A Change for the Better? (13 page)

“Ah, now that’s much better” she sighed

“So not to your taste then?”
Ben raised an enquiring eyebrow as he nodded Tamsin’s crowd.

“No, not really.
I mean they seem very nice people - with all that meditating and communing with nature they really ought to be - but they take it so seriously! So how did your meeting go?”

“Actually I think it went very well. Stew had a good proposition for BW. It needs more looking into, but it could be a goer.” Ben’s eyes lit up as he talked about the project and the possibilities that it could open up for BW. It seemed that an extra light had been turned on inside and the shower of blue from his now quite remarkable eyes would have drawn ships into port if Ben had been taking a stroll along a cliff. For the first time Katie noticed that Ben was a man as well as the good mate he was
turning out to be.

“Sorry” Ben interrupted her musings “you look a bit glazed - I get a bit carried away about work.”

“No no” Katie protested “Actually I think
it’s
two large glasses of Chardonnay on a basically empty stomach. I’ve hardly had a drink since I’ve been at Mo’s house. I think my tolerance levels have dropped.” Katie giggled. Ben looked across at her and for a moment he thought he was ten again, looking at Katie Collins from the next seat with a desire to get her attention no matter what. Okay, he thought, we’re back to pulling pigtails, now just grow up and behave like an adult.

“So let’s get you something to eat” he offered “I’m starving and Lucy’s probably eating Poppy by now. Or worse she might have tried to cook something!”

“She can’t be that bad surely?” Katie laughed. Ben told Katie about the ’kitchen’ incident over the last weekend, “it was only a small fire - but definitely a fire.” he finished. Katie picked up her bag, looking a little concerned

“Perhaps we should be getting back - we can call for something on the way. Do you know any numbers?” Laughing Ben followed Katie out of the pub and called up a number on his mobile.

“How does Indian sound? The
Kaghan Valley
delivers to Laxley too.” Ben offered.

“Oh yes” Katie replied “I haven’t had a good bhuna for ages.” Ben rang the number and ordered a set meal for four to be delivered to Tolpuddle House, including a chicken bhuna. Snapping his phone shut he caught up to Katie who had hastened up the road now that a fine drizzle was hanging in the air and clinging to her coat and hair, defying it not to go frizzy. They arrived back at Tolpuddle House in half the time it had taken them to get to the pub. Just as Katie was opening the door into the flat Lucy
came
flying down the stairs screeching to Ben.

“Ben, Ben, we don’t have to go just yet do we? I’m polishing up a stone and Poppy says she’ll set it in a pendant for me. Honestly Ben it’s beautiful, you can see about seven different colours in it depending which light it’s in, it’s called a quarter or something. What is it again?” she said to Poppy who had appeared behind her at the top of the stairs.

“Quartz” Poppy supplied

“Yes a quartz” Lucy repeated “so we don’t have to go straight away do we?” Ben couldn’t help but smile at Lucy’s enthusiasm, he could hardly reconcile it with the sullen and moody teenager hanging around his flat only two days ago when he had banned an outing to the beauticians on the parade for a third ear piercing.

“Well, actually, titch, no we don’t, we’ve ordered an Indian it’ll be here in about twenty minutes, so you’ve got a bit longer. Why don’t you join us?” he shouted up to
Poppy
“I’ve ordered plenty and it’s the least I can do after you’ve been babysitting Luce.” He threw a sidelong glance at Lucy and was gratified to see her rise to the bait. “Only joking sis - you’re far too big to babysit - so what do you say Poppy?” Poppy accepted in double-quick time, after all she was a student and they never turned down the offer of a free meal unless there were serious strings attached. Half an hour later all four of them were happily ensconced around Katie’s huge pine kitchen table with an assortment of foil containers, cardboard lids and polystyrene pots scattered between them. Lucy was still clutching her new pendant in one hand and kept running a finger over the smooth polished surface. Ben marvelled at the animation in her face as she told him about the
process and all about Poppy’s project, he realised he didn’t see her happy very often. In fact, he reflected ruefully, he didn’t really see Lucy enough full stop.  He made a mental resolution that once she was back at Mum’s he would make more of an effort to see her (and Mum) more regularly and invite her round more too. But he reflected she would have to go back to Mum’s shortly what with all the jobs at BW and the investigation work required for the Southampton project and the investment in the company he really didn’t have a lot of time to spend with Lucy now and he couldn’t afford to lose out on the opportunities, he’d ring Mum in the morning and sort out when she’d be back to pick up Lucy. Looking at his watch he realised it was nearly nine thirty and time to get Lucy back home for school in the morning, although he himself was loathe to leave the cosy atmosphere. Ben had to admit it had been a really enjoyable and relaxing evening, stretching out like a cat awakening in front of the fire he gave a stifled yawn and told Lucy to grab her stuff as they had to make a move. Ben and Lucy thanked Katie and Poppy for the evening and reluctantly walked out into the chilly damp night.

The following morning after packing a still excited Lucy off to school still wearing her new pendant despite Ben’s best efforts to tell her the teachers would probably confiscate it, Ben sat down at his desk at home and wrote himself a quick list of the tasks he needed to do in the day. He always liked to do this as he found it immensely satisfying to keep putting a line through items as he completed them. The list was relatively short;

1)
             
Ring Mum

2)
             
Ring solicitor (re: investments)

3)
             
Do a search on the Southampton project

4)
             
Tie up any other possible projects

5)
             
Put some budget figures together for Friday’s meeting

Ben looked up - nothing too difficult on today’s list but he needed to sort out item one to give him a chance at getting the rest done. Ben looked at his watch, it was a quarter to eight, there was no point phoning Mum yet, even if they were an hour in front in Spain it was still far too early to ring his mother who would not emerge from bed for at least another couple of hours. Ben decided to head for the office and
ring her from there. After catching up with John and Charlie they had added another three possible projects for the business, including the Southampton one, and he now had the details he needed to put some budget figures together but first he had to tackle his mother. Picking up the phone he tapped in the number for his mother’s mobile and waited, after about six rings someone answered with a very languid “Hello”

“Hi Mum, it’s Ben”

“Oh Ben hi, why are you ringing?” not a promising start Ben thought as she sounded genuinely puzzled.

