The Perfect Retreat Page 0,36
she and Kerr had ever discussed it. He never returned her calls or her emails. He had disappeared, and now that the news of her taking over the role in Harold’s film had broken, the paparazzi would be coming down the motorway any day, breaking the relative peace at Middlemist.
Even though the house was busy with the production crew, Willow was enjoying pretending Middlemist was hers. Given carte blanche from Merritt and Kitty to redesign the interiors, she thought about nothing else. She spent hours looking at magazines and sending off for expensive interior design books, which she charged to Kerr’s credit card. Actually she charged a lot of things to Kerr’s credit card. She was surprised the bank hadn’t stopped it yet.
As soon as her lawyer had told her she was in dire financial straits she had stopped spending immediately. Since Kerr was refusing to speak to her or send her any money, if he had any, she would live it up on Kerr’s remaining credit instead.
Willow had a new laptop and printer, clothes and toys delivered to her at Middlemist, along with organic groceries, skincare products and makeup that she had ordered online. The local village was out of bounds due to Willow wanting to lay low, but Merritt said the gossip had already started once the film crew arrived. Thankfully he didn’t give anything away about Willow being Middlemist’s houseguest, but Willow knew the peace wouldn’t last for long.
She had managed to avoid Merritt as much as she could, although it was hard in the evenings when the film crew had gone and it was just her and the children, Merritt and Kitty. Once the children had gone to bed, Willow would stay in the drawing room, her favourite room in the house, surfing the net and printing out pictures to stick into her large Hermès notebook.
Just the night before, Merritt had come and stood over her, leaning over her shoulder to see what she was working on. She could hardly breathe with his head so close to hers. ‘What’s that?’ he had asked, looking at the screen.
‘It’s a company that reconditions antique bathtubs,’ she had said, her voice cracking slightly.
‘No, over there,’ he said, putting his large hand over hers and moving the cursor further down the screen.
Willow was torn between wanting him to leave his hand there and snatching her own away. What a silly, sex-starved woman I am. The first man I meet, I get a crush on, she thought. She told herself off. Merritt isn’t vaguely interested in me, she reminded herself.
Kitty was lying on the sagging sofa with her iPod in her ears and her eyes closed. Merritt left his hand slightly longer than necessary on Willow’s and she felt the same butterflies she had had when he’d lifted her up after Harold left. His display of affection and joy at the film had been surprising and it seemed completely out of character for him. She had mentioned it briefly to Kitty in passing but Kitty had laughed, saying Merritt used to be fun and it was good he still had it in him.
Just as Willow was about to turn to Merritt, she heard Jinty’s cries on the baby monitor. Willow looked at Kitty, but she seemed to have fallen asleep on the sofa. Willow got up wearily.
‘I’ll go,’ offered Merritt.
‘Really? She’s probably just lost her dummy,’ said Willow.
‘No problem. I’ll go upstairs and you put the kettle on. I’d love a cuppa,’ he said as he left the room.
Willow walked into the kitchen and set about making the tea. It felt odd having a man offer to help with her children. It was Kitty who had always done everything. Since Willow and the children had moved to Middlemist, she had a true understanding of what Kitty’s days were like and Willow felt guilty for the amount of work she made the young girl do. Not that Kitty ever complained. She was so patient and kind, especially with Lucian, who was still in deep worship of Merritt.
‘You were right, it was just the dummy,’ Merritt said as he walked into the kitchen. Willow felt her body tighten at the sound of his voice.
‘She was so sweet when she saw me. She smiled this big sleepy smile. Gorgeous,’ he said as he reached up for the biscuit tin on top of the cupboard where Kitty had hidden it from Poppy.
Willow turned and saw him stretching, his t-shirt riding up and showing his flat