous night at her book group, when everyone was talking about diets, she had been terribly tempted to announce she had a relationship with a younger man. If she wasn’t careful she’d be spotted walking along the street with her mobile phone pressed to her ear.

The sensible part of her told her she was being ridiculous and at her age she should know better. But Michael’s emails appeared flatteringly often, and although she forced herself not to reply to them instantly and always kept her tone light, she did find she was thinking about him more and more.

While there had been no email last night, there was one this morning, which, she worked out, meant he must have logged on at midnight, after he’d got home from his business dinner.

She wasn’t going to reply now. In fact, she was going to get into the garden and clear the end bed for some annuals before the promised rain set in. Then she might reply. It was a shame she’d rather gone off gardening recently.

Bella was on her way to the second viewing, under a darkening sky when she realised she didn’t have the name of the client. She stopped in a lay-by and rang Tina, who ran the office.

‘Hi, Teens. I don’t seem to have a name of the client for the little three-bed up near the common. Can you help?’

‘I’ll have a look,’ said Tina.

While she was looking, Bella watched the first spots of rain land on her windscreen. She felt sad for the house she was about to show. It was always hard to talk up a property when it was tipping it down outside.

Tina came back. ‘Sorry, love, I can’t seem to find it. I didn’t make the appointment and I can’t find out who did. I know Nevil was scheduled to do it . . .’

‘Yes, he had to do something and asked if I’d go instead. He’s not there, is he?’

‘No. He’s probably doing the thing that meant he couldn’t do the viewing.’

Bella laughed. ‘It’s OK, I’ll manage. I just don’t want to look unprofessional.’

‘You won’t look that, Bella, trust me,’ said Tina.

At least there was no one waiting for her, Bella thought, as she parked her car outside the house and then found the keys. The owners were out and she could nip in and familiarise herself with the property before the client arrived. She decided to start upstairs.

It wasn’t very inspiring, she decided. Three fairly reasonably sized bedrooms and a family bathroom upstairs; possibly room for an en-suite in the master. There seemed to be access to a loft, but there was no time for her to see if it was boarded out or not.

Downstairs, the kitchen was definitely in need of a refurb – but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Prospective purchasers quite often wanted to put in their own kitchen and not, as someone once put it, pay for someone else’s bling. There was just about room for a table and a door revealed a separate larder. That was a big tick.

But the sitting room had railway-carriage proportions and looked out on to a gloomy patio, and the dining room was so full of clutter it was hard to see if it was nice or not.

She had just spotted a useful downstairs cloakroom when the doorbell rang. She went to let her client in.

Bella stepped back, confused. Dominic stood on the doorstep shaking an umbrella.

‘Oh!’ she said. ‘I was expecting someone else.’

‘Who?’ he asked, a dark eyebrow reaching towards his silver hair.

Bella sighed. ‘I don’t know. Er – come in. Let me show you round. We won’t be able to see the garden, I’m afraid. The weather’s getting worse.’ She’d dealt with some difficult clients in her time, but they would seem easy compared to having to show Dominic round a house.

He put his umbrella in the corner of the porch. ‘We can look at it through the windows.’

‘If we can see through the driving rain,’ said Bella, trying to smile. She knew he was in the area, she knew he was looking for a house: she shouldn’t have been surprised, really. ‘Come through to the sitting room. It’s not a bad size.’

‘Hmm,’ said Dominic, making his opinion quite clear.

‘It has got rather a lot of furniture in it,’ said Bella. ‘If it didn’t have these massive sofas—’

‘It would still be very narrow.’

Bella opened a door. ‘This is the dining room.’ She rapped on the wall. ‘You could possibly knock through?’

‘Hmm,’ said Dominic again.

Bella wanted to do a professional job for her own sake as much as Dominic’s, but the house wasn’t helping. ‘I’m sorry you’ve got me instead of the boss.’

‘It’s all right. He promised me I’d be in very good hands when he told me.’

This was unusual. Why did Nevil bother to tell Dominic he couldn’t do the viewing?

‘He also referred to you as his fiancée.’

This was a shock. ‘Agh! Did he?’

