Page 43 of Coming Home to Wishington Bay
‘Wow, OK. That’s great,’ I replied, wondering why I didn’t feel as excited as I should. Obviously this was a good thing. Getting the work done would mean that the house should be ready to sell by the end of the summer, thereby catching those who had decided after a summer filled with (hopefully) sunny days, that living beside the sea was what they really wanted. And that was great. That was what this summer was supposed to be about for me, after all, wasn’t it? Just getting the job done.
‘Really great,’ I said, more definite this time, in case the builder thought I might just be being polite or something, and I wanted him to know I was serious.
‘OK. I’ll firm it all up when I get back to the office and drop you an email with all the details and a date when we can start. If that works for you too, then we’re all go.’
‘Anything is fine with me,’ I said. ‘The sooner the better.’
‘Great. Well, it’s nice to know this place is in such good hands. Gigi was a customer of ours from time to time too. Lovely lady. She’d be thrilled with these improvements. I know she thought of doing some things to it herself, but she wasn’t quite sure what it needed. Sounds like you’ve got the vision though.’
I swallowed, suddenly overcome with guilt that this man knew more about certain aspects of my grandmother’s life than I did. I’d had no idea that Gigi had wanted to make alterations to the house. I mean, she’d said things in passing but it was clearly more than that to her – and I had been too busy to notice.
‘Right then. Cheerio and we’ll talk soon.’
I waved him off and sat down with a heavy plop on the sofa. Tipping over onto my side, I reached for the photo of my grandparents that I’d put on the side table.
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t pay more attention,’ I whispered, as I touched the laughing faces before hugging the photo to my chest, and lying there for a while wondering if there was anything else I’d missed.
* * *
‘Holly? You all right?’ Gabe’s deep tones brought me out of my mind’s meanderings.
‘Hmm?’
‘You OK?’ he asked, stepping through the patio door and closer to me.
‘Yeah,’ I said, shoving myself upright and replacing the photograph. ‘Did you know Gigi wanted to do some improvements to this place?’
‘She mentioned it in passing a couple of times, but no more than that.’
‘Oh God. I was a horrible granddaughter!’ I groaned, tipping back over again. ‘Even the local tradesmen knew more about what was going on with her, what she wanted, than I did! You were completely right that first d—’
I stopped. Mostly because Gabe’s finger was on my lips and my brain was fizzing quietly as it tried to decide how to cope with that.
‘I wasn’t right. We’ve been through this and already decided to forget about all that.’ He removed his finger but I didn’t speak. ‘Gigi had mentioned a couple of things that she fancied possibly having done but I don’t think, when it came down to it, she wanted to deal with all the mess that building work inevitably brings with it. For her, it wasn’t worth the effort. So, whatever’s going on up there—’ he tilted his chin at my head ‘—stop it. You and Ned were everything she wanted, and more.’
‘Gabe?’
‘Yes?’
‘Can you stop now because if you don’t, I think I’m going to cry and it’s not going to be pretty, delicate little tears. It’s going to be a really ugly snotfest kind of affair and if I did that over you, I think I’d have to leave the moment I’d finished before I died of mortification.’
He shook his head, chuckling. ‘Well, that’d be a real shame so I’ll stop. But just for the record, I’m a doctor. Believe me when I say I’ve had far worse on me than snot.’
I gave a sniff. ‘You do make a good point. But bearing in mind you just had your finger on my lips, I sincerely hope you’ve washed your hands since.’
‘Plenty. And sorry about that. It’s just that you looked set to run for a while and I kind of need to talk to you.’
‘Oh?’ I asked, giving myself a mental shake. ‘What about?’
‘It’s sort of a bit awkward …’ He stood, and walked over to the window, looking out up the lane.
‘What is?’
He cleared his throat. ‘Well, you know my parents are over here?’
‘Yes. Oh, how was the meal?’
‘Yeah, great,’ he answered, as he gave another glance up the road.
