Practically Perfect (35 page)

‘You know perfectly well I’ve loved it. So did Maddy and Betsy. And you didn’t ask me to help you, I just summoned the team and we barged in and did it.’

‘I know, but it looks super and I didn’t have the right things to set it off.’ She frowned. ‘I just hope we haven’t gone over the top and made it look like a show home.’

‘Not at all! It looks like a really expensive magazine interior. It was good you managed to get a top coat on the woodwork. It does set it all off.’

Anna smiled and then looked at her watch. It was
nearly
two o’clock. ‘They’ll be here soon. I’m really nervous. Supposing they don’t like it? Or rather, Julian doesn’t like it?’

‘That’s fine! You’ve very nearly finished the house and it’s all ready for the next viewer.’

‘But don’t forget the—’

‘—market’s very flat. You’ve said that a million times. Now can I be bossy and suggest you change your jumper? The welt from your sleeve is hanging off and it’s got paint or something on it.’

‘It was very expensive paint, rat-dropping brown, or some equally esoteric colour. But I will change.’ She looked at her friend. ‘I think I’m partly nervous about seeing Max again, too. This will be the first time he’s seen me looking more or less au naturel.’

‘You go and put on some slap. I’ll take Caroline then you can put the cage outside.’

Anna didn’t bother to remind her it was an indoor kennel, not a cage.

Chapter Twenty-One

‘SORRY WE’RE LATE
, darling,’ said Max, kissing her cheek. He and Julian had finally arrived at three o’clock, smelling of brandy and cigars. ‘We popped into the pub after lunch. Ma serves excellent wine but not a lot of it. You remember Julian?’

‘Of course! Come in, both of you,’ she said, gesturing for them to enter, a smile firmly fixed on her face.

‘Oh dear, Julian, I do hope you haven’t plans for cat swinging in the immediate future,’ murmured Max, sending Anna a consolatory smile.

‘It is small,’ said Anna, refusing to be cast down by this criticism so early in the proceedings. ‘But that’s reflected in the price.’ She wasn’t sure that it was, actually. The enormous amount seemed to reflect a premium for really tiny cottages.

‘Small, but very charming,’ said Julian. His smile was genuine. ‘Do give me the tour.’

‘Well, the walls are painted in a colour called Sour Milk. It was the nearest thing I could get to a traditional lime plaster. I think it works rather well, don’t you?’

‘Certainly,’ Julian agreed. Max was peering at the walls, a slight frown on his face.

Anna ignored him and kept her attention on Julian. ‘This is obviously the reception room,’ she said. ‘The kitchen’s at the back, as you can see. It’s all fitted with brand-new appliances of very high quality.’ If you didn’t
count
the odd, well-hidden chip or scratch, she thought.

‘You have done a good job in the kitchen,’ said Max, ‘I’ll say that for you.’

Anna beamed at him, almost forgiving him for the remark about cats.

‘It is a bit of a shame that the listings people didn’t let you open up that end. It would have made it all seem much more spacious,’ Max went on. ‘Nothing to stop you doing that after you’ve bought it, of course,’ he said over his shoulder to his friend.

‘Except you’d have to put it all back when you came to sell,’ said Anna, who was certain this wouldn’t be Julian’s final resting place. ‘This is a very important row of cottages. The listings people are very keen to preserve it.’ She would tell Rob personally if she got wind of anything being done that wasn’t absolutely permitted. Chloe would spy for her.

‘This is a very fine staircase,’ said Max. ‘Is it original?’

Anna’s feelings were rent asunder. Should she express her huge indignation that Max had obviously forgotten her telling him, in painful detail, that she had built the staircase herself, or be absolutely thrilled that he’d made such a mistake?

‘I think Anna made it herself,’ said Julian approvingly. ‘She told me all about it when we met before.’

The look on Max’s face took all the sting out of him forgetting, or not listening to her. He was virtually speechless. ‘Oh,’ he said eventually. ‘Well. Anna. What can I say? You are a clever girl.’

Anna winced at this slightly condescending remark and then put it down to the brandy.

‘No one would ever have guessed it wasn’t original,’ said Julian admiring her work.

‘I was lucky. I had some super wide elm boards I could use, to keep it entirely authentic.’

