Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point, page 12
Nerissa nodded, unable to take her eyes off the back of his hand. The heat from his palm soaked into her skin, increasing her awareness of just how very long it had been since a man she wasn’t related to had touched her. Doc didn’t count – he was practically a part of the family. If Tom did decide to take over from him, then they were bound to come into contact with each other, something else she hadn’t really considered.
When he still didn’t withdraw his hand, she forced herself to meet his eyes. ‘It’s fine. I didn’t take any offence.’
‘That’s a relief.’ Tom patted her hand once, then lifted his away like it was nothing, while she sat there, frozen, willing her stupid heart to stop pounding. ‘When I was growing up, I was naturally left-handed. My dad didn’t approve, so every time I picked something up with my left hand, he took it from me and put it in my right hand.’
‘That’s a very old-fashioned attitude,’ Nerissa said, glad for the distraction, even if the topic was a difficult one. ‘I remember when my brother and sister-in-law realised Laurie was left-handed. It came as a bit of a surprise as none of the rest of us are and Mum got in a proper tangle trying to teach her to knit when she was little, but other than that it just wasn’t a thing.’
‘My father has very set ideas about things, unfortunately. And it got worse when I started trying to write. He tied my left hand behind my back so I had no choice but to use my right.’ He lifted one shoulder like it was no big deal, but she could tell it had left a scar – and like a lot of the ones on the inside, it still hadn’t quite healed. ‘I got used to it in the end, but my writing’s always been atrocious.’ He smiled at her. ‘Like you said, perfect for a doctor.’
‘I’m really sorry I stirred up what must be a very difficult memory.’
He did that one-shoulder-shrug thing again. ‘Honestly, I haven’t given it a second thought in years. I was a bit anxious about it when the children were little, but they’re both right-handed, like their mum. Crazy how these things from the past can blindside us when we least expect it.’
Jake arrived at that moment bearing plates and drinks and Nerissa let the conversation drop. They focused on their food for a few moments, the silence between them much easier this time. Nerissa cut her panini in several pieces and spread them out on her plate to cool a little. She’d had too many encounters with hot melted cheese and the tender skin on the roof of her mouth. It was hard to resist taking just a nibble though when the bread had that perfect crunch as her knife sliced through it. She pinched off the corner nearest her and blew on it a couple of times before popping it into her mouth.
Tom, by contrast, was already halfway through one half of his. When he paused to take a long sip of his iced coffee, she decided it was time to turn the conversation towards the original point of their meeting.
‘So, did you have any last-minute questions for me?’
He shook his head. ‘Nothing that comes to mind – I mean, I’m sure that things will come up over the next couple of weeks, but we had a good chat about everything last night and we’re going to give Mermaids Point a go.’
‘Oh! Well, that’s wonderful news.’ Nerissa picked up her own drink and clinked it against the side of Tom’s glass. ‘Congratulations.’
‘Thanks.’ He surveyed the contents of his glass. ‘Not exactly champagne, is it?’
She laughed. ‘There’ll be plenty of time to celebrate properly once everything is finalised and the move completed.’
Tom’s face grew serious. ‘This is probably a weird thing to ask because we don’t really know each other that well, but do you think I’m doing the right thing? For the children, I mean.’
‘It’s very hard for me to say.’ While it was true that they didn’t know each other well, she felt comfortable enough to be honest with him about what she’d observed over the past few days. ‘They seem to like it here – Max, especially, and Emily was certainly talking with enthusiasm about her room the other day. We had a good chat about how she might decorate it and she was bookmarking colour charts on her phone to look at later.’
Tom grinned. ‘Yeah, that was part of the chat last night. I’ve vetoed black walls for both of them, but other than that I’ve decided they can do what they want.’ He picked up the remains of his panini. ‘A decision I will no doubt live to regret.’
Nerissa laughed, recalling similar battles Andrew and Sylvia had fought when Laurie and Nick were growing up. ‘If there’s any preparation you want me to do, just say the word.’
Tom chewed, his expression thoughtful. ‘Do you know what Doc’s plans are for his furniture?’
