Page 91 of The Christmas Retreat
‘What’s all this?’ he blustered. ‘I wanted to see you alone, Ginny, not have some kind of public meeting!’
‘Far from public – that’s why we booked this little room to have our discussion in,’ said Evie. ‘I don’t suppose you knewIwas at the writing retreat too?’
‘No, and I don’t think what I want to discuss with Ginny is any of your business, either. And who the hell areyou?’ he said rudely to Rhys.
I don’t think he’d noticed Mr Jenkins, who was sitting well back and observing Will with interest.
‘I’m Rhys Tarn, a friend of Ginny’s.’
‘That woman at Triskelion I spoke to on the phone mentioned some old boyfriend there you’d met up with, Ginny. I suppose that washim?’ He jerked his head at Rhys.
Verity not only appeared to have shot her mouth off to a total stranger but also, typically, got things disastrously wrong, I thought in exasperation. What business of hers was it to gossip about me to Will?
‘She’s wrong. I’d only met Rhys briefly once before I came here, years ago at a publisher’s party, and had no idea he lived at Triskelion.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Will said, his eyes narrowing. ‘Perhaps he’s the real reason you sold up the cottage, not because you had a good offer from the new owners of the Hall?’
‘It happens to be true,’ Evie said, ‘but that’s neither here nor there.’
‘No indeed,’ said Mr Jenkins, speaking up for the first time, and Will spun round to stare at him.
‘That is totally irrelevant to the matter in hand. I am Ms Spain’s solicitor, and we have discussed the whole matter of your spurious claim on some of the proceeds from the sale of Wisteria Cottage.’
‘They arenotspurious,’ Will said furiously. ‘I asked a solicitor myself about it. It wasmyhome too, after all!’
‘No, it most certainly wasn’t. It was always mine alone, and you contributed nothing to the upkeep of it or any of the household bills – you were just a weekend visitor.’
‘Yes, I’m afraid that unless you can show proof that you did indeed contribute in that way, which Ms Spain assures me you cannot, you have no claim whatsoever on any of the sale money,’ said Mr Jenkins. ‘If you indeed saw a solicitor, either you did not make the true matter plain, or he gave you very bad advice.’
‘So, you seem to have had a wasted journey,’ said Rhys pleasantly. ‘And I’d advise you to cease to attempt any future contact with Ginny.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ agreed Mr Jenkins, ‘for that could well give Miss Spain grounds to prosecute you for stalking.’
Will looked in baffled fury from one of us to the other, then gathered himself together before, like a not terribly successful shape-shifter, turning a facsimile of his old, boyish smile on me, exuding charm like cheap aftershave. I wondered how I’d ever fallen for it in the first place.
‘Ginny, after all we’ve meant to each other, you must see that it would be unfair not to share—’
‘It would only be fair if you took yourself off and never bothered me again,’ I cut in.
‘Or, as the immortal Douglas Adams put it, “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”,’ piped up Evie unexpectedly.
Will stared blankly at her for a moment. Then his expression changed to one of blind, baffled fury and, turning on his heel, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
A sporting print fell off the wall and Rhys picked it up and rehung it.
Mr Jenkins got up. ‘There, that seems to have ended the matter satisfactorily, but if you receive any further communication from him, do pass it on to me, Ms Spain.’
‘You’ve been wonderful – thank you so much,’ I said gratefully.
Evie got up to follow him. ‘Well, if that’s it, I’m off, too.’
This wasn’t a surprise since Evie had driven herself in, because earlier she’d received notification that a parcel was arriving this afternoon, and she hoped it was Milly Vane’s Memory Box at last.
The door closed behind her, leaving me alone with Rhys.Now it was over I felt both totally wrung out and hugely relieved that I’d never have to see or hear from Will again.
‘Thanks for all your help and for being here,’ I said. ‘I knew logically he didn’t have a leg to stand on, but still … And now I’ve seen him again, I can’t imagine how I ever fell for him in the first place –ortook him back the second time.’
‘We all make mistakes and that’s something else we’ve got in common,’ Rhys said cheerfully. ‘Come on, let’s go and have a celebratory lunch at a great little restaurant I know in Harlech!’
