Page 25 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Yep. I’ve only recently rented one of these,’ I say, relieved the silence has been broken. ‘I used to use the garage I keep my van in for overflow from the shop. But recently I’ve had a few slightly larger clearances, so I rented a proper lock-up. I’m glad I did now – by the time we’ve finished at your grandfather’s house, this will be full.’
We climb down from the van and I unlock the back doors.
‘All of it?’ Adam asks, looking reluctantly inside.
‘No, I’ve marked what I want in here and what I want taken to the shop.’
‘Good. Very organised of you.’
‘Look, before we begin, I’m sorry,’ I say, knowing I must address what happened before. After all, Adam was good enough to offer to help me when really he didn’t have to. I am the one doing the clearance.
‘What for?’ Adam asks, one foot on the back step of the van.
‘Snapping at you earlier.’
‘Oh, that? I’ve forgotten it already.’
‘Really?’
‘Really what?’ Adam grins at me. ‘Look, we all have our secrets. Why should you tell yours to me – a perfect stranger?’
‘I’d hardly call you perfect,’ I reply, and now it’s my turn to smile as I slip past him up and into the back of the van.
Adam shakes his head. ‘I think we’d better get this van emptied before I change my mind and leave you to do it all on your own.’
I turn back to him, but he’s grinning as usual. ‘How about you pass everything down to me and I put it in the lock-up?’ he says. ‘No point two of us being up and down all night.’
Our eyes meet and he blinks innocently at me. ‘Yes?’ he asks, wide-eyed.
I challenge him. ‘You know exactly what you said just now, don’t you?’
‘That time was completelyunintentional, actually!’ he says earnestly. ‘But if you’ve chosen tointerpretit differently, Eve, then that’s on you, I’m afraid …’ His bright blue eyes look reprovingly at me. But then he can’t help them twinkling, and immediately I spy mischief hiding behind his innocent façade.
‘Nice try.’ I shove the box at him. ‘Now just get moving. We’ve got a lot to do.’
But I can’t help smiling to myself as I go back for the next box. I really shouldn’t find Adam amusing with his often schoolboy-like humour. But incredibly annoyingly – to me, at least – I do.
7
Eventually, we move everything that I want to keep in the lock-up from the van, stacking it neatly and in an order I can find things easily, then we climb back inside and drive towards the shop.
‘At least it’s after seven,’ I say, glancing at the clock on the van’s dashboard. ‘So we can get close to the shop now. The barrier that prevented you driving through on your motorbike yesterday will be lifted now.’
I find my way back to King’s Parade and pull up in a loading bay, putting my badge in the windscreen to inform any eager traffic wardens that happen to be passing that I have a business nearby and therefore I’m allowed to park for a short time.
‘Right, then,’ I say, looking across at Adam. ‘Last push!’
‘Last push it is!’ Adam looks like this is the last thing he wants to be doing on a Saturday night.
‘I did say I could manage. You could have stayed at the house.’
Adam shakes his head. ‘No chance. Let’s do this.’
Getting stock to the shop has never been easy. Clockmaker Court is situated down a small pedestrian path that leads off King’s Parade, making directaccess with a vehicle impossible. So it takes a number of trips back and forth to the van to unload the rest of the furniture and boxes. While we’re on one of them, Orla pokes her head out of one of the leaded windows above her shop.
‘Oh, it’s you, Eve,’ she says, looking relieved. ‘I thought I heard some commotion down there, I wondered what was going on.’ She glances at her watch. ‘It’s quite late for you to be here, isn’t it?’
‘We’re just bringing some bits and pieces back to the shop,’ I tell her. ‘We’ll try not to disturb you too much – we’re nearly finished for today.’
