Page 67 of Meet me at the Seaside Cottages

‘That could be seen as efficient.’

‘I don’t not appreciate their lustrous beards, wood-chopping bodies and carriage-driving skills,’ muses Janey. ‘But I think the vow of enforced female silence and the menstrual hut might prove a bit of a test. Oh, God. Actually, the menstrual hut probably won’t be necessary.’ She sighs. ‘Hang on, why are they even on dating sites?’

‘What are you up to?’ says Amsan.

‘Essie’s boyfriend is coming up.’

Amsan frowns. ‘Well, you don’t need to show off.’

‘I apologise,’ says Janey, immediately. It’s really not worth getting on Amsan’s bad side.

‘Your house is very small . . . ’

‘Oh, he’s not staying with us,’ says Janey, half embarrassed, half relieved. ‘Fartoo common. He’s very posh. They’re staying at Harcourt House.’ This is the smart estate country house hotel up the road.

‘My Yasmin met a posh guy on a dating app,’ says Amsan. ‘He wanted her to wear a tail and prance around like a pony.’

‘Okay, out,’ says Janey. ‘I mean it. I have to get very busy with dying alone.’

28

Essie has worked so hard to stop seeing Dwight so much. It’s Saturday morning and Connor is coming. Her lovely, gorgeous boyfriend will be here in just a few hours. She doesn’t need some hard-bodied, rough-handed scruffbag with the neatest, tightest—

No. She needs to concentrate on the next stage of the refit. The problem is, they need more manpower, they need people, and the people they have, like Wee Jim and his mate, aren’t specialists. The electrics are going to be next, now that everything is more or less cleared out, and she doesn’t really know anyone she trusts not to blow them sky-high. She needs a specialist.

Janey is very anxious even making the offer, but she has to. Essie is back to being at home all the time, which isn’t doing anyone any good, not least her electricity bill.

‘I told Lowell you might puppy-sit,’ she says. ‘He’ll pay. It’s only pin money but . . . ’

Essie looks up, and Janey steels herself for a sarcastic refusal.

‘What does Lowell do for a living?’ she says. ‘Isn’t it something buildery?’

‘Well, he’s an architect.’ Janey frowns. ‘Is this for next door? Because, you know, I did this place mostly by myself.’

‘Who did you get to do the electrics?’

‘No one; the electrics were okay.’

‘What about the plastering?’

‘Johnson did a lot of it.’ Janey frowns again. ‘Oh, lord, I shouldn’t have had him lifting his arms above his head.’

‘How is he?’

‘They’re putting a care package together,’ says Janey. ‘It’s slow-going. He wants to be completely back to normal straight away and that’s exactly the kind of thing that makes people fall over. But he’s going to be fine.’

She doesn’t mention Lish, who she found yesterday crying in the linen closet. Lish finding things too much was incredibly unsettling. She takes everything in her stride. IfLishis under too much pressure . . . She decides not to talk about her abortive night with Lowell right now.

Essie leaps up. ‘Yes!’ she says. She has a lot to ask this guy. Her dad has not been remotely helpful, although he did ask if she would come over and babysit Logan while he took Lori away to New York for the weekend.

‘Okay,’ says Janey, surprised. ‘Well, let me know how you get on.’

‘Give me his number.’

‘Ah,’ says Janey, ‘I still don’t have it.’

‘Oh for heaven’s sake!’

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