Page 26 of The House of Hopes and Dreams
I released myself, feeling rather embarrassed at my display. I expect I had the intricate pattern of his jumper (probably knitted for him by one of his many adoring fans) imprinted on my damp cheek. I fished out a tissue and blew my nose.
‘Sorry to cry all over you. I don’t know what got into me.’
‘Well, it wasn’t like you, but I don’t mind,’ he said amiably. ‘In fact, it’s good to be useful to someone after all these months of being a crock.’
‘That’s a point – how on earth did you get here?’ I asked, my mind beginning to work again. ‘You surely didn’t drive yourself up, when you’ve only just got out of rehab?’
‘I wish people wouldn’t keep saying “rehab” as if I’ve been drying out, or getting over a drug problem at some posh private clinic, rather than being stretched, pummelled and bullied back on to two feet by the NHS.’
I picked up the walking stick, which he’d dropped on the floor whenI threw myself at him, and handed it back. He seemed to be leaning heavily against the doorframe now, as if he needed its support, rather than just unconsciously falling into a naturally photogenic posture in the way he usually did.
‘I drove myself up,’ he admitted. ‘But it’s OK, because I’ve swapped the old Land Rover for an automatic car, so I can manage without using my left leg. And I’d have been here sooner if you’d told me about Julian. Why didn’t you? After all, we’ve swapped several messages and you’ve never said a word about what’s been happening!’
‘Since you’d only just escaped from hospital, I didn’t want to cast a cloud over your Christmas. You deserved a bit of fun after everything you’d been through, Carey.’
‘So did you after the timeyou’vehad recently! I assumed you’d chilled in Antigua and then come back with your batteries recharged to spend a quiet Christmas with Julian.’
‘AndIassumed you were going to stay with Nick for a few weeks, so now I feel guilty that you’ve driven all the way here to see me. I mean, I’ve only managed one visit since your accident.’
‘Don’t feel guilty, because I knew you’d been looking after Julian and, anyway, your letters kept me entertained and cheered me up. After the last one, telling me you were going to Antigua, I thought Julian must be feeling a lot better or you wouldn’t have left him.’
‘He’d seemed stable, or I wouldn’t have gone. Though actually,’ I added wryly, ‘he reallywantedme to go, he was so desperate to be on his own for a while!’
‘Poor Angel. And now Grant and Ivan were telling me you’ve been shoved out of your home and the workshop, too – though I overheard some of that bit myself,’ Carey said.
I shrugged. ‘I’m past caring and I meant to hand my notice in today anyway. I just wish I’d got it in first. Nat and Willow must have been surprised to see you – did they say anything on their way out?’
We’d both vaguely known Nat at college, though he’d been in his final year when we started our first. The fact that his father was the famous Julian Seddon, designer of the Tidesbury Abbey Heaven and Hell window, gave Nat a sort of reflected glory. I suppose it might havebeen why it occurred to me later to apply to Julian for work experience. And then when I landed both Juliananda job, Nat put me down as a gold-digger.
‘Nat assumed I’d come to persuade you to do some more work for me for another programme. He doesn’t seem to be up to speed on my having been dropped for the new series. He said you weren’t employed here any more, but he’d consider doing it himself for some publicity. I said he could get lost, I’d only come up to see you.’
‘That probably went down well.’
‘He looked a bit taken aback, to be honest, and walked out without another word. But his wife – did you say she was called Willow? – was still staring at me as if I’d dropped in from another planet. Then she said, “Aren’t you Carey Revell fromThe Complete Country Cottageseries? I thought you’d been killed in an accident!”’
‘Tactful,’ I commented, though grinning at his imitation of Willow’s fluting voice with the questioningly raised endings to every sentence.
‘I told her the rumours of my decease were grossly exaggerated, and then Nat shouted for her and she shot out.’
‘Didn’t you like her? She’s a leggy blonde – I thought she’d be just your type.’
‘She’s more like an albino stick insect than a woman, and anyway, I’ve given up leggy blondes,’ he told me.
‘Again? That’s just what you said in our last year at uni.’
‘I should have stuck to my guns.’
‘So … if you didn’t know about Julian before today, whatareyou doing up here so soon after you got out of hospital, Carey?’ I asked. ‘Usually itisbecause you want me for something.’
‘Not always,’ he said, looking hurt. ‘And I did tell you I’d be up in the New Year, didn’t I?’
‘Yes,but I took it as a general sometime-during-the-year kind of thing – and you always let me know when you’re going to stay with us. But even if you were fit to go back to work on a new TV series, which I don’t think you are, they’ve replaced you with that actor who fronted a series about historic houses in Scotland. I’ve forgotten his name – the one with dark hair and crossed eyes.’
‘Seamus Banyan, and I don’t think his eyesdoactually cross, they’re just very close together.’
‘Does he know anything about interior design, the history of domestic architecture, or traditional craftsmanship? Has he had your years of experience, learning new crafts and skills and making contacts with experts in all kinds of relevant fields?’ I demanded indignantly.
‘I doubt it. I heard he mugged it all up from a script for the Scottish series, so I expect they thought they could do the same when he took over mine – not to mention persuading all the specialist craftspeople and tradesmen they needed for the project to work for them for nothing, like I did.’
