Page 36 of The Beekeeper's Cottage
He had the decency to look ashamed.
‘I didn’t think you were home,’ he replied, pulling the door wider and offering a hand.
‘No, I wasn’t. Which, considering this is my driveway, is the reasonIdidn’t expect to see you come careering towards me.’ Her heart rate was beginning to slow slightly, enough for her brain to start processing information. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’
He looked at her, bemused.
‘Well, I came to see you.’
She clambered from the car. ‘Yes, obviously… but what for?’
He didn’t answer but gestured back towards the house. ‘Could we go inside?’ he asked. ‘I feel I should make you a cup of tea, or something…’
‘Dominic, I’m fine. I’m more worried about the potential for damage to your very expensive car than about any I may suffer myself. But you’d better come in.’
It was the last thing she needed given the mood she was in but there could be only one reason why Dominic was here. She collected her handbag from the car and walked on ahead to open the front door.
‘I hope you’ve got some good news for me,’ she said as she turned the key in the lock.
There was no reply but then Dominic was never the type to discuss anything without a cup of coffee in his hand. She could do with one herself, but she also had no real desire to waste any more of her day on conversations about things she really didn’t want to talk about.
Walking into the kitchen, she dumped her bag on the countertop and threw open the double doors into the garden, flooding the room with the sound of birdsong.
‘So…’ she said. ‘Have you come all this way to see me without even checking if I was in, or had you some other reason to be out this way? You’re lucky you caught me at all.’
Dominic smiled. ‘Nothing much gets past you, does it?’ he replied.
‘Just that a busy man like you wouldn’t waste several hours on a fruitless journey.’
He crossed the room to stand by the threshold to the garden. ‘I’ve been to see my mother,’ he explained. ‘A slight emergency late last night; a fall which resulted in a trip to the hospital and a broken wrist, but my sister is with her now so all is well. She’s back at home, giving out orders left, right and centre, so obviously not feeling too diminished.’
‘Oh, Dominic, I am sorry. But you know I’ve always said that Nancy will probably outlive us all.’
‘You may well be right. The circumstances of the fall worried me slightly until I found out that she’d been waltzing around the living room and tripped over the cat.’
Grace laughed, she couldn’t help herself. ‘Well then I’m glad to see that some things never change.’
Dominic turned around to focus directly on her. ‘However, I was going to come over to see you this week anyway…’ He trailed off, running a hand through his hair. It was a gesture that Grace knew of old.
‘What’s the matter, Dominic?’ She sighed. ‘Go on, sit down. I’ll put the kettle on.’
He took a seat as directed but, she noticed, with his back slightly to her so that he could look out into the garden. His supposedly relaxed pose was undermined only by the tell-tale jiggling of his foot as he crossed his legs.
As soon as they were settled she wasted no further time.
‘I would imagine you need to talk to me about Paul,’ she said, handing him a cup of coffee.
He put it straight down on the table. ‘There have been some further developments, yes, and, under the circumstances, we felt it was probably best if I talk to you.’
‘Wefelt?’ queried Grace.
Dominic’s eyes flickered to his lap. ‘Ifelt… Because I really don’t want to make this any harder than it already is, and I don’t believe that Paul would handle it particularly well.’
‘So you’ve come to smooth the way, have you? Because whatever it is you know I’m not going to like it one little bit—’
‘Grace, I’ve done what I can for you. I actually have, you have to believe me.’ There was a pained expression on his face. ‘Despite what you think about me, you probably ought to know that I think very highly of you, I always have and I—’ He stopped himself, picking up his coffee and gulping at the hot liquid. ‘Look, let me just explain,’ he said, changing the subject. ‘I obviously spoke to Paul after we last met and, much to my surprise, he was considerably more contrite than I thought he was going to be. I think he’s genuinely sorry for the distress he has caused you.’
Grace gave a bitter laugh. ‘Dominic, if you’ve come here to effect a reconciliation, don’t waste your breath. You really don’t know Paul at all well if you think that was a genuine reaction. On the contrary, I would say that what you saw was a very measured response to Paul’s assumption that his neck was on the block with the network. I think you’ve been played.’
