The Bunk Up (The Village People Book 1) (9 page)

My eyes move to the pond, the few ducks bobbing about on the surface of the water enjoying the peacefulness of the place. I know I wanted peace and quiet but I also like some excitement now and again.

Smiling at Sam when she places my drink on the table and leaves me alone again, I pick up the tall glass mug and wander over to the pond. Sitting on the edge, I sigh and place my latte beside me then lean back on my hands and turn my face into the sun. Birds are singing something quite sweet and I have to appreciate the serenity of the place.

My calm is disturbed suddenly when the pub turns out and the small square is filled with a mass of film crew. Sliding my sunglasses down from the top of my head and over my eyes, I turn my eyes to where I see Frazer talking with a tall blonde. She’s stick thin, big boobs and a face like a duck’s ass, her pouty lips making my lip curl. She laughs, and I’m surprised by the growl that rumbles in my chest when she places her perfectly manicured fingers on Frazer’s thick arm.

Frazer’s killer smile has me turning away, preferring to stare at a genuine duck’s puckered hole than the Botox bitch. Why the hell I’m jealous is beyond me. We just screwed. We didn’t share anything other than body fluids, and I told him I was going to experience other men. Although he seemed happy with that, I’m not sure if I am. The changed me swore to myself that I had the chance to get out there, experience so much more. More life, more fun, more dick. So why I’m reacting like this over Frazer’s ‘closeness’ to another woman is confusing. I want to practice safe sex with safe men. Lots of men. Well, I tell myself that, anyway.

“Hey.”

I look up. A guy is smiling down at me. His thick head of black hair is blocking out the sun and I lift my glasses to get a proper look.

“Hi,” I reply with a smile. He’s hot. Not as good looking as Frazer, but his smile gives him dimples, and the wicked glint in his chocolate eyes is quite mesmerising.

“May I?” He gestures to a spot beside me and I nod. “Liam,” he introduces himself with smile, and after I’ve told him my name, he asks, “You live here?”

“No, just visiting. You?”

“No, I came for a part in the film.”

“Oh? Any luck?”

Shaking his head, he sighs. “Nah, another dude got the part.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He shrugs then picks up my coffee and takes a drink. “You don’t mind, do you?”

It’s a bit late now. “Of course not, although you should know the duck over there gave it some added cream.”

He splutters noisily and I turn away, again hiding my smile as he sprays coffee all over his jean clad legs. Mighty fine legs, I might add.

“So, are you leaving now then?”

He stares at me for a moment, a sly smile just touching his lips. “Well, I was. But then I found something that might be worth sticking around for.”

“Oh?” I bet it’s Botox Bitch. Either that or he really likes the taste of duck shit.

“Hmm,” he murmurs, watching me closely. “So, you gonna let me take you out?”

“Me?” I splutter.

He appears confused for a moment but nods. “Yeah, you. Who did you think I meant?”

“The Botox queen over there.”

He follows my stare and rolls his eyes. “Ah, Tiffany.”

Tiffany. Even her name is more upper-class than me.

“Trust me. I have no intentions of ever taking Tiffany out. She’s an uptight bitch. Proper hard work.”

I give a small nod, wishing those words had come out of Frazer’s mouth, but the way the pair are still engrossed in one another, I doubt I’d ever hear them from him.

“So?” Liam asks, tipping his head to one side.

Tiffany’s laugh – or rather
squeal
– filters across the square and I have to grit my teeth with the ear-piercing pitch of it.

“Why not?” I grin at Liam when his face brightens and he genuinely looks thrilled with my answer.

After saving my number to his phone, Liam tells me he’ll pick me up from the cottage at seven. I should be more excited than I am, but as I watch him walk away, my eyes shift from his cute, and very tight backside, to the pub.

Frazer is now stood alone, but he’s watching Liam as he walks across the square. There’s an expression on his face I can’t interpret when his stare shifts to me. Eventually he blinks and waves. I return his acknowledgement but as our eyes lock together a shiver races up my spine. Why does just one heated look from him have me ready to drop my knickers?

A duck quacking breaks my focus and I turn back to the water just as the duck pops his head under water and thrusts its ass in the air. “Quit showing off, Tiffany.”

Grabbing my mug, I bid the duck farewell and head back towards the cafe.

“Nice ass!” Frank shouts.

“Cheers, Frank,” I shout back.

Not ready to return to the cottage yet, I have a stroll around the village. I notice a sign on the village hall saying there’s a book sale today so I head inside to see if I can grab a few reads to take back with me to the cottage. The book sale is a small table in the entrance. I browse the titles, picking up anything with an interesting cover and reading the blurb on the back.

“That’s a good one,” says the woman running the stall. She looks a similar age to Mrs Haversham but is dressed in a pair of black trousers and a smart blouse. To be honest, the fact a sixty odd year old has enjoyed it would usually put me off but there’s something about this woman, a cheeky twinkle in her eye, that leads me to believe she reads books beyond the latest People’s Friend.

“So, are you part of the film crew?” she asks me.

“No. I’m staying at Haversham House.”

“Oh, you’re Daisy. Gosh, Sam was right. You are a pretty little thing.”

I blush.

“I’m Josie.” She holds out a hand. “I’m head of the Women’s Institute here. You must come along to our meetings. We’re arranging a village dance.”

“Oh, erm.”

“I insist. It will give you a chance to get to know the other ladies in the village. We’re meeting tomorrow night at seven-thirty.”

I don’t get a chance to say yes or no before she launches straight into twenty questions.

“So how is Mrs H? Still settled in Chesterfield?”

“Yes.” I see an opportunity for gossip gathering. “I gather she doesn’t come back here very often?”

“Only a few weeks a year and then she tends to stay up out of the way at the cottage. She used to come here to get a break from her husband, I think.”

