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‘Is that a, “No”, no or a—’
Jake simply stared at his sister.
‘Okay so that’s a real and actual no.’
Elton chose that moment to chase Bingley around the table with a marker in his hands. As Jake reached out to grab the marker, Sarah took her son in her arms and settled him on her lap. ‘So, what’s all this, then?’ she asked, indicating the plans that had been spread out on the large kitchen table.
‘I found them in the library last night.’
Jake watched her turn her head to look at the plans and found himself holding his breath for her reaction.
‘It’s the rose garden you’ve been working on, right?’
Jake nodded. ‘Notice anything unusual?’
Sarah leant forward to stare at the plans, making sure she captured Elton’s sticky hands in her own so that they couldn’t reach the age-spotted foolscap drawings. ‘This looks bigger somehow.’
‘I know. I don’t know why this area was never finished, but finally I’ve found the missing part of the puzzle.’
‘All this time there’s been a missing part of the garden?’
‘Mmmn. Every time I’ve worked in that area I’ve kept feeling as if the perspective was off. And I was right. Look,’ Jake said, pulling out a kitchen chair and shoving his mug down on the end of the plan to stop it rolling back up. ‘This looks like the same wall that divides the kitchen garden from the rose garden, but it isn’t. There’s another small private garden that extends down from a doorway that’s been bricked up.’
‘You mean, like a …’ her nose scrunched up. ‘Secret garden?’
‘Exactly. A secret garden.’ Jake grinned, trying and failing to keep the excitement from showing in his voice. ‘Yesterday I broke through that part of the wall. Next step is to dig out some of the foundations and see what I unearth.’ At least he would, as soon as he had the time. ‘Actually, can you tell me what you think of this?’ Getting up from the table he walked over to the dresser, pulled out a drawer and took out some sketches. ‘I drew them up last night. It’s how I think it should look when finished.’
Sarah stared at the watercolour sketches. ‘Oh, I love these. You’ve made it into a sort of garden chapel.’
‘Actually, that’s not a bad description.’
‘It’s stunning. A private oasis beyond the rose garden.’
‘So you can see how it should look in bloom?’
Sarah nodded. ‘It’s a shame you can’t finish it straight away. With The Clock House opening up in a few weeks, Crispin’s going to start bringing up your plans at the village meetings.’
‘If Crispin wants me to open earlier, then he can raise the tens of thousands of pounds needed to finish this project off.’ Jake wasn’t rushing anything. If it was worth doing, it was worth doing well.
‘Maybe if you did Gloria’s charity calendar – joking,’ Sarah added, as soon as she saw his trademark scowl hit his face. ‘You know if you’re going for the chapel look, you could hold weddings here.’ She pointed to his sketches and the plans. ‘Set up a marquee on the back terrace, or have a picnic down by the lake, but the ceremony should be here under this main connecting arbour. Can you imagine the scent? So romantic.’
Jake winced.
Yes, okay, the thought had trickled in, along with the puzzle of why his great-great grandfather, George, had added a plan for this area but never had it made.
George Knightley had started his career in theatre construction so it wasn’t that surprising to Jake he’d shown a true gift for design. What was surprising was why something that would have worked so well on the estate had been bricked up?
George’s designs had been fascinating Jake since he’d stumbled across them while poking about in one of the potting sheds, looking for a bottle of beer or a cigarette when he was fourteen.
After overhearing yet another conversation about money between his parents, he’d been in need of a distraction. They’d all found ways to deal with the stress and reality growing up on an estate the size of Knightley Hall but he’d been the only one to put that energy back into the land and that had been down to Sid, the head gardener at the time, taking him under his wing. Showing him a different way of dealing with pressure and showing him George’s designs so that his passion for restoring the gardens had sparked.
Years later and Jake knew his plans to get the place to pay for itself were going to work. He just needed to be done with winter and for spring, summer and autumn to last about twice as long as it usually did.
