A Summer to Remember (12 page)

‘And how do you know I didn’t have boyfriends over?’ she ventured. Dominic almost spluttered a mouthful of tea across the table. ‘Did you spy on me, too? Dominic?’

He looked at her, his brown eyes crinkling at the edges. ‘How about later then?’ he said. ‘Come over to The Folly this evening?’’

‘Dominic – you haven’t answered my question!’ Nina said.

‘Come on – you want to see The Folly, don’t you?’ His face was positively rosy from trying to suppress what Nina guessed was a confession.

‘Er – well …’ she hesitated, her mind clouded with confusion.

‘We could walk along the river – like we used to.’

Nina couldn’t help smiling at the memory. But, back then, she had been a babysitter and Alex and Dominic had worn bright woollen hats and matching gloves, and had played hide-and-seek in the old Folly. An invitation to the now-private home of a young man, via a riverside walk, had quite different connotations – especially if he had romance in mind. That wouldn’t fit in at all with Nina’s plans to get him back together with Faye. Which reminded her – she really did have to get moving with that little idea.

But Nina didn’t have time to answer as the front door suddenly crashed open.

‘Anyone home?’ a male voice cried.

Nina looked at Dominic. His mouth had dropped open and his face had set in a frown.

‘Hullo there, bruv!’ A tall, fair-haired young man breezed into the kitchen and gave Dominic a sound slap on the back. ‘How are you? Good to see me?’

‘Hello, Alex.’

‘And who do we have here? Latest girl, Dom?’ His eyes flicked back up to Nina as he raked a hand through his tousled hair.

‘Erm, w— well—’ Dominic stuttered.

‘I must say, your taste’s improving with age.’

Nina felt his eyes raking quickly up and down the length of her.

‘No, Alex – this is Dad’s new secretary. I thought you’d remember her.’

‘Don’t tell me!’ Alex put a hand up and he looked at Nina again, his brown eyes narrowing. There was a moment’s pause. ‘Nina Elliot,’ he said suddenly, causing her to blush. ‘Didn’t you think I’d remember?

‘No,’ she said quietly, staring into eyes that seemed to wink at her.

‘Who wouldn’t remember you?’ He took a step closer and held his hand out. Nina reached out to shake it and gasped when he took it up to his mouth to kiss it.

‘Welcome back,’ he said, a grin stretching across his face, making Nina’s heart somersault. It’s really great to see you again.’

‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘You too.’

‘So, how have you been? What have you been up to all these years?’

Nina smiled. ‘Nothing much, I’m afraid. A bit of this and that. A few awful jobs and a few dreadful boyfriends – you know how it goes.’ She gave a nervous laugh.

‘I’m sure you’ve been breaking hearts left, right and centre,’ Alex said and Nina felt herself blushing.

‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ she said.

‘You always were a heartbreaker,’ he told her.

‘What?’ Nina said in surprise. ‘I was not!’

‘The worst sort, too,’ Alex added, ‘because you don’t know when you’re doing it.’

‘Oh, Alex!’ Nina said, hoping he was teasing her. There was definitely a twinkle in his eye that she seemed to remember from all those years ago. He always had been a terrible tease.

‘So, what are you doing this evening?’ he suddenly asked her.

‘Well, I—’

‘Only I thought you might like a spin in the new car – out to the Broads? Find a nice little pub by the water? What do you say?’

Nina felt that her head was nodding quite independently of any thought inside it.

‘Good. Will you be ready in about an hour? That should give us plenty of time to find somewhere, shouldn’t it?’

‘Fine,’ Nina said, her mouth strangely dry.

‘Great!’ Alex said, clapping his hands together. ‘I have a feeling this is going to be one hell of a summer!’

Dominic was furious. Just who did Alex think he was – marching in like that and snatching Nina from right under his nose, just as they’d been getting along so well? But wasn’t it absolutely typical of him? It was just the sort of behaviour he’d come to expect from his brother over the years. He’d been sure Nina would have spent the evening with him. She’d been on the verge of accepting his invitation when Alex had barged in.

Alex really was the limit when it came to women. Bring a pretty girl within a one-mile circumference of him and he’d track her down and hound her until she’d promised to go out with him. It had always been the same. Ever since they were boys, he’d had to get in there first, make an impression and prove he was the best.

