Page 56 of Wild About You

‘I say this with a lot of love, Tally, but please shutup,’ murmured Fi.

Tobias arrived at Stonemore just in time to save everyone’s sanity. Fi put in a call to a temping agency and he turnedup the next day, dressed sharply but coolly in trainers, jeans and jacket, and with a bespoke leather satchel that cost more than my entire wardrobe put together. On arrival at the tiny desk we’d squeezed in next to mine, he offered me a rhubarb and custard sweet, and I was sold.

Tobias was a recent graduate in Drama and Politics (‘a classic combo,’ he told me as we sucked our sweets), but he had the mind of a natural organiser and was completely unfazed by Tally, absorbing her monologues with a blank expression before bursting into a bright smile, and starting to make lists. He made tea, grasped our systems at the speed of light, and built strong relationships with our suppliers in what seemed like milliseconds. When the temp agency called to check his progress at the end of the second week, Fi blurted out ‘you can never take him from us’ in a voice so piercing we thought it was a matter of life and death.

When I told Tobias I’d expected him to be more dramatic, he rolled his eyes at me and said he planned to be a film director eventually, in which case he’d have tomanagedramatic people rather thanbeone of them. ‘And she’s perfect practice,’ he said, tipping his head in the direction of Tally’s desk, which was piled high with swatches and magazines.

‘What are you wearing to the ball, by the way?’ Tobias said to us.

‘Something glittery to drape over this.’ Fi patted her baby bump – she was already showing.

‘Glitter, excellent!’ cried Tobias.

‘And you?’ I said.

He bit his lip. ‘I might just have a second-hand Tom Ford suit in my wardrobe.’

‘Oh my lord,’ I said. ‘You’ll look fantastic.’

He held up a reproving finger. ‘I’ll have to countrify it. Maybe I’ll fashion myself a pheasant-feather brooch.’

‘Or you could just allow Hugo to cover you with a fine layer of beagle hair,’ I said. Hugo was snoring on my lap – Jamie had had to go out for the morning.

‘I’ll consider it,’ said Tobias. ‘What about you, Anna?’

I sighed. Conversations like this were not my forte. ‘Maybe I won’t go.’

‘Shutup!’

‘Okay, okay. I’ve got a black dress I bought for work do’s just before I left London,’ I said. ‘No, honestly. It’s appropriate. A cocktail dress.’ I caught his narrow-eyed glance. ‘I’ll pair it with killer heels and vampy red lipstick.’ I’d sent this description to Rose by text, and she’d approved it.

‘Mmm.’ Tobias was not convinced. ‘I’ll bring you a brooch from my collection.’ He was an avid collector of brooches from charity shops and flea markets. ‘I will bring a red glass piece to match your lipstick.’

‘Very kind.’ Hugo shifted on my lap and I stroked his soft head.

‘You do know,’ Tobias leaned forwards, confidentially, ‘that Lucinda is planning to recreate a dress from one of the portraits in the house? She’s having someone in the village sew it. Tartan. Looks a bit biscuit-tin-like to me.’

‘Really?’ I glanced at Fi, who was rubbing her baby bump and looking very entertained.

‘I know,’ Tobias nodded. ‘A real-life restaging ofRebecca. Although I checked and Jamie doesn’t have a dead wife. It’s his grandmother’s portrait she’s recreating. Which is less…’ he paused to consider the right word, ‘… sexy. I said to Curtis,’ (Curtis was his housemate, with whom he was secretly, or not so secretly, in love), ‘if you wanted to make someone propose, would you dress up as their grandmother?’

I started laughing and quickly became hysterical. Even when Tobias, laughing himself, said, ‘Hon, catch your breath, it wasn’tthatfunny,’ on I went, until Hugo sat up, glared at me, jumped down and ambled off to Callum’s office.

‘Oh dear,’ I said, wiping tears of laughter from my face. ‘I think I might need a change of scene.’ I checked my face in my phone and saw there were rivulets of mascara on my cheeks. As I wiped them off, I didn’t dare imagine the looks Tobias and Fi were exchanging.

I was still actively suppressing my laughter as I strode off to check on the conservator who was working on the Boulle cabinet. The thing was, I seemed to have shifted from finding everything terrible and tear-inducing, to wanting to laugh at everything.

I texted Fi as I walked, trying to shelter my phone from the seemingly never-ending summer rain.

ANNAI keep laughing all the time. Is there a word for this?

FIONAHysteria? Are you okay?

It wasn’t unpleasant, I just felt as though I was in delayed shock or something. There was also something very strange happening: I was starting to think well of Jamie. Even to quitelikeJamie. Clearly Lucinda’s obsession with marrying him had somehow tinkered with a primitive part of my brain. Also, we hadn’t been alone in a room together for ages, and it was clear we got on best when we didn’t actually speak to each other.

But I kept thinking about him watching the GPS when I got lost in the snow. And knocking the Jenga over to try to save me from embarrassment when I confessed to my childlessness. Not to mention him galloping to my rescue on a horse.

No-no-no, Anna, I said to myself as I stomped across Stonemore,this is no time to be fostering ambiguous feelings towards a man you categorically loathed until about five minutes ago. Just deal with your issues, woman, and download a dating app.

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