Page 45 of Coming Home to Roseford Villas
‘Shit…’ he muttered. What was he going to tell Aunt Vi and Uncle Bryan now? The dream, it seemed, was over. They’d wanted to keep the business in the family, but he couldn’t make it happen, for himself or for them. Time just wasn’t on his side. They couldn’t wait another six months, and he couldn’t not.
Disillusioned, he shambled downstairs to the kitchen, where Aunt Vi was preparing breakfast and sorting out the jobs thatneeded doing before the new guests arrived later that day. They had four rooms occupied tonight, and although Leo knew they were shipshape, he also knew that Vi would insist on doing one last hoover and check to make sure they were perfect. It was her attention to detail that made this place such a winner. But not for much longer. Soon it would be in someone else’s hands.
‘Everything all right, love?’ Vi asked as he entered the kitchen.
Leo forced a smile. ‘Not really. I’ve just spoken to the mortgage broker. They, er, they don’t think a loan of the size I’d need is a goer, I’m afraid.’ He plonked himself down at the large table in the centre of the kitchen. ‘I’m so sorry, Aunt Vi. I should have looked into this before I came hooning down here, raising your hopes.’
‘Oh, love.’ Vi was obviously trying to hide her disappointment, which made Leo feel even worse. ‘So that’s it, then?’
Leo nodded. ‘I’m afraid so.’
The ensuing silence lasted until it was broken by Uncle Bryan coming in from the garden, where he’d been vacuuming up the fallen leaves that had littered the lawn overnight. Leo glanced up, and just before Bryan closed the door, he caught sight of the chalet, looking cold and unloved at the bottom of the sweep of neatly cut grass that shouldn’t need another mow until the spring, now. His heart ached to think that, by the time the warmer weather came, someone else would be in charge here.
‘No luck then, I presume?’ Bryan asked gruffly. ‘Well, it was a bit of a pie in the sky idea, really, wasn’t it, lad? You didn’t really think it through. No sense in dwelling on it.’
The reproach in his uncle’s voice cut through Leo’s despondent mood, and he felt a flare of irritation. ‘It wasn’t pie in the sky!’ he said shortly. ‘I really wanted to take Roseford Villas on.’ He found he was glaring at his uncle, and rapidly triedto adjust his expression. ‘I know you probably think I was just playing about this summer, but I used to love it here as a kid, and I really wanted to be the one who could continue its future. I’m gutted, genuinely, that it doesn’t seem possible, at least according to the mortgage broker it’s not, anyway.’
Leo, ignoring a warning twinge from his back, thrust himself up from the wooden kitchen chair. ‘I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you, Uncle Bryan.’
Bryan’s gaze stilled Leo’s impulse to walk out of the kitchen. ‘Are you finished, lad?’
Leo nodded, suddenly ashamed of himself for his childish outburst. More than once, in his childhood, he’d run foul of being called a spoiled brat: now he was just proving that point.
‘Sit back down, then.’ It wasn’t a request. Leo sat.
There was a pause while Bryan poured himself, Vi and Leo a cup of tea, and then brought Leo’s mug over to the table.
‘So, what did they say?’ Bryan asked.
‘I haven’t got enough recent employment history in the UK,’ Leo replied. ‘They won’t lend me the amount I’d need for the mortgage, despite the healthy deposit I’ve got. In this current market: it’s too much of a risk for them.’
Bryan sat back in his chair. ‘So that’s it, then.’ His gaze was on Leo. ‘Shame, really, you seemed to take to living here. Would have liked it to have gone to you, rather than someone we don’t know.’ He took a long sip of his tea. ‘Oh, well, Vi, best ring the estate agent, see if there are any nibbles at their end.’
Leo’s irritation, that his uncle could be so offhand with him, fought his careful attempts to stay calm. ‘I more than took to it, Uncle Bryan,’ he said. ‘I bloody loved being here. And I made a good job of running it. I have so many ideas, good ideas, that could take Roseford Villas forward into a long future. I’m sorry that I can’t be the one to do that.’
‘You’ll find something else,’ Bryan replied. ‘You’ve still got a job to go back to, haven’t you?’
The thought of going back to his glass box in the City of London filled Leo with a panic he couldn’t swallow down. ‘Yes,’ he said weakly. ‘I suppose there’s that.’
‘Well, I can’t sit here gassing all day,’ Bryan said. ‘I’ve got work to do.’ He rose from the table, tea in hand. Just as Bryan was about to walk out of the door, Leo clocked the pleading gaze from his aunt to his uncle.
‘Don’t you think you’ve put him through enough, Bryan? Why don’t you just tell him?’
Leo’s pulse quickened. ‘Tell me what?’
Bryan sighed. ‘All right.’ He took another swallow of his tea. ‘I wanted to be sure that you really were serious about taking a business like this on. It’s not a thing you can play at, Leo. It’s hard work, and long work, and you’re busy when everyone else is on holiday. It’s long nights, and early mornings, and very physical at times. But you proved yourself over the summer, and I’d like to think, given the chance, you’d be able to prove yourself in the long term.’
‘That’s not going to happen now, though, is it?’ Leo muttered. He felt like the teenager he once was, when he’d come to spend some time here.
‘Not necessarily.’ Bryan glanced again at his wife, and even in his current state of agitation, Leo noticed the look.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
‘Look, lad, if it were up to your Aunt Vi, she’d hand you the keys right now and have done with it, and to hell with the costs. She’s always had a soft spot for you, and, if I’m being honest, so have I.’
‘Thank you.’ Leo smiled slightly. He’d always liked and respected Uncle Bryan, but this bluff Yorkshireman had perpetually played his emotions close to his chest. He’d neveronce made an admission like that. It felt like a victory, despite the disappointment of the morning.
‘But we have to be realistic here,’ Bryan continued, silencing Leo again with a look. ‘We’re going to Spain, and we will sell Roseford Villas as soon as possible to fund that, come hell or high water. That plan is non-negotiable.’
