Page 15 of He's the One

If Theo had thought to ingratiate himself with his fellow workers by waiting for his lunch break until they’d had theirs, it hadn’t worked. He’d heard the mutters when he’d put the closed sign over his ticket window. He headed back to the stable block for his lunch. There were no stonemasons working on the roof so he assumed they were in the portacabin. Now he knew Col was one of them, he wanted to bump into him and for Col to smile and ask him if he was all right.

Theo imagined himself saying, ‘Still breathing. Just.’or ‘I only needed twenty stitches in my cheek.’ Then Col making some joke. If Theo was feeling really brave, he could ask him out for a drink. Even if Col wasn’t gay, Theo would have liked a friend, someone to talk to, to do stuff with. He loved metal detecting, and exploring the fields belonging to Asquith, but he’d have even more fun doing it with someone else.

Thing was… Theo rarely felt brave.For rarely, read never.

AndCol wasn’t going to be around for long. The work on the East Wing was almost done. Theo was annoyed he’d not spotted him sooner.

AndTheo’s parents wouldn’t approve of Col as a friend, let alone a boyfriend.

Even so…If Theo had the chance to talk to him, he’d grab it.

His accommodation was above what had once been stables, a carriage house and cottage for the coachman. It was a long, substantial building, converted into a triple garage, and accommodation. Theo had one main living room cum kitchen, four bedrooms and a bathroom to call his own. Three bedrooms were currently unusable. Nowhere was warm enough or smelt good. Maybe there was a dead mouse in the wall. There were a lot of inhabitants that he’d have preferred move out. Especially the spiders. The bathroom was draughty and damp. The water temperature and pressure of the shower were unreliable and sometimes the toilet wouldn’t flush. But it was his and that was something. He could buy and cook his own food, do his own washing, read in peace, watch his laptop without feeling guilty.

He made himself a coffee and a peanut butter sandwich, then slumped in a chair by the window. The masons had started to climb back up to the roof. He spotted Col almost at once, and smiled. He was long, rangy and agile. Theo imagined himself going up the ladder and moaned. Not long, rangy or agile. Definitely not confident. Once Col reached the top, Theo lost sight of him. He’d just taken a mouthful of sandwich when his phone rang.Bloody Dastardly.Theo chewed, swallowed quickly and answered.

“Yes?”

“You’re needed in the shop.”

“I’m having lunch.”

“Well, hurry up.”

“And get indigestion? I’ll come when I’ve eaten.”

Theo ended the call and gritted his teeth. No, he was not going to hurry. He was going to take his time.

Though his resolve only lasted until he’d finished eating and drunk his coffee. Dastardly wasn’t above telling his parents he’d been uncooperative. He had before. His mother never took his side. His father just told him not to make the estate manager unhappy.

Movement in the courtyard caused Theo to glance down and he saw Dastardly heading towards the stonemasons’ portacabin. Frank Nyman, the man in charge of the renovations came down the steps. As Theo watched, Nyman handed Dastardly a thick envelope that Dastardly quickly pushed into his inside pocket. The two talked for a while, then Dastardly walked on towards the front of the house and Nyman went back into his portacabin.

Theo wondered what that was about. Money? Drugs? Definitely something suspicious, but knowing his vivid imagination, it was probably not suspicious at all. He shook his head and set off for the shop.

Three hours working in the gift shop was an eternity. It wasn’t Theo’s imagination that the staff spoke in whispers if he was in the vicinity, though Muttley was in there and they didn’t seem to like her either. He did his best to be friendly to everyone, but only the visitors chatted to him. At least they were nice. Most of them. Though he heard a lot of mutters about how expensive everything was and that the choice of things for kids was too limited.

Theo agreed. Asquith Hall looked a little like a castle and they should have worked with that and sold shields and plastic swords, books about knights and Lego kits of castles. Even Robin Hood stuff would have worked. Instead, there were a few unappealing soft toys with ugly faces, novelty pencils and erasers featuring Asquith, and for no reason Theo could think of, a container of polished stones from which you could pick out five for a pound. Kids didn’t even get a bag to put them in. It was a rip off, but popular. Mostly likely because it was the cheapest option and easier for parents to give way on because no child in their right mind was going to be happy with a tea towel featuring breeds of sheep.

At the end of the day, Col had just climbed back to the ground when he heard Frank calling him from the portacabin.

“Col, I need a word.”

He headed for Frank’s office wondering what he wanted. Col took off his hard hat and went inside.

“Close the door, please.”

Uh-oh.

“Sit down.”

Col’s heart sank. He could tell from Frank’s tone this wasn’t going to be good news. The next job was in Scotland? Not that he had anything against Scotland, but it put paid to a date with Theo.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go.”

What the hell?What happened to Andy learning from him?“Why?”

“I don’t need all of this team on the next job. You were last in, so you’re first out. It’s fairest.”

Only me leaving? No one else?So much raced through Col’s head, he couldn’t form a response.

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