A Summer to Remember (7 page)
‘But you missed them?’
‘Of
course
!’ Olivia said. ‘I drifted around this big old house like a lost thing, but then I began to fill my days with charities and local functions. Plus, looking after Dudley has always been a full-time occupation.’
There was a pause and Nina could hear the distant sound of a vacuum cleaner upstairs and the continuing soundtrack of Benji, who had transformed himself from an aeroplane to a train.
Olivia took a deep breath. ‘And it was secretarial work you said you did, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Nina said, biting her lip, and wondering what Olivia was leading up to. ‘But I’ve done a bit of everything really,’ she added quickly, trying to inject a little bit of colour into a rather bland CV. ‘Receptionist, sales, human resources, civil servant.’ She winced. That sounded anything but colourful. It was downright fickle and foolish; as if she’d never spent enough time mastering anything in particular.
‘That’s marvellous!’ Olivia enthused.
‘Is it?’ Nina’s eyes widened. Marvellous wasn’t exactly the word she would have chosen for her patchwork career. Dull, tedious, boring, monotonous, and every other word in the thesaurus, but never anything as grandiose as marvellous.
‘I have a proposition for you,’ Olivia said enigmatically, leaning forward in an eager manner, ‘and I
do
hope you’ll say yes.’
Dominic had almost tripped over in his Wellingtons when he’d seen Nina coming up the driveway, and it had been a stroke of luck that she hadn’t turned to see him standing in the middle of the garden like a scarecrow.
Somehow, he’d managed to manoeuvre himself to the back of the house without being seen, and had quickly extricated himself from the offensive boots before opening the back door into the kitchen, thinking that, if he was lucky, he’d have time to shower and change into one of Alex’s shirts. His brother, unlike himself, always had racks of immaculate shirts and never noticed if the odd one went AWOL.
Dominic felt sure that the little scene he’d created in his head was about to be enacted for real. He would walk into the living room with quiet confidence and greet Nina with a firm handshake and a smile that would begin the rest of his life. Goodness, he still couldn’t believe she was here. How many years had it been since he’d last seen her? He’d been so young, but he still remembered that great big crush he’d had on her.
Dominic took a deep breath to steady his nerves, knowing that he was ready to meet her once again.
‘What on
earth
is that racket?’ Olivia sprung out of her chair in alarm. ‘Benji? What’s the matter?’ She placed her hands around the boy’s scarlet face as he charged into the room and crashed into her legs.
‘Dom hit me,’ he wailed, his nose running.
‘Dominic?’ Olivia exclaimed. ‘Not on purpose, I’m sure?’
‘Hit me,’ the boy repeated, wiping his nose on Olivia’s skirt and putting Nina off her chocolate digestive.
‘
Dominic
?’ Olivia called. ‘Is that you? Come on through.’
Dominic stood stock-still in the kitchen. It was just his luck that Benji had been playing with the coloured letters on the fridge door. Just his luck that the ‘Q’ had taken flight from a grubby hand and had landed by the back door. And of course it was typical that Benji had gone to rescue the errant letter the minute Dominic had opened the door.
‘Dominic? Come and see who’s here,’ his mother’s voice called above Benji’s exaggerated howls and the echoing howls of sympathy that were now coming from Ziggy in the playroom.
Dominic sighed, tripping over the army of Wellington boots by the back door as he raked his hands through his hair, which he knew was sitting on his head like an overgrown gorse bush. He cleared his throat nervously and noisily. Nina Elliot was really here and she was about to get an eyeful of his best scarecrow impression ever.
‘Nina – you remember Dominic?’ Olivia smiled enthusiastically as her youngest son entered the room. ‘Dominic, isn’t it
lovely
to be back in touch with Nina? I ran into her in the supermarket yesterday. What terrific luck and
such
an amazing coincidence after you spotting her in town the other day, too!’
Dominic looked at his mother and then at Nina, and a shy smile escaped him as Nina stood up and shook his hand.
‘Hello, Dominic,’ she said, noticing how tall he was and how his dark hair fell about his face in disorganised skeins. She looked at his eyes; as dark as conkers. ‘How are you?’ she asked.
‘Fine, thank you,’ he said, in his characteristically quiet voice, raised just enough for him to be heard. Nina couldn’t help but smile. She couldn’t believe the transformation from gauche schoolboy into handsome young man. But did he remember her? It had been so long since their last meeting.
‘Well, aren’t you going to apologise?’ Olivia said, interrupting Nina’s train of thought.
‘Apologise?’ Nina asked, surprised.
‘Not
you
, dear Nina,’ Olivia said.
‘What?’ Dominic turned to face his mother.
‘For the other day, silly! When you almost ploughed Nina down.’
‘Oh! Yes!’ Dominic stumbled, averting his eyes in obvious embarrassment. ‘I, er—’ he looked up hesitantly at Nina, ‘I’m sorry for the other day.’ His eyes widened very slightly. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
‘He shouldn’t be on the roads,’ Olivia butted in again, shaking her head in despair.
‘But it was
me
that wasn’t looking!’ Nina said, perplexed. ‘It’s me who shouldn’t be on the roads, I’m afraid.’
‘Nonsense!’ Olivia said in her defence, Benji’s head still hiding in the depths of her now rather damp skirt.
‘No, really!’ Nina assured them, ‘My head’s been somewhere else lately and it’s a wonder I haven’t found myself under a car long before now.’ She smiled lightly at Olivia and then at Dominic. ‘So it’s me who should apologise.’ Dominic frowned in confusion. ‘You see, I’d had a bit of a bad day at work and was trying to forget about it all by going to the pub during my lunch hour.’
‘But I thought you said you were between jobs?’ Olivia said, her face clouding with a sudden frown.
‘I am now, but I was working that day. That was my last day, in fact. My boss and I parted company, so to speak.’ Nina shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to divulge any more about the whole unfortunate incident.
‘Then you
are
still looking for work?’ Olivia continued. Nina nodded. ‘Good. Then I think I’ve got the solution to all our problems.’
Dominic looked across at his mother as she caressed Benji’s reddened cheek.
‘Why don’t you go and play with Ziggy?’ she said to the boy, turning him around by the shoulders and patting his bottom until he ran out of the room. ‘And why don’t we all sit down?’
Nina sat back down on the sofa and was instantly engulfed by the cushions again. Dominic took up a position in the chair opposite. He looked rather awkward, but he obviously wanted to hear what his mother had to say.
‘Nina,’ Olivia began, ‘Ever since Dudley took early retirement eighteen months ago, he’s been hanging around the house like a lost thing. Of course, doctor’s orders were that he should take things easier these days. All those years as a city banker have taken their toll, I’m afraid, and he has to take care of himself now.’ She fiddled with a gold bracelet she was wearing, her index finger rolling around inside it as if she was building up to something important. ‘He’s got his country club, of course, and spends a fair bit of time up there when the weather is good, but he’s also had this mad notion about writing a novel. Can you believe it?’
‘Really?’ Nina said, her eyes wide with surprise.
‘Mad fool that he is. But little be it for me to try to stop him. Who knows, he might actually have a real bestseller in his head. But, unfortunately, that’s where it 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.