‘Sorry. Shouldn’t have mentioned the “R” word,’ Sarah said, getting up to plonk her mug into the cheap-as-chips stainless steel sink before turning around to walk back over to the table and switch on her laptop. ‘So, about what I brought to show you … the thing is, I kind of wanted you to see it first so that when you receive your invite, you’re not too shocked.’
‘Invite?’
‘Mmmn. It’s for the opening of The Clock House.’ She brought up the gif she’d been designing and said, ‘Okay, press “Play” and tell me what you think.’
Intrigued, Jake reached forward and set the gif in motion. As the envelope opened up on screen, he grinned. ‘Now this is what I call an invitation to a grand party.’
‘You like it?’
‘I do. More to the point, I think Kate, Daniel and Juliet are going to love it.’
‘I thought it was good. I mean, you know what I mean.’
Jake’s gaze snagged on the date of the party as it flashed up on screen.
Sarah bit her lip. ‘And now I’m guessing you’ve realised the date of the opening was going to be your—’
‘It’s fine,’ Jake said, cutting her off.
‘Is it?’
‘Is this really why you came here, to tell me about the date?’
Sarah looked at him with what looked suspiciously like sympathy. He tried a warning scowl and the sympathy in her eyes only deepened. Damn siblings. They saw you running around in a pair of dungarees made from curtains when you were younger and there was just no way they could ever be scared of you again. Gentling his voice anyway, he ran a hand absent-mindedly over his hair. ‘I don’t have dibs on dates, Sarah.’
‘Well, no but—’
‘Like I said, it’s fine. But I won’t be able to babysit Elton for you that night.’
‘Of course you won’t. You’ll be at the party.’
‘Actually I won’t.’
‘Jake, you can’t mope around here on your own.’
‘I won’t be.’
‘Okay. That’s good. Wait – are you saying you’re going to be moping around somewhere else?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ve rented a cottage in Cornwall over Christmas. You lot are always on at me to take a holiday, so I am.’ And if that happened to mean he was also going to be far away from pitying glances and memories of last Christmas, how very handy.
‘What are you talking about?’ Sarah demanded. ‘You disappeared on Christmas Day last year and all we got was a text saying you weren’t coming back until the day after Boxing Day – and we totally understood after what happened,’ she rushed out, ‘but you know Mum’s hoping we’ll all be together to do the family Christmas celebration, thing.’
Jake bit back a grimace. If he had his way no one would ever find out where he’d ended up on Christmas Day.
‘You really won’t be in Whispers Wood this Christmas?’ Sarah asked.
‘Correctomundo.’
‘And you don’t think everyone will worry when they hear about this?’
‘It’s just a holiday, Sarah.’
‘Bull. You’re running. In fact I’m changing your name to Running Bull.’
He could tell the moment she realised he wasn’t going to change his mind. That she could call up the family and get them all to call him Running Bull but that nothing could get him to change his mind from vacating Whispers Wood over Christmas.
Chapter 6 (#ulink_2097be5a-118d-52dd-b708-cfab05e73b12)
Season’s Greetings (#ulink_2097be5a-118d-52dd-b708-cfab05e73b12)
Emma
‘Em, heads up. Incoming.’
Emma looked up from concentrating on measuring out a shot of tequila and just managed to catch the bottle of water being thrown at her.
‘Take the water and grab five minutes.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Emma looked at Bar Brand’s manager, Rudy, like he was insane and then jerked her head pointedly at the three-deep throng at the bar.
‘Not actually kidding,’ Rudy confirmed. ‘You haven’t had a break since you got here and this is your third double shift of the week. DiNozo’s going to cover you.’
Emma felt Tony (DiNozo’s actual name) bump her hip as he reached over to grab the jigger from her hand. He flashed her one of his trade-mark grins. ‘What are we making?’
‘Looks like you’re making a Mulholland Drive,’ she said, whipping off her black apron and stepping back. ‘Apparently I’ll be seeing you in five.’
‘Make it thirty,’ her boss threw over his shoulder as he loaded a tray of drinks.
Thirty? Rudy was certifiable if he really thought she was going to be able to sit upstairs for thirty whole minutes on a busy Friday night.