Dominic sighed, knowing that if Nina was to stay the duration of the summer, he’d better warn her about Alex before it was too late.

Chapter Twelve

Nina didn’t know why she felt so guilty about saying yes to going out with Alex. She’d finished work for the day and they hadn’t seen each other for years. What harm would there be in having a quiet meal together and catching up on old times?

Having been just that little bit older than Dominic when she’d babysat them, she’d been able to talk to him and it would be great to catch up with him tonight.

It felt like ages since she’d been taken out to dinner but, she reasoned, this was not a date. It was nothing more than a get-together with somebody from her past whom she felt great affection for. That was all. Besides, she was curious to get to know the grown-up Alex and wanted to see the young man he’d become.

She looked in the mirror that leant against the wall, and straightened her dress. Perhaps it was because Dominic had asked her first, and she hadn’t actually said yes or no before Alex had made her an offer of his own. Maybe that’s what was worrying her. Anyway, she’d sort things out with Dominic another time. She only hoped that she hadn’t upset him by agreeing to take off with Alex so spontaneously.

A couple of years older than Dominic, Alex had always been the confident one. He was always pushing boundaries, whether it was to do with his school homework or their strictly imposed bedtimes.

‘Oh, Neeenah!’ he’d cry as if in physical agony. ‘It’s not fair.’

That was it with Alex – if the world didn’t revolve around him all the time then it just wasn’t fair. But, even though he’d tried her patience on occasion, they’d had so many happy times together. Nina remembered watching him swimming in the river, practicing his guitar in the living room and showing her the best way to make toast – if she remembered correctly, it had something to do with raspberry jam and marshmallow fluff.

‘Mum makes it for us all the time,’ he’d assured her when she’d expressed some concern over the sickly sweet mess he’d made.

Nina smiled. As a child, Alex had liked to get his own way and, from what she’d seen of him so far today, that hadn’t changed at all. She grabbed her brush and ran it quickly through her hair, biting her lip as she wondered why it was so important to look nice. She shook her head, dismissing the thought that she was doing this for Alex, because it was time to go.

Grabbing her bag, she hurried down the stairs and stood in the hallway.

‘Nina?’ Alex’s voice came from the living room, and he appeared in the doorway, smartly dressed in beige linen trousers and crisp white shirt, his face clean-shaven and smelling citrussy. ‘Ready to go?’ he asked and Nina nodded.

As they left the house, Nina gasped at the car that greeted her in the driveway.

‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ she said, looking at Alex for confirmation.

‘Only the best for you!’ he dismissed casually, his eyes twinkling as he shook his keys in the air.

There before her, gleaming in the bright rays of the sun, was a sleek white Alfa Romeo Spider. Nina didn’t know much about cars, but she knew the difference between an old classic and an old banger and, up until now, her boyfriends had only driven the latter.

‘Is this really yours?’ she asked as Alex opened the door of the two-seater for her.

‘Of course,’ he grinned, walking around to the driver’s door and lowering himself into the seat. ‘Well,’ he added, ‘for the summer, anyway.’

Nina looked at him. ‘Hired?’

‘No, no. It belongs to a friend. One good turn deserves another and all that.’

‘And he trusts you with it?’ Nina said mischievously.

‘Yes! I’m no boy-racer, you know. I can handle a car sensibly.’

‘Well, I’m glad to hear it,’ Nina said, as he turned the key in the ignition, wondering what kind of favour would warrant the lending of such a car for the duration of the summer.

‘Got your belt on?’ Alex looked at her briefly as they turned out of the lane onto the main road. She nodded. ‘Okay, hold onto your hair!’

He wasn’t kidding. As the car picked up speed, Nina began to wish she’d tied her hair back as it blew both horizontally and vertically behind her. It was exhilarating, thrilling and ever-so-slightly terrifying. The back lanes of Norfolk had always been on the narrow side, but Nina had never seen them at such a close range before. Being exposed to the elements in a tiny car really made her feel a part of the landscape. It was almost like flying. They were literally driving through the air. At one point, she almost stretched a hand out to touch the banks, but thought better of it as they sped by a bramble hedge.

