Page 81 of Christmas at Sturcombe Bay
She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but as she stepped into the hall her first reaction was surprise. Anddisappointment. The walls were covered in a flowery wallpaper, slightly faded and scuffed in places. The paintwork would have once been white but was now yellowed, and the wooden floor was covered with a dull red-and-green runner.
“Ah.” She glanced around, a hint of sardonic humour curving her mouth. “Nice place you’ve got here.”
He laughed, untroubled by the barb. “My grandmother’s taste. I haven’t got round to decorating all of it yet.”
“I thought you said you’d lived here for a while?”
“Five years, since Nanna moved down to live with my mum and dad. But as I was only renting it from her, it didn’t seem right somehow to make any big changes.”
Ah, that was a sensitivity she hadn’t quite expected from him. “And now?”
“I’ve made a start on doing it up how I want it. Come and see the sitting room.”
He opened a door on one side of the hall and flicked on the lights. It was a huge room running from the front to the back of the house. Above the ivory-cream marble fireplace the wall was painted a soft pale grey and was hung with a large abstract painting — wild swirls of blue and grey, with a pop of vivid yellow.
On each side of the fireplace the alcoves were a darker grey with gleaming ebony sideboards. There was a television the size of a small cinema screen, two long sofas upholstered in pale-grey leather with grey and yellow scatter cushions, and a large cream wool rug on the pale wooden floor.
The effect was cool and modern, but comfortable. It was a bold thing to do in a Victorian house, but it worked.
“I like it,” she approved. A large Christmas tree stood in the bay at the front, its white fairy lights winking and making the silver baubles and stars sparkle. She moved over to look out of the window. “You must have a fabulous view from here.”
“I do.” He moved over to stand beside her. “It’s the view I grew up with from my bedroom window.”
The moon hadn’t yet risen. It was too dark to see the sea, and the high ground on the far side of the bay was invisible against the dark sky. The village, by contrast, was sparkling with lights, along the Esplanade and rising against the surrounding hills.
“You never wanted to move away from Sturcombe?”
“I moved away while I was playing, but I always intended to come back. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why indeed.”
“Would you like to see the rest of the house?”
She turned to smile up at him. “Yes, I would.”
He was clearly very proud of it. He opened the door on the other side of the hall. “This is the dining room. I haven’t touched it yet. I haven’t decided what to do with it.”
A large walnut dining table dominated the room, gleaming with polish. Clearly Paul wasn’t neglecting it, even if he didn’t use it. Matching walnut sideboards flanked the marble fireplace, but the faded floral wallpaper and heavy old-fashioned crystal-drop chandelier dated the room badly.
“The furniture looks like it’s antique.”
“It is. It was bought by my great-grandfather. If I decide to keep it, I’ll do the room in a traditional style, like my mum and dad’s. When Nanna lived with them she had the dining room, but after she died they put the furniture back and painted the walls dark green. It really works.”
“Sounds nice.”
“The alternative is to sell all this stuff and go modern. But . . . I don’t know. I’m still thinking about it.”
“I can see why you don’t want to rush. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
“Right. And there are memories tied up in this room, more so than in the sitting room. Birthday parties, Christmas dinners.My nanna was a great cook.” He glanced around the room, smiling. “She lived here all her life — she was born in one of the upstairs rooms. Her grandfather had bought the place when it was first built.”
“What about your parents? Did they buy their house to be close to her?”
He shook his head. “My mother’s family had owned it for the same amount of time. My mum and dad grew up together.”
She smiled with sardonic humour. “Childhood sweethearts?”
“More just friends when they were kids. Then they both went away to different universities and it was when they came back that they got together. They’ve been married for over thirty-five years now.”
