Practically Perfect (9 page)

Later he announced, ‘This has all been done quite recently,’ to Anna’s immense relief. ‘I’ll just check everything, but whoever did it seems to have known what they were doing.’

‘Well, that’s a start. I thought it looked OK, but although I know a bit, I wasn’t quite sure about current regulations.’

‘Current regulations? I like that! A good joke for a sparky.’

Anna smiled because he was friendly, not because she thought much of his puns. ‘Would you like a coffee? Or tea? I’ve got biscuits. I bought them specially.’

‘Tea, please. Nice place you’ve got here. Bit of a mess now, obviously, but it’s going to be really great. And you can put the floorboards down now.’

‘I hope I can. The previous owners ripped them all up and I found them propped up outside against the fence. I hope they’re not too badly rotted.’

‘Left out in the open, were they?’

‘Not quite. Someone had put some tarpaulin over them. I’ll have a look when you’ve gone.’

Colin insisted on having a look with her. ‘They’re OK,’ he said.

‘They do seem to be,’ she agreed, pleased and surprised. The bottom of that one has rotted a bit, but I can easily sort that out.’

‘I know a very good chippy if you need one,’ said Colin. ‘And it looks as if you might.’

Anna smiled again. ‘I am hoping to do most of the work myself, but if I should need some help, I’ll get back to you.’

When he’d gone, and Caroline had emerged from Anna’s sleeping bag, she started fitting the floorboards. She took up the square of plasterboard, and laid the boards in place. She didn’t mean actually to do it, she just wanted to work out where they fitted and whether they were all there, but by the time the light was gone and she couldn’t work any more, a good half of them were down.

‘The hard part is going to be the sanding,’ Anna told Caroline as she ate her cheese on toast, feeding the dog the crusts in a way not approved of in the Greyhound Trust handbook. ‘The machine is bloody heavy. I’ll have to ask Chloe to get it from the hire shop for me. It’s really hard work. Like putting down the floorboards. Goodness, I need a bath!’ But although Chloe was very generous with her hot water, Anna didn’t like to presume and just brushed her teeth and washed her feet.

‘Now if I’d washed my hair as well,’ she told Caroline, who was developing her listening skills, ‘I’d really feel clean.’

On Thursday, Anna got Chloe to drop her off at the hire shop while she went to Waitrose, and then pick her up
afterwards
. It took two hefty men to get the machine into the back of Chloe’s car but Anna was confident she and Chloe would manage to get it out again, and down the lane.

‘We can always get someone to help,’ said Chloe as they drove off.

‘We won’t need it. Laura and I discovered there’s nothing two really determined women can’t do if they set their minds to it.’

‘Huh,’ grunted Chloe, not as averse to borrowing muscle if required as Anna seemed to be. ‘And put our backs out doing it.’

In fact, they got the machine along to Anna’s house without too much difficulty.

‘Are you sure you’ll manage that beast?’ asked Chloe.

‘Of course!’ Anna laughed. ‘You go and make your melba toast or whatever. I’ll be fine.’

‘Darling, melba toast is so seventies! But if you’re sure you can manage, I’ll go. It’s not the cooking that takes the time, it’s the cleaning up.’

The machine was incredibly heavy to use, but seeing the dirt of ages being whirred away was hugely satisfying. Caroline hated it, and Anna put her bed in the little garden so she’d avoid the worst of the dust. Luckily it was a sunny, relatively warm day, and she needn’t be out there for long.

‘I don’t think you’d like wearing a mask, would you, sweetie?’ Anna said to Caroline, stroking her silky ears. ‘Although you should have one really.’

Thursday passed. Anna was absorbed in getting her floor perfect, and it was only when she heard Mike, or so she presumed, arriving home next door that she realised another bath opportunity had slipped by. She couldn’t ask now.

‘Still,’ said Anna brightly to Caroline. Her hands and arms were still vibrating from the sander, although she had finished a while ago. ‘It’ll be better to have one tomorrow, after the boys have had theirs, then I’ll be really clean. Chloe and Mike won’t feel so intruded upon then.’

Caroline listened to this with an expression that said her mistress was a complete idiot, but utterly adorable. Anna was quite happy with this opinion.

To Anna’s eternal gratitude, on Friday morning, Chloe, Mike and the children took the sander back to the shop. They collected it while Anna was out with Caroline and although sad that she’d missed an opportunity to meet Mike before the dinner she was very relieved to get the machine out of her tiny house.