She looked at Alex, who was sporting a grin that almost tickled his ears. She could still see the naughty little boy there, dancing around the brown eyes. He’d always been determined to have the best, and he looked as if he’d got it now.

‘Happy?’ he asked, as he slowed to avoid a pothole in the middle of the road.

Nina looked at him and nodded. ‘Yes!’ she yelled back, her voice carried far behind them as he accelerated again. ‘I thought you said you weren’t a boy racer?’ she shouted to him.

‘I lied!’ he said and Nina couldn’t help but laugh. His exuberance might verge on the dangerous, but it was also highly infectious.

Solitary houses, farms and churches blurred past as the Spider tunnelled further into the Norfolk countryside. Nina almost called out several times as she saw likely candidates for the pub grub they were allegedly looking for, but Alex seemed to know where he was heading.

When he finally pulled over at a small pub whose black and white flints glinted in the evening sun, Nina sat for a moment, allowing her body to adjust to the sensation of being still again.

‘You look like a little haystack!’ Alex laughed as he looked at her.

‘Thanks a lot!’ she cried, self-consciously flattening her hair with her hands.

‘No – I like it!’ he said quickly.

She threw him a look of disbelief. ‘Well, you look like you’ve had electric shock treatment,’ she retorted.

‘That’s the price you pay for a good ride,’ he said, looking Nina straight in the eye and making her blush. ‘Come on,’ he said, getting out of the car. ‘The other thing a good ride’s renowned for giving you is an appetite.’

The Bittern was on one of the many broads that made Norfolk a favourite holiday destination. Its garden sloped down to the water and several bright white boats had been moored along its banks whilst the thirsty occupants drank their fill in the pub. Nina wondered if there were regulations about drinking and sailing as there were with drinking and driving. For the sake of the bitterns, and the other wildlife, she sincerely hoped there were.

She looked at the depiction of the large, rather unpleasant-looking bird on the signpost and wondered if it had just been made up. After all her years in Norfolk, she’d never seen anything that looked like that.

‘You go and grab a seat and I’ll get us a menu. What do you want to drink?’ Alex asked.

‘Just a mineral water, thanks.’

‘You sure you don’t want a proper drink? You’re not on babysitting duty now, you know.’

‘A mineral water is fine, thank you.’

‘Okey-dokey,’ Alex said, winking at her and disappearing into the pub, leaving Nina to enter the garden and choose a bench. She was glad she’d brought her jacket with her and she slipped it on as she chose a seat not too close to the water but with an unrivalled view of it.

As she waited for him to return, she couldn’t help thinking how strange it was to be going out for the evening with Alex. If somebody had told her the week before that she’d be back at The Old Mill House and enjoying the company of Alex and Dominic, she would never have believed them. She could see now why Olivia was so proud of her sons – Dominic with his budding career as an artist and Alex leading an exciting life in London. Olivia had said that Alex hadn’t quite settled in the right job yet but he would be brilliant in whatever he set his mind to, and Nina was apt to agree with her. Alex had spark and she was quite sure that he would set the world alight once he had found his focus.

Then there was Dudley. She wouldn’t exactly say that he’d made her feel at home yet – he was too wrapped up in his own world to worry much about how Nina was feeling – but there was a gentleness in his manner that she so appreciated after the way she’d been treated by her last boss, and they were beginning to work really well together, with him giving her a little bit more responsibility each day and her taking it with alacrity. She really had never felt happier in her life.

It was then that Alex appeared with the drinks and menu and sat down opposite her. They placed a quick order and Nina sipped her drink, her vision blurring somewhere over the water to the reed beds beyond.

‘So, you’re Father’s new secretary,’ Alex said, breaking the silence and claiming Nina’s attention.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Why – have there been many?’

Alex laughed. ‘You could say that.’

‘Oh dear,’ Nina’s mouth dropped.

‘No, don’t worry – I’m sure you’ll last longer than the others.’

‘I’ve only been here a few days but I was just beginning to feel at home,’ she said, thinking of how much happier she was in her new job than she had been in any other.

‘Good,’ Alex smiled. ‘It’s nice to have you back again.’

Nina looked into his brown eyes. They were a feature he had in common with Dominic, but there was something quite different about Alex’s eyes: they had a mischievous quality – a note of naughtiness.