Page 11 of Coming Home to Roseford Villas
If he was being honest, he needed the distraction. And not just because Rory Dean had turned up on the doorstep. The past couple of years had been hectic, to say the least, and he still found himself wondering, in the small hours when insomnia racked his brain, how it had all come to this. He had made a success of his life, and, for a while he’d truly believed, an equal success of his marriage. He and his ex-wife Corinne were both partners in love, and also in the law firm where they worked, and they’d been happy. Well, to a point. Then, on one fateful night, all of that had changed forever, and there was no going back.
Leo picked up the duster and the furniture polish and wiped briskly at the top of the chest of drawers in the bedroom he was preparing in an attempt to put a mental roadblock up to stop himself from wandering down another distinctly unpleasant lane of thoughts and memories. He’d been over it all a thousand times, both alone and with a counsellor: there was little use in going back over old ground. But every so often, when he felt the anxiety starting to creep up on him again, he was drawn to the bruising memories of his recent past.
He knew why he was heading that way, of course. Seeing Rory had awakened all kinds of memories that he’d shelved for many years. She was from a far different time in his life, a time when things were simpler. When all he’d had to think about was what his mum was cooking for dinner and when his next piece of GCSE coursework was due. They’d loved each other in that crazily passionate way that only teenagers really could, and they’d both suffered the agony of separation when it had come to an end. That they hadn’t chosen to end things themselves had hurt beyond measure: it had been circumstance that had done for them in the end. You couldn’t love someone from ten thousand miles away, no matter how much you wanted to. Especially back in the days before Zoom, smartphones and the multitude of other ways to keep in touch that people now used.
With those memories of Rory had come the seductive invitation from his brain to press on a few more bruises, just to see if they still caused him pain. But he knew he had to resist it. It wouldn’t do him any good, and there was the present to consider. Balling up the duster, he went to throw it into the box of cleaning supplies he’d brought up to the first-floor rooms and missed. He shook his head: way off the mark, as always, he thought ruefully.
Fed up with cleaning what was already clean, Leo picked up the cloth and the box and headed back downstairs. He’d checkthe fridge, re-order whatever needed replacing for breakfast over the next few days, and then try to get his head around the finer details of the contract he’d been sent for his new job.Thatwas the future, he thought, and it would be a decent compromise. While he was only going to be a mid-level solicitor in the London firm that were taking him on, and some way from the partner he’d been back in Melbourne, it was enough of a step down for him to be secure that he could handle it, both physically and mentally. To be fair, he hadn’t thought he’d ever work again, so he was pleased and proud he was able to continue his career. There was plenty to sort out before he made the move, and he wanted to make sure that there weren’t any nasty surprises in the contract before he made everything official and signed it.
A little while later, Leo sat at Aunt Vi’s scrupulously tidy desk in the back office and pored over the details. The office window looked out over the garden, and his gaze kept flitting from the pages of the contract across to where the chalet – or Rory’s chalet, as he was increasingly thinking of it – sat. He wondered what she was doing, and whether or not she was thinking about him…
Leo’s mind kept drifting back to the early days of their teenaged relationship. He remembered the trip to the local cinema to seeTomb Raider 2, and how, despite how much he’d adored Angelina Jolie growing up, he’d barely watched any of the film. It had been their second date, and he’d spent half the movie plucking up the courage to hold Rory’s hand across the armrest of the multiplex seats. When he’d finally taken the plunge, the warmth of that hand, squeezing his, had made his heart speed up faster than Lara Croft’s death-defying stunts. Their first proper kiss had followed just before the end of the movie, and even now, if he happened to catch a clip of the film, he was taken back to that moment. That delicious, nerve-racking sense of anticipation seemed to be encroaching on him again, now, and he couldn’t quite tear his mind away from the memories. He wondered ifTomb Raider 2still took Rory back to the same places.
He tried to stop that train of thought. It was clear from the awkwardness of their last encounter, even after they’d begun to laugh about the ‘burglar’ in the chalet, that Rory wasn’t sure how to behave around him, just as he was uncertain about how to behave around her. There had been none of that easy banter and chemistry that they’d had as teenagers, and while he shouldn’t have been surprised by this, he couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. Somehow, when he’d imagined bumping into her again, they’d had an instant connection. Even when he’d been married to Corinne, he’d allowed himself the odd fantasy about what might have happened if his path crossed again with Rory. The reality had been rather different, and far more awkward. But then, it had been twenty years.
Cursing himself for his inattention, he tried to focus on the contract again, but it wasn’t the most riveting of reads. Fifteen years ago, he’d have killed for a job at this particular firm. Now, with a decade and a half of professional experience under his belt, it failed to excite him. It was a step down, but it was also a step back from all the stress that being a partner had entailed. He knew it was the right decision, so why was he suddenly having doubts?