‘You sound surprised.’

‘It’s not official,’ Bella explained hurriedly, trying to gloss over her rather extreme reaction. ‘We’re not telling people yet, really.’ So far, she’d only told Alice.

‘And you’re not wearing a ring.’

Bella looked at her left hand as if to check. ‘No. Shall we see upstairs now?’ She desperately wanted to get this viewing over with. The house was vile and being with Dominic made it difficult to breathe.

She stood in the doorway of the bedrooms while Dominic inspected them. ‘Three doubles,’ she announced.

‘Only an estate agent would describe this room as a double.’

‘You can get a double bed in there, with room to get in on both sides, and there’s space for a small wardrobe,’ she said irritably, forgetting Dominic was the client.

‘So, do your parents like Nevil?’

Bella was instantly sent back to a summer day when the agency where she and Dominic had worked together organised a fun day in aid of charity. Her father and Dominic had ended up playing on the same cricket team and she and her mother had sat together watching. Her mother had turned, indicating Dominic, who was bowling. Bella had just said, ‘Married.’ Her mother had sighed. And while they had never said as much, she knew they didn’t much care for Nevil. ‘What’s not to like?’ she said flippantly.

They made their way downstairs. ‘There is a little cloakroom, useful for storing buggies and things. Which kind of baby did you have? Girl or boy?’

‘A little boy.’

‘So is Celine going to come up and house-hunt too? Or will she leave it to you to find the right place?’

‘We’re not married any more.’

This was the last thing that Bella had expected. ‘My goodness!’

‘I would have thought you knew that.’ He sounded sceptical. ‘You and Celine were close at one stage, weren’t you?’

Bella frowned. ‘Not really. Obviously we’ve met but—’

‘Oh, don’t be disingenuous, Bella. It doesn’t wash.’ He sounded angry.

‘I’m not. Celine and I only ever saw each other at company dos and I certainly didn’t know you’d got divorced. Should I congratulate you or commiserate?’

He shrugged. ‘Whichever.’ He paused. ‘Are you sure you haven’t seen Celine since you left Owen and Owen?’

‘Of course! Why on earth are you asking me?’

He shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter. Now.’

As any pretence of behaving as estate agent and client had long gone, Bella said, ‘Do you get to see your little boy much? It must be hard . . .’

‘It is hard. But considering the circumstances, I get to see him quite often.’

‘Good. Now do you want to brave the garden?’

‘No thank you. I’m not going to buy this house.’

‘So what precisely are you looking for?’

He shrugged again. ‘This is the right area and about the right size. It’s just the wrong house.’

‘If you gave me just a bit more idea?’ She realised she’d forgotten what he’d said, distracted from her usual professionalism. ‘Do you want a new-build, period, lots of garden for your son to run around in or—’ She stopped. An expression of something almost like pain had crossed Dominic’s face. ‘Are you all right?’

‘He’s not my son.’

Bella was stunned. She didn’t know what to say. How did you react to news like that? ‘I – er—’

‘It’s complicated. I only found out when he was about a year old – when Celine asked for a divorce. Dylan and I had bonded. I loved him. Still do. But I’m not his father.’

‘That’s awful!’ Bella whispered.

‘Which is why, although I only have him one weekend a month, I consider myself lucky. Celine is married to his biological father now.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

Dominic bit his lips, as if suppressing some reaction. ‘I’d be grateful if you didn’t say anything about it to anyone. It doesn’t matter while I’m up here. He can be my son, which is how I think – thought of him.’

‘If you don’t mind me asking, why does Celine let you see him if you’re not . . . related?’

He gave a mirthless laugh. ‘I’d like to say it’s because she’s generous and good-hearted, but actually it’s so she and her husband can have “quality time” together.’

‘I see.’ As he didn’t speak, she said, ‘Shall we go? If there’s nothing else you want to look at.’

He shook his head. ‘Thank you for showing me round. Maybe if you check the details I gave your fiancé you might have an idea of what I’m looking for,’ he said curtly. ‘Goodbye!’ he added and walked out of the front door and down the path.

