Public Property (17 page)

‘
I’m not entirely sure that logic works but I’m willing to give it a go
.’
He pushed open the door of the Chinese.

‘
Hey
,
Bruce, how are you?
’
Freya greeted the owner of the takeaway.

Bruce stood no more than five feet tall
.
It
meant he
had to stand on a box to see over the counter to serve people. He had thinning dark hair, a big smile and always had
a pencil tucked behind his ear. Freya had never seen him use it
.

‘
Freya and Nick, good evening to you both
.’
Bruce smiled,
bowed
,
then
leapt on to his box so he could see them properly
.

‘
Hi
,
Bruce, how you doing?
How’s Li?’ Nicholas asked. Li was
Bruce’s wife.

‘
She is fine
.
I
n the kitchen, where a good woman should
always
be
,’
he answered
with a wry smile.

‘
God
,
Bruce, you really know how to hit the spot don’t you! If I thought you
really
meant
that
and if I knew
I could get spring rolls like yours
somewhere else
, I would boycott your place
,
’
Freya told him.

‘
You are lucky man
,
Nick, lucky man
.’ He laughed as he picked up his order book.

‘
I know
,
’
Nicholas replied, looking to Freya.

‘
Right
,
we
’
ll have a portion of spring rolls and some
satay
chicken
.
O
h and some sweet and sour pork and chuck in some prawn crackers
,’
Freya ordered.

‘
Hey, I thought we were only having small, tiny portions
.’

‘
We are
.
I’m ordering breakfast for the next couple of days
.’ She grinned.

‘It will be ‘
bout fifteen minutes
.’

‘
Great, we’ll call back
,’
Freya
said
.

‘
Call back? Where are we going?
’

‘
To Sam and Jolie’s to get a bottle of wine to go with our Chinese
.
I thought we could eat in the gazebo
. We’ve wrapped up toasty. It isn’t the four courses under
here,
I’ve got three layers under this jacket
.’

Twenty minutes later they were sat cross
-
legged in the gazebo
in the town square,
tucking into the Chinese food and sharing a straw to drink the bottl
e of white wine they’d bought.

‘
You would have thought
Sam and Jolie would’
ve stocked up on plastic glasses by now
.
T
his has to be the fourth or fifth occasion we
’
ve drunk wine through a straw
,’
Freya remarked as she took her turn with the bottle.

‘
I’m more surprised you don’t carry some in your bag
-
along with the two cameras and the
Blu
Tack
.’

‘
And didn’t the
Blu
Tack come in handy when the hem of your trousers unraveled that time
.’

‘
Bottle please
.
I
t
’
s definitely my turn
.’ He held his hand out for the wine.

Freya took a bite of her spring roll and watched Nicholas as he sucked on the straw.
She was trying to wait
for exactly the right moment to bring up Jonny. But she knew better than anyone that right moments never came. You had to face things head on and just get it out there.

‘
Nick
,’ she began.

‘
Ye
ah.’

‘
There’s
something I have to tell you
.’

‘
Oh? Am I going to need to suck a bit harder on this straw to soften the blow?
’

‘
Possibly
.’

‘
Go on
,’ he
urged.

‘
You remember I told you about Jonathan, the boy I went out with when I was seventeen
.’

‘Of course I remember.
You were in love with him.
Y
ou told him who you were and took him to meet your folks and they welcomed him with open arms only for your father to pay him money to leave you alone
,
’ Nicholas recounted.

‘
Yes, you obviously don’t have a problem with your memory
.
T
hat was about the size of it
.’ She let out a nervous sigh. She didn’t know why she was nervous. There was nothing to this, absolutely nothing.

‘
What about him?
’

‘
Well, I met him
.
Y
esterday
.
H
e lives here
now
, in America
.’
She’d said it quick before she backed out.

‘
He’s
Jonny
.’ He put the bottle of wine down and sat up straight.

‘
Yes
.
H
e’s Jonny
,’ she admitted.

‘
So
,
he isn’t the Jonny
Sasha
’
s dating
?
T
hat’s a different Jonny is it?
’

‘
Yes
.
W
ell,
actually
Sasha
isn’t
exactly
dating anyone called Jonny
.’
Her face was red and she couldn’t look at Nicholas. She sounded like an infant lying and trying to cover it up very unsuccessfully. And what was the big deal anyway? Nothing was going on.

‘
No? You surprise me.
Why didn’t you tell me
, Freya
?
’

His expression was a mixture of angry and sad. Why hadn’t she told him straight away? Why had she kept it to herself?

‘
Oh
,
I don’t know
.
I
t felt awkward and I didn’t want you to think what I
thought
you would think
.’

‘
And what did you think I would think?
’

‘I don’t know. Maybe
that I was hiding something from you I suppose
.’

‘
Which you
were
.
Freya, a
re you saying you were too scared to tell me because you were worried about what I
’
d think?
’

‘
No
.
Y
es
.
I don’t know what I thought. He
’s just from my past.
T
hat horrible
,
awful past and I
don’t want things from back then
