Page 56 of The Do-Over

Before he gets any further, we’re distracted by the sound of someone else pulling up outside the cottage, and I’m bothrelieved and delighted to see that the cavalry has arrived in the form of George.

‘Hang on a minute, Ben,’ I tell him. ‘We might as well do this with everyone in the room to save repeating ourselves.’

‘What have I missed?’ George asks once he’s been furnished with a cup of tea and we’re all sitting around the table again.

‘We were just about to start discussing Rebecca’s idea,’ Ben explains. ‘Thea isn’t on board.’

‘Right. This is the family farm idea, is it?’

‘That’s it,’ Ben replies.

‘Well, Rebecca,’ he tells her. ‘Now that it’s Monday morning and I know all about HIBT’s business again, I can tell you that you’re right. Lots of other HIBT property owners have found ways to monetise their industrial buildings, and I think a farm would work well here. We’d certainly be able to help you with applications to the council and so on if you wanted.’

‘OK, hang on.’ I raise my hands to try to slow this down. ‘Can we just step back a bit, to the point where this is all going to cost a fortune and we don’t know what we’re doing? I kind of feel that’s central here.’

‘Sure,’ Ben concedes. ‘Let’s start with the money side of things. You’re right that this won’t come cheap, so I suspect you’re going to need an investor.’

‘Tricky,’ George tells him. ‘Corporate investors tend only to be interested if you’re doing something charitable that makes them look good. I imagine the purpose here is to make a profit.’

‘Absolutely,’ Rebecca agrees.

‘You’re going to struggle then,’ George continues. ‘You might be able to find a private investor, but they’ll want a slice of the pie. The other option is to borrow the money, but a lender is going to want collateral.’

‘I happen to know of a private investor who would be very interested, if the terms were right,’ Ben says mildly.

‘Oh, come on!’ I say exasperatedly. ‘I mean, I know you’re good and everything, but Rebecca only came up with this idea on Saturday. How can you possibly have lined up an investor so fast? Do you have a little black book of contacts with entries like “Call Sean if anyone wants money for a family farm”?’

‘Nothing so shady,’ he replies simply. ‘It’s me.’

‘What?’ Whatever I was expecting him to say, it wasn’t this. Beside him, Rebecca looks like she’s about to burst with excitement.

‘I wanted to tell you,’ she says quickly. ‘But Ben felt it would be better to talk to you face to face.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘It’s what I wanted to do with this place when my grandmother died, but I didn’t have the money,’ Ben explains. ‘My cottage isn’t worth much so, despite owning the mill and the land, I couldn’t raise the capital I needed. In the end, I decided the best thing to do was sell the mill as it was and pocket the money. The irony being, of course, that now I have the money for the farm but nowhere to put it.’

‘Hang on,’ I challenge him. ‘When we came round the first time, I distinctly remember you telling me that you were selling because you were under pressure from the other grandchildren, or something like that.’

He blushes slightly. ‘I may not have been completely truthful. I’m the only heir.’

‘Why did you tell us you weren’t, then?’

‘Because I thought it would be easier to dig my heels in and negotiate hard if buyers thought there were other people involved as well. If they knew it was just me, they’d try to push me around. I know it sounds odd now, but it made sense at the time.’

It takes me a while to digest this information. ‘I get it,’ I tell him eventually. ‘Nice windfall, and I can see your logic. Wasn’t the money burning a hole in your pocket though?’

‘I’m not that fussed by money, generally,’ he replies calmly. ‘Yes, I could have gone mad and bought lots of stuff, but what would have been the point? I’m quite happy with my life as it is. If it makes you feel better, I did buy a round of drinks in the pub.’

‘It’s one of the many things I love about him,’ Rebecca adds, stroking Ben’s arm affectionately. ‘After John, who was obsessed with money, being with someone who isn’t into it in the same way is refreshing.’

‘Anyway,’ Ben continues. ‘I didn’t think any more about it, because you guys came along with your plan to convert it and sell it, and I thought maybe that was a better idea than mine in the end.’

‘I still think it is,’ I remind them.

‘But then, when Rebecca mentioned her idea, and it was exactly the same one I’d had, I felt like it was meant to be. So, if you’ll have me, I’m happy to invest.’

‘May I ask how much?’

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