A Summer of Secrets (18 page)

Plenty, it transpired.

‘That’s so lovely of you,’ the man replied. ‘But you really didn’t need to bust a gut. The poor thing’s been in here for two years. Nobody wants old dogs, you see. Think they’re going to cost a fortune in vet’s bills and the like.’

Oh, God. That thought hadn’t even occurred to Jenny. ‘Oh,’ she muttered. ‘I didn’t, um …’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that with Harriet,’ he added quickly. ‘She’s as fit as a fiddle. Lots of good years left in her yet, I’m sure.’

‘Right.’ Jenny chewed her bottom lip. Perhaps she shouldn’t have rushed into this. Perhaps she should have researched things first. Dog-type things. Like what they ate and what you were supposed to do with them.

‘You don’t have to take her today, you know,’ the man informed her, evidently sensing her reticence. ‘You can spend some time with her. Get to know her a bit. She’s quite a character.’

Well, that was one less thing to worry about. Living with Phyllis meant Jenny was an expert at dealing with characters.

‘Just give me a minute and I’ll bring her out.’

Jenny nodded, her lip-chewing increasing apace.

‘Hello, Miss Rutter.’

Jenny spun round to find Joe, the window cleaner, beaming at her. ‘Joe!’ she exclaimed. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

‘Just dropping off a donation,’ he replied, looking, she thought, slightly sheepish. ‘What about you?’

‘I’m, er, thinking about getting a dog,’ she heard herself replying.

Joe nodded. ‘That’s nice,’ he said. ‘Good luck with it.’

‘Thanks,’ muttered Jenny, her panic increasing as Joe wandered off. Well, thank goodness she hadn’t completely committed herself yet. She didn’t have to take the dog today. She could, as the man suggested, merely spend some time with her. Take her for a little walk or something. Do some … what did they call it? … bonding.

‘Here she is.’

Startled out of her reverie for the second time in minutes, Jenny whipped round again to find the man standing with a scruffy, tan-and-white dog by his side, looking in dire need of a good brushing. As it gazed up at her with huge, dark eyes, something tugged very definitively at her heartstrings.

‘Do you want to say hello to-? Sorry, I didn’t get your name.’

‘Jenny. Jenny Rutter.’

‘Do you want to say hello to Jenny, Harriet?’

The dog glanced at him disinterestedly before turning her eyes back to Jenny.

‘Of course she’ll take a little while to get used to you.’

Jenny took a couple of steps closer and bent down to Harriet. ‘Hello, sweetheart. Would you like to go for a walk?’

‘She does like her walks.’

‘Good. The exercise will do us both good.’

‘So … are you just taking her for a walk? Or would you…?’ he trailed off, his tone ripe with optimism.

Jenny’s heart began beating a tad faster as she stared at the dog and the dog stared at her. ‘You know what,’ she began, ‘I don’t think there’s any need for that. I think I’ll just take her home.’

The reaction at the kennels when the staff discovered Harriet was to be rehomed verged on ecstatic.

‘We normally do home checks,’ the girl behind the desk informed Jenny, as she completed the necessary paperwork. ‘But we’re short-staffed at the moment. Besides, we can tell she’ll be fine with you. Look how she’s taken to you already.’

Jenny glanced down at Harriet at the other end of the pink lead. Prostrate on the floor, head resting on her front paws, she couldn’t have looked less interested.

‘And if there are any problems at all, you know where we are.’

Jenny balked. Problems? What kind of problems? The only ones she could foresee had nothing to do with the dog, and everything to do with her mother.

‘Get it out! Get it out!’ screeched Phyllis, raising her twig-like legs from the floor, to what end Jenny knew not.

‘She’s going nowhere, Mother. This is her home now so you’d better get used to her being around.’

Phyllis’s wrinkled face turned puce. ‘I think you’ll find that this
home
is in my name, and therefore any major decisions, like bringing home a flea-ridden animal, should be approved by me.’

‘Okay, then,’ Jenny hurled back. ‘Well, in that case, I’ll pack my bags and Harriet and I will move into the Gallaghers’ cottage. You do know it’s available to rent again, don’t you?’

Phyllis looked like she might internally combust. ‘I don’t know what’s got into you lately. If you ask me, you need to see a doctor.’

Jenny snorted with laughter. ‘Oh, no, I don’t, Mother. I have found just the remedy for my complaints. And I am enjoying every minute of it.’

***

Rich couldn’t believe it. Once Alison had imbibed several gin and tonics and calmed down about Bernice’s visit, she’d actually been extremely understanding about Candi.

