Practically Perfect (25 page)

‘I fell in love with my house, too. I knew there was too much for me to do on my own, but I just couldn’t help buying it. It was fairly cheap.’

‘How much was it?’ he asked and she told him. Instead of him exclaiming at the bargain price, he was horrified. ‘My goodness, that’s extortionate!’

Anna shook her head. ‘Not really, compared to London
prices
. And it’s commutting distance to London. But I wonder if I am asking too much … I suppose I was used to London prices. It’s such a gem.’

‘Don’t worry, some other fool who is used to London prices is bound to come along,’ he said, laughing.

‘Well, I hope they hurry up,’ said Anna crisply.

‘Come on, take your coat off and I’ll hang it over the Aga to dry. Then would you like soup first? Or a hot bath and a change of clothes?’ he asked, taking her coat from her.

The thought of hot water on her muddy, clammy flesh was very appealing.

‘I can lend you some clothes. You’ll have to roll the trousers up a bit, but I’m sure you’ll manage.’

‘I don’t need to change, I could put these back on.’ Suddenly the idea of wearing his clothes seemed too intimate, even if he was just being kind.

‘Don’t be silly. I can put yours in the wash and then bring them round to you another day, when they’re dry.’

‘I can’t have you doing my washing for me!’

‘How else will you get them clean?’

‘Um – Chloe lets me use her washing machine from time to time.’

‘Use mine. There’s only one of me and, after all, I do feel faintly responsible for you getting so muddy in the first place.’

‘You didn’t push me over!’

He smiled. ‘No, but I should have held on to you firmly all the way and not let go once we got to the bottom.’

‘I’m not an old lady with dodgy knees!’

He laughed. ‘No, but nor are you a mountain goat with proper boots on.’

Anna had to smile. ‘I should get some proper walking boots I suppose, or at least wellingtons with grips. I tend to wear those working boots for everything.’

He twinkled. ‘No, I can’t quite see you in high heels, somehow.’

Anna laughed. ‘You’d be surprised. Now, if that offer of a bath and some clean clothes is still on, I’d love to take off some of this mud.’

Chapter Fifteen

ANNA SANK BACK
in the bath with guilty pleasure. It was a much longer bath than Chloe’s, in which you had to wet yourself in two halves. This bath was almost too long, Anna’s feet only just touched the end. She got her hair wet, and then decided to go the whole hog and wash it. There was a bottle of baby shampoo on the side of the bath and she used it. She also found it rather touching that this should be the chosen brand of Rob Hunter, Dog and Building Police.

He was a bit of a softy, really. He pretended to be firm with his dogs, keeping them in their place, not spoiling them, but while Anna had been standing in the doorway of his bedroom, waiting while he found dry clothes for her, she’d seen dog-shaped indentations on the bed, and footprints on the duvet cover.

He’d handed her a pair of old corduroys, a shirt that was soft from years of washing, and a jumper. The jumper was cashmere, but it had a hole in it. Sartorially, she and Rob Hunter were perfectly suited, Anna had reflected, unlike her and Max. She’d brushed that thought away and taken the bundle and the clean towel.

‘I’m impressed you’ve got a clean towel,’ she’d said, during the rather awkward pause.

‘I have a cleaning lady. She despairs of ever getting rid of the dog hair, so she consoles herself with keeping my linen cupboard in order. It’s a great luxury.’

Anna had smiled. That would be a luxury. Her clean clothes and towels were currently kept in one black plastic sack and her dirty ones in another. She had a perfect design for a fitted wardrobe, but she hadn’t got round to building it yet. ‘I’ll go and have my bath then.’

When she came down she found him in the kitchen. Her hair was tied up in the towel and the trousers were rolled up several times round the waist and several more times round her ankles. Her feet were bare.

He looked at them. They did look rather small and defenceless, Anna realised, curling up her toes.

‘I’ll get you some socks,’ he said.

Anna noticed her coat on the back of a chair – it was obviously dry by now. She went to the Aga and leant on it, looking out of the window, wondering why Rob hadn’t cut back the plant that was almost totally obscuring it. She asked him when he came back with the socks.