When she’d settled Caroline she got out her own domestic sander and started on the edges.

The day passed happily, and after the electric sander could do no more, Anna got out sandpaper and a block. She couldn’t stop. Every pass made the floor look more beautiful.

Eventually the signature tune of the
Archers
penetrated her obsession. ‘Oh my God! It’s after seven o’clock! The dinner party! Oh, Caroline, I’ve done it now. No bath. No time. And I haven’t even thought about what to wear!’

Anna, feeling like an expectant father, boiled a large saucepan of water on her little stove as well as putting the kettle on. She wasn’t exactly panicking, and hot water was essential for washing, but she did feel a bit like a headless chicken, not knowing what to do first.

‘I can’t believe this, Caroline,’ she said, tipping water into the washing-up bowl that currently doubled as a sink. ‘I’ve spent all week looking forward to this, and then I nearly forget to go!’

In retrospect, washing her hair had probably been a
mistake
, but it had been horribly full of dust and Anna was the sort of girl who felt clean hair was the most important thing. The fact that she would arrive with it still wet was just too bad.

‘At least washing your hair gets your hands clean,’ she said, inspecting her nails. Her hands were in a terrible state, but there was nothing much she could do about that.

She found her least scruffy jeans, her cleanest top and a scarf that Laura had given her, now rather crumpled. It wasn’t haute couture but Chloe had assured her the meal wasn’t going to be haute cuisine either, so she hoped she’d get away with it.

‘I may have awful hands and slightly dusty clothes,’ Anna told Caroline as she tucked her up, ‘but my hair is at least clean and my floor is going to be fabulous!’

‘It’s always the people who are closest to school who come late,’ said an attractive dark-haired woman as Anna came in through the door. She had never seen Chloe’s house so crowded and admired the heroic furniture moving that must have gone on in order to fit in so many people.

‘Anna, darling!’ called Chloe from the stove. ‘Mike, say hello, get her a drink and do the introductions!’

Mike identified himself by getting up from the row of people who were squashed on to a small sofa by the fire. He was tall and gangly with an open, friendly face. Anna warmed to him immediately.

He stepped over several sets of legs and took her in his arms and gave her a hug. ‘I’ve heard so much about you, I feel I know you already. What would you like to drink? Red or white – and don’t tell me you want something soft because you don’t have to drive home.’

Anna, still a bit breathless from her dash to get ready,
handed
him the bottle of red wine she was clutching. ‘Red, please.’

‘Can you pour Anna a glass of red, Ted?’ Mike said. ‘The bottle’s by you and there’s a glass on the table. Now, introductions.’

Once she had had a chance to get her breath Anna realised there weren’t that many people there really, it’s just they were all so squashed.

‘OK, from the right,’ said Mike. ‘Dorothy – she was the one who was rude about you being late. Ted is her husband.’ Dorothy and Ted both waved in a friendly way.

‘We’re always late,’ said Dorothy, ‘so I’m always thrilled when we’re not the last.’

‘This is Sue.’ A pretty blonde-haired woman nodded. ‘And Ivan, her husband. He’s Welsh.’ Ivan had thick curly black hair and looked as if he might play rugby. Although it meant stepping over everyone else, he insisted on getting up and giving Anna a hug too.

‘Must make sure you get a proper welcome,’ he said.

Anna smiled. Everyone was being so wonderfully friendly.

‘Right,’ said Mike, ‘now you squash yourself down there. You can’t move but you don’t have to until dinner’s ready and heaven knows when that will be.’

He cast a calculating eye at Chloe who was beating a sauce with vigour. She appeared not to have been listening but a moment later she said, ‘If you hadn’t let the boys get overexcited, I could have got this in the oven hours ago. You’d think, wouldn’t you’ – she addressed the company – ‘that with Sue bringing a pudding and Dorothy the starter, I could have managed a main course.’

‘It’s so difficult with children,’ said Dorothy, sympathetically. ‘We haven’t had people round for ages. It’s just too much hard work to get the house tidy, cook the meal
and
get rid of the children. I always forget I have to cook for them, too.’

‘No change there then,’ said her husband.

Dorothy dug him in the ribs.

‘Well.’ Chloe clambered over people’s legs until she could perch on a little three-legged stool that was the only place left. ‘That shouldn’t take more than half an hour to brown. The oven’s turned right up. We’ve got to eat our starters – looks fab, by the way, Dor – and we’re still waiting for our mystery guest.’ She winked at Anna.