“Oh?”

“He was a poorly chap, by all accounts, as he got older. Difficult to care for, but she stayed because she felt she owed him, I guess. When he had respite she’d come down here. Such a shame she wasn’t able to stay with the real love of her life.”

“Frazer’s dad?”

Her face clouds over as I mention his name.

“Ah yes, Frazer. Thinks the world owes him, that one, because of his mother not being around. Doesn’t realise that she felt she had to sacrifice him for everyone else’s sake. His dad was a fabulous bloke. It’s not like he was dragged up.”

“Was?”

“Yes, God rest his soul. He passed a few years ago. Had a bad heart. Since then Frazer has kept turning up when he’s not working. Comes here, breaks a few female villagers’ hearts and then leaves. You watch out for him sharing that cottage.”

“He doesn’t bother me.”

“So what brings you up here, Daisy?”

“I’m escaping my own broken heart. I’ve run away here to enjoy some time out and consider my future. Mrs H was lovely, letting me stay at her cottage rent-free.”

“It’s a lovely village and we need some fresh blood, so please consider staying.”

“Well, I-”

“Just give us a chance. That’s all I ask. That stupid old fool up at Beydon Hall owns too much of this village and won’t change his fuddy-duddy ways. Is it bad that we’re all waiting for him to die?”

I laugh. “What happens to the village then? Does he have a fuddy-duddy son to inherit?”

“He has no direct heirs, so by all accounts, it’s his nephew who’s due to inherit. We’ve never seen him but we all live in hope that he can help bring the village back to its feet.”

“It seems to be doing alright.”

“We get by. The film crew have paid a large sum to film here, apparently, but we’re only benefiting from what they’re spending in the pub. Lord Dimwit’s no doubt sat there counting it.”

I lift up three books I’ve decided on and hand over a pound coin. “Keep the change.”

“Thank you. So will we see you tomorrow?”

“Why not?”

I want to ask Josie more about Mrs H and her love affair with Frazer’s dad. Maybe I’ll be able to glean more information from Frazer himself or at the meeting tomorrow? In the meantime, I’ve a few hours to kill before my date this evening
,
so I head to the hardware store and pick up a couple of medium sized tins of white paint and some other equipment for painting. I then wonder how I’m going to carry it up to the cottage, but Jerry who owns the store tells me his son will drop it off in around thirty minutes, so I hurry back with my paperbacks and a sandwich I’ve bought from the bakery for my lunch.

There’s no sign of Frazer when I get back so I drop my bag in the hallway and begin to take the curtains down from the windows. The first room I’m going to paint is the sitting room. The white paint will refresh it and then I’ll dust everything down and do a tiny bit of rearranging. Nothing too drastic as Mrs H may not like it, but if I add a small bookcase and fill it with a few more books from the village hall it might be somewhere she wants to come and stay more, or maybe she could start renting it out and make a little extra money for her retirement. I realise how little I know about Mrs H, despite her attendance in the Post Office. I bite my lip. I should have been less judgemental and spent time to get to know her. Now I’m living in her cottage, aware that somewhere along the line she came to Beydon and had an extra-marital romance that led to Frazer’s birth. How difficult must it have been to leave her son behind? I think about how proud she is of Nigel and realise that a lot of her enthusiasm could be a desperate need to have succeeded as a parent.

The sound of an engine startles me from my thoughts and I head out to the hallway to meet the driver of the white van.

A tall man unfolds himself from the driver’s seat. His lank, long hair hangs part way over his face and he walks with a stoop, reminding me of Lurch from The Addams Family. I want to open the door and say ‘you rang?’

He opens the back of the van and takes out my newly bought items and then slowly walks towards my front door.

“Great. Now I’ll be able to make a start on painting.” I beam at him.

He gives me a shy smile.

“I’m Daisy,” I tell him before I look at the piece of paper in his hand that quite clearly has written on it,
Deliver to Daisy, Haversham Cottage asap
. “Oh, yes. You know that already. Would you like a cup of tea while you’re here?”

Lurch looks around before speaking. His voice is faint. “Is Frazer here?”

“No. I don’t know where he is.”

“Okay, I’ll stop for a brew then,” he says, only a tiny bit louder. “I’m Jimmy.”

Jimmy must be six feet four or thereabouts because he has to duck to enter the cottage and has to mind his head walking around. He takes in the furniture that I’ve pushed to the back of the cottage. “You need covers for those. Hang on.”

He returns from the van with a handful of old sheets. “Here. You can borrow these, but I will need them back, only I do a bit of decorating on the side.”

“Thanks so much,” I tell him. “I’m going to freshen the place up for Mrs H so that the next time she comes to stay it looks a little better.”

He nods his head. “Do you want me to get you that curtain pole down?”

“Gosh, yes please, if you wouldn’t mind. I can’t reach it very well and didn’t want to stand on a chair.”

Jimmy, of course, can reach it effortlessly. It’s like having a giant in the house. As he reaches up his shirt lifts and I see a glimpse of a six-pack. Well, that’s something I wasn’t expecting. Handing Jimmy his tea I observe him more closely. He stands slumped over with his hair still covering half of his face. What Jimmy appears to be lacking is confidence.

“So have you lived in Beydon all your life?” I ask.

“Yeah. I thought about going to Uni, but my dad expects me to take over the business because he took it over from his dad.”

“Do you not want to?”

Jimmy shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t mind the business and I like decorating but I don’t know what there is beyond the village. It’s like being in a time warp.”

“You should do what you want to do, Jimmy, not them.”

“Yeah, but what if it all goes wrong? Do you know what they call me here?”

I shake my head.

“Lurch.”

My heart does the same with guilt.

“From some old programme on the TV. All I want is to fade into the background, you know? But my size means I can’t do that.”

“Why do you want to hide away?”