Page 78 of Best Summer Ever

‘But,’ I carried on, ‘the thought of working here all day andthen having to go back to the cottage every evening to sit with Dad’s disappointment…’ I shuddered at the thought. The scene was all too easy to imagine. ‘I couldn’t do it, Algy. I couldn’t bear it.’

‘I don’t think he’d feel that way for long, if at all,’ Algy said, ‘when he sees what a wonderful job you’ve done. What a natural talent you still have—’

‘I can’t,’ I cut in. ‘I can’t manage this project and live in the cottage.’

Algy looked at me for a long moment.

‘Well, in that case,’ he said, striding off as quickly as moving with his stick would allow, ‘we’d better find somewhere else for you to rest your head, hadn’t we?’

‘You can’t be serious?’ I gasped, when Algy finally came to a stop. ‘You’re suggesting I can stay here?’

‘I know it needs a bit of work,’ he said, sounding less certain as he beat back the patch of nettles encroaching on the path with his stick, ‘but it’s not that bad.’

‘I don’t mean that it’s in a state, Algy,’ I laughed. ‘I just can’t believe you’re offering it to me to live in.’

‘Had I known how much you were struggling in the cottage,’ he said, as he pulled out of his pocket the bunch of estate keys he always had about him, ‘I would have suggested it days ago.’

‘But the summerhouse, Algy,’ I sighed, looking at it in awe. ‘Might you not need it for guests?’

‘I’m not expecting anyone,’ he said and shrugged, tossing me the bunch of keys. ‘The place hasn’t been lived in for a while, so sprucing it up a bit will doubtless be required. See if you can find the right key on that lot, would you?’

I soon located the key and the wooden double doors, having warped a little, creaked in protest as I opened them.

‘In you go then,’ said Algy, ushering me inside ahead of him.

I edged my way around the veranda rocking chairs and took the interior and mezzanine in. It did look to be in a bit of a sorry state, but nothing that a deep clean and good airing wouldn’t remedy.

‘It’s not too bad, is it?’ Algy said as he looked around. ‘Bit of a whiff, though.’

There was a rather pungent smell coming from somewhere, but some fresh air would soon see that off.

‘Electrics still connected,’ Algy said, flicking a light on and off again. ‘You’ll probably need to run the water for a bit to make sure it’s clear.’

I couldn’t really believe this was happening. First, Algy had offered me a job. The kind of job I had once hankered for but hadn’t reconsidered in all the time I had been trying to squeeze myself into an indoor office-based shape, and now he was offering me a place to stay too.

‘How much would you want for rent, Algy?’ I asked, as I dared to delve into the dream a little deeper.

‘I wouldn’t want you to pay rent,’ he laughed. ‘You’d be doing me a favour, getting the place back up to speed and passing for habitable again. It will need to look half decent, when I do get around to…’

‘When you get around to what?’ I frowned.

‘And obviously, I’d pay you a wage for working in the garden,’ he carried on, ignoring my question and because I was so excited, I quickly forgot I’d asked it. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to volunteer.’

‘Oh, Algy,’ I squeaked.

Was this really happening?

‘The cut-flower garden probably wouldn’t amount to a full-time position just yet,’ he said, ‘but you could help your dad with other things in the garden, couldn’t you? That would make up your pay packet easily enough.’

And there was the Dad-shaped spanner popping up again…

‘Stop fretting about your father,’ Algy said firmly, when he spotted my doubtful expression. ‘He’ll come round.’

I so hoped he was right because what Algy was offering me was exactly what I still wanted. It had just taken me years to realise it…

Chapter 18

Once I had caught my breath long enough to accept Algy’s generous offer, he then suggested he should come back to the cottage to talk to Mum and Dad with me, but I declined his kind suggestion and opted to tell them alone what he had just miraculously done for me.

---