Part 17 (2/2)

However, her efforts to find a house were failing miserably. The details the estate agents were sending her were either grossly misleading or well out of her price range. That was the trouble with wanting to stay in Kings Melford, where she would be close to school and her parents. The latter was imperative; she just wouldn't survive if Bob and Eileen weren't within a two-mile radius. If nothing else, they were her safety net.

Although they hadn't been much of a safety net when Carrie had performed her disappearing act at school. It still appalled Harriet to think what might have happened to her niece if Will hadn't come across her. Which brought her full circle: Will Hart. Other than his taste in young girlfriends, he seemed a nice enough bloke and there really hadn't been any need for her to make that barbed comment about his children not living with him. It had been unnecessarily rude of her, given that he'd been so helpful with Carrie and herself when she'd been having her asthma attack.

Feeling decisive, she made a mental note to give him a ring at his shop during her lunch break. She would apologise and get him off her conscience. When she'd done that, she would ring Miles and ask him for Dominic's phone number so that she could wipe that slate clean as well. She might also ask Miles if he fancied a drink that evening.

Dangerous Dave poked his head round her office door just as she'd made a breakthrough on a particularly satisfying piece of programming and was leaning back in her chair, her feet up on her desk, a fist punching the air.

'Hiya, Harriet,' he said. 'If you've got a minute, the Big Man says he'd like a word with you.'

'Oh, h.e.l.l. Any idea what he's on the warpath for today?' Yesterday it had been a tedious bean-counting exercise - 'Keep the fiction out of your expense claims or you'll be working on your obituaries,' he'd told the a.s.sembled staff.

Expecting there to be a similar gathering as yesterday, Harriet was surprised to find it was just her who had been summoned to the Big Man's office.

'Ah, there you are. How do you fancy a trip over to Ireland?'

'A potential client?'

Howard nodded and pointed to a chair. 'That's right. But don't be getting your hopes up and thinking it's that leather-clad clog-dancing pretty boy Michael Flatulence. I want you to convince the haulage company I've been chasing for some months now that we're the boys to give them what they want. They're the reason I employed you.' He got to his feet and jangled some loose change in his pockets. 'Presumably there's no reason why you can't go?'

'No reason at all. When were you thinking?'

Back in her office, Harriet dug out her personal organiser and pencilled in the days she would be away. Looking ahead, a.s.suming there wouldn't be a problem with her parents handling things in her absence, a couple of days guzzling Guinness and eating out seemed okay.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that it was now lunchtime. Which in turn reminded her that she had two phone calls to make. Will's number was engaged, so she tried Miles.

'You're lucky you caught me,' he said when one of the girls in the bookshop had located him. 'I'm just off for lunch with one of the publis.h.i.+ng reps. How have you been? The new job going well? The kids okay?'

'Yes to all of the above. I shan't keep you, but have you got Dominic's phone number to hand?'

'I have, but what on earth do you want that for?'

'I need to speak to him. Actually, I need to apologise. I was pretty hard on him when he was up here and I've been feeling bad about it ever since.'

'Well, don't. Dominic's never felt bad about another living soul. Besides, he won't know what to do with an apology, apart from pour scorn on it.'

After she'd rung off, having arranged to meet for a drink next week - Miles was busy tonight - Harriet tried Will's number again and got through. 'Hi,' she said, 'it's Harriet Swift, your neighbour from across the - '

He cut her off with a laugh. 'It's okay, I know exactly who you are. What can I do for you? Oh, by the way, how's your asthma? No further attacks I hope.'

Harriet stalled, picturing herself making an embarra.s.sing fool of herself wheezing and crying in his office. She must have looked and sounded a total mess. An apology over the phone, though convenient, suddenly didn't seem entirely appropriate or adequate. More to the point, it might make her look weak and cowardly. If she had any bottle at all, she'd do it in person. 'What time do you finish work?' she asked.

'Hey, didn't you know? I'm the big honcho round here; I finish work whenever I want to.'

'And in the real world?'

