Having a Ball (4 page)

This place was incredible. It was like a stately home, only real people
lived here. In her mind's eye she saw the people in evening dress milling around
the room. Lighting could be a problem. She looked up to the ceiling and saw a
chandelier. "Oh wow."

Any precious books would have to be removed, of course. She leaned
forward to look at the colourful spines and discovered that, rather than the learned
tomes she was expecting, they were mostly modern hardbacks. She was sitting, it
seemed, next to the Eighties bonkbuster section.

* * * *

From: Alice's iPhone
To: Evelyn's
iPhone
Gran, where are you? The party planner lady is here. I've
stuck her in the library for the minute.

##

From: Evelyn's iPhone
To: Alice's iPhone
I'm
in the roof void. Get her a cup of tea and show her around the house. I'll
be down in a minute.

* * * *

Stevie went to the window and looked out. The garden descended via
steep steps into a sunken lawn. An old fashioned wooden gazebo gleamed white in
the summer sun. "Oh my," she said. She tried to see further along to the other end
of the garden, but her view was blocked by the deep columns of the windows.

Someone opened the library door, making Stevie jump. She turned round
and saw Alice, half in, half out.

"Gran says she'll be along in a minute. Do you want a cup of tea?"

"Oh, yes please."

"Do you want to come with me to the kitchen? I can give you a mini tour
of the house on the way. You can leave your stuff here, if you like. It'll be perfectly
safe. There's only you, me and Gran here at the moment."

"I'll just get my notebook." Stevie grabbed what she needed and followed
Alice out.

"This is the hallway," said Alice as they passed through it again. She
stopped at the first door. "This is the front room." She opened the door to a room
that was almost as big as Stevie's one bedroom flat. "We don't use if for much at the
moment, but we've ordered a TV and we're hoping the B&B guests will be able
to use it."

Alice ushered Stevie out and down the corridor before she could absorb
the particulars of the room.

"We've got a small bar here." She pointed to a large hatch with a rolling
blind. There was a note with "wet varnish" written on it propped against the wall
next to it. "I know it's traditional to have the bar in the same room as the lounge,
but Gran couldn't bring herself to put one in the front room. So we're getting that
hatch thing sorted out instead." There were no bottles in evidence.

"I take it your Gran has a licence to serve alcohol?" Stevie poised her pen
to make a note.

"U-huh." Alice shrugged.

Stevie added a question mark to the end of her note, not convinced the
teenager actually knew the answer.

Alice led her into the biggest kitchen Stevie had ever seen. "This is the
kitchen. But we tend to use it as our dining room too."

A huge stove dominated one end of the kitchen. White cupboards lined
the other walls. In the middle of the room was an old-fashioned farmhouse table
with wooden chairs tucked in under it. It took Stevie a full minute to stop gawping
and start making notes. While Alice put the kettle on, she walked around and found
a stack of certificates in clip frames. Alcohol, catering, fire safety. Most of the
certification appeared to have been taken care of.

"The previous planner lady checked those things out anyway," said
Alice.

"Why did she leave the project?"

Alice pulled a face. "Lady Beryl."

"Lady Beryl?" Stevie tried to sound casual, but alarm bells were starting
to ring. If this woman had caused someone to leave the project already, things
didn't bode well.

"Yeah. She's one of the trustees of the charity group. She can be...difficult
sometimes. Sally--that's the other planner--had a bit of a dispute with her." Alice
handed Stevie her tea. "Don't worry. I'm sure it won't happen to you. Gran's had a
word with Lady Beryl. She's promised to behave."

"Ri-ight." Stevie frowned. Party planners were a resilient bunch. This lady
Beryl was likely to continue to be a problem. Still, she told herself, she needed this
job, no matter how hard it was. She filed the information to consider later. "This
house is incredible."

"Isn't it?" said Alice proudly. "It was in a terrible state when Gran and
Gramps bought it. We all worked on it to get it renovated. It took years, but it looks
good now, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it's beautiful."

"Dad and Uncle Tom think Gran should sell it and make a fortune, but
Gran says she's sticking to the plan." Alice glanced down at her tea. "I think feels
she owes it to Gramps."

