Artistic Licence (19 page)

Instead, she put on the kettle and waited for it to boil. Something would occur to her. Some way of getting a large amount of money, and fast, would come to her. It had to, otherwise she’d have to ring Rory and tell him to take his pictures to America. And she would have to get a job that paid proper money.

Chapter Eleven

Thea was still drinking her tea, or rather, sipping at the now cold liquid in her mug, when Molly rang. She definitely did not want to tell Molly her problems until she’d found a solution, but when Molly asked her how things were going, her ‘fine’ was a little forced.

‘Good,’ said Molly, not noticing, ‘because I need a little favour.’

Thea would have liked to have told Molly that she was fresh out of favours and was far too busy. But even if this had been true, she wouldn’t have said it. As she murmured helpfully, she wondered if she should go on a course called ‘How to Say No to Bossy People’.

‘Ben’s leaving Toby with us this afternoon while he goes to a job interview in Bristol and I’d forgotten we’d got to go out tonight. I was wondering –’

Even Molly had to breathe sometimes. ‘If I could pop over and babysit?’ murmured Thea, wondering why Ben hadn’t mentioned changing his job to her.

‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t dream of asking you to do that. You must be far too busy with the gallery. I expect you’re sitting there now, chewing your pencil, working out which picture to put where.’

This was so far from the truth that Thea let out a sigh. ‘If only that were what I was doing!’

This unaccustomed despondency penetrated even
Molly’s pressing concerns. ‘Well, what
are
you doing?’

‘Wondering how on earth to fund my gallery – at least, how to get some money quickly. Long term I could sell my house, buy something smaller in Stroud and do the gallery with the change. But I can’t do any of that in the three months Rory’s given me.’ She sighed. ‘Do you suppose, if I offered him my body, he might stretch it to four?’

‘Oh, Thea!’

Realising she’d said far too much, Thea backtracked. ‘It’s only a temporary problem, Molly. I’ve just got to think of a way of raising some cash fast. It’ll be all right. And if you want me to come over and babysit for Toby, that’s fine. I’m not cooking for the hordes tonight – they’re all going to be out.’

‘Well, thank you, Thea, but I’ve already told Toby he’s going to your house. I thought you wouldn’t be able to come over, you see.’

‘Well, I don’t mind. I’d love to have Toby here, but what about Ben? Won’t he be expecting to pick him up from you?’

‘Ben’s staying the weekend. It’s some sort of team-building exercise. Although he hasn’t definitely got the job, they want him to go along to see if he blends in.’

‘How grizzly!’

‘Mm. Poor Ben. Not his sort of thing at all. But actually he’s very good at all that outward-bound stuff, so he’ll be all right with that.’

‘But it’s still a late night for Toby, even if you pick him up.’

‘Well, yes, which is why I was hoping you’d let him stay the night.’

‘Well – it’s not that I wouldn’t love to have him, it’s just where on earth could I put him? The house is full and so is my darkroom.’

‘Toby says he’s very good at sleeping on floors,’ said Molly after a brief pause. ‘And he wants to know how the puppies are.’

‘They were fine last time I spoke to Susan,’ she said. She’d arranged to ring when Rory was working. If she spoke to Rory, he might find out how badly her plans for the gallery were going. She waited while Molly passed the message on. ‘And he’ll really be all right on the floor?’

‘He says so.’

‘Well, I dare say I can sort something out. So you’ll pick him up tomorrow morning?’

‘That’s it.’ Molly lowered her voice confidentially. ‘I’il have to think of some way of entertaining him over the weekend. I don’t suppose there’s a new Disney, is there?’

‘I haven’t a clue, but I’ll ask the lodgers when they come back. In the meantime, I’d better sort out some sort of bed.’ A horrible thought occurred to her. ‘You
have
asked Toby, haven’t you? You’ve asked if it’s all right with him to come and spend the night with me?’

‘Of course! Honestly, you’d think I’d never had anything to do with children!’

