Page 32 of Coming Home to Roseford Villas
‘So, what are your other plans while you’re here?’ he asked, resuming the clearing away.
‘I’ve got a couple of friends to see in Manchester, and then I’m flying back out of there in a few days’ time,’ Corinne replied. ‘Then it’s back to work. The firm want me on a merger when I’m home again.’
‘Anyone I know?’ Despite himself, Leo couldn’t help the enquiry. He and Corinne had been a great professional team, even if their personal life hadn’t worked out.
‘No,’ Corinne replied. ‘This is new business. A fresh case and a fresh start.’
‘Well, I’m glad you’ve got plenty coming your way,’ Leo replied carefully. He paused again. ‘I know how hard you’ve been working for this. It’s good to see it all paying off.’
Corinne looked at him intently. ‘You know there’s a place for you back in the company if you want it,’ she said softly. ‘Mike always said he shouldn’t have let you go, even though he understood why you felt you had to leave. The door’s always open, Leo.’
Leo smiled. ‘I appreciate that. But it’s time to move on. You can’t ever go back; you know that as well as I do.’
‘Funny,’ observed Corinne, ‘from what I’ve just seen, going back seems to be exactly what you’re doing, to the sweet little girl you fell in love with back in the dark ages. Maybe you should take your own advice.’
Leo shook his head. ‘It’s not the same. There’s too much water under the bridge now for me to go back to the firm, and I wouldn’t want to cramp your style. You don’t need me as a reminder of everything.’
He went to pick up the breakfast dishes for the third time, but Corinne’s hand on his arm stopped him. ‘I miss you, Leo,’ she said gently. ‘Even after everything that’s happened, I wish you and I…’
Leo shook his head. ‘We were over long before the accident, Cor, you know that. We were going nowhere. If we’d stayed together, we’d only have made each other miserable in the end. No matter how successful we were professionally, that’s not enough for a marriage. It’s time to move on.’
‘You always did have the knack of putting things into perspective, no matter how much I tried to ignore it,’ Corinne replied. ‘But you can’t blame a girl for trying!’ She blinked, andLeo noticed the tears that threatened. ‘I’ll let you know when I’m off.’
As Corinne walked out of the dining room and back to her bedroom to pack, Leo shook his head. He knew they’d done the right thing by calling time on their marriage, but he still felt that sense of disappointment in himself that they hadn’t been able to find a solution. But there was relief in knowing that, with the final papers signed, that part of his life would soon be over. And with a new chapter beginning, he only hoped that Rory might agree to be a part of it. Just as soon as Corinne was out of here, he’d go and see her, and explain everything.
35
Rory was damned if she was going to mope around in the chalet waiting for Leo to amble down the garden path and speak to her. She had enough to do that day to keep her occupied, and although she wasn’t due at Roseford Hall until later, she thought she’d text Stella and see if the offer of a hot desk at Halstead House was still open. The more time she spent at Halstead House, the more she liked it, and she was really glad that she and Stella had renewed their friendship. Rory vowed to keep in touch with her when she left Roseford at the end of the summer.
As she wandered through to Halstead’s library again, she forced a smile onto her face, but it was a fraction too late, and Stella asked her what was wrong.
‘Oh, where shall I start?’ Rory sighed. She filled Stella in on the strange meeting with Corinne, and Leo’s odd behaviour, and as she finished explaining, Stella gave her a sympathetic look. ‘So,’ Rory concluded, ‘on top of being out of a job and potentially out of a home, it looks as though I’ve just been a shag buddy for Leo since we reconnected. I kind of figured it was going to be a holiday romance, but I didn’t expect him to be so blatant about it.’
‘I’m sorry, Rory,’ Stella commiserated. ‘Leo didn’t seem to be the type to pull something like this. What a twat!’
Rory shook her head. ‘He really had me fooled. He seemed so sincere, all the time we were together, and now his gorgeous soon-to-be-ex has rocked up and I just don’t know what to think any more. It’s not as if I can just head back to York, either. Alex is playing house with Luca while I’m away, and they definitely won’t welcome the intrusion.’
‘Surely Alex wouldn’t chuck you out on the street?’ Stella replied. ‘I mean, you’ve been sharing for ages, haven’t you?’
Rory nodded. ‘She definitely wouldn’t, but sooner or later I’ll have to move out for good. It would be unfair of me to expect Alex to pick up the shortfall while I’m out of work when the other option is a ready-made flatmate. They’ve been wanting to take things to the next level for a while, so it would make sense for them.’
‘But leave you jobless and homeless.’ Stella shook her head. ‘I wonder…’
The ensuing pause made Rory put down the letter she was perusing and look at her friend, whose brow was furrowed.
‘What are you thinking?’
‘Well,’ Stella said, ‘and it’s only a possibility – I’d need to check with Chris to see when the tenancy is up, but I seem to recall the gatehouse at Halstead is going to be vacant again at the end of October. The current tenant is relocating and we were going to put it back up for rent as soon as we’ve had the chance to redecorate, probably after Christmas. It’s a bit shabby, as we’ve had holiday lets in there before this current guy, who’s been renting it while he works on a contract in Taunton, but if you don’t mind a few marks on the walls, I wonder if you’d fancy being our tenant for a while? The gatehouse needs someone living in it, so you’d be doing us a favour, really.’
‘I’m broke, Stella!’ Rory laughed. ‘I can barely afford a flat share up north. What makes you think I could afford to rent your gatehouse?’
‘Well, I need a part-time tutor for the winter retreats we’re planning on running,’ Stella continued. ‘And Gabe, Chris’s son, is sitting his GCSE exams next June. Chris keeps saying he thinks Gabe could do with a bit of tutoring in his core subjects, especially English.’ She paused mischievously. ‘Shakespeare doesn’t exactly set his world on fire, and my knowledge ofMacbethis shaky at best! Maybe you could do that? Let me know what your hourly rate is, and we can do some maths and see where that leaves us in terms of the rent?’
Rory’s heart leapt. Stella could well have come up with a solution to her woes but did she really want to relocate to Roseford, especially after what had just happened with Leo? But then Leo wasn’t going to be here after September anyway – he’d be off in London, living his best corporate life, and she’d be here, with a roof over her head and the possibility of a steady job for the next few months, at least. Leo wouldn’t be in the equation, and the way she was feeling about him now, that was a bonus.
‘It’s a lovely offer,’ Rory said carefully, ‘and it’s not that I’m not grateful but I’d need to run some numbers. After all these years of a steady salary, I’m not sure how I feel about being self-employed, and doing tutoring on the retreat is a different ball game to being in the classroom.’
‘Yeah, your students will have paid good money and want to be there, for a start!’ Stella grinned. ‘You can’t tell me that the prospect of willing participants doesn’t sound lovely?’
