me with an easy, confident smile. That’s new too. He never used to smile like that at uni; he used to read me depressing pieces out of the paper and tell me I should be more engaged with the struggle.
“This is Suze,” I say, and Suze says, “Oh, hi!” She shakes his hand, then gazes at him with moony eyes, twiddling her hair as if she’s about fourteen.
“You came back!” Irene’s delighted voice chimes in, and I turn to see her hurrying over. “How lovely!” To my horror, she turns to me and mouths, “Very striking!” in a totally unsubtle way.
Oh my God. Could we be more uncool?
“So. Um…What brings you here, Craig?”
“I live here now,” he says in the same leisured, easy way.
“You live here?” I say in astonishment.
“I’ve rented Lapwing Cottage.” He addresses Suze. “I’m your tenant.”
“Oh.” I can see the light dawning on Suze’s face. “I didn’t know Lapwing Cottage had been rented out!”
Trust Suze not to know she’s rented out a cottage on her own estate. She and Tarkie have got so much property and investments and stuff between them, she can’t keep track. We were once eating lunch at a local café and they kept bringing us complimentary slices of cake and being really nice to us. We had no idea why—until Suze suddenly realized that she was the landlord, she’d just forgotten.
“Is it OK?” she adds anxiously. “If there are any problems, talk to Gordon, our estate manager; he runs all that kind of thing.”
“It’s great,” says Craig. “It’s charming. Old world. Rustic.”
“How did you know I work here?” I demand.
“One of those crazy small-world things,” he says easily. “I rented the cottage online. Wanted a bolt-hole from London. A place to write songs. Chill out, you know? Then I’m in the village shop getting some supplies and I see a postcard: For sale, three garden spades, never used, apply Becky Brandon, née Bloomwood. I think to myself, There can’t be two Becky Bloomwoods. So I ask the guy and he tells me you work here. What are the odds?”
“Wow,” breathes Suze.
“So I have a question,” Craig adds, fixing me with his dark gaze. “Three garden spades?”
“They were on sale,” I say, feeling a bit defensive, “so I bought a few. Our garden’s quite big and I thought we might need several. Only it turned out we don’t.”
“Sounds like you.” He looks amused. “Well, I must be going. Nice to see you, Becky. We should have a drink sometime. What have you been up to all these years?”
“Oh…er…” My mind has immediately gone blank. What have I been doing all this time? I can’t think of a single thing. “Loads of stuff,” I say feebly. “You know.”
“Cool.” He nods. “You’ve got a kid, I hear.”
“Yes, a daughter. Minnie.”
“Nice.” He turns to Suze. “One more question. Would it be OK if I hired a hot tub for the garden?”
“A hot tub?” Suze looks taken aback.
“I have a thing for hot tubs.”
He smiles, showing his dazzling new teeth, and I have an immediate vision of him in a hot tub with his hair all wet and glistening and his chest all hairy and Ross Poldark-y.
I mean, he never used to look Ross Poldark-y, but I bet he does now.
“A hot tub,” says Suze, sounding utterly flustered. “Gosh. Of course! I mean, we don’t usually, but…if you want…”
“Cool.” He nods again. “And I’ll be having a Christmas party, I should think. I’ll send you both invites.”
“Oh!” says Suze. “Thanks!”
“Well, see you.” He lifts a hand in farewell and heads out of the shop with a lope. He didn’t used to walk like that. He’s picked it up from somewhere.
I look at Suze, who breathes out.
“Wow,” she says again.
“Yes,” I say, still feeling a bit flabbergasted. “Well, there you go. That’s my ex.”
“He’s really cool.” She eyes me suspiciously. “Bex, were you really cool at uni?”
I’m tempted to say, “What are you talking about? I’m really cool now!” But this is Suze I’m talking to.
“I was a tiny bit cool,” I say honestly. “Like, for about half a term.”
“Were you in the band too?”
“I…um…”
I clear my throat, trying to decide how to answer. The band is actually a sore point, because I should have been in it. I bought this amazing pink bass guitar and I learned loads of notes, and Craig said I could have a go. But after the first rehearsal the rest of the band ganged up and said I wasn’t good enough.