The Perfect Match (30 page)

It had been lovely seeing her parents, but she had been keen to go back to her own life. For once she had put a stop to Nevil’s nefarious dealings, she would have to find a new job.

Although she had longed to instantly receive a text from Dominic saying, ‘Hey, thank you so much!’ she hadn’t, and she realised he wouldn’t yet know Celine had agreed not to be so neurotic about him having Dylan. Celine had said she would tell him when she had a minute, but she was hardly going to rush to do that until she actually wanted a babysitter.

Bella hadn’t got in touch with Dominic herself. She wanted to see if she could sort out all Nevil’s evil goings-on without help. Also she didn’t want him to think she’d read too much into what to him might have just been a few kisses. She had loved him too long to dare to hope he might feel the same way; she needed to be absolutely sure it wasn’t just a diversion for him. And, now she’d done it, she felt awful about seeing Celine behind his back. He was bound to regard it as massively interfering, and never want to see her again.

In some ways she wished she could turn back the clock to before she had dumped Nevil, got the sack and gone to see Celine. Then she had been reasonably happy: she had a job she loved, and lived with a much-loved friend in a beautiful house. How lucky she had been!

While she could go on living with Alice, could she get a job as an estate agent in town? Would all Nevil’s Round Table mates refuse to employ her out of male solidarity? Quite possibly. And if she told his mates what Nevil had been up to, they’d probably say, ‘Get in, son!’ or offer tips such as how flinging a dead rat in through a broken window of an empty property would create a smell that took twenty grand off the price, like the overgrown schoolboys lots of Nevil’s friends seemed to be.

By the time she parked in front of Alice’s house she was feeling very pessimistic about being able to stay in the area.

She met Alice in the hallway, surrounded by cardboard boxes, with a heavy-duty tape dispenser in her hand.

‘Oh!’ she said, startled. ‘Moving house?’

Alice lowered the tape dispenser. ‘Err – kind of. Would you like to come into the kitchen? I’m sure it’s wine o’clock.’

It was actually tea o’clock, which increased Bella’s sudden anxiety. She’d been joking when she’d asked Alice if she was moving, but something was definitely up.

She sat at the table while Alice bustled about. ‘So how was Marrakesh?’

Alice turned, bottle in hand. ‘Brilliant!’

‘Oh? Somewhere I must go?’

‘Absolutely!’

Bella looked at Alice more closely. ‘I must say, it has made you look great. Was there a spa there or something?’

‘Maybe. Probably. I didn’t go to it.’

‘So why are you looking so amazing? And why are you packing?’

Alice blushed and opened the bottle. Then Bella blushed as she realised why Alice’s skin was glowing and her eyes sparkling. ‘Ah! I get it! It was a
very
good holiday.’

Alice nodded in confirmation.

‘So what about the packing?’ Bella asked, as Alice handed her a glass.

Alice frowned slightly, disquiet flickering across her expression. ‘Bella, honey, you’re in for a bit of a shock.’

Bella felt it would be more than a bit of a shock, she felt it was going to be a mortal blow. Was Alice really moving? Was the house she loved, where she lived, really going to be sold, on top of everything else she’d gone through just recently? Could she somehow stop it happening? Appeal to Alice’s famously kind heart? ‘Did you know that Nevil gave me the sack?’ she said.

Disquiet became shock. ‘No! That’s outrageous! Why? The bastard! How dare he?’

Bella couldn’t help smiling a little at Alice’s reaction. She sipped her wine, feeling marginally better. ‘Well, I dumped him, and told him I’d caught him out in all sorts of wicked things.’

‘He cheated on you?’ Alice’s outrage was like milk coming to the boil.

‘No! I wish! It would be so much easier. Look, why don’t you tell me your news? It’s obviously immense.’

Alice sipped her wine as if guilty about something. ‘Yes, but I think I should hear yours first.’

Bella took a breath and told her tale of woe. ‘. . . but the awful thing is,’ she finished, ‘I think I probably shouldn’t have gone behind Dominic’s back and seen Celine. And I don’t think he feels about me the way I feel about him. He left because he had work to do! Doesn’t that mean “he’s not that into me”, as they say?’

Alice shrugged. ‘I don’t think he’s the sort of man who’d kiss you if he didn’t feel anything for you.’

‘But I really embarrassed myself! I more or less invited him to stay and he said no.’

‘Because he had work to do! You told me that’s what he said.’

‘So you don’t think I’ve completely messed things up with him?’