But as if he knew she was about to argue, he added a, ‘That is a direct order, Danes.’
‘Sir, yes Sir,’ Emma shouted back, giving him a mock salute as she backed out of the bar doors into the kitchen.
‘Jeez, Emma, is there any chance you could come through the doors and not nearly knock me over?’
‘Sorry, Jade. You’re going to have to direct that stellar sarcasm, we’ve all come to know as wit, at DiNozo for the next few.’
‘Sure thing, shirker. Nothing I like better than having to repeat an order eleven million times over to the guy who can’t think for smiling at the ladeez.’
Emma grinned because the way DiNozo was looking at Jade it really wasn’t going to take too much more of her wince-worthy wit for him to decide that the best way to silence that mouth of hers was probably with his. And once they locked lips…
With a happier heart than a few moments before, Emma walked through the busy kitchen and headed up the steep staircase to Rudy’s office.
Flinging open the door she took two steps and flung herself down on the fake leather Admiral’s chair. If she lowered her aching limbs to the equally fake Chesterfield sofa shoved along the wall beside the filing cabinet she was pretty sure she’d fall asleep and sleeping on the job?
Yeah.
Tended to be thought of as one of those things you didn’t do.
Moving a crate containing a new brand of vodka off the desk, she decided thirty minutes was enough time to check Rudy had added all the forms for Christmas parties to the spreadsheet she’d set up for him.
She got so engrossed that when the office door opened and in walked Rudy, she turned in surprise.
‘Relax,’ he said, holding out his hands. ‘Break’s not over. I couldn’t take the chemistry down there any longer.’
‘Jade and Tony? It’s True Love, Rudy. Can’t stand in the way of it.’
Rudy groaned. ‘You and your match-making. Why can’t you let Tinder take care of all that?’
Emma shuddered. Dating via an app took all the romance out of it. She knew because she had the unbroken heart to prove it. Dating in the movies was a whole lot different to dating when you worked in the movies. In Hollywood it was virtually impossible to even get a date without using an app and once you did, if you wanted anything more than a casual hook-up, then anyone from within the industry tended to only be interested in what you could do for each other’s careers and anyone from outside of the industry tended towards petty jealousies or secretly wanting into the industry anyway.
‘Tinder takes care of one thing and one thing only, Rudy. When it comes to matters of the heart, human intervention works best.’
At least it did for others. If only she was as good at match-making herself as she was her friends. It was like when you saw an outfit in a shop window and knew instantly who it would look good on, but when it came to choosing one for yourself, you just couldn’t see it.
Maybe she was just blind to ‘Eligible Guy Reveal Yourself’, because she only had eyes for, ‘Let The Actress See The Role’.
‘What am I going to do if they discover that the path to true love doesn’t involve working together?’ Rudy asked.
‘They’ll be fine. Trust me. Think of it this way, won’t it be nice to be around Jade when she’s singing like Cinderella instead of spitting nails?’ She grinned, and then gestured to the screen, ‘You need to order more glassware if you’re really going to say yes to this number of private Christmas parties.’
‘Yeah, yeah. Danes, listen up.’
‘It should be okay,’ she continued, not really listening-up. ‘As long as you don’t double book anyone.’
‘Stop about the holidays for a moment. Look, you keep running around here like you’re indispensable, I’m going to start wondering what I’d ever do without you.’
‘What are you talking about?’ She turned towards him and blinked. ‘When I get The Call, you’ll just hire someone else.’
Rudy gave her a long measured look and then shrugged. ‘Okay. Yes. This is what I would do. But would they be as good as you? Would they practically run the place when I’m not here?’
Emma’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Are you planning on going somewhere?’
‘Maybe. This place is doing well. Makes me think I might like to open another one.’
Terrific. Was everyone moving onto something except her? ‘Where?’
‘New York.’
Huh. If only she’d actually made the move to trying theatre. She’d have been in with a shot of getting a job to pay rent while going for auditions.
‘I guess I’m asking what you want more,’ Rudy said. ‘Your name in lights? Or, maybe, your name above this door?’