‘You’re extremely talented,’ said Julian.

‘Why don’t we find out if they work and go upstairs?’ said Max with a laugh. ‘You must have finished seeing the downstairs by now.’

One by one they went upstairs.

‘As you can tell, there’s one bedroom on this first floor and a small family bathroom,’ Anna said.

‘Excellent bath, sweetheart,’ said Max. ‘How did you track it down?’

Anna hesitated for a moment and decided she didn’t want to regale Julian and Max with her Kylie Minogue impression at the Home Decorators’ Fayre. ‘On the Internet. We couldn’t have got a bigger one up the stairs, even if there’d been room for it. As it is, it all fits in nicely.’ This had been a huge relief, because although the bath had felt small, and she’d done her sums, she hadn’t been quite sure it would actually fit until it had.

‘I prefer a shower myself,’ said Max.

‘And for people who prefer a shower,’ she said, regarding him sternly, ‘there’s one in the en suite upstairs.’

‘An en suite? I hardly hoped for one of those,’ murmured Julian, following Anna up the next flight of stairs.

Her bedroom (she had decided to move up here for the space, and the view, of course) had never looked so tidy. All extraneous bits and pieces had been put in a carrier bag and hidden under her dressing gown which was hanging on the back of the door. This was Chloe’s tip, learnt from having exacting in-laws. With windows on both sides, a dormer in the front and a roof-light at the back, the space seemed much larger than it was.

‘Very sweet,’ said Max, who obviously didn’t really appreciate sweet.

‘Look at that view!’ exclaimed Julian with a sigh. ‘Fantastic! You can see for ever.’

‘Oh yes,’ agreed Max, barely glancing out of the window. ‘Clothes storage?’

‘Clothes storage is here.’ Anna opened what seemed to be a wall, but inside was a hanging rail that swung forward to reveal drawers behind. Chloe had suggested she put some of her clothes inside to prove it worked, but Anna had felt it was perfectly obvious it did. The mechanism was so slick, she could have spent all day opening and shutting it.

‘Hmm. Let’s have a look at this en suite, then. Oh my goodness!’

Pleased to have his appreciation at last, Anna smiled as he and Julian inspected her bathroom.

‘I did think about having it as a wet room,’ she explained, ‘but I felt a walk-in shower was better. I was only allowed to have it as there had been some sort of built-in cupboard before. I was able to extend it by putting piano hinges on the edge of the original door, making it big enough for an entrance.’

‘It has the wow factor. I’ll give you that,’ Max admitted, ‘but it is absolutely tiny!’

‘It has everything you need,’ declared Anna defiantly. Chloe had donated a cube of soap bought from a French market. Its chunky shape gave the little room masculine appeal. Chloe had, she assured Anna, more feminine shapes if Anna had to show any women round.

‘It certainly has,’ said Julian, inspecting the tiling and finding it perfect. ‘You have done an amazing job. It’s modern and yet totally in keeping. And have the listed people approved it all?’

‘They haven’t made an official inspection yet,’ said Anna. ‘But I’m not anticipating any problems.’ Rob would have told her, she knew that.

‘Let’s go back downstairs,’ said Max, somewhat
impatiently
, Anna felt. ‘I’m beginning to feel a little claustrophobic.’

‘I thought you said you had a dog,’ said Julian when they were downstairs once more.

‘I have. My neighbour’s looking after her. She’s rather large. And she doesn’t like men very much,’ she added, looking pointedly at Max.

‘It’s a shame there isn’t room for a huge American fridge,’ said Max, who had returned to the kitchen.

‘It’s a workman’s cottage in the Cotswolds.’

‘One does have to move with the times, darling. I would have thought you’d have known that, being an interior designer.’ He gave her a teasing smile.

Anna felt the need to escape. Max, although being supportive in his own way, was irritating her. ‘Perhaps you two would like a look round on your own?’

Julian gave her an apologetic look. ‘I have brought a tape measure with me. If you wouldn’t mind me measuring up a little? I’ve got one or two key pieces of furniture …’

‘Of course I don’t mind,’ she said.

She went outside so she wouldn’t hear them discussing her house. It was tiny, too tiny to sell except to midgets or possibly fairies. All her hard work and money had been a complete waste of time. She went back in and heard big, male feet tramping over her heart.

