A Change for the Better? (11 page)

“Ok brother I’ll wait here till you ...”

“Oh no” Ben interrupted “out of the car - you’re no safer in there than in my kitchen.” Lucy stared at him aggrieved.

“OUT” Ben bawled once more and Lucy got out, trying to convey a teenage nonchalance and give a very clear impression that she had decided to get out of her own accord and not because of Ben’s instruction. They walked up the garden path and Ben rang the doorbell, a
newer version
, he
noted, added
since the previous week. Shortly after Katie pulled the door open and invited them in.

“Hey” Ben greeted her “is Billy here yet?”

“Oh yes” Katie replied with emphasis.

“And?”
Ben asked

“And he’s banging random pipes, shaking his head and talking in ’plumbspeak’ which means nothing to me - you go in there and translate.”

Ben laughed, “Ok, in just a minute”

“Er, no, now” Katie countered “if he hits many more bits something’s going to come apart, pipes or him or possibly you!” Katie’s face showed she might not, in fact, be joking so Ben shot off into the front room to
talk plumbing with Billy. Lucy started to take more notice of Katie at this point. She hadn’t seen many people able to make her stubborn brother jump into action. Katie was definitely an exception. Lucy came out of her ponderings as she realised Katie was speaking to her.

“I’m sorry” Katie said “Ben didn’t introduce us before he disappeared. I’m Katie Collins; I’m looking after this house at the moment.” Katie extended her hand which Lucy shook a little
self-consciously
as she didn’t usually shake hands with new acquaintances.

“I’m Lucy, Ben’s sister. I’m staying with him for a couple of weeks while my Mum’s away.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. Do you fancy a drink while you’re waiting?” Katie wanted to make the girl feel welcome. She had a rather mutinous set to her face but Katie could see the vulnerability in her bright blue eyes.

“Oh ok,” Lucy answered “Do you have any hot chocolate?”

“I do” Katie smiled “and I have some oat cookies to go with it if you like.”

“Oh cool” Lucy brightened immediately and followed Katie into her flat. Katie soon had the milk warming on the range and spooned chocolate into the mugs, mixing them into
a froth
as she added the milk.

“There you are” Katie handed one of Cliona’s hand painted mugs to Lucy, “help yourself to cookies.” Lucy was soon tucking into the homemade biscuits, happily munching the crunchy treats. To Katie she suddenly looked like a different person, not much more than a child despite her typical teenage attempts to look grown up.

“So, Lucy, where has your Mum gone?”
Katie enquired.

“Oh, I’m not sure really. She’s disappeared off with Clever Trevor on a holiday or something.”

“Clever Trevor?”
Katie questioned

“Yeah, he’s her boyfriend - well her current boyfriend anyway.” Lucy’s attempt at cynicism was at odds with her blonde childish face Katie thought.

“You don’t get on then?” Katie added

“With Trevor, not really, he’s not as bad as some of them.” 

“What about
your
Mum?”

“She’s ok; she’s just in another world, really, not the same one as us, that’s all.” Lucy said sadly, “she’s always got some flight of fancy to follow, this time it was a romantic holiday in the sun or something.”

“So she arranged for you to stay at your brother’s - that’s ok isn’t it?”

“Well,
half-brother
actually.
Ben’s ok, but she didn’t arrange it, she just took me there and left. Ben was a bit pissed off at first, but
its
ok now.”

“Oh” Katie didn’t know what to say. Her parents had always been away, working on some project or other across the world so she knew what it felt like to be left behind but she’d always had Mo and Granddad to fall back on – and at least they were always expecting her, it seemed that Lucy wasn’t so lucky.

“What about
your
Dad?” Katie asked

“Never met him, he was a very brief part in Mum’s life” Lucy said matter-of-factly “it’s ok really; I expect he was a bit of a waster anyway.”

“Maybe” Katie smiled at Lucy’s world weariness, “men are generally more trouble than they’re worth.” she added with feeling, “Do you want another biscuit?” Lucy nodded and grinned

“You’re ok Katie - and these are gorgeous” she said biting into the golden biscuit “So how do you know Ben, he’s never mentioned you before.”

“Well, I knew him at school when I was nine and ten, he was a pain in the neck behind me in class, always kicking my chair and trying to be clever. But more recently I came back to look after my Gran’s house as she had an accident and Ben came to fix the door for me.”

“You missed the part about knocking me off my bike - you keep doing that” Ben had come into the kitchen with a stocky man in blue overalls
behind him.

“Actually I didn’t knock you off” Katie bristled “you were unable to control your bike and drove yourself into a hedge as I recall.”

“Okay, okay” conceded Ben, laughing, “We’ve had a good look around and Billy needs to go through the problems.”

“Oh god” groaned Katie “would you like a coffee first?”

They both accepted and as Katie was boiling the kettle Poppy stuck her head round the door.

“Hi Katie, sorry to bother you, could you - oh” she paused as she saw Katie had company “sorry, oh hi Ben, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Poppy - you?”

“Yeah great, bit of a problem actually but nothing major. I’ll catch you later Katie.”

“No, no come in” Katie pulled Poppy back into the kitchen, thinking
any distraction from the potentially expensive plumbing problems was welcome.