‘It’s more than just a matter of cutting it,’ he said. ‘It’s actually got inside the brickwork. It’s on my list.’

‘There’s so much to do on an old house, isn’t there?’ Anna said, putting on a pair of thick woollen socks, perfectly suited to padding about on cold floors. ‘But I’d always have old rather than new if I possibly could.’

‘Would you like a look round?’ Rob asked.

Anna nodded vigorously. She’d been dying to ask but hadn’t wanted to seem too nosy.

‘Well, this is the kitchen, obviously,’ he said. ‘I’ll keep the flags. They’re cold and things break if dropped on them, but they’re part of the house.’

‘Anyway, wouldn’t it be against your own rules to change them?’ she enquired.

Rob shook his head. ‘This house isn’t listed. It should be, but it isn’t. It’s one of the reasons I bought it.’ He gave
her
a lopsided smile. ‘It’s a terrible nuisance, trying to do up a listed building.’

‘Tell me about it!’

‘Of course I do plan to have everything totally in keeping, in the best possible taste, as they say. But not having a listing does give me a bit more freedom.’

Anna sighed, resigned to the restrictions of her own house. ‘Well, come on, let’s see the rest of it.’

‘I’ll just move the soup over. We really don’t want it to boil dry.’

There was a generous hall, which Anna had already seen. There was an ancient sofa that now had a dog on it, and three doors opening off.

The first was a little sitting room. The sunshine was forcing its way in past the creeper, through the sash windows. ‘The sun pours in here in the morning. It would make an ideal kitchen really. There’s not much sun in there until the evening.’

Anna looked around the room longingly – what a project this would be. ‘Even without a listing, you wouldn’t want to move it though,’ she said. ‘This would make a lovely little breakfast room.’

‘Except you’re not likely to take your eggs and bacon across the hall, are you?’ He had wandered over to look out of the window.

‘If you had guests, or ran a B&B, this would be the perfect spot for people to have their breakfast. You could fit three or four tables in, and they could look out of the window into the garden while you’re struggling to fry eggs without breaking them.’

He turned and laughed. ‘You’ve never run a bed and breakfast, have you?’

She shook her head. ‘No, but I helped out in one as a holiday job once. It was fun, actually.’ She grinned a little
ruefully
. ‘I think that B&B was one of the reasons I wanted to become an interior designer. The food was lovely, really well cooked, with lovely ingredients, but the decor was eye-watering. Now where?’

‘This is the formal drawing room,’ he announced, opening a door across the hall. ‘More creeper – I think it’s jasmine this time – but I’m sure it’s going to be super.’

Anna took in the room’s generous proportions, the double aspect, the stone fireplace, the mouldings. ‘Oh yes! And look at that floor. Is it original, do you think?’ she said excitedly.

‘I don’t think it can be. Parquet didn’t come in until a bit later, but it’s nice. Of course it’s in very poor shape in parts, but it can be repaired.’

Anna looked at him sideways. ‘Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to pull it all up and replace it with new, laminate flooring?’ She teased.

He frowned at her. ‘Hm, probably, especially when I could sell this floor to a reclamation yard, but no, I’m not going to do that.’

She walked across to where French windows formed a bay. ‘I expect this is a later addition,’ she said.

‘Definitely, but it makes this room, don’t you agree?’ he said, coming over to join her.

‘Oh, absolutely. It’s gorgeous.’ Anna looked around thoughtfully. It was fairly large and square, apart from the bay that was big enough to house another dog-filled sofa, a desk and two deep, old leather armchairs. A couple of freestanding bookcases leant slightly forward under the weight of the books. ‘A built-in bookcase would look nice there. The floor is pretty uneven, and fitted would be better.’

‘I’m not sure I like built-in furniture. It cuts down your flexibility.’

‘But if you had the floor repaired, and matched the timber, they’d disappear into the walls.’ She smoothed her hand over the plaster that was flaking badly. ‘This isn’t a particularly nice wall.’

‘It’s perfectly pleasant, thank you! But you may be right. I do have an awful lot of books.’ He ran his hands along one shelf of them.