It was only after she’d watched him drive away that she noticed he’d left his umbrella in the porch. She picked it up, the front part of her brain thinking this was why she rarely carried one. Having curly hair she didn’t mind if it got wet. But deeper in her consciousness, she was in turmoil.

BELLA PARKED IN
the staff car park, grateful, not for the first time, that there was one, and dashed into the office. As Nevil’s door was open and she could see him standing by the window and that he was alone, she went in.

Nevil came up to her and pushed his fingers through her damp curls. ‘Hello, Curly.’

Bella’s smile was so brief if you’d blinked you’d have missed it. ‘What were you up to that you couldn’t do that viewing in Little Hollow?’

‘You didn’t mind, did you, sweetie? It’s just you’re our very best girl, and Dominic Thane is a solicitor, new to the area, very useful contact.’

‘Well, it was OK,’ Bella said, ‘but why on earth did you think he’d want that horrid little house?’ She chose not to mention that she knew Dominic. Not yet anyway.

‘Perfect location, perfect size—’

‘Which is pretty much what he said, adding, “Wrong house”, which I thought was quite polite of him, considering.’

Nevil frowned. ‘Considering what? That’s a fairly normal response to a house that isn’t quite right, I’d have thought. Bella, you didn’t do anything to upset him, did you?’

‘Of course not!’ Bella was indignant. ‘You know I’m always totally professional, otherwise why did you send me and not go yourself?’

‘I was busy and you’re always so good with clients,’ said Nevil calmly. ‘No need to get all antsy about it. We’ll find him something. There’s that charming one by the river that was “too flat” for your favourite clients.’

‘I’m also sure we’ve got something on the books that would suit him but I want to know why you sent him to a complete no-hoper!’

Nevil’s expression hardened. ‘Bella, I shouldn’t have to remind you that I am the head of this organisation and sometimes my duties include a bit more than matching houses to picky clients!’

Bella opened her mouth to respond, rewrote her spontaneous outburst in her head and then said, ‘OK. I just wish you’d tell me what it is that’s keeping you so busy these days.’ She tried a conciliatory smile but retracted it. ‘Conciliatory’ wasn’t going to work for her today.

‘I can’t tell you. As soon as I can, you’ll be the first to know. Now, is there anything else? I have a lot to do.’

Bella shook her head. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ She got up.

‘I’m sorry, Bells. Things are a bit tricky at the moment but I’ll make it up to you as soon as possible. We can start planning the wedding!’

Bella responded to his smile and then left, wondering why he thought planning a wedding was the zenith of any woman’s dreams, and then wondering why it wasn’t the zenith of hers.

Back in the main office she went over to Tina Stanford’s desk. She was the only one there at the moment, as the other two agents were out. Tina, who ran the organisation really, was a constant. A working mum, she kept her family and the office under firm control, and had a fondness for bright accessories. Today she was wearing a necklace that consisted of glass birds and fruit and flowers in jewel colours.

‘Want a hot drink, Tina?’

‘I think
you
want one! You check these property details for me while I get you one. I think you need hot chocolate.’

‘What would we do without you, Tina?’ Bella said gratefully.

‘Photocopying, scanning and putting on the kettle,’ said Tina dryly.

It was still raining when Bella drove home a bit later. And she still didn’t know if she’d deliberately not told Nevil that she and Dominic knew each other, or if the opportunity just hadn’t come up. And should she come clean now? But she knew she was kidding herself. Nothing would have been more natural than to say at some point, ‘And by the way, we used to work together.’

It was only while she was under the shower later that she realised it was likely, considering Nevil had told Dominic they were engaged, that Dominic hadn’t mentioned knowing her either.

But even if she wanted to, could she mention it now, without it looking as if she had deliberately not told him earlier? And if she did, it would involve no end of forensic investigation into how and where and how well they knew each other. Nevil did have a jealous side to him.

As she dried herself she decided her instinct not to tell him was for the best. What Nevil didn’t know wouldn’t worry him.

The sunshine the following day matched Bella’s improved spirits. She had decided to stop worrying about Dominic and just get on with her life. The fact that her life was complicated was fine – everybody’s life was, after all.