She hesitated, conscious of being overheard. ‘I’ll ask him and then let you know, if that’s all right?’
‘Yeah, no rush. It was just something that occurred to me. I think I’ll rent our place in London for the time being, give us more flexibility for the future. It’d be handy to know at some point so I can decide what we need to bring and what we might leave as part-furnishing. There’s a few things we’d definitely want to hang on to, but I can’t get sentimental over Ikea bookcases, you know?’
Nerissa nodded. ‘I’ll talk to Doc and put together a room-by-room inventory for you, how about that?’
‘Brilliant.’ Tom finished his meal and pushed his plate to one side so he could rest his folded arms on the table. ‘Honestly, just knowing you’re here makes the prospect of this so much less daunting.’
‘I’m happy to help,’ she said, meaning every word. With Tom taking over from Doc, she at least knew her future was secure for a while. ‘And you must treat the surgery as your place to do with as you wish. Ideally, I’d like to keep my nook up in the attic, but I’m prepared to be flexible to ensure the house works for your needs.’
‘Oh no, you must keep that,’ Tom protested. ‘I wouldn’t dream of encroaching on your personal space. You’ve got a nice little set-up there, and we’re already going to be disrupting your routine.’
It was her turn to shrug. ‘Maybe a bit of disruption is what I need to shake things up. I’ve got very set in my ways with it just being me and Doc.’ When she saw Tom’s gaze lower she realised she was toying with Gareth’s ring at her throat and she quickly dropped her hand. ‘It’ll be nice to have some noise and energy around the place.’
‘I’ll remind you that you said that when Max is murdering zombies on his PlayStation at full volume and Emily’s playing the latest Harry Styles song on permanent loop.’
‘I won’t be able to hear it when I’ve got Absolute 80s blaring on the radio,’ she said with a cheeky grin. Once the kitchen was a Doc-free zone, she’d never have to listen to Radio Four again.
Tom covered his face with his hands. ‘And I thought you would be on my side.’
‘I’m not taking sides in any of it. Consider me Switzerland.’ When he dropped his hands and gave her a quizzical look, she continued, ‘Neutral territory.’
‘Oh, right.’ He laughed. ‘I thought for a minute you were offering to be a permanent source of cheese and chocolate.’
‘Well, that too.’
Nerissa picked up a piece of her forgotten panini and ate it, barely registering how cold the filling was. She felt happy – happier than she had been in ages. Hopeful too. After months of uncertainty, she was starting to believe there were brighter days ahead. Yes, it would take some adjusting to, having Tom and the children around, but it was a challenge she was looking forward to. He seemed like a decent guy, and his desire to do right by Emily and Max had been paramount in all their interactions this week. And yes, it was time to admit to herself how attractive she found him. It wasn’t a sin, and it wasn’t as if she was dead from the neck down. Pretending she didn’t feel drawn to him was getting her nowhere – besides, no one else needed to know about what was nothing more than a silly crush. She just needed to keep her guard up and her mouth shut. Once she became more accustomed to being around him, she was sure it would fade into friendship.
14
Late August
‘Good God, Tom, how did you manage to accumulate so much crap?’ Alex moaned as he heaved himself out of the passenger seat of Tom’s people carrier and pulled on a pair of heavy-duty gloves. This was their third – and hopefully final – trip to the local recycling centre in the past couple of hours, and they were both knackered and filthy.
‘Last push and then you can have a hot shower and a cold beer, I promise,’ Tom said as he opened the boot of his car and surveyed the mishmash of broken toys, boxes of unwanted crockery and bags of clothes the children had cleared out of their wardrobes and drawers.
‘I’ll hold you to that.’ Alex heaved a box of mismatched plates and bowls into his arms and called out to one of the high-vis-clad men supervising the various containers. ‘Where do you want these?’
‘In with the soil and rubble, mate.’ The man pointed down the row.
‘Really? I thought you had a place where people can help themselves to stuff that’s still useful.’
The man laughed. ‘Unless you’ve got a full dinner service, it’ll sit on the shelves for weeks and then I’ll have to lug it over here myself.’
