senses her everywhere,’ I said, trying not to laugh as the colour drained from his face. ‘But especially in here.’
‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ he swallowed, his eyes darting around.
I called to Nell and shrugged. ‘It’s true,’ I said, making for the back door before Nell embarrassed herself. ‘I’ve heard her footsteps at night, haven’t you?’
He avoided me and Nell after that, but I still found the change to our residential circumstances difficult. Had I somewhere else to go, he wouldn’t have seen me for dust. However, my only real option would have been to phone my parents and ask if I could stay with them, and I couldn’t face that. Besides, the commute would have been impossible.
Consequently, I had no choice other than to keep my head down and get on with my work, but all the while I was resentful of the fact that my halcyon days and treasured memories of life with Eloise at the Broad-Meadow helm were becoming increasingly tainted.
* * *
There weren’t many places in the garden that attracted enough mobile signal for my phone to ring, but on the first Tuesday of October, just as I had finished inspecting Eloise’s beloved borders and was getting ready to start raking leaves, I must have hit a signal hotspot.
‘Hello,’ I said, standing stock still for fear of losing the connection.
‘Hi, is that Freya?’ asked a man’s voice. ‘Is that Freya Fuller?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Who’s this?’
‘Luke.’
‘Luke?’
‘Luke Lonsdale,’ the voice elaborated, ‘from Prosperous Place in Norwich.’
It had been a while since my visit and as I hadn’t heard from him straightaway, I assumed he wasn’t going to call.
‘You came and looked around my garden a couple of weeks ago,’ he carried on, no doubt assuming I’d forgotten who he was. ‘We talked about making a Winter Garden.’
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi,’ he said again.
‘So, how’s it going?’
‘Good,’ he said, ‘really good. Well, in theory. In my head, it’s all perfect, but not much has happened outside yet.’
‘There’s still plenty of time to make a start. The weather’s being very kind this year.’
‘It is,’ he agreed, ‘but I really want to get going with it. I’m sorry I haven’t called you sooner.’
‘That’s all right.’
‘I misplaced your number, you see.’
‘It’s fine.’ It wasn’t as if we had made solid arrangements to follow my visit up.
‘So, what can I do for you?’ I asked.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘I know it’s a bit cheeky, but I was wondering if you would consider coming back to have another look around and help me make some notes about planting and stuff. I’d pay for your travel costs and time, of course.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘I see.’
I was delighted, but his request had taken me by surprise. Having established who he was, I thought he might just want to talk a few things through on the phone.
‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’d really appreciate it. You seemed to have a good grasp of what it is that I want to do when we talked before.’
I spotted Jackson striding purposefully towards me and thought some time away from Broad-Meadows, even if only a few hours, would be most welcome.
‘I’m more than happy to help,’ I keenly told Luke. ‘I could come this Saturday, if you like?’
‘Really?’ he sounded over the moon.
‘Yes,’ I confirmed, ‘I can be there around eleven if that suits you.’
‘Absolutely,’ he said, and I could tell he was smiling. ‘That would be perfect. And drive straight up to the house. I’ll open the gates so you can park here.’
‘Fantastic.’
‘Great. We’ll see you then.’
‘See you Saturday.’
I hung up just as Jackson reached me, a scowl etched across his forehead.
‘Were you on the phone?’ he grumbled. ‘I don’t pay you to make personal calls during working hours, Freya.’
I went to snap back but was distracted by the back of the magazine he had tucked under his arm.
‘What’s that?’ I frowned.
He tutted and looked at what had caught my attention. ‘What’s what?’
‘That,’ I said, pointing.
‘Esquire magazine,’ he said. ‘Why?’
I squinted at the aftershave advert adorning the back cover and the half-naked model aesthetically draped across a very sleek-looking boat. The model looked very much like Luke Lonsdale.
‘Have you never seen a half-naked man before?’ Jackson quizzed, examining the detail more closely. ‘This ad is a few seasons old, but it’s still doing the rounds. I can’t believe you’ve never seen it.’
‘Well, I haven’t,’ I said in wonder, ‘but I have just made a date for Saturday with the guy featured in it.’
‘Of course, you have,’ Jackson