I tell him to leave.’
‘You wouldn’t,’ Mark said, awed by this reckless courage.
‘I would. I’ll be straight with you, Mark. At the right time, I’ll square up to your father and order him off my premises.’
‘Wow!’ he said, impressed. He moved closer and spoke like a conspirator. ‘Will you promise me something?’
She too leaned close. ‘What?’ she whispered dramatically.
‘That when you order Dad off your premises I can be there to see. Promise me.’
She laughed. ‘You wretched boy. All right, I promise you can be there to enjoy it.’
They jumped apart as Justin appeared with air of suppressed triumph.
‘Everything is done upstairs,’ he said. ‘If you’d care to look.’
‘Why are you looking so pleased with yourself?’ she asked.
‘Come and see.’
She was beginning to suspect the truth, but it was still a surprise to find the beds made perfectly and all the clothes neatly hung up in the wardrobe.
She realised that he was watching her closely, enjoying her expression.
‘Well done,’ she said. ‘Can you cook as well?’
‘Try me.’
‘I intend to,’ she said incredulously.
But again he proved himself better than her doubts. His egg and chips might not have been haute cuisine but they were properly cooked, even if both father and son drenched everything in tomato ketchup. She had to smile at the sight of them acting in unison, wiping their plates with bread, fearful of losing the last smidgen of ketchup.
When the meal was over she leaned back, watching him, her arms folded.
‘Well?’ she said.
‘Well?’
She inclined her head slightly towards the sink.
‘I did the cooking,’ he said indignantly.
‘Yeah, but we invited ourselves, Dad,’ Mark muttered.
‘Fine. I’ll wash, you dry.’ He rose. ‘Where’s the washing-up liquid?’
‘I’ll do it,’ she said, laughing.
In the end they all did it together in an atmosphere that was more pleasant than she would have dared to hope. Afterwards Mark asked to watch the television, and was amazed to discover that the set only received four terrestrial channels and had no teletext. Nor was there a video.
‘Gosh, it’s like history!’ he gasped.
‘Mark!’ Justin said sharply.
‘It’s all right.’ Evie chuckled. ‘He didn’t mean it rudely. It must be like something out of the Dark Ages to a modern child.’
In the end they settled down to watch the news, until they heard an ominous sound outside. Evie turned down the sound and they all listened in alarm.
‘It’s raining!’ Mark whispered in horror.
They went outside, where it was pelting down.
‘It’ll be all right in the morning,’ Evie said.
Mark looked at her. ‘Promise?’
‘Promise,’ she said recklessly. ‘And now I think you should go to bed. It’s late and tomorrow’s a big day.’
‘Can we go swimming?’
‘What about your cold?’
‘It’s better, honestly. Isn’t it, Dad?’
‘I wouldn’t have brought him here otherwise,’ Justin assured her. ‘Mark, you heard what Miss Wharton said. Up to bed.’
Mark took her hand. ‘Miss Wharton—can I call you Evie?’
‘Mark!’
‘Well, I’m not his teacher any more,’ she said. ‘Evie it is.’
Mark departed, satisfied.
‘I apologise,’ Justin groaned.
‘Don’t. He’s just being friendly.’
‘How friendly do you think he’ll be tomorrow when it rains?’
‘It won’t rain.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Because I promised him. You heard me.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘It won’t rain. I promised.’ She yawned. ‘I think I’ll go to bed too. Sea air makes me sleepy. ‘G’night.’
‘Goodnight.’
In her room she undressed and went to bed, listening for the sound of him coming upstairs. She was still listening when she fell asleep.
She didn’t know what roused her, but she awoke suddenly in the darkness. The clock by her bed showed two o’clock. She listened and thought she could hear a voice talking in the distance.
Pulling a dressing gown on over her pyjamas, she crept out into the corridor and went to the top of the stairs, from where she could see down into the main room.
Just as Mark had predicted, Justin had set up a laptop computer and was staring at the screen at the same time as talking into his cellphone. He spoke softly, but Evie could pick up the tense note in his voice.
‘I’m sorry but I just couldn’t take the call this afternoon—I know what I said but I had important business—’
She went quietly downstairs and into the kitchen. By the time she returned with two large mugs of tea he was off the phone.
‘Thanks,’ he said, taking one. ‘Sorry if I disturbed you, but I had to catch up with my work somehow.’
‘Yes, you’ve obviously come prepared. I’m surprised you could put work aside long enough to drive down here. All those hours not at the computer, not on the phone, not making contacts.’
‘I don’t bother to make contacts any more. I don’t need to. People contact me.’
‘You arrogant so-and-so,’ she said, amused. ‘Anyway, it isn’t true. There’s always someone bigger you can be doing business with.’
‘That’s true,’ he reflected. ‘Why don’t you say outright that you’re just surprised that