‘God,’ she puffed in the pub they’d immediately shot off to once Bernice had vacated the showroom. ‘It must’ve been one hell of a shock for you, Candi turning up completely out of the blue like that.’

Rich gave a snort of ironic laughter. ‘Let’s just say you could’ve knocked me down without the proverbial feather. And I
have
been meaning to tell you, I really have. But I didn’t want to spoil your moment. You know, with the award stuff and everything.’

Alison tutted. ‘Sod the award. This is much more important.’ She reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

Rich raised hers to his lips and planted a kiss on it. ‘You know, for all I could happily strangle Bernice for breezing in and telling you like that, I can’t pretend I’m not relieved it’s all out in the open. I hate keeping stuff from you.’

‘I know,’ said Alison. ‘So, anyway, tell me more. What’s Candi like?’

Rich smiled as an image of his new-found daughter popped into his head. ‘Well, I’ve only met her a couple of times but she seems like a really nice kid. Level-headed. Together.’

‘The complete opposite of her mother by the sound of it. I must say, Mr S, I thought you had better taste in women.’

Rich faked indignation. ‘Actually, Mrs S, I’ll have you know that Bernice was quite a looker in her day, despite being a total headcase. We only lasted a few months.’

‘More than enough time to create another human being.’

‘Evidently.’

Alison released his hand, sat back in her chair and took another sip of gin. ‘So.’ She regarded him over the top of her glass. ‘When am I going to meet this daughter of yours?’

Rich wasted no time arranging the meeting with Candi and Alison. Figuring a familiar venue might help his nerves – as well as Candi’s – he opted for their usual café in Harrogate. Still, though, despite the familiar surroundings, the hideous feeling he always experienced before visiting the dentist prevailed. Completely unnecessary, he soon discovered, given how well Alison and Candi immediately hit it off.

‘I’m really sorry about my mum turning up like that,’ Candi apologised, after they’d talked about all manner of things, ranging from Bethany to Bubbles to Candi’s job. ‘I had no idea she planned to do that. I know it’s hard to believe, but her reappearing in your life literally just days after me is the worst coincidence ever, and I really hope you don’t think I had anything to do with it.’

‘We don’t,’ Rich assured her. Because he really didn’t.

‘I suppose she asked you for money,’ Candi continued, fiddling with the straws in her milkshake.

‘She did.’

Candi shook her head. ‘No surprise there, then. That’s all she thinks about. Well, that and men.’

Rich’s stomach began to churn as he suspected he was about to hear something he really rather wouldn’t.

‘I hardly know her, really. As soon as I was born she left me with Nan so she could go and work in the casinos on the cruise ships and meet lots of rich men. Of course, the relationships never lasted more than a few months, so off she’d go on the hunt again, taking a job on yet another ship.’

Alison’s eyes grew wide as saucers as she cast a beseeching look at Rich. A complete waste of time given he didn’t have a clue what to say next.

‘Then, when she got the sack, she moved in with us. But since Nan died four years ago, it’s just been me and Mum, and it’s been …’ She broke off and swiped a tear from her cheek. ‘Sorry. You probably don’t want to hear this.’

‘Of course we do.’ Alison placed her hand over the younger woman’s. ‘Go on. Please.’

Candi flashed her a watery smile. ‘Well … it’s been a bit of a nightmare, really. She’s working in a casino in Leeds now, which means nothing much has changed. She’ll meet a guy who moves in after she’s known him all of five minutes. Then, after a couple of weeks, they’re at each other’s throats, have an almighty fight and he moves out. And so it goes on, really.’

Alison pressed her free hand to her chest. ‘God. That’s awful.’

Rich narrowed his eyes, anger surging through him. If he could happily have strangled Bernice before, he could now have merrily hung, drawn and quartered the woman. Only days ago she’d sat in their office whipping up a frenzy of guilt in him as she’d droned on about how she’d single-handedly struggled to bring up their daughter. When, all the while, the child had been farmed out to her grandmother, leaving Bernice free to do whatever the hell she liked.

‘Would you, um, like another milkshake?’ he asked, in the absence of any better ideas.

Candi shook her head. ‘No, thanks. I’d better go. But I’ve had a lovely time.’ She turned to Alison. ‘It’s been really great meeting you.’

‘And you,’ said Alison. ‘Look, why don’t you come to the house next week. Spend the day with us. Meet Bethany.’