‘No I don’t. And I do think you need his help to sort out Nevil. It all sounds very unsavoury.’

‘How can I do that if I don’t want to get in touch?’

Alice sighed. Bella could tell she thought she should just pick up her phone or send an email, but she also understood why she was reluctant.

‘I know,’ said Bella. ‘Lightbulb moment. I’ll go and see Jane Langley. Then if he’s there, I can ask him for help.’

‘But if he isn’t, you’re no better off. But it is a good idea to see her. She’s lovely and she’s bound to say nice things about you to Dominic.’

‘I feel so relieved to have made a decision.’ Bella studied Alice. ‘So what’s your news?’

Alice looked as if she wanted to deny having news. ‘Mine? Well, it is a bit embarrassing.’

‘You don’t look embarrassed. You look glowing,’ said Bella sternly.

‘Well, I might be glowing but I am embarrassed, and I wished I had more time to explain it all to you.’

Bella swallowed and pretended to be calm. ‘Alice, if you want to sell the house I’d perfectly understand. I can easily find somewhere else to live. I’m an estate agent!’ She frowned. ‘Well, I was. But I might have to leave town to get a new job anyway. I could go back to my parents!’ She smiled brightly, as if this was something she was very happy to do. Although it wasn’t, really. She loved them dearly, but having left home, she didn’t want to go back. There wasn’t the space there was at Alice’s, and she valued her independence.

‘No! Bella! Darling! You don’t understand!’ Alice was distressed. ‘I’m not selling the house. I’m just going to Brussels. If you don’t stay here I’ll have to rent it out . . .’

‘Brussels? Why? A previously unfulfilled passion for tiny cabbages?’

Alice gave a quick smile to acknowledge Bella was making a joke when she obviously wasn’t very happy. ‘No. I’m going to be with Michael. He’s got a job there. For three years.’

‘Blimey, Alice! You don’t hang around!’

‘Are you shocked? I am a bit . . . but I think it’s right.’

‘Does it feel right?’

Alice exhaled. ‘Honestly, Bella, it feels totally mad, but also just what I want to do. I want the challenge of a new country, learning a language – maybe a pâtisserie course, or even a chocolatier course – and . . . well, everything.’

Bella raised her eyebrows. ‘And Michael has nothing to do with it?’

Alice put her hand up to her face. ‘Michael has everything to do with it. I can’t believe the love of my life, my grand passion, has come now. And I can’t waste it. I have to follow my heart.’

‘Alice! That’s so sweet! I think we should set it to music!’ She was joking but then worried that she’d sounded sarcastic. ‘I really am totally thrilled. Michael is a very lucky man.’

Alice acknowledged this. ‘He wants to get married, but I think it’s far too soon.’

‘Not too soon to relocate to a whole new country then?’

‘That’s different! To be honest I’ve had itchy feet for ages. I just didn’t know how to – scratch the itch, I suppose.’ She looked at Bella, frowning slightly. ‘Do you think I’m mad?’

‘Yes, but definitely in a good way. After all, if you don’t like it, you can come home.’

‘Exactly! Which is one of the reasons I don’t want to sell up.’ She paused. ‘I was hoping you’d be able to look after the house for me. Stay here, I mean.’

‘Well, I’d love to, but . . . I suppose I have to see how things work out.’

‘It would be a travesty of justice if Nevil had the power to stop you working in this town when he’s the one up to no good.’

‘He might not be able to, but he does do a lot of networking with other businesses.’ She stared at the table. ‘He’d get them on his side.’

‘Listen,’ said Alice after a few moments. ‘You need to forget your pride and get in touch with Dominic. Soon. Immediately.’

‘OK.’ Bella braced herself. ‘I’ll send a text. And if he doesn’t get back to me fairly soon I’ll go to Jane’s and see if she knows anything.’

The text sent, she helped Alice find some mothballs for the winter clothes she didn’t want to take with her, then she looked at her phone again, feeling like a teenager. ‘No reply,’ she told Alice.

Alice gave her a quick hug. ‘Then go and see Jane.’

‘I can’t go now, it’s late!’

Alice glanced at the old station clock that ticked away their lives. ‘No it’s not. It’s five thirty. I was a bit precipitate with the wine. Off you go.’

Bella set off towards Jane Langley’s house hoping Dominic would be there. And hoping he wouldn’t. And when she wasn’t hoping she was wondering why her feelings were so contradictory.

