Page 45 of Fe
Ripley wanted to roll his eyes. His mother could win prizes for her negativity.
“Tell me what you think of that side table?” his mother said.
Fen went over to it. “An eighteenth-century oak lowboy. It’s in very good condition. Sadly, brown furniture has fallen out of fashion. In the past, it would have been worth double, maybe triple what it is now. I’d estimate between four and five hundred at auction. But to be frank, on a bad day, it could easily go for two.”
“Do you know why it’s called a lowboy?” his mother asked.
“Low because it’s not as high as a highboy and boy is from the French for wood. Bois.” Fen smiled. “Did I pass?”
Ripley’s mother who rarely smiled at anything, let alone laughed, chortled.Good God.
“Do you speak French?” she asked.
“Un peu, Madame.”
“Did you learn it at school?”
“Oui.”
Fen moved around the room, deliberately not looking at Ripley. He took photos and made notes in a small book.
What was it about him that made Ripley’s heart beat faster? Would having Fen in his bed once have been enough? He already knew it wouldn’t or he’d not have made that six month offer. Ripley felt unsettled. It was going to be difficult to wait until Friday for Fen’s decision.
“That’s it in here. Thank you,” Fen said. “And again, I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
When he left the room, Ripley followed.
Ripley closed the door and quickly stepped in front of him. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m still thinking about it. You said I had until Friday.”
That gave Ripley more hope than it should have done, though Fen’s smile didn’t warm his heart because he could see it was forced. Though the chuckle for his mother had sounded genuine, which was irritating. As had been the absence of texts over the weekend. But what had he expected?Please don’t let me have wrecked everything.
He followed Fen into the dining room.
“Don’t you have work to do?” Fen asked. “Or are you worried I’ll slip a sideboard into my pocket?”
“I’d rather look at you than my laptop.”
“Try Pornhub. Might change your mind.”
Ripley barked out a laugh and hope surged again.
Fen stared at the table. “Wow. Is there nothing you want to keep?”
Ripley let his gaze wander over the vases, wine glasses, ornaments, picture frames, cutlery, Crown Derby dinner sets…ugh. He didn’t even recognise a lot of it. “No.”
“This carpet-ground paperweight is by Baccarat. It’s probably worth about eight thousand pounds.”
“Really? I used to play with it when I was a boy. I liked the little reindeer in it.”
“They’re cute.”
“What does carpet ground mean?”
“Where a pattern of identical design canes is sometimes inset with contrasting canes, like the ones with the reindeer. Clear ground paperweights have a clear glass background and the decorative element is set inside it.”
“Right.”Keep talking.
