LITMIR.BIZ

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scent of clipped privet was strong on the air as he passed 3 Roundhouse Row where Ernie could be seen sweeping up hedge trimmings. ‘Aaron!’ Ernie hailed him at max volume. ‘Do we have a new Evelyn? Dilys says we have but nobody’s told me.’ He waved towards the blue BMW parked in the lane and leaned on the broom handle, shaggy grey eyebrows knitting above the bridge of his nose.

      Aaron met Ernie’s scowl with a smile. There was no point trading Ernie grump for grump. He couldn’t help but attack every subject like a threat any more than Aunt Norma could help tripping on uneven pavements. ‘Possibly,’ he replied.

      Ernie revolved on the spot as Aaron attempted to carry on by. ‘And she’s Alice’s cousin? Come to represent the family interests, has she?’

      Aaron shrugged, managing to sidestep Ernie on the second attempt. ‘Hard to say. Hedge is looking great, Ernie.’ Ernie was instantly distracted, beaming with pride as he patted his manicured privet, and Aaron escaped. Dilys must have met Clancy, which was like telling the whole village, and Aunt Norma had the same knitting and sewing mates. It was no doubt only because she was in hospital that he hadn’t already received an indignant phone call about a member of Alice’s family living in the Roundhouse.

      He broke into a jog, determined to pass Dilys’s cottage without being collared again but, thankfully, her red gingham curtains were drawn and he was able to slip through the gate to the Roundhouse.

      It was no use checking for drawn curtains there as every window was presently bare. His conscience gave him another prod. He gave the outer front door a gentle knock. If she was upstairs asleep – on what? – she would be unlikely to be disturbed by it and—

      A brisk rattle, then the porch door swung open and Clancy stood in the opening wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Her chestnut hair fell poker-straight and glossy to her shoulders, the fringe framing those direct green eyes.

      ‘Oh, good, it’s you,’ she said, beckoning him in. The smell of coffee and the red mug and bowl he could see in the sink as he followed her suggested she’d had breakfast. ‘I’ve found the bookings book in a kitchen drawer,’ she began as she strode ahead. ‘Can I get access to the Roundhouse Row bank account? Or do I come through you to check payments received? Evelyn’s notes don’t cover that.’ By now she’d reached the place on the kitchen island where the bookings book and a few piles of paper were all neatly arranged. She glanced down at the big dog beside Aaron. ‘Morning, Nelson.’

      Nelson waved his tail. Evidently, he didn’t know her well enough to perform his greeting dance.

      ‘But first—’ Aaron broke in, taken aback to realise the dreary, droopy ghost Clancy he’d met yesterday had vanished, leaving in its place a Clancy much more like the sparky woman he remembered.

      ‘“But first” let’s get the Roundhouse furniture out of storage?’ she finished for him, her honeyed tones belying her steely expression. ‘It’s high on my list, but not high on yours, evidently, as you didn’t bother coming back yesterday, regardless of whether I had anything to sleep on.’

      Aaron felt a smile tug at his mouth. He didn’t want it to, but something amused him about her obvious satisfaction in possessing knowledge he’d failed to share. ‘But first,’ he repeated firmly, ‘I need to apologise for abandoning you yesterday. There was a small family emergency.’ He explained about Aunt Norma.

      Instantly, concern filled Clancy’s eyes. ‘Your family comes first, of course. I can manage on an airbed for another couple of nights if necessary.’

      An airbed. He caught his mouth this time before it grinned at her resourcefulness. ‘I’m relieved you didn’t have to sleep on the floor. Can we sit down for a few minutes?’

      She looked ostentatiously around the space about them, still devoid of furniture. ‘On what?’

      This time he didn’t trouble to hide his smile, not minding points being scored over him when it was done with such elegance. ‘The garden bench worked perfectly yesterday.’

      He led the way out, letting Nelson off to sniff around. Clancy sat down and waited for him to begin, apparently content to watch a blackbird hopping about a gnarly apple tree as if choosing the perfect perch from which to sing.

      ‘I’m glad you feel that family comes first,’ he began carefully, joining her on the bench, ‘because I don’t think you being here’s a good thing.’

      Her hair swung around her face as she turned to regard him, the sun picking out glittering flecks of gold in her eyes. ‘Why’s that?’

      ‘Leaving aside the fact that I don’t think you realise what it’s like living in such a tiny, out-of-the-way place as Nelson’s Bar, you have to consider my family.’

      She tilted her head. ‘Why’s that?’ she repeated.

      Aaron began to feel less amused. It might be better – for her as well as him – if he was more direct. ‘Lee was nearly destroyed by Alice. He was heartsick for so long that we were afraid for him. As you know, Alice agreed that I could buy his half of the Roundhouse and Roundhouse Row to enable him to move away and make a new start, but he’s living in the village again and you’ll be a reminder.’ He paused, then went on, feeling she might as well know the truth. ‘To give you an idea of the level of antipathy in my family, they refer to Alice as “Awful Alice”.’ He sat forward, leaning his elbows on his thighs, giving her a level look. ‘There’s resentment, Clancy.’

      Clancy leaned forward to prop her elbows on her thighs and give him a level look of her own. ‘You may be your brother’s keeper, but I’m afraid I’m not my cousin’s.’

      ‘I didn’t say I was Lee’s keeper,’ he interrupted, stung.

      Clancy overrode him in the same level but firm voice. ‘What Awful Alice did was nothing to do with me, which I’m sure Lee’s mature enough to realise.’

      He decided to become yet more direct. ‘Personally, I thought of your cousin as Princess Alice, not too worried about what anybody else wanted, expecting her wishes to be paramount even when she was crying for the moon.’ He ignored the way her eyes widened at this candid appraisal. ‘Even if you’re not like that, I’m pretty confident Lee would prefer you to consider his feelings in this and return to your life in London. And – friendly warning – he won’t be alone in that.’

      Her gaze didn’t waver, though she made a tiny movement, as if somewhere deep inside she flinched. ‘You’re mixing up opinion with fact. Anyway, I can’t go back. Lee’s not the only one things have gone wrong for. My fiancé – ex, now – has got someone else, Renée, who I suspect he’s moving into our apartment pretty much as we speak. I’m being shoved out of the business I worked long and hard to help build so, as well as having nowhere to live, I have no job. I represent Alice’s interests and therefore I appoint myself as caretaker.’

      Her voice softened. ‘I think Alice will want me to have the job. She and I – there’s a special relationship. I haven’t seen her for a while, but that doesn’t matter. That’s how it’s always been because my parents towed me around the world or they put me in boarding school or left me with Alice and Aunt Sally, when, despite your assessment of her character, she shared her home, her life, her friends and even her mother with me without hesitation. Now I’m based in the UK and she’s the one travelling I’m pretty certain she’d support my wish to come to Nelson’s Bar. But we can ask her, if you like.’ Her expression clouded. ‘I’m genuinely sorry you don’t want me here, and I can see you might think that with my history I should be inured to just cheerfully packing up and shoving off somewhere where I’m less of an inconvenience. But I need a new home, at least for now. And this is it.’ Her voice wavered and she clamped her lips shut on the end of the sentence.

      In the silence, the blackbird began to sing beautifully fluting notes. Nelson lifted his head as if searching for the source of the sound with his one eye.

      Aaron stared at Clancy, shaken to his plummeting core. He should have recognised the trouble

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