‘It would look brilliant. I’d do it for you – when I’ve finished my own house, of course, and only if you wanted me to,’ she added, not wanting to seem too keen. ‘I really enjoy doing that sort of cabinetmaking. Are you planning to do most of the work yourself?’

He nodded. ‘I’ll get things like the wiring done by professionals, but it would cost the proverbial arm and leg to get it all done by builders. I shall do it bit by bit. It’s a lifetime’s project.’

She nodded slowly as they walked back into the centre of the room. ‘So, what were you going to do with your day off – sorry – flexitime-day or whatever you call it?’ She bit her lip in sudden realisation. ‘We met at the builders’ merchants – you were going to do your house, and you took me and Caroline for a walk, and now we’ve taken up all your morning and’ – she glanced at her watch – ‘quite a lot of your afternoon as well.’

‘It was a conscious decision.’ He smiled at her. ‘And unlike you, I don’t have any pressing deadlines.’

‘Still, it was very kind. Caroline and I really appreciated it. Especially Caroline.’

‘She had the advantage of not falling full length into the mud,’ he said with mock solemnity.

Anna adopted his twinkle: ‘Indeed!’

He grinned. ‘Now, let’s go and have the soup. You can see the rest of the house another time.’

‘You must be starving. I didn’t think.’

‘Stop apologising. And you’re not hungry yourself?’

‘Mm, now I think about it,’ she said, following him back to the kitchen.

They ate their soup in silence. Unwillingly, she thought about Max. It was so easy to be relaxed and giggly with Rob, whereas with Max, it was much harder work. But surely all relationships took a bit of effort? Anna put her spoon down. ‘That was brilliant soup.’

‘My wonderful cleaning lady told me how to make it,’ Rob said. ‘You just put some pulses in a pan with some water, an onion, carrot, celery, any of that sort of thing you’ve got in the fridge, and cook it slowly. You need a good dollop of vegetable stock powder, of course. She starts it for me, leaves it off the hot plate but just on the top, and when I get home, it doesn’t take long to finish cooking it.’

Anna opened her mouth and shut it again, remembering that he’d had a partner, who didn’t like the country and who didn’t like dogs. She wondered briefly if she was in danger of having the same thing, and if it would end the same way. ‘Did you have this house with your …? Sorry to be nosy, it’s just …’ she tailed off, wishing she hadn’t asked.

‘My partner didn’t come here very often,’ he said. ‘She doesn’t much like living in building sites.’

‘Don’t blame her! I don’t much like it either, but I’ve got no choice. And actually,’ she went on pensively, ‘I suppose I don’t mind. As long as I see a bit of progress each day, and the work goes OK. It’s quite rewarding. But I do crave a properly finished and furnished house sometimes.’ She grinned. ‘But if I want to make my fortune by developing property, I probably won’t get that often.’

Rob leant back in his chair. ‘So, what about you? Have you got a partner or anything? Tit for tat in nosiness.’

Anna laughed awkwardly. She really wished she hadn’t started this whole conversation. ‘Well, not a partner. A sort of boyfriend – man-friend even. He lives in London.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘And you think he might not like the country?

‘I don’t know about that, exactly,’ Well, it was the truth. ‘His mother lives in Amberford.’

‘You’ve met his mother? It must be serious.’ He spoke lightly, but he didn’t seem all that amused.

‘Well, I have, but not with Max! It was hilarious, really. Me and Chloe were the raffle prize. We cleaned out Mrs Gordon’s greenhouse. It was utterly filthy, and while we were there, Max arrived! I didn’t let him see me.’

‘Why not?’ He took another mouthful of soup, looking across at her.

‘I was covered in cobwebs, filthy dirty and besides …’ She paused and made a face, ‘Mrs Gordon was so stuffy, and when I told Max about us being there, in the evening when we went out to dinner—’ She stopped. Rob was not the person to tell that Max hadn’t found it funny when she had regaled him with the tale of the spiders. ‘Oh, never mind.’

‘Have some more bread.’ He seemed as anxious as she was to change the subject.