'About six. Why? Do you want to negotiate a fair wage for Carrie when I put her on the payroll? I'll warn you now; there'll be occasional chimneys for her to clean as well as the odd Spinning Jenny to crawl under.'

'I'm sure my niece is more than capable of sorting out her own financial package without my intervention.' Harriet steeled herself. 'If you're around this evening, I wondered if I could nip across and speak to you. I won't keep you long.'

'You can keep me as long as you like. I have nothing planned for the evening.' He laughed. 'Or for the rest of time, come to think of it. Why not have that drink I've been threatening you with?'

Mm ... she thought, when she'd said goodbye, idly moving the cursor about on her computer screen. It sounded like the pretty blonde girlfriend was no more. Was she pushed, or did she go of her own accord? And was there a danger, if Will was used to pulling girls much younger than himself, that he might try it on with Harriet?

Let him try!

Chapter Thirty-One.

It was a while since Will had had anyone other than Suzie and Gemma to the house, and after a hurried tidy-up and a blitz round with the Dyson and a duster, he deemed the place verging on the half-decent. I'm letting myself go, he thought, pus.h.i.+ng the Dyson back into the under-stairs cupboard. But then lately he hadn't had much time for the pinny and rubber-glove routine. If he wasn't chasing his tail with the shop, driving hundreds of miles every week to auctions and being called out by people who'd watched one too many episodes of Bargain Hunt and Flog It and now believed they had a stash of priceless objets d'art languis.h.i.+ng in the attic, he was keeping the peace between Suzie and her mother. A full-time job in itself.

When he'd driven Suzie away from the clinic, he'd brought her back to his house before taking her home to Maywood. She'd cried for most of the journey and it was only when he'd settled her in the armchair in the sitting room and had made her a hot drink that they talked about the baby. 'You don't have to justify why you changed your mind,' he said. 'It's your decision, no one else's.'

'But Mum's going to kill me.'

'Nonsense. She doesn't handle change too well, that's all. Once she gets used to the idea, she'll be fine. She'll start organising the mother of all nurseries for you. The whole shebang.'

But Maxine was far from fine when Will drove Suzie home and explained the situation while Suzie rushed upstairs to her bedroom. 'But she can't keep the baby!' Maxine had screeched. 'She's only nineteen. What about university? How does she think she's going to manage? Has she figured that out yet? Oh, this is madness!'

Unable to keep his temper in check a moment longer, Will turned on Maxine. 'I'll tell you how's she going to manage: she's going to have all the love and support she b.l.o.o.d.y well deserves. And if you're not prepared to do it, I'll do it alone.'

'Oh, there you go again. You always have to be the good guy.'

'Change the record, why don't you?'

She glared at him. 'I blame you. If you'd been firmer with her at the clinic she wouldn't have backed out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you deliberately engineered this just to put her against me.'

'For G.o.d's sake, Maxine, listen to yourself! Where's your love and compa.s.sion? This is our daughter. She's just made the most crucially important decision of her life and you're twisting it round to make it proof that I'm some kind of b.a.s.t.a.r.d. What's the sense in that?'

'Don't you ever question my love for Suzie. It's because I love her that I want the best for her and that doesn't include being a single mother at nineteen.'

'I agree it's not ideal, but this is the choice she's made and I for one am going to help her all I can.'

Steve had arrived home from work at that point and Will had taken it as his cue to exit stage left. Since then, Maxine had calmed down but Will knew Suzie was hurt that her mother had pointed out several times that it wasn't too late for her to change her mind and have a termination. She was also repeatedly warning Suzie of the difficulties that lay ahead.

Will was also worried about the numerous practicalities Suzie would soon be facing. His primary concern was where Suzie and the baby would live and what they'd live on if Maxine didn't have a change of heart. Benefits would be available, he supposed, but parental pride and something horribly middle-cla.s.s in Will made him feel he'd be letting Suzie down if this was what she was reduced to. Plan B was to invite Suzie to move in with him and somehow he'd earn the extra money needed. He'd be d.a.m.ned if he'd go cap in hand to Maxine. But he couldn't believe that Maxine wouldn't finally come round and be there for Suzie.

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