At last they came down. Julian smiled. ‘I do really like it, but it is on the small side. Can I let you know when I’ve done some more measuring in my current flat?’

‘Of course.’

‘And if you get an offer in the meantime, let me know, but if someone wants to snap it up I perfectly understand.’

‘Fine.’ She didn’t feel fine, she felt totally deflated. She also felt extremely foolish for assuming he was really
interested
in anywhere so bijou. He was a man. He had huge feet. He’d want more space.

‘It’s very good that Julian’s so keen,’ whispered Max, meaning to be positive but instead being patronising. ‘Now make yourself tidy, Ma’s expecting us for tea. We’ll wait down here.’

She was too desolate to argue. The black trousers were shaken and put on, with a cardigan of Chloe’s that had somehow not got back to her. A hasty swipe of lipstick and a scrub of mascara and that had to do. Fortunately it was a very nice cardigan in a pretty coral pink and the effect was fairly feminine. Laura’s suede loafers sorted out her feet and she was ready.

They walked along the same lanes as Anna and Rob had walked the previous evening, but the atmosphere was utterly different. Then it had been a pleasant amble along scented lanes, now, wearing Laura’s shoes, which were slightly too big, it seemed a stony, rutted path. Max’s instructions didn’t help. She was glad Julian was with them.

‘If my mother realises you were one of the people who cleaned her greenhouse she’ll be furious,’ Max said. ‘She has very old-fashioned views on servants being too familiar and it will embarrass her horribly.’

‘But she won us in a raffle! That hardly makes us servants.’ She was glad she hadn’t ever told him about the jacuzzi incident, although she was fairly sure Mrs Gordon hadn’t recognised her under the bubbles.

Max was walking rather fast and because of the narrowness of the lane, Anna had to trot behind him, her shoes flapping. Julian made up the rear.

‘She just doesn’t have a sense of humour about these things, so try and be tactful!’ Max shouted back to her.

He didn’t seem to have a sense of humour about those
things
either. ‘It’s hardly likely I’m going to say anything if she doesn’t!’ Anna said indignantly.

‘I never know with you, Anna, you can be quite unpredictable.’

Another bad mark against her. Anna sighed.

Mrs Gordon looked at Anna a little curiously when Max made the introductions but she didn’t say anything to make Anna anxious, so she tried to relax.

Max ushered them all into the drawing room where plates of sandwiches cut into tiny triangles were set out. An old-fashioned cake stand held a Victoria jam sponge and a coffee and walnut cake. The latter, of which Anna had eaten a few at Chloe’s, was instantly recognisable as bought from the WI stall at the market. A spectre of fear that perhaps Mrs Gordon had witnessed that particular humiliation as well as everything else brushed Anna like a cold hand. She shook it off. The woman wasn’t haunting her, after all.

A red and gold rose-covered tea set, which could well have been Mrs Gordon’s best, sat next to a pile of silver cake forks. Tea was not a meal to be taken lightly, obviously, and Anna, imagining how Caroline would have reacted to such daintiness coupled with such accessibility, inwardly smiled.

As bidden, Anna sat on the sofa while Max and Mrs Gordon disappeared to the kitchen to bring in the actual tea.

‘I expect Mrs Gordon warms the pot, don’t you?’ said Anna in a low voice to Julian, making conversation.

‘Oh, definitely.’

He didn’t say anything else, so Anna amused herself by admiring her surroundings. It was a pretty room with French windows looking on to the garden. It was filled
with
antique furniture and ornaments, and looked to Anna as if the contents of a much larger house had all been squeezed into this one as if keeping everything had been more important than making the room attractive.

There were a couple of large bureaux, a plethora of little tables and several small chairs, and every flat surface was covered with ornaments, silver photograph frames and crystal. If the contents had been reduced by two-thirds, it would have been a truly lovely, timeless room. The wallpaper was a faded Zoffany print that looked more like a painting than wallpaper, depicting parrots against a blue sky. Many of the ornaments were parrots and if Anna had been let loose on it, she’d have emphasised the parrot theme. Particularly when Mrs Gordon appeared holding a teapot stand and she realised that her hostess was a parrot, too.