will remain if he doesn’t get someone to help him.’ Olivia looked across at her son and tilted her head to the left. ‘Are you all right, Dominic?’
‘What?’ he said, his eyes rising from his jeans.
‘You look as though you’re waiting for the world to end.’
‘I’m fine,’ he said, looking awkward under her scrutiny and shifting in his seat.
‘Good. Anyway,’ Olivia said, turning her attention back to Nina, ‘Dudley’s been in a bit of a state recently. You see, our last secretary, Teri, left us all of a sudden and we’ve never heard from the girl since.’
Dominic cleared his throat, causing his mother to look across at him, but he merely shifted in the chair again, eyes fixed to the floor.
‘And with this anniversary party to organise, you could say that we’re in a bit of a pickle and could do with a helping hand.’
Nina nodded in sympathy, wondering what the punch line was going to be, not daring to hope that it might involve her.
‘Well, I’ve been thinking and it seems to me that we’d both be doing each other a huge favour if you’d agree to work as Dudley’s secretary and research assistant – for the summer period at least.’ Olivia paused, allowing her words to sink in for a moment as she tugged on the gold bracelet. ‘We could even let you stay in your old room – if you wanted to – it has an en suite, if you remember?’
Nina nodded, remembering the numerous occasions she had slept over at the mill when Mr and Mrs Milton had had a particularly late night or if they’d invited her to stay so she could join them for lunch the next day.
‘We had it all replaced just last year. I’m sure you’d be very comfy. You will say yes, won’t you?’ Again, the vivid green eyes had set into an expression that made it hard for anyone to say no.
For a moment, Nina sat absolutely stunned. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the job; it was just that she hadn’t expected to be handed such a lovely one on a plate.
‘Do say yes!’ Olivia pleaded, leaning forward in her chair until she practically fell out of it.
Nina thought of the comfortable bedroom at the top of The Old Mill House. She thought of roaming around the fields and woods with the boys, collecting little branches of wood for the fire and making giant snowmen in the winter. She thought of the buttercup meadow in the summer and of the long hot days when they would dip their toes into the shallows of the river. She thought of how she’d always longed to be part of a family like the Miltons; how growing up as an only child had led to the belief that being part of a clan was better than being alone.
She took a deep breath. ‘I’d love to work here,’ she said, and laughed as Olivia flew across the room to embrace her.
‘I think it best if you see the study first, don’t you?’ Olivia asked, leading the way out of the living room. Nina turned to look at Dominic, whose face was now quite red.
‘Wish me luck!’ she whispered excitedly.
‘Good luck,’ he said with a tiny smile.
Olivia marched Nina along the corridor. The study was at the front of the house and, when Olivia opened the door, Nina had to stop herself from laughing out loud at the sight that greeted her.
Up until then, Nina had believed that Hilary Jackson was the most disorganised person to be put in charge of an office, but that was before she’d seen this room. In her four years of babysitting at the mill, she’d never ventured into this part of the house, and she could now understand why nobody had encouraged her to do so.
The room had one floor-skimming window overlooking the sweep of driveway, and patio doors on the other side that looked out over a lawn as immaculate as a billiard table. But it was what lay in between that made Nina nervous.
Two large wooden desks lay like felled oaks at right angles to one another, and a yellow sofa stretched alongside the biggest bookcase Nina had ever clapped eyes on. Every available surface, though, was completely covered with great mounds of paper and files that threatened to topple and cascade onto the carpet, which itself had its fair share of papers stacked in precarious piles. It was as if a whole army of Hilary Jacksons had been let loose in the room.
Nina’s eyes widened as she tried to take in the scene, desperately searching for some sort of filing cabinet or stack of in-trays: any sign that order could be restored to the room. She looked at Olivia who smiled a very tiny smile and shrugged her shoulders.
‘You see what I mean – chaos! Absolute chaos.’ She’d started up with the bracelet-twiddling again. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but you would get a good hourly rate and you could stay here if you want. I mean, I’m sure you’ve got your own place, but you’d be very welcome here. But I should mention that Dudley probably wouldn’t agree to more than a couple of months – to begin with. Just until you both find a routine with each other. He obviously needs help getting everything into some sort of order and keeping it that way. Then there’ll be the typing duties for the book he’s writing, and he’s been making noises about help with his research, too. I don’t think it’ll be anything too onerous – just a bit of reading and note-taking really,’ Olivia said, chewing her glossy lips anxiously.
Nina nodded. It sounded absolutely blissful to her. A bit of tidying, a bit of typing and a little light reading. She scoured the room again, noticing the coating of dust on the backs of the chairs and along the pictures that lined the walls. A sorry-looking Swiss cheese plant slouched in a dark corner, in dire need of a drink, and dozens of empty envelopes were scattered like dead leaves on the floor. A computer sat on the floor under the far window, its screen turned away from onlookers as though trying to avoid attention.
Then there was the paperwork: great mountains of the stuff, untouched by human hands for what looked like decades. This was more a job for a large team of archaeologists rather than a solitary secretary.
It was certainly different – but wasn’t that just what she was after, Nina reasoned?
‘I should warn you, though,’ Olivia said, ‘my husband can be—’ she paused, ‘erm, a little difficult to work with.’ Her face twisted into a strange expression.
‘Difficult?’ Nina said. ‘I’ve done difficult before – believe me.’
‘But I’m sure you’d be able to cope with Dudley’s little ways. It’s just part of the creative temperament, you see, and we’d all be so grateful. We’ve always felt so comfy with you, Nina,’ Olivia said warmly. ‘It would be lovely to have you here again.’
Nina smiled. She wasn’t used to such flattery. It would be hard work, but not impossible, and surely Dudley couldn’t possibly be worse to work with than Hilary Jackson. She remembered him from the days when she used to babysit. Sure, he had a bit of a temper, but she didn’t think it was anything she couldn’t handle and besides, she needed to be occupied at the moment; she needed to find an escape. After being with the wrong man and the wrong boss for an inexcusable length of time, she needed a change, and it looked as if she just might have found it.
‘I’d be happy to help in any way