‘Fair point,’ Alex conceded and headed off in the direction he’d been sent.
Ten minutes later and the car finally unloaded of everything, Tom steered his way through the mass of parked cars, barely managing to miss a woman who stepped out in front of him, both hands full of black bin bags. Thankful he’d obeyed the council’s five-mile-an-hour speed limit, Tom gritted his teeth in a fake smile as the woman paused to glare at him before marching across the road towards the opposite row of containers to where she was parked. ‘Perhaps coming on a Saturday wasn’t the best idea.’
‘Ya think?’ Alex tugged off his gloves and chucked them on the floor beside his feet. ‘I swear people lose their minds in places like this.’ As though to prove his point, two men started arguing about one being parked too close to the other.
‘Let’s get out of here before they start trading punches,’ Tom said, easing his foot off the brake and inching forward, everything on high alert in case someone else with a death wish jumped out in front of them.
‘But what if they need medical assistance?’
Tom didn’t need to glance at his brother to see the obnoxious grin – he could hear it in his voice. ‘Then they can call nine-nine-bloody-nine because I am off duty for the next week.’
A week didn’t seem like long enough to oversee the removals at both ends, unpack and get the children settled in, but it was all he could afford to take. His partners in London hadn’t been happy about his decision to quit, which had made his last few weeks quite an awkward experience. Feeling guilty, Tom had stayed on longer than he’d intended to ensure a smooth transition for his replacement, which is why he was stuck doing everything at the last minute and had roped Alex in to help out.
At least one thing had gone in Tom’s favour. Fraser, the incoming partner, was new to the area and had decided to rent Tom’s house for an initial three-month period, with an option to extend month-by-month while he and his husband went hunting for somewhere to buy. Relieved to avoid agents’ fees, Tom had agreed a rental price that cleared the monthly mortgage payments and not much more. It had seemed like a good deal for the peace of mind of knowing whoever was living there would take care of the place. It had also put the pressure on to get the house sorted and in a liveable state for them to come into.
Fraser and his husband had furniture they wanted to bring from their current rental so, with the exception of the white goods, Tom was taking everything from the house down to Mermaids Point. He’d had a good look through the inventory Nerissa had kindly put together, but most of what Doc didn’t want was old-fashioned without being antique, so Tom had declined to keep much of it. A house-clearance firm was due this weekend, so it would be empty in time for Tom’s movers to unload on arrival. Though he’d worried about the inconvenience, Nerissa had assured him she could cope quite happily with a couple of days’ disruption. Her flat would be untouched and the kitchen basics were staying put, so she wouldn’t be completely stranded. Still, Tom would owe her a bottle of her favourite wine by way of thanks – probably a dozen bottles by the time the move was over and done with.
He was still musing over what kind of wine she liked when he pulled into the driveway and stopped with a groan at the sight of a large racing-green Jaguar blocking his path. ‘What the hell is Dad doing here?’ he asked. One look at Alex’s face was enough to provide him with an answer. ‘Bloody hell, Ally. What did you say to him?’
Alex sighed. ‘I didn’t say anything to him, exactly. Mum asked if I was going over for lunch tomorrow and when I told her I was busy, it kind of slipped out.’
Unlike the golden child sitting next to him, Tom saw as little of their father as possible. They’d never really got along. Growing up, nothing Tom did had ever been quite good enough in Archie Nelson’s eyes. It’d been a relief when he’d upped and left Tom’s mother for his very pregnant personal assistant – a scandal which had forced him to step down from his chairmanship of one of London’s leading stock brokerages. Instead of taking the considerable settlement they’d given him to go quietly and starting up his own business as most people had expected, Archie had seized the second chance at fatherhood with both hands and taken early retirement. He doted on his new son, adored his second wife, Philippa, and had become a cheerful fixture at the local golf club. Tom’s mother had been dignity personified, quietly taking her half of the divorce proceeds and encouraging Tom to maintain a bond with his father, though she’d stopped pushing that when he’d turned sixteen and been deemed old enough to decide for himself. Once he’d struck out on his own to go to university, she’d sold up and moved to a gorgeous villa in Portugal, where she spent her days painting and her nights in the company of her long-term partner, Eduardo.
