When Alice Met Danny

She looked down at her glass, gently shaking her head. ‘I’ll tell you something, Danny. Buying the house full of poo was not the only stupid mistake I’ve made in this life. The other, much bigger one, was devoting myself body and soul to G&B for so many years. To the exclusion of all else.’ She looked up. ‘You know something? When Nigel told me I had lost my job, I was devastated. But now, the more I think about it, the better it feels.’

‘And this place in Devon? Is that where your new life will be?’

She gave it some thought. ‘I was thinking about that on the train on the way home today. I actually felt almost sorry to leave Devon this morning. So maybe that’s one decision I’ve got right. It’s so very different from the city.’ She looked up with a smile on her face as she remembered. ‘Whether I stay in Beauchamp or go for one of the surrounding villages, I have yet to decide. But I’ve already found a couple of Dannys down there to keep me company.’

He looked puzzled.

‘I was going to tell you in my e-mail, but I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. One of them I held in my arms, and the other one I scratched behind his ears.’

He gave her a smile as she explained what she meant. Underneath the smile, he found himself repeating her words…wrong idea?

She smiled back. Underneath the smile, she realised she had deliberately omitted to mention the other Danny, or rather, Daniel the Vicar. Why, she wondered, had she done that?

Chapter 10 (#ulink_e32d66ae-c5d7-5c56-bedd-2bce63ac296c)

The phone call from Peter the Surveyor came late the following Friday.

‘I am happy to report that the house has now been cleared. You will be interested to know that it took a team of three men three full days to clean it out. I’m afraid that the bill for disposal of what they refer to as “medical waste” has pushed the total up by almost a thousand pounds, but they’ve done it. I will go in on Monday to take an initial look. If you have plans to come down to Beauchamp, maybe you might like to meet me on site at some point.’

‘Fantastic.’ The extra thousand seemed a small price to pay for getting rid of everything. ‘I’m coming down to Devon tomorrow. I’ve arranged to stay with your aunt again, so you can contact me there if you can’t get me on the mobile.’ She had already made the discovery that the steep Devon hills and valleys were not conducive to mobile phone reception. ‘Did they make any comment on what they saw?’

There was a brief pause. ‘It seems there may be an infestation of dry rot.’

‘Dry rot?’ She knew that wasn’t good news. ‘Isn’t that the sort of thing that makes houses fall down?’

‘Only in the most extreme cases. Normally it can be remedied. I’ll take a look on Monday and should be better placed to make a judgement then. It may not even be dry rot. There are lots of fungal growths that look similar. By the way, just to warn you, the garden still looks like a rubbish dump. As it doesn’t look as if there’s anything toxic out there, we can get a local firm to clear it. It’ll work out a lot cheaper for you. I’ll give you a call on Monday afternoon.’

She thanked him and headed for the bathroom. She had arranged to meet a bunch of former colleagues from G&B for a drink when they finished work at six. She found herself humming in the shower. Things were on the up.

Next day she took a morning train from Paddington. Being a Saturday, it was a bit quieter than usual. She bought a car magazine at the station in order to have some idea of what sort of vehicle to get when she moved down to the West Country. This was not a subject with which she was familiar. In fact, she thought to herself as the train picked up speed, she couldn’t even remember what make her rental car the previous week had been. As she flicked through page after page of incomprehensible gobbledegook, she soon realised that this was a decision she was not qualified to make. She needed advice.

The only person she could think of with a car was Danny. She knew he had one because he had told her he took his windsurfing board everywhere on the roof. He kept it in the car park under the G&B building. She pulled out her phone and scrolled down to Danny Kemp. It was half past nine. Hopefully he would not still be in bed.

The phone rang five or six times before it was answered. It was a woman’s voice. Momentarily discomfited, Alice hesitated. The voice at the other end tried again.

‘Hello, is anybody there?’ It did not sound like an old woman. Very much the opposite, in fact.

‘Mm, hello. Could I speak to Danny?’

‘I’m afraid he’s in the shower. Can he call you back?’

‘Um, yes, please.’

‘Who shall I say is calling?’

‘It’s Alice.’

‘Okay. He won’t be long.’

Alice placed the phone back on the table. So had Danny got a girl staying with him? And, anyway, she thought to herself, what’s it to me, if he has?