While Thea was sorting out her bedroom so she could find a corner for Toby in it, she debated whether or not she should ring Rory and tell him the whole plan was off, that she couldn’t open an art gallery in the time and that he might as well take his paintings to New York and have done with it. Yet, somehow, she
couldn’t, not yet, not until she’d worried away at the problem a little longer and made absolutely sure she’d thought of everything.

As she found hangers and hung up the many clothes which lay draped about her bedroom, she wondered how much she’d get if she sold everything. Not a lot. Most of her clothes were comfortable, informal and old. Her few smart things she’d given away to her London friends before she’d left, eager to get rid of memories of a life she’d rejected.

Molly would probably have the odd ten thousand lying around for emergencies, but she really didn’t want her too involved.

But what was the alternative? The alternative was to give up the whole idea.

At last, Thea uncovered the sofa she knew was lying around somewhere in her bedroom. She could borrow Petal’s sleeping bag and Toby could sleep in that.

Molly delivered Toby a little earlier than Thea was expecting. Although they were perfectly amicable, Thea sensed they were beginning to get bored with each other and hoped that she would be able to find some way of entertaining a small boy, given her complete lack of anything in the way of toys, games machines or experience. ‘Hi, Toby. It’s nice to see you. Do you want to come in, Molly?’

‘No, I won’t stop. I’ve got to rush home and have a bath before we go out.’ She made a face. ‘You know it takes me ages to get ready.’

Thea did know.

‘Well, come in, Toby, and see my house. There’s probably not much to do in it, but I dare say we’ll have
a nice time.’

Seeing her house through Toby’s eyes was a little unsettling. He eyed the piles of clutter, the posters on the walls, the quantity of books lying in piles on the stairs, with eloquent silence. He didn’t say anything, but it was obvious his own house was very different. Masculine and spare, was Thea’s guess. All this artistic student mess would probably put Ben right off. He was, after all, related to Petal and Molly, who were always complaining about it.

‘Now, Toby. Are you hungry? What would you like to eat?’

‘Anything.’

‘Could you be a bit more specific? I remember you’re a vegetarian, so I could always do you a baked potato. But what about pizzas?’

‘From the takeaway?’

‘Well, no.’ Thea was economising. ‘From the frying pan.’ Toby’s eyes widened in incredulity. ‘It’s quite easy,’ she went on. ‘You make a scone base, flatten it into the pan and cook it on both sides in olive oil. It’s not as good as a yeast base, of course, but it’s quick.’ Realising that recipes probably weren’t what interested seven-year-old boys, she decided they should move on to the practical aspect as soon as possible. ‘Shall we do that, then? You can put anything you like on top – as long as I’ve got it, of course.’

Toby had a whale of a time. It was possible he’d never cooked using raw, basic ingredients before, thought Thea, although he had told her that he could use the microwave. ‘Microwaves are a safe way for children to cook,’ she said, ‘but sometimes it’s fun to do things from scratch.’

She had cleared the table, swathed Toby and herself in aprons and got out the flour. Very soon the cooks, the work surfaces and the floor were covered with a fine dusting of self-raising. ‘If you put an egg in the mixture it makes it a bit richer.’ She handed Toby an egg.

‘I’ve never cracked one before,’ he said anxiously.

‘Haven’t you? It’s not difficult. Here, do it in this little bowl, it’s a bit easier. Whoops, that one’s a miss, I’m afraid.’ She scooped the raw egg which had gone over the edge of the bowl back in. ‘Have another go. Right, now bung in some olive oil.’ She handed Toby the bottle.

‘How much shall I put in?’ Toby was beginning to relax.

‘Just a couple of glugs. That’s right.’

It was fortunate that Toby was as enthusiastic a washer-upper as he was a cook. Thea set him to it while she scraped the table. ‘We can cook the pizzas when we’ve got a bit of space, so just wash that bowl.’

‘This is such fun!’ said Toby, splashing water on the floor almost as fast Thea could wipe it up again.

‘Don’t you ever do cooking with your mum?’ Thea didn’t know much about motherhood, but she certainly used to cook with her mother, when she was little.

‘No, she doesn’t like mess, much.’

