Page 35 of Summer at the Château
‘How about building them? Follow me,’ and Pixie stood up and led Charlie over to a large package standing on a pallet. ‘Pizza oven-cum-barbecue. Do you reckon you can build it? I got rather carried away in the shop, didn’t really think about setting it up.’
‘Sure,’ Charlie answered confidently. ‘On one condition – I get to be the first to cook on it.’
‘It’s a deal.’
As they turned to go back to Gwen, Charlie noticed the two figures down by the lake. ‘Who’s that?’
‘My tenant in the cottage. Justine and Ferdie, her little boy. Frank had agreed they could live there. You’ll meet up with them in due course. In fact, once the pizza oven is up and working, I’ll invite them both for supper.’ No need to tell Charlie that Frank had installed Justine in the cottage – or how bad she still felt about upsetting Ferdie the other evening.
‘Is there anywhere I can put my bike? Looks like it might rain tonight and I don’t have a cover for it,’ Charlie said, looking up at the sky.
Pixie pointed out the two barns. ‘Justine works in the smaller one and keeps it locked, but there’s plenty of space in the other one.’
‘Thanks. I’ll get the panniers with my stuff in off and push it over there. And then I’ll come in and get organised.’
‘Organised?’
‘You told me I was in charge of the kitchen, so I’ve got an evening meal to cook tonight.’
‘Charlie, you really are my favourite nephew.’ And Pixie linked her arm through his. ‘As you’re cooking, I think I might just go and finish my editing, after I’ve given you the guided tour and shown you your bedroom, of course.’
* * *
Charlie was as good as his word. Not only did he cook dinner that evening, but afterwards he opened the booklet that was taped to the pizza oven package and spent the rest of the evening trying to get to grips with the instructions. ‘Jeez, why do they make everything so complicated,’ Pixie heard him mutter at one point.
The next morning, Pixie was up early as usual to get a writing session in before the day overtook her and was amused to find Charlie already in the kitchen making himself coffee.
‘Thought I’d make an early start. That barbecue is going to take some figuring out.’ And he disappeared with his drink out onto the terrace.
Pixie took her own coffee and went into the sitting room and switched on her desktop computer. She’d finished the edits last evening, now she wanted to do a last run-through before sending them off to her editor. An hour later, they were gone and she sat back with a satisfied sigh. Now, not only was she was free to enjoy the family holiday, she could also start to concentrate on all those notes and ideas she’d jotted down on her laptop before abandoning them to get the edits done.
Giving in to a sudden impulse, she picked up her laptop and climbed the two flights of stairs to the new room. She placed her laptop on the seat of one of the chairs before dragging the two chairs closer together.
Picking up her laptop, she sat in one of the chairs before pulling the other close enough in front of her to place her shoeless feet on the cushion. Perfect. Sitting like this she didn’t need a table.
Pixie opened the laptop, pressed the power button and waited for the machine to boot up. A deep breath of pure contentment escaped from her lips as she looked around. Frank organising the conversion without her knowledge had been such a surprise, but sitting up here now she had a strong, comforting sense of his presence. Without a doubt, there was a special atmosphere to the room, both calming and inspirational.
Two hours later, she pressed save and closed the laptop. She’d fleshed out her original germ of an idea and the story was beginning to shape up nicely. Her main character had started to come alive in her mind which was always a thrill. But now it was time to see what the rest of the world was up to.
There was no sign of Gwen as Pixie went downstairs, in fact the château was unusually quiet. Charlie was out on the terrace and the pizza oven-cum-barbecue was beginning to take shape. The bottom section was in place and fixed to the ground and the second section – the firepit and the barbecue – was ready to be attached.
‘Looking good,’ she said.
‘Not as difficult as I feared in the end,’ Charlie replied. ‘Grandma’s gone to the village to meet Anouk for coffee. Said if she’s not back for lunch, don’t worry. She’ll ring if she needs a lift home.’
‘Okay. Reckon we’ll be able to fire this up tomorrow evening?’
Charlie nodded.
‘In that case I’ll just pop across to the cottage and have a word with Justine.’
‘She’s working in the barn,’ Charlie indicated with his head. ‘I saw her going across earlier.’
‘Thanks.’
In the barn, Justine was putting the finishing touches to a shopping basket and looked up in surprise when Pixie appeared.
‘Hi.’