It was because she felt she was chasing him and worried that he wouldn’t like the fact that she had interfered in his personal life. He might think she was bossy and, deep down, she wanted to be the pursued, not the pursuer. She couldn’t get out of her mind the fact that he hadn’t wanted to stay longer after he’d kissed her that evening. And as time went on and she didn’t hear from him, she thought more about his apparent rejection of her than she did about his passionate kisses.

She’d rung before she set off, and Jane was waiting for her.

‘Oh, darling, I was so pleased when you said you wanted to visit.’

Bella kissed her cheek. ‘Well, that’s good.’

‘I didn’t feel I’d thanked you quite enough.’

‘What on earth for?’ Bella was confused.

‘About the Agnews coming. I like them so much and knowing they’re going to be here, in the house, means I don’t have to fret about the little things that are somehow so worrying. Mr Agnew – Alan – is terribly handy round the house and can fix dripping taps, odd little leaks, things like that. And if we do need professional help I won’t have to wonder if the plumber is cheating me, or if I can trust the electrician, because Alan will sort it out for me.’

‘I’m so glad you feel like that,’ said Bella, with a satisfaction that bordered on the smug. At least she’d been right about this. That was something. ‘That’s wonderful.’

‘It is. I feel a whole new phase of my life has started and I’m going to love it.’ Having got this off her chest, she took a breath. ‘Now, is it warm enough to sit out? What can I get you to drink? A glass of sherry? Something nice? Dominic’s not here this evening so I could do with the company.’

‘A glass of water please,’ said Bella, ‘but I’ll get it. Would you like some? No? I’ll bring mine out then.’ Now she knew Dominic wasn’t going to appear, Bella felt relieved, pushing disappointment further down her list of emotions.

As Bella carried the water down the garden, taking in the beauty of the herbaceous borders and climbers, scented and luscious, she couldn’t help remembering how shocked she’d been to see Dominic there. What a lot had happened since. She hardly felt she was the same person.

Jane was still enthusing about the Agnews as they sat under the rose arbour, the roses replaced by honeysuckle and jasmine. ‘I feel I can really enjoy the garden now I don’t have to be responsible for it all. Imogen and Alan have been up, and made a list of everything we want done. Imogen will do her bit and I’ll probably get help for mine, but the really lovely thing is how completely we agree on what gardens are all about.’

‘Well, that’s fantastic. I am thrilled. And the house part?’

Jane flicked a casual hand. ‘We’ll sort that out easily. I don’t need much space. Now, tell me your news. Why were you so keen to visit? Not that I’m not delighted.’

‘Well, they’re not the same thing, so I’ll start with my news.’ She paused. She’d been quite glib about leaving Nevil and losing her job when she’d told her mother and Alice but Jane would take it all a lot more seriously. And now she was in her presence, Bella felt it was indeed more important than she’d allowed herself to acknowledge up to now.

‘Well, actually, it’s not great news, although I am fine with it.’

Jane looked anxious.

‘I’ve – er – left my job.’ Suddenly she couldn’t bring herself to say she’d been sacked.

‘But, my dear, why? You were so good at it!’

‘Yes, and I will go on selling houses, but I can’t work for Nevil any more.’

‘You handed in your notice?’

Now her squeamishness seemed like lying. ‘Well, actually, he sacked me. I broke off our engagement. He didn’t take it well.’

Jane spent several seconds possibly struggling not to say everything that was on her mind. When she did speak out loud again, she said, ‘Well, he wasn’t good enough for you, dear, and I’m sure you’ll soon find another job.’

‘Yes.’ Bella wasn’t going to tell Jane that she feared she might not be able to get another job in the same town. ‘But I have other news. About Alice.’

‘Good news, I do hope!’

Bella laughed. ‘Yes, don’t worry. It is good but I must say it is rather surprising.’

Relieved, Jane clearly felt she could make a little joke. ‘Go on – don’t leave me in suspense. I’m old, I don’t want to die before you get round to telling me.’

Bella laughed. ‘She’s going to live in Brussels for three years.’

‘Good Lord! What brought that on?’

‘A man, actually. A rather lovely man. In fact you’ve met him: Michael.’

Jane looked knowing. ‘I thought he fancied her. Glad to know I can still spot a budding romance.’ She looked at Bella rather sternly. ‘Talking of which, have you heard from Dominic lately?’

‘Err, no,’ said Bella.

‘Poor boy, he’s been frantic! He seems to have taken on a whole lot of new work when he was busy enough already.’