She picked up the car magazine again and continued to flip through the pages without enthusiasm. It was all very confusing. She was trying to work out the difference between a Range Rover Evoque and a Range Rover Sport when her phone started to ring. It was Danny.

‘Hi Danny, sorry if I disturbed you before.’

‘Hi Alice.’ He sounded pleased to speak to her. ‘We had a bit of a lie-in this morning. I’ve got Janie staying for the weekend and we had a bit of a night of it last night.’

Alice realised that she really did not want to hear of his conquests, so she hastily came to the point. ‘I was looking for some advice. Do you know anything about cars?’

‘A bit.’ He sounded surprised. ‘Are you thinking of getting one?

‘I’ve worked out that you can’t really live in Devon without one. I’m on my way down there now and it won’t be long before I’m living there. It’ll cost me a fortune to rent one, so I reckon I’d better buy something. The problem is that I don’t really know the first thing about them. I bought a magazine, but it doesn’t help. Did you know there were lots of different types of Range Rover for instance?’ Up till then she had just thought that a Range Rover was a Range Rover. He laughed.

‘I probably wouldn’t advise buying one of them. Not unless you’ve got your own oil well. Maybe something a tad smaller? Anyway, what’s the news on the house? Have the cleaners been in?’ She recounted what the surveyor had told her. ‘That sounds excellent. I wouldn’t worry too much about dry rot. We had it in our first house and it’s still standing.’

That sounded reassuring. ‘Thanks for that, Danny. So, what sort of car should I get?’ There was a pause as he gave it consideration.

‘Are you planning on buying it down in Devon or up here?’

‘I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose it would make more sense to buy it in London, so I could use it to carry things like plants and valuables that the removal men don’t take.’

‘Well, how about I come car shopping with you some time next week?’

She accepted eagerly and they arranged to meet on Thursday. It was on the tip of her tongue to offer him lunch in return for dinner the other night. But the knowledge that he was in his flat with another woman stopped her. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

After he hung up, he wished he’d offered to buy her lunch, but he decided against calling her back. A smell of grilled bacon came through from the kitchen. He reached for a jumper and headed through to Janie. He was impressed. This was just about the first time she had ever cooked for him. Things were looking up.

Chapter 11 (#ulink_8f9bd189-9fa9-5b11-a6a3-bd7cc6a7c2cf)

Alice arrived in Exeter on time and went straight to the car rental agency opposite the station. This time she made a note of the type of car they gave her. It looked very similar to the one she had had the previous week, just silver instead of black. She drove straight to Woodcombe, to drop her bag. She was met at the door by a smiling Mrs Tinker and a friendly dog.

‘Hello Mrs Tinker, and hello Danny.’ The dog seemed very pleased to see her, as did his mistress.

‘Hello, my dear. I’ve got something to show you. Put your bag down here and come next door with me.’ She led Alice back out of the front door and along to the entrance of Duck Cottage. The door was half open. She waved Alice in.

The house was warm and welcoming and smelt of paint. In the kitchen an immensely tall man in a pair of white overalls was painting the ceiling. He had a step ladder, but was clearly only using it as a place to rest the pot of paint. The whole place looked wonderful.

‘You didn’t need to redecorate, Mrs Tinker. It looked fine as it was.’ Beside her, she could feel the heat from an Aga identical to the one next door.

‘Alice, this is Neil. He has painted our houses ever since I first got married.’

‘Have a heart, Agnes, I’m not that old.’ He waved a white-spotted hand in Alice’s direction. ‘I would shake your hand, but…’ He gave her a smile before returning his attention to Mrs Tinker. ‘Do you want me to give the bathroom a coat while I’m at it?’

‘Whatever you think needs doing, Neil. It needs to look good for Alice when she moves in.’ She turned towards her. ‘Have you got a date yet?’

Alice had been thinking about this on the train. There seemed no point hanging on in London. There was nothing and nobody to keep her there really. ‘As soon as possible if that’s all right with you. I’ll ring the removal people on Monday and see when they can manage. And I’m going shopping for a car on Thursday, so I won’t have to keep renting.’

‘That’s excellent, my dear. Neil will be out of here in the next few days. So any time will be fine. Just you let me know.’