Candi’s mouth stretched into a wide grin. ‘I’d love to. If you’re sure.’

‘We are,’ Rich and Alison chorused.

‘You really shouldn’t have,’ insisted Alison, accepting the lovely bunch of pink peonies.

‘I know,’ Candi replied. ‘But I wanted to. It’s so kind of you to invite me here. And I brought these for Bethany.’ She held out a pack of pastry-cutters in the shape of various animals.

‘Wow,’ exclaimed Bethany, releasing her limpet-like hold on Rich’s leg. ‘They’re well cool.’

‘Your mum told me you like to bake.’

‘Oh, I do. Please can Candi and I bake some stuff today, Mum? So I can use my new cutters?’

Alison cast an apologetic look at their guest. ‘Well, I think we’d better ask Candi if she likes baking, too.’

Candi giggled. ‘Actually, I love it. I was going to suggest the same thing. If it was okay with you.’

Alison nodded. ‘Of course. Well, it looks like that’s the morning sorted. Then we can go to the pub for lunch afterwards.’

‘Please can I have chicken nuggets?’ piped up Bethany.

‘You can have whatever you like,’ chuckled a relieved Rich, amazed, yet again, at the ease with which Candi slotted into his life. First with Alison and now with Bethany who, to his amazement, hadn’t appeared one bit fazed by news of her new half-sister.

‘Lots of people have half-brothers and sisters at school,’ she informed him. ‘Even Sophie’s brother is only her half-brother because they have different dads.’

‘Right.’ Rich nodded. ‘But you and Candi have the same dad and different mums.’

Bethany shrugged. ‘Okay. So who is Candi’s mum?’

Shit. He hadn’t expected that. ‘She’s a, er, lady daddy used to know a long time ago.’

‘So now is she really old like you?’

Rich snorted with laughter. ‘Um, something like that, yes. But anyway, Candi is going to spend Saturday with us, so that’ll be nice, won’t it?’

Another shrug. ‘I suppose so.’

Bethany’s indifference had done little to allay Rich’s nerves but, watching his two daughters now, in his lovely home, accompanied by his gorgeous wife – looking particularly sexy in tight white shorts – a surge of pride swept over him. He might not be a world-renowned pianist like his sister, but he hadn’t done too badly, had he?

Chapter Fourteen

Alison Stevens was watering the myriad pots of flowers in the garden of the Old Granary. In tight white shorts. Normally, her pert derriere and long legs would’ve set Joe contemplating what a lucky man her husband, Rich, was. Today, though, he merely awarded her a cursory glance. Which just went to prove that, since meeting up with Gina and Charlie again, his interest in all other women had completely dissipated.

Just thinking about Gina and Charlie ignited a flicker of excitement in Joe’s stomach. He’d enjoyed every second of their company at the fair. Well, to be more precise, he’d enjoyed every second of Charlie’s. Gina’s hangover had definitely got the better of her. She’d slept through almost the entire afternoon. Then whisked Charlie off home, insisting she needed to go back to bed. Joe had been so disappointed he could’ve cried. But then he’d chided himself for being selfish. It couldn’t be easy for Gina bringing up Charlie on her own. She deserved to let her hair down every now and again. And, on the plus side, she had invited him for tea at Karen’s again this evening.

‘It won’t be anything flash,’ she warned him.

Joe couldn’t have cared less if deep-fried cardboard featured on the menu. The only thing that interested him was seeing them both again. And he mentally ticked off the hours until the time came round.

‘Would you like a drink?’

Wrenched out of his musings by Alison’s invitation, Joe nearly toppled off his ladder.

‘There’s some freshly squeezed orange juice in the fridge.’

‘Oh. Right. That would be great, thanks. I’ll be down in a second.’

‘Just let us know when you’re ready.’

Joe did just that. With all the upstairs windows gleaming, he knocked on the open French doors, which led into the Stevens’ gorgeous cottage kitchen.

‘Hello, Joe,’ said Bethany, kneeling on a chair at the table, strewn with flour and bits of pastry. Next to her sat a plain-looking girl, her mousy hair scraped back in a ponytail, wearing specs and an unflattering T-shirt the colour of milky coffee. She looked familiar, but he had no idea from where.

‘This is Candi,’ Bethany informed him. ‘She’s nineteen and she’s my half-sister. We have the same dad.’

Joe’s brows shot to his hairline. Wow. He certainly hadn’t been expecting that. ‘Er, right,’ he muttered, suddenly feeling awkward. ‘Well, I’m, er, pleased to meet you, um …’