If it hadn’t been for Alex, Tom might well have cut ties with Archie altogether, but he’d adored Ally from the moment he’d first been allowed to hold him, so he’d kept in contact. When Anna had died, he’d been glad he’d stayed in touch because as much as Archie rubbed him up the wrong way, there was no doubting his love for his grandchildren. He and Philippa had been a godsend in the early days when things had got too much and Tom needed a break. With a sigh, Tom did his best to park the people carrier without blocking the pavement behind him, and climbed out. ‘Best see what chaos he’s brought down upon us.’
Before he’d even unlocked the front door, Tom could hear the boom of explosions and shouting coming from the lounge. What the hell?
Letting himself and Alex in, he called a greeting, but the only response was his father shouting, ‘Trebuchet! Fire the damn trebuchet, they’re attacking from all sides!’
Tom tossed his keys on the side table and exchanged a glance with Alex.
‘I’m going to grab that shower,’ his brother said, making his way towards the foot of the stairs.
‘Coward,’ Tom taunted him, but with a smile.
Alex held his hands up. ‘Guilty as charged. No way am I getting between you and him.’
Schooling himself to patience, Tom turned left towards the lounge and waited on the threshold until grandfather and grandson finally noticed his presence over the sound and fury of one of Max’s PlayStation games.
‘Hey Dad!’ Max raised a hand, eyes still glued on the TV screen.
‘Hey, yourself. Where’s your sister?’
‘Dunno. Upstairs,’ Max replied without looking up.
Given how loud the TV was, Tom couldn’t blame Emily for seeking sanctuary in her bedroom. It really was deafening. ‘How about we don’t make enemies of the neighbours?’ Walking across to the sofa, Tom picked up the remote resting on the arm and turned the volume down from forty – forty! – to around half that.
‘Spoilsport,’ Archie said, poking his tongue out as though he were the child. ‘Who gives a stuff what the neighbours think when you won’t be here much longer – or so the grapevine tells me.’ The last words were as barbed as if coated with thorns.
‘I was going to let you know; things have been a bit upside down here.’ Tom tried and failed not to sound like a sulky teenager. He hated the way he regressed to that disappointed boy he’d been when Archie had walked out. It had been what? Thirty years ago, for God’s sake. More than enough time to get over it. Giving himself a mental kick in the arse, Tom smiled at Archie. ‘It’s good to see you, Pop.’
Archie raised an eyebrow as though he could see straight through Tom’s effort at civility, before turning his attention back to the game. ‘Come on, Max, my boy, we’re nearly at the next level.’
Deciding to leave them to it, Tom bent to clear away the jumble of empty cups and plates littering the coffee table and took them into the kitchen. The breakfast things he’d asked the children to put in the dishwasher earlier had been stacked instead on the kitchen worktop above it. ‘Give me strength.’ He opened his mouth to yell for Max, then decided it just wasn’t worth the hassle. Archie would only stick his oar in and moan at him for being too hard on the boy – which was a bit bloody rich all things considered.
By the time he’d tidied the kitchen, he heard the thump of the hot water shutting down, signalling Alex was finished in the shower. Tom cast an eye over his grubby clothes and decided to follow suit before facing their father again and headed for the stairs.
Clean and dressed in a fresh T-shirt and jeans, Tom emerged from his bedroom about the same time as Alex appeared from the doorway of the guestroom opposite. ‘How is he?’ Alex asked.
‘His usual charming self,’ Tom retorted, then stopped himself. ‘Sorry. He’s fine, and Max seems delighted to see him, so I’ll make an effort. Just let me check on Em and I’ll be down.’
‘I’ll get those beers, eh?’ Alex placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘I know it’s not easy for you, Tom, and I’m sorry I said anything in front of him.’
Tom shook his head. ‘It’s really fine, and my fault for not speaking to him earlier.’