‘Well, no one actually
likes
it – it just happens.’ Thea scratched her nose with a floury finger. ‘I don’t suppose Ben is too keen on mess either.’

Toby shrugged. ‘He doesn’t mind it, I don’t think, but we don’t have much quality time.’

‘Quality time? Oh.’

The flour on Toby, moistened with washing-up water, had now turned to glue. ‘Mm. That’s why we’re downsizing.’

‘Downsizing? I mean, that’s interesting.’

‘Yup. He’s going for this job in Bristol. He should be able to get home a lot earlier and we can get rid of Margaret. My nanny.’ The word obviously embarrassed him. ‘We should be able to find a nice little village where I could go to the local school rather than privately.’

Thea supposed it was the private education which made him so articulate. ‘I see.’

‘And it looks like Veronica’s getting married again, so he wouldn’t have to give her so much.’

‘Veronica?’

‘My mum. She doesn’t like labels.’ Toby frowned. ‘I would quite like a mum, though.’

‘You mean, you’d like your – Veronica – to be called Mum? But it doesn’t really matter what you call someone, does it? If they’re your mum, they’re your mum. Surely?’

Thea had missed the point completely. ‘No, I mean a mum like my friend Edward’s. She only works part-time and is always there after school. I would have gone to stay with them this weekend, only they’ve gone to see their granny. She makes cakes,’ he added.

Thea would very much have liked to probe further, to find out Ben’s feelings on all these topics, but she knew it would be wrong. Besides, Toby had given away lots of information already, without her having to torture him at all. She felt he deserved a reward. ‘Well, if I’ve got enough flour, we could make a cake, when we’ve done the pizzas.’

‘Could we? Ace!’

Later, when Toby was watching
The Simpsons
– probably prohibited viewing for seven-year-olds – licking out the chocolate cake bowl and Thea was clearing up, she reflected it was a good thing he liked cooking.

‘We have to wait until the cake’s a bit cooler to put the icing on, otherwise it’ll all fall off again,’ said Thea. ‘It’s happened to me lots of times.’

‘There’s rather a lot of icing, isn’t there?’ Toby was a little embarrassed. As always happens, the icing had got too wet and by the time it was the right consistency there was enough for a small wedding cake.

‘Don’t worry. We can freeze the rest and either use it next time anyone makes a cake, or I can eat it frozen, when I’ve got a chocolate craving on and haven’t got any.’

‘Oh. OK. Do you think it’s cool enough now?’

‘Not really, but put it on anyway. I can’t wait much longer. You do the icing. I’ll make tea. You need tea with chocolate cake, don’t you find?’

Toby had no opinion on this, took the palette knife and started spreading.

Later, teeth brushed, but no other obvious washing done, Toby pulled Petal’s sleeping bag up over his shoulders and snuggled down on the sofa in Thea’s room. ‘Why are there so many black bags in here?’ he asked.

‘I’m halfway through sorting out all my clothes and getting rid of the ones that don’t fit any more. I started before Christmas.’

‘Oh. Veronica always does hers twice a year. Spring and autumn. She sends her clothes to an agency and
gets money for them.’

‘Oh.’ Thea sent hers to jumble sales and, only if they were good enough, offered them to a charity shop.

‘She says there’s only any point in keeping really classic clothes that won’t date.’

‘You know a lot about it, Toby. Far more than me.’

Toby sighed. ‘It’s not very interesting, though, is it?’

‘Well, different things interest different people. Will you be OK up here on your own? I should go back down and have another go at the kitchen. Molly will be over in the morning and you know how tidy her house is.’

‘Mm. Our house is always pretty tidy too.’

Thea’s spirits sank a little. She had really enjoyed Toby’s company and his presence had made her forget about her money worries. It hadn’t stopped her thinking about his father, though. They were so alike to look at. If only Ben were as easy to get on with as Toby.

Although grateful that he hadn’t allowed her to cut herself off from his much needed assistance, she was still furious about him saying all that about relationships in the first place, as if he had to warn her off. It made her look like a groupie or something.