“I just need to know what time you’ll be home on Friday so I can drop Lucy off. I’ve got a lot of work visits I need to do and I can’t arrange them until Lucy’s back home - and by the way you really could’ve rung me to ask about Lucy staying” Ben admonished

“Well” Trudy Chapman bristled “I didn’t think having your sister to stay would be such a problem to you.”

“It’s not a problem Mum,” Ben sighed “I could’ve done with some
notice - just to arrange things. I love Lucy and most of the time she’s good fun to have around.”

“Yes you see dear. I knew you wouldn’t mind really and what with my nerves playing up dreadfully I really had to get away. I needed peace and tranquility to rediscover my inner core.”

“Oh God” Ben groaned inwardly, she’d obviously discovered another guru to follow and Trudy continued right on cue

“As I was reading Professor Deschanel’s ‘Your inner core and how to stop it peeling’ I realised this was me. I’m being stripped of my emotional layers, exposing my core to the elements which cause me deep psychological and physical pain.”

“Yes I’m sure” Ben replied wryly, he was used to his mother’s reliance on fairly dubious
self-help
books into which she flung herself until she found another book more to her liking, generally ones that blamed everyone around her rather than herself, “but” he continued “now that you’ve had chance to recuperate, what time is your flight in so I can bring Lucy home.”

“My flight darling?”
Trudy replied dreamily “what do you mean?” Ben’s stomach started to sink, this wasn’t going very well.

“I mean your flight home Mum, you went last Friday so you must be catching your flight back this Friday.”

“Oh no, Ben darling, I’m not coming back until I’m fully healed. We’re staying at Nick and Helen’s villa and I only got one way tickets. We’ll book the returns when the re-layering process is complete.” Ben sat back in stunned silence; Jean looked over concerned as Ben dropped the phone onto the desk.

“Is everything alright Ben?” she enquired, concerned. Ben nodded in an automatic fashion. Ben could hear Trudy on the other end

“Ben dear, are you there, you’ve gone very faint. I can’t hear you.” Ben picked up the phone and spoke very carefully,

“So what you’re saying Mum, is, you’re not coming home on Friday and you can’t say exactly when you will be, except it’s when you’ve been re-layered.” Ben almost choked on the final word.

“Yes that’s right, and Lucy’s with you - you said it was nice to see her.” Trudy confirmed, almost reproachfully.

“Yes, but Mum, staying with me for a week is a bit different to staying with me indefinitely. I’ve got a business to run; I can’t run around after Luce.”

“Oh Ben, what’s more important than your family?” Trudy replied, without a hint of irony “Lucy’s no trouble, you’ll hardly know she’s there.” Ben knew it was a lost cause, his mother had always had the knack of being able to ignore anything that didn’t fit in with her plans and no amount of coaxing,
arguing
or plain shouting would change that.

“Okay Mum, speak to you soon. Phone me as soon as you’re getting back.” Ben put the phone down and ran his hand through his sandy hair. Jean looked at him and could she could see the concern in his eyes, her motherly nature took over, she couldn’t bear to see any of her ‘boys’ fretting.

“What is it Ben? Is your Mum okay?”

“Oh she’s okay” he replied bitterly “except for finding her inner core
and re-layering herself, which may take some time to achieve and she’s not coming home until she has.” he laughed, but with no humour. Jean raised her eyebrows, she knew Trudy of old and had laughed with Ben on many occasions about her latest fad, but she couldn’t understand a mother who could just abandon her child
without barely
a backward glance.

“So Lucy’s staying with you for a bit longer then?” she asked. Ben nodded

“She’ll have to, poor kid, but I don’t know how I’m going to cope with it. I’ve got loads of visits I need to do and she’s not the sort of teenager you’d leave on her own - generally havoc ensues.”

“Well that’s no surprise” Jean clucked “with a mother like that, sorry Ben, but it’s got to be said, it’s no wonder she does some things to get attention, maybe a bit of discipline and time from you is just what she needs. And don’t worry if you need to go away for a night she can always come and stop with me. She won’t get away with anything with my lot.” she added. Ben looked gratefully at Jean. He had no choice but to look after Lucy and if that was the case he should try to do it to the best of his ability, but he still wasn’t sure how Lucy was going to
take the news of her extended stay.

Ben spent the rest of the day researching the Southampton project and it looked like Stewart was right. The potential to turn these houses into new desirable accommodation was certainly within BW’s capabilities and, if his first figures were correct it was within their banking abilities too. Ben’s only concern was the distance, would he really want to spend six months in Southampton, or would John or Charlie with their family commitments? Ben pondered on this as he walked down the street into Rawlinston to grab a coffee and a sandwich. Ben was weighing up the pros and cons of a cheese and ham baguette or a cheese and onion pasty when he heard a tapping at the window he was passing, looking up he saw Declan’s grinning face beckoning him into the restaurant. Ben had done the whole refurbishment on Declan’s restaurant over four years ago and they had become firm friends as the project progressed.