It was only by clamping her jaws together and murmuring her goodbyes through clenched teeth that Helena got out of there without being rude to anyone.
‘Would you believe it!’ she said, as soon as she and Gilly were in the car and had driven a few yards away from the house. ‘God! I know that woman is a viper but the cheek of it! Just suggesting you should sell your house so they can buy that stately home is iniquitous!’
‘You don’t think I should go for it, then?’ said Gilly.
Helena braked and pulled into the side of the road. ‘You are joking?’
‘Yes of course!’ said Gilly. ‘Now let’s get home and have something proper to eat.’
But after Helena had finally gone home, Gilly was thoughtful. Like Helena she was outraged at the suggestion that in her mid-fifties she was in need of sheltered accommodation at her son’s house, while giving up her own life to become a nanny – presumably without being paid. But she was the owner of quite a valuable property and while Martin and Cressida didn’t need to live in a seven-bedroomed mansion, Helena could certainly do with some money to buy a studio. Helena had spent the five thousand she’d received at the same time as Martin on a loom and other equipment. It would be wrong to dismiss the idea without giving it some thought. What she needed was someone she could discuss it with, someone with her interests at heart. Of course she wouldn’t go and live with Cressida and Martin but maybe it was time to downsize?
Chapter Five
It was still light when Helena dropped her home and Gilly had noticed that the signs outside the house were a little mud-spattered so she decided to go out and wash them, as well as tidying up a bit in the garden. First impressions were so important. Helena might tease her about being obsessed with Four in a Bed with its critical bed and breakfast owners, staying in each other’s businesses and peeling back every layer of bedding and standing on chairs to find dirt on the chandelier, but attention to detail was very important. Besides, she wanted to think, and she thought better if physically occupied.
But half an hour later the light was seriously beginning to fade and Gilly was about to go inside when she heard a car pull up in the road behind her.
‘Excuse me!’ said a voice.
She turned round and saw a large, smart car and a man with silver hair and a nice smile leaning across so he could speak to her through the passenger window.
‘Can I help?’ she asked, glad she had make-up on from having been out for lunch and that her hair was reasonably OK for the same reason.
‘I wonder if you can,’ said the man, whose voice was as pleasant as the rest of him. ‘I’m looking for this address.’ He stopped the engine, got out of the car and came round so he could talk to Gilly properly. He was holding a bit of paper.
Gilly took the offered paper and considered it for a moment. ‘Well, you’re not far but you’ve come up the wrong way from the crossroads at the bottom of the hill.’
She gave him instructions about how to find his destination and he smiled again. ‘Thank you so much. The satnav wasn’t co-operating today. I’m only going to the house to do a valuation.’
‘Valuation?’ said Gilly, her attention caught.
He nodded. ‘Yes. I’m doing a valuation for a friend.’ He didn’t seem in any particular hurry to get going. ‘Here’s my card.’
Gilly took it and read it. There was his name, Leo Simmons, and a string of letters afterwards, none of which meant anything to Gilly. ‘So do you do valuations as your job?’
‘Not exclusively but it’s part of what I do.’ He paused. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘It’s just … Oh, nothing.’ She stopped and realised he was waiting. ‘I think I ought to get my house valued,’ said Gilly quickly, before she could change her mind.
‘It’s never a bad thing,’ said Leo quietly, ‘although I can see you’re not quite happy about it. Knowledge is power, after all.’
‘It is! I’ll make an appointment,’ said Gilly, holding his card tightly and getting mud on it.
‘I tell you what, unless you’re busy later, why don’t I do this house up the road and then come back and do yours?’
‘Excellent idea,’ said Gilly. Then I can’t back out, she added to herself. Knowledge was indeed power and having her own valuation done meant Cressida couldn’t start telling her how much valuable real estate she was sitting on.
‘Brilliant. I’ll be round in about an hour.’
Which gave Gilly an hour to give the house another tidy in his honour.
Gilly kept everywhere open to the public immaculate, which included the kitchen. But her own bedroom would have put any teenage girl’s to shame – in fact, she thought, it could belong to very untidy teenage twins. But as with so many occupations, running a B & B had an element of smoke and mirrors about it and making a room, even her own, look good in a very short time wasn’t much of a challenge to Gilly.
The first thing she did was take the duvet off the bed. Then every item of clothing that wasn’t dirty (in which case it went in the capacious laundry basket) was laid on the bed. Floordrobe became bed-drobe. When she was satisfied there was nothing else lying about she laid the duvet carefully over the top. A few scatter cushions, artfully placed, and the room was instantly tidy.
The en-suite bathroom took a little longer but she had time to refresh her make-up before she hid it all away in the cupboard behind the mirror. Leo wouldn’t need to open the cupboard to value the house and if he looked like doing so, she’d stop him.
As she reapplied her foundation she wondered if it would look as if she fancied him if she appeared too made-up. But no, she decided, she always made sure she was looking her best when she knew guests were due – it was only professional. This was a professional visit and she should prepare for it. Although she couldn’t help reflecting that he was a very attractive man and while she had seen many attractive men since her divorce this was the first one that made her feel just a little bit fluttery.
The thought made her happy.
‘Well, this is a lovely house,’ said Leo Simmons, having arrived back an hour later, as arranged. He was in the large hall, looking around. ‘But I imagine running a bed and breakfast is very hard work.’
Gilly smiled warmly at him. Not everyone understood that there was work involved. Many people thought it was just showing people to their perfect rooms and frying up a few freshly laid eggs. They didn’t realise the effort making those rooms perfect required.
‘It is a labour of love but I do love it, so that’s OK. I’ll show you the B & B bit first and then the rest of it. I have six bedrooms, one of them wheelchair friendly. We’ll start there.’
‘This is a very good size,’ said Leo, writing down the measurements in his book as they went into the downstairs bedroom. ‘French doors on to the garden. Large en suite.’
‘It was the morning room in the old days, when I was a little girl living here with my parents,’ said Gilly. ‘But it makes a lovely bedroom.’
‘So this was your family home?’
She nodded. ‘It was. It was a struggle to keep it when my husband left.’