Realising, after a couple of minutes, that he’d zoned out again, he felt his heart give a little lurch as he saw Rory making her way back across from the gate at the back of the garden to the chalet. She walked briskly, as if she didn’t want to be waylaid by anyone, and he noticed the thoughtful expression on her face, and the way her ponytail swung as she headed for the chalet. The girl he’d known back then had turned into an extremely attractive woman, and for the first time in a long time he felt thestirrings of lust as he observed her. It had been ages since he’d touched or been touched by anyone, and he missed it.
Leo shook his head and grinned to himself. Rory would be mortified if she’d known he’d been watching her, and he had to admit, he felt a little uncomfortable about how easily he’d been distracted by the sight of her. But it wasn’t like he had his binoculars out and was peering into the chalet windows, was it? They shared a space, and would be doing so for the next few weeks, so he’d better pull himself together and stop acting like a schoolboy with a crush. He’d been that schoolboy twenty years ago, and shehadbeen his crush. He was surprised at how strongly that was coming back to him.
15
Rory, ravenous now, grabbed the remains of the loaf of bread and shoved a couple of slices in the toaster. She felt so excited by what she’d begun to unearth at Roseford Hall that she couldn’t wait to get back there and chase up the leads that had been revealed to her. While she was munching on her toast, she fired off a WhatsApp to Stella.
When she was reading through the information in the archives, she’d discovered that Francesca and Frederick Middleton had lived in Halstead House and she wondered if Stella had come across any papers in Halstead’s archives that would give extra context and colour to the story, especially if Halstead House still had copies of any more of Edmund’s letters that actually had been sent to Francesca. She knew it was a long shot: the previous owners had probably cleared everything out when Chris Charlton had taken the place over, but she’d heard of similar situations when whole boxes of potential archive material had been found in cupboards and cellars after a property had been sold. It had happened to her parents when they’d moved into a house and found boxes of old birthday cards and letters to people who’d long ago moved on.
Chucking another round of toast in, Rory found herself waiting impatiently for Stella to reply. She smothered her toast in a thick layer of butter and Marmite, and rapidly gobbled it up. Then, realising that she couldn’t just stare at her phone and wait for Stella’s response, she cleared away and got her laptop out again, only to discover, with irritation, that it was very nearly out of battery. Since the setup of the chalet meant she couldn’t sit at the table with the laptop while it was plugged in, she thought she’d head up to Roseford Villas and see if Leo could lend her an extension lead for the duration. It would make life a lot easier and would mean she wasn’t limited by the battery life of her laptop.
The afternoon sunshine warmed her bare arms as she mooched up the path to the main house, and she was glad she was only wearing a T-shirt and capri-length jeans. The weather had been glorious since she’d arrived in Roseford, and although she was going to be working for a lot of her stay, it was still wonderful to be able to step outside the chalet and feel the sun. The grass, newly mown, wafted its sweet scent as she made her way to the French windows at the back of the main house, and, finding them unlocked, she wandered through the dining room and into the hall.
‘Hello?’ she called as she walked along the hallway. Almost before she’d finished saying the word, a door opened, and Leo appeared.
‘Hi,’ he said, and his smile made her heart beat just that little bit faster. ‘Everything OK?’
Rory smiled back. ‘Fine, thanks. I was just wondering if you had an extension lead I could borrow. My laptop cable doesn’t quite reach the plug socket nearest the table, and I could really do with being able to work and charge it at the same time.’
‘Of course,’ Leo replied. ‘I’m sure there’ll be one in the cellar. Aunt Vi’s got a whole basement full of spares for every conceivable emergency. I’ll go and get you one.’
‘Thanks,’ Rory said. ‘I’ll, er, wait in the dining room, shall I?’
Leo hesitated. ‘Or you could wait in the kitchen, and I could make you a coffee? That’s if you’re not too busy?’
Rory’s face grew warmer at the invitation. ‘Er… well, I was going to crack on as soon as I’d got the lead?—’
‘Oh, no worries,’ Leo interjected. ‘It was just a thought, and you must be busy. I’ll run down and get it for you.’
Rory shook her head. ‘No,’ she said, and as she did so, she reached out a hand to stop Leo from brushing past her. ‘What I was going to add was that yes, I’d like to have a coffee with you. Honestly, Leo, you haven’t changed much, have you? You always used to try to pre-empt the end of my sentences when you were younger!’
Leo smiled ruefully. ‘And you always used to bollock me for it back then, too. I’m sorry. I guess old habits die hard!’
Something about that exchange seemed to make them both relax, and as they smiled at each other, Rory found herself beginning to wonder what it would be like to spend a little more time with this new, grown-up Leo.
‘I’ll go and get some mugs out,’ Rory said.
‘Sounds good,’ Leo replied. ‘Won’t be a sec.’
He moved past her to go to another door off the hall, pushed it open and switched on the light. Rory made her way to the kitchen, and before she could wonder exactly how the fancy coffee machine in the corner of the room worked, Leo had returned, brandishing a couple of extension leads.
