Public Property (9 page)

‘
Oh no?
Are you sure about that?
’ She ran her hand slowly up the inside of his thigh.

‘
Have you seen the length of the skirt? It’s practically obscene
,’
he continued
.

‘You.
Me.
A
bottle of wine and candles
.
S
ome soft music, maybe Luther
Vandross
or Lionel Richie
.
A
plate of soft fruits and double cream.
We could light the fire and clo
se the blinds and…’
Freya began.
She slipped
her hand up inside his t-shirt and caress
ed
his stomach with her fingers.

‘
I’m n
ot wearing high shoes with it.
Or stockings
,’
he answered
.

‘
I’ll go and open the wine, you grab Luther
.’

Sam and Jolie’s home
was inside the Town Circle
an
d only a few
minutes
walk from
Whitewood House. The party had been due to start at
seven
but at
seven forty
Nicholas still wasn’t ready.

‘
What are you doing in there
,
Nick? We’re going to be late
,’
Freya called to him
.

S
he stood outside the bathroom door, dressed in a blue surgeon’s outfit complete with head scarf.

‘
I don’t know whether I can actually allow
you
to see this, let alone half the town
,’
he
called back.

‘
Get out here
,
Matron
.
M
y blood pressure is rising
,’
she teased
, laughing
.

‘
Just give me another five
. I’m coming to terms with it.’

‘
OK
…
oh that’s the phone now
.
I
f it’s for you I’ll tell them you
’
re just slipping your petticoat on
.’

‘
You will not! Freya!
’
Nicholas shouted.

She
went into their bed
room and picked up the phone
from the
nightstand
.

‘
Hello
.’

‘
Hello, this is
Mrs
P calling
,’ Emma’s voice said
.

‘
Em
, what time is it over there? I was going to ring but I didn’t want to wake up
Melly
.’

‘
You don’t want to know what time it is but I’m awake, just
.
I
thought I
’
d ring and find out what happened today. Was it Jonny?
’

‘
Hang on
.’ She stood up and closed the bedroom door.

‘
Freya?
’

‘I’m here
, but so is Nick
.
I haven’t told him about Jonny yet
,’
she whispered.

‘
You mean it
was
him
. My God,’ Emma stated.

‘
Yes it was him and
Em
, you should see him
. Y
ou would hardly
recognise
him. He
’
s been completely swallowed up by commerce and industry
,’
Freya told her.

‘
He’s in business? What sort of business? What did he look like? Last time I saw him he was really skinny and had shoulder
-
length hair
.’

‘
Still skinny but
very different hair.
Have you heard of the Recuperation Inns? They
’
re a big chain of hotels over here
.’

‘
No, but go on
.’

‘
Well Jonny owns them
. Them
and countless other investments from what I can make out. He
’
s practically as wealthy as my father
,’
Freya informed her.

‘
I don’t believe it!
Jonny Sanders the millionaire?! That is just so hard to imagine
.’

‘
I barely
recogni
s
ed
him
.
H
e has a goatee and his hair is short and he was wearing a Versace suit
.
Versace!’

‘
And
what did he want? D
id he just want to catch up or did he want you to take some photographs?
’

‘
Well yes he did
want my services,
but there was more to it than that
.
H
e
’
s bought a huge plot of land about twenty miles from here
.
H
e says he
’
s going to develop
it
into a village for my
Every Day
project
. It’s going to
be a proper community where
people can be given a fresh start in life with training and tuitio
n
. There’d be jobs
and a school
,’
she
started to explain.

‘
That sounds fantastic but what would make him want to do that?
And
h
ow did he know about your charity? I thought it was all
still under wraps
.’

‘He made a bid for the site at
Chesterville
. Then he dug around.’

‘
And did you discuss what happened before? About him taking the money from your father?
’

‘
Yes,
funnily enough
it did come up. He claims my father had nothing to do with it. He says it was all too much for him, the commitment, meeting my parents and
realising
just what that entailed. He said it was his decision and he chickened out of telling me the truth
,
so
he
made up the story about my father paying him off
.’

The tale she was recounting sounded as believable as a
n
X-Files
script. But he’d told her and she’d believed him. Hadn’t she? Or had her opinion been blighted by the promise of help for the Every Day project?

‘
So he lied to me! Did you believe him?
’

Did she?

‘I don’t know.
I
t was strange, seeing him again and him being so different to how I remember
.’

Had she been charmed by the good stuff from the past?
The chocolate brown eyes, the friendly hug at
Gatebrook
?

‘
So
,
will
you see him again do you think?’

‘
Well
,
he
’
s going to be donating a lot of money to my charity, and I mean
a lot
of money
.
M
illions of dollars
.
I
n return I said I
’
d do some promotional pictures for the Recuperation Inns
.
V
ulgar buildings though they are
,’
Freya told her.

‘
I can’t believe he
’
s rich
.
I just can’t imagine it
.
I mean one of the reasons you dated him in the first place was because he was just the opposite of what you were
,’
Emma reminded.

‘
I know and now he
’
s
practically
Trump
esque
. I
t’s a
rags
to riches tale if ever there was one
. Perhaps there’s a film in it,’
Freya
joked
.

‘
So
,
why haven’t you to
ld Nick about meeting with him?’

Good question, best friend
. Why hadn’t she told Nick about meeting Jonny?
Think of an answer, anything will do
.

‘
Oh
,
I don’t know
.
I
t was weird
,
you know
,
and
it hasn’t sunk in properly yet.
I just want to get it straight in my head first before I tell Nick
.’

‘
And that’s all it is? There were no old feelings be
ing stirred up when you saw him?
I mean
,
you did want to marry him once
.’

‘
Ye
a
h, I know
,
but it was a long time ago
,’
Freya reminded her.

‘
And
he
was
the only man before Nick that you admitted your identity to
,’ Emma continued.

‘
There were no old feelings being stirred up. Apart from this amazing thing he
’
s doing for my charity
,
he
’
s
driven by profit and that makes him very unattractive. Actually he gave me a hug when we were out at
Gatebrook
and it felt
just plain
weird
,’
Freya sa
id, remembering the moment.

‘
How
d
’
you
mean?
’

‘I don’t know. I
t was odd
.
It felt awkward and just off. A
nyway, it didn’t make me feel anything remotely like
God
,
my first love, how I want him back
,
’
Freya concluded.

‘
Then I
’
d tell Nick you met with him and what he
’
s going to do for the charity in case he jumps to the wrong conclusion. You know what men are like about things being kept from them, particularly with regard to exes
.’

‘
Yes, I do remember quiet, mild
-
mannered
Yiannis
fighting with Dopey Darren in the fountain
.’

‘
Exactly,
s
o what time is it there? What am I interrupting?
’

‘
It’s nearly
eight
at night and we
’
re going to a
friend’s birthday party. Sam. Him
and Jolie run the local store
,’
Freya told her.

‘
The couple with twin boys you call
Krueger
One
and Krueger
Two,’
Emma said.

‘
Yes, that’s them
.
I
t’s fancy dress and Nick
’s
holed up in the bathroom because he
’
s
a little
uncomfortable
with
his outfit
.’
She laughed.

‘
What have you got him dressed in?
’

‘
A nurse costume!
’

Emma let out a shriek and both the women split their sides with laughter.