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up to see who she was, she smiled at them.

      ‘Is Annie around?’

      ‘No, she hasn’t been here today; can I help?’

      ‘Oh, she said she was meeting me here; never mind, I’ll give her a ring. I’m the interior designer; we were going to talk curtains and cushions.’

      The older of the men nodded. ‘She might be held up; why don’t you take a look around while you’re waiting?’

      ‘Thanks, I’ll do that.’

      She turned and made her way to the stairs. She wanted a house like this. When she got her money off Daddy, that was what she was going to buy. She looked in all the bedrooms, saving the master bedroom until last.

      ***

      Annie drove through the narrow country lanes with Jake and Alex following closely behind. Finally reaching the gates to the cottage, which were open, she drove straight through and stopped her car near to the builders’ van and got out. What a difference since last week! The house had been painted white, making the windows, which had all been replaced with newer oak versions of the originals, stand out. It looked just like it had on the painting in the bedroom. They got out of their cars and stared.

      ‘What do you think?’

      ‘Oh, Annie, it’s gorgeous! I can’t believe what a difference from the last time I was here, when it was a peeling, dirty hovel.’

      Alex frowned at Jake but she laughed.

      ‘Say it as it is, Jake, but it was pretty grim. Wait until you see the inside; you would never believe it was the same house. Alex and the builders have done a pretty amazing job.’

      She looked up and saw a woman in the upstairs bedroom window. Her heart almost exploded out of her chest but then she recognised the blonde hair and felt her fear replaced with anger. What on earth was Amelia doing in her bedroom?

      Before she could go inside to find out, two men came flying through the door as if they were being chased. Annie looked at their pale faces, concerned.

      ‘Hiya, is everything okay?’

      They both nodded at her. ‘Brew time.’

      They walked to their van, throwing open the doors and climbing inside, one of them pulling out his phone. The other waved at them and pointed to the flask on the dashboard. Jake muttered under his breath, ‘Typical bloody builders and they wonder why they have such a reputation.’

      Annie smiled. ‘Don’t be mean. They’ve worked really hard the last few weeks; they are entitled to a break.’

      But something had made them run out of the house. You didn’t look like they did because it was time for a cup of tea; they both looked petrified. She walked under the newly rebuilt porch, which had the original wooden structure, and shivered. She did it every single time without fail. She needed to man up; it was time to face facts—whoever or whatever it was that was still attached to this house needed speaking to and told to leave. This was her home now. There was no way after spending all this money on it that she was moving into it feeling uneasy all the time.

      A sheepish-looking Amelia came down the stairs and smiled at Annie. ‘Sorry, you caught me. I was just passing and realised that this must be the house you and Will were renovating. Tom does nothing but talk about it and I thought I’d pop in to see if you were around and if you fancied a coffee. I realise how busy you are so I’ll get going now; maybe we can have a coffee some other time.’

      ‘Oh, okay… Yes, that would be nice. How did you get in?’

      ‘The front door was open; the builders said it was okay to look around and wait for you.’

      ‘Ah, I thought so. Sorry, Amelia, but maybe some other time.’

      Jake watched the strained exchange with interest but kept his mouth shut. Annie walked Amelia to the door.

      ‘Bye, Annie. It’s a beautiful house, by the way.’

      ‘Thank you, it is. Bye.’

      Annie shut the door behind her, puzzled as to why the woman even thought that Annie would want to show her around her new house, but then she shrugged it off. Maybe she was just being friendly.

      ‘Who was that?’

      ‘Will’s dad’s new housekeeper. Did you find her a bit odd?’

      Jake shook his head. He was still muttering about the builders, who were sitting in the van, but he stopped as soon as he walked into the completely rearranged open-plan kitchen-diner and lounge.

      ‘Wow, what a difference! I can’t believe it. It looks so modern, yet still fits in really well. I love the bare stonework.’

      Annie squeezed her arms around Alex’s waist, forgetting about her strange visitor.

      ‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’

      It was Alex’s turn to grin. ‘It looks fabulous, Annie. I bet you can’t wait to get the kitchen units and cooker in.’

      ‘I can’t and I’ve seen the most perfect Aga but it’s so expensive. I don’t know if we can justify spending that much money on a cooker for me just to burn food on and dry Will’s socks.’

      ‘I agree with you there, Annie, we all know what a crap cook you are, but surely you can’t really put anything else in a kitchen this size except a range cooker. If you’re going all country you need the right equipment, even if it is just to burn pizzas in.’

      She shoved Jake, who was laughing.

      ‘Anyway, I bet Will would buy you anything you want if you ask. I don’t know what hold you have over him but he’s like a changed man, and if Will won’t buy one I bet if you told Lily what you want it would be here the next week, regardless of how much it was.’

      ‘You know I’m not like that, Jake. I don’t care about the money and I wouldn’t dream of expecting Lily or Tom to provide me with an over-expensive cooker. But the one I’ve seen in a magazine is pale pink and it’s to die for. With those off-white kitchen cupboards it would look amazing, but I’ll wait and see if there’s enough money left over before I order it.’

      Jake walked over and lifted his hand to her forehead, pressing it against her skin to feel if she was warm or cold.

      ‘Just checking you’re not coming down with something. Since when did you like pink, my little wannabe Goth who lives in black clothes and has tattoos in places no one can see?’

      ‘Cheeky! I like black because it’s slimming, the tattoos were when I lived with Mike and had to keep them hidden. I saw the cooker in a magazine and it looked so nice—I designed my whole kitchen around that cooker.’

      ‘You designed your kitchen around a cooker that you’re too scared to ask for? I’ll tell Will about it and if you feel so bad about the cost it can be his wedding present to you instead of some soppy diamond bracelet he’s been dithering about that you’ll only lose anyway. At least you can’t lose a whopping great cooker.’

      Alex gently shoved Jake. ‘Can you not keep your whopping great mouth shut for five minutes? I have no idea why anyone would tell you anything confidential because you can’t keep that extra-large mouth shut long enough for your brain to store it.’

      Alex took hold of Annie’s hand and got her to lead him around the rest of the house while Jake stood by the kitchen window watching the builders, who were now in a deep discussion and kept pointing at the house. He took out his phone and typed a message to Will: Don’t bother with the diamonds. Annie wants a pale pink range cooker but is too scared to ask. He might be unable to stop himself from saying what he was thinking but at least it got him what he wanted most of the time, and he knew that Will would order some brochures and then be the one to approach Annie about it so she wouldn’t feel bad. After everything his friend had been through she deserved to be happy and so did Will.

      Jake was

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