Anna felt suddenly tired. She didn’t want a man found for her; she had her man, locked in her heart.

‘So, who is he?’ demanded Dorothy and Sue together.

‘Honestly! He wouldn’t be a mystery guest if I told you, now would he?’ Chloe laughed.

‘Well, do we know him?’ Sue persisted.

‘Don’t think so. He’s newish to the area, which is why I wanted him to meet Anna. They’ll have things in common.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said Dorothy, earning Anna’s gratitude.

‘Oh, it’ll be fine.’ Chloe drained her glass. ‘Any more wine in that bottle?’

Anna had drunk two glasses of red wine and was fast feeling the effects by the time there was a knock at the door and the mystery guest appeared.

‘I am so sorry,’ he said. ‘I ran out of petrol, then I got lost. Although I shouldn’t have, I’ve been here before.’ One look around the room stopped him in his tracks. ‘Oh. You’re here.’

He and Anna looked at each other and Anna’s head swam. For a moment he seemed as confused and surprised as she was and then he grinned apologetically. Anna did her best to smile back but she was so cross! Rob Hunter!
How
could Chloe have done this to her? And without warning! Why hadn’t she told her? Some friend she was. Anna wondered if she could get up and walk out, or if it would be just too rude. It would, she decided, but also she was too squashed in.

Fortunately attention was taken away from her while bottles and flowers were handed over. He was obviously as astonished as she was and this made her feel a bit better disposed towards him. If it had been obvious he’d known she was going to be there she would have left, squashed or not.

There being nowhere else to sit, he perched on the arm of the sofa and twinkled down at Anna, his eyes full of apology. ‘I expect I’m the last person you want to see.’

‘Why’s that?’ asked Sue.

‘We’ve met,’ said Anna, because everyone was looking at her and she felt she had to, not because she particularly wanted to. It was going to be a long night.

Chloe, who knew they’d met, kept her face turned away guiltily. Rob and Anna both started to speak at once and then stopped.

‘You go,’ he said gallantly.

Anna sighed. ‘Well, I was at the market with my dog and a car backfired. She ran away and … Rob’ – although she privately thought of him as the Bastard Dog Man she couldn’t call him this in public, – ‘rescued her.’

‘So he’s your hero?’ asked Dorothy. ‘Rescuing your dog from certain death on the road?’

‘Not exactly,’ said Rob, a little ruefully.

‘But why on earth not?’ went on Dorothy, mystified. ‘I always fall in love with my vet!’

‘I don’t think Anna’s met her vet yet,’ said Rob infuriatingly. ‘And I was probably a bit too bossy and overbearing to fall in love with.’

Anna was scarlet in the face by now. ‘Yes, definitely,’ she agreed, wishing she could melt into the sofa and disappear.

Dorothy took another long look at Rob and sighed deeply. ‘Well, I just don’t understand.’

Had Anna had an opportunity she might well have explained that she was already deeply in love with someone else, but the moment was lost as Mike came to her rescue.

‘Well, now we’ve got that clear,’ he said, ‘fill your glasses, everyone. Ted, do the honours, would you? I can’t reach over there.’

‘Yes, then it’s time to eat,’ said Chloe still not quite daring even to look in Anna’s direction. ‘I haven’t worked out where everyone should sit because it never works with eight.’

Anna felt certain that with so many people she could avoid sitting next to Rob Hunter but her certainty was misplaced. She took the last place at the table and had to squeeze in next to him. She glanced at Chloe to see if she could have possibly engineered the
placement
as well as inviting Rob without warning her, but realised even she couldn’t have managed that.

‘Well,’ said Chloe when everyone was sitting down, contemplating the plate of smoked salmon, blinis and crème fraîche on their plates, ‘before we start, I’ll re-do the introductions for Rob. Oh hell!’ She jumped up. ‘I’ve forgotten the caviar garnish!’

‘It’s lumpfish, actually,’ said Dorothy, while Chloe burrowed in the kitchen.

‘I’ll introduce people, then,’ said Mike, obviously used to his wife’s forgetfulness.

Anna was trying to keep a gap between her arm and Rob Hunter’s. It was not easy. The table was so crowded.

‘… and this is Rob Hunter, whom we met through greyhound rescue.’