“This is Billy, the heating expert, and this is Lucy, Ben’s sister”

“Hi” said Lucy “your earrings are really great - where did you get them?”

“I made them actually. I’m doing a design course at
Rawlinston College
” Poppy answered.

“Really, I love design at school. What else do you design?” In no time the two of them were happily chatting away on the sofa, discussing colours, materials and favourite designers. There was no putting off the plumbing discussion any longer for Katie.

“So” she said, pulling up the big wooden chair to the kitchen table, “tell me the worst.”

“Well in short, the systems pretty sound but the radiators are nowhere near big enough to heat a room that size.” Ben began.

“Yes, my dear” Billy continued in a fatherly fashion, “the pipes are old,
but they’re fine, not the old lead ones we have to replace, but you need some double radiators in there and there’s a couple of lengths of piping to replace but it’s pretty straightforward. I’ve run the water through them all and there doesn’t seem to be any blockages, so we should be able to get you up and running quite quickly.”

“Oh” Katie was a bit dumb struck, “so you don’t need to take the house to pieces and start again?”

“No” Ben said, exasperated, “a couple of new radiators and a bit of pipe and you’ll be as warm as toast in there.”

“Well, okay, but how much is this going to cost? I don’t really want to use Mo’s money for this but I haven’t got a great deal to play with.” Katie said forlornly.

Billy looked at Ben slightly puzzled “But it’s alright my dear, Ben here ...” Billy started but Ben cut in quickly

“Has some radiators and pipes from a house conversion we did recently and Billy can use them - so they won’t cost anything.” Billy was looking more puzzled by the minute; after all he had just negotiated a price for
parts and labour with Ben in the front room.

“Oh, well that’s great, thanks. What about the labour cost?” Katie continued “how much will that be?” Billy was stumped what to say as he knew the cost but for some reason Ben didn’t seem to want Katie to know. Fortunately for Billy, Ben had now taken control of the conversation.

“Billy owes me a few hours for some work we did on his house a couple of

months
ago, so I’m calling it in. I’ll come down and give him a hand, it’ll only take an afternoon right?” Ben looked at Billy for confirmation, who nodded in a slightly befuddled manner.

“Well if you’re sure, that’d be great” Katie was mightily relieved; she had been really quite worried about how she would afford the work. Ben and Billy were discussing the dates and settled on the following Thursday afternoon.

“That’ll give you another week after, if you decide to give the room a lick of paint” Ben pointed out helpfully.

“Great” Katie thought and wondered how she had gotten into this at all, oh yes - Ben had suggested it!

Billy was making moves to leave so Ben offered to show him out; as they reached the front door Ben shook his hand.

“Thanks for that Billy, sorry I didn’t explain but Katie’s looking after the place for her Grandmother, Mo Collins, and she hasn’t really got the money to pay for the whole thing. I’ll give you a ring tomorrow and we’ll agree the terms. Is that ok?”

“That’s fine Ben” Billy had known Ben for a long time and always suspected he was a bit on the soft side, good job he had John on his books or he’d be falling for every sob story going. Although, Billy thought, this might have a lot more to do with the very attractive auburn haired Katie than Ben’s altruistic motives! Chuckling to
himself
Billy shook Ben’s hand and went off into the night.

Ben walked back into Katie’s kitchen, Lucy was still talking eagerly with Poppy, and Katie was clearing away the pots they had used. Ben was suddenly struck by the cosy domestic nature of the scene and he was extremely comfortable to feel a part of it as Katie smiled at him as
walked over to the range. Not really wanting to leave just yet but knowing he had no further reason to stay he reluctantly said to Lucy.

“Come on Luce, we’d better be going I’m meeting Stew at seven.” Lucy’s face fell.

“Ah but Ben, can’t I stay, you’re only going up the road to the Rose & Crown, you can collect me on the way back.” Lucy put on her most pleading face.

“No, Luce, Katie will have things to do.” Ben insisted

“But Poppy says I can help her sort out photographs and material for her next project. She doesn’t mind - do you?” Lucy turned to Poppy, her blond head bobbing with enthusiasm.

“No, it’s fine with me.” Poppy said “in fact I could use the help. I’m rubbish at making a decision and I’ll end up with too many photos to fit on the board.” Lucy looked triumphantly at Ben as if to say ‘so there’.

Ben was touched to see Lucy so enthusiastic about something other than loud music that he didn’t have the heart to stand in her way and
besides Poppy seemed a good kid; she was already having a positive effect on his wayward sister.

“Okay, if you’re sure
Poppy
. I’ll be back at about eight o’clock”

“Thanks Ben” Lucy was pleased her brother had decided to trust her after her ‘accident’ over the weekend and in this spirit of generosity she didn’t want him to go to the Rose & Crown on his own.

“Why don’t you take Katie with you” she announced, as if struck by an idea of great quality, “I’m sure she could use a drink after having all us traipsing in and out.” Lucy looked to Katie for her assent.

“Well, I’m sure Ben doesn’t want me tagging along to his business meetings.” Katie was uncertain as to why she suddenly felt a bit shy.