Ah. An emotional connection. Stevie made a quick note to follow up.
"What happened?"

"To Gramps?" Alice shrugged as though she didn't care, but her eyes
misted over. "He had a heart attack. One minute he's painting the window frames.
The next minute...pfft." She waved a hand to indicate that he was horizontal. "Gran
called an ambulance but he didn't make it."

"I'm sorry." Stevie knew from experience that there was nothing she
could say to make things any better, but it didn't stop her wishing there was.

Alice shrugged again. "It happens." She looked away. "He was old. At least
it was quick."

Stevie nodded and, not knowing what else to say, took a sip of tea. Before
the silence could get awkward, someone stamped up the outside steps and entered
the kitchen from the back door.

A small woman with short grey hair entered, brushing cobwebs off her
shoulders. "Hello," She strode up to Stevie and shook her hand. "I'm Evelyn
Blackwood. You must be Stephanie."

"Stevie. Please, call me Stevie." She winced at the woman's enthusiastic
grip.

"Then you must call me Evelyn. Has Alice shown you the house yet? I see
she's given you tea. That's fantastic. I was up in the roof void, I'm afraid. Hence the
cobwebs. It needs cleaning out. Damned useful storage space though," said Evelyn
without pausing for breath. "Nice of you to agree to take this job."

"I haven't taken it yet," Stevie said quickly, before Evelyn spoke again. "I
have quite a number of questions to ask--"

"Quite right too. Come. Let's show you round the rest of the house first.
Come, come." She shooed Stevie, who had to abandon her tea, out the kitchen and
back into the main house. Alice grinned and waved goodbye.

* * * *

Evelyn took Stevie through a bewildering maze of corridors and
stairways, showing her the parts of the house that were to be the B&B and the
parts that were to be rented out as venues to local groups. As they walked, Stevie
did her best to interrupt Evelyn to ask the questions on her list.

"All that's really left to organise is the food, the entertainment and where
to put people," said Evelyn. She opened the door to an old fashioned wooden
conservatory.

"So, basically, the whole party," said Stevie. Sunlight filled the
glass-walled room, raising the temperature several degrees higher than inside the
house.

"Goodness. Best get those windows open." Evelyn dragged a chair over to
the window.

"Here, let me." Being taller, Stevie could reach the latch by
stretching.

"Thank you." Evelyn moved on to the next window.

"Another question," said Stevie, over her shoulder. "Would I be working
for the charity? Or for you?"

"Ah." Evelyn wobbled a little on her chair and paused to steady herself
"Good question. We didn't think about that with Sally because she was doing it for
free. I think you'd be working for the charity really." She carefully descended. "I did
mention we can't pay very much, didn't I?"

"We can discuss that in a minute," said Stevie smoothly. "Tell me more
about the charity."

"Oh yes." Evelyn brushed a stray wisp of hair off her face. "We ladies are a
group that gets together to do fundraising. We're mostly retired academics or
academics wives, like Beryl. Anyway, this year, we chose a charity in Sri Lanka. It's
called project Peds. Ghastly name. It was set up by a group of American doctors and
it's raising money to buy equipment for a new children's hospital in Sri Lanka. The
old one got swept away by the tsunami."

Evelyn paused before going on to the next window and shook her head.
"Terrible business that. All those people who lost everything. It makes one so glad
to have what we have." She looked up towards the house, visible through the glass
roof of the conservatory.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Priya, one of our ladies, is from Sri Lanka
and suggested we adopt it this year. We're hoping to raise enough money to buy
equipment for an operating room."

Stevie felt at a loss for what to say. "It...sounds like a very good
cause."

"Oh it is," said Evelyn. "Priya showed us some photos of people from the
village. You know, survivors. There were these babies. Oh, they were so beautiful. It
breaks your heart."

Stevie nodded. The cause did sound like a good one. For some reason, it
had brought a lump to her throat. Perhaps it was the mention of babies. Or being
grateful for what you had. At least it wasn't an orphanage. She probably would have
burst into tears if it had been. She forced herself to concentrate on her
notebook.

"You mentioned food. Do you have a caterer lined up?"

Evelyn looked surprised at the change of subject. "I think Sally was
talking to one, but when she left in a huff, she didn't tell us who it was."

"No caterer." Stevie wrote "aaargh!" in her notebook, but kept her
expression neutral. "Any leads on entertainment?"

"No."

Stevie added another exclamation mark to her notes. "And you
mentioned where to put people. How many people can this place take?"

"About a hundred and twenty," said Evelyn. "But that's only if we include
the garden."

Stevie looked at the garden. It was gloriously sunny. "The weather should
hold for the next four weeks."

"It's not that. The garden--" Evelyn's phone beeped. "Excuse me."

She answered it. "Beryl, can I call you back? Yes, under a minute. Bye."
She hung up and pulled a face. "That was Lady Beryl. Blooming nuisance, that
woman, but she's a generous donor and chairwoman of the charity group, so we
must be nice. Hang on, I'll get Alice to come and show you the garden."

She pulled her phone out again. "This house is so big, we keep losing each
other in it. So Tom bought us all these iPhone things to keep in touch. It's made the
world of difference. She sent a text. There, Alice should be along in a minute. I'll just
go and phone Beryl back." She disappeared back into the house.

After finding a seat, Stevie looked at her notes and did a quick calculation
of how much the ball was likely to raise from ticket sales. She tapped her pen
against her notebook. She only had a rough idea of the budget, but she could see
that the event wasn't likely to raise much money for the charity, let alone enough to
pay for an event planner. She wondered if she should just walk away. It wasn't
going to make her any money. And it was a huge job for her to undertake without
help.

She sighed. Maybe opening envelopes for minimum wage wasn't so bad.
It was pretty mindless, but at least it wasn't stressful. If she could find another job
without a supervisor with despotic tendencies, she might be happy.

There was a noise just outside the window. Stevie turned round to see a
sparrow hopping along the wisteria stem. She smiled. Sitting there, in the sunshine,
with a big challenge to occupy her, she suddenly felt happier than she had been in
months. If she got this job, the extra work would mean that she had less time to
think about Marsh and Jane and the sprog they were having. The thought of her
brother made the smile drop from her face.

Despite the open windows, it was still hot in the conservatory. Stevie
noticed that the door to the garden was also open. She cast a glance at the door to
house. There was no sign of Alice.

The wisteria that covered the side of the conservatory had put out
runners that were visible through the grille work on the wrought iron steps,
making Stevie feel like she was descending into somewhere primal where nature
had taken over.

At the bottom was a riot of flower bushes. Some attempt had been made
to cut them back to make a path that ran the perimeter of the sunken lawn, but the
plants threw higgledy-piggledy arms into the path.

She tried to get her bearings. Peering through the plants, she located the
white gazebo on the lawn. She set off in the direction that she thought the library
would be. With the foliage towering either side, she felt as though she were
exploring a particularly colourful jungle. When she came level with the front of the
house, she saw the front porch. As she watched, a man bounded up the steps and
rang the bell. He leaned against a pillar to wait for someone to open the door.

Stevie instinctively drew back so he couldn't see her. From where she
was, she could see him perfectly. He was tall, with dark curls verging on needing to
be cut. His handsome face was set in concentration. There were deep frown lines on
his forehead. He was tapping his PDA impatiently against his thigh.

The door opened and Stevie heard Evelyn's voice saying "Darling! How
lovely to see you."

The man smiled. The frown eased briefly, making him look not merely
handsome, but drop dead gorgeous. He went in and disappeared from her
view.

She stood still, staring at the spot he'd vacated. There was something
familiar about him. She wondered how she could have met him. You'd have thought
she'd remember meeting a man like that. He was definitely the best looking
specimen she'd seen in ages.

"Stevie?" Alice clanged down the metal steps from the conservatory.

"Yes." Stevie returned down the path.

"Hello," said Alice. "Sorry I took so long. I was on the phone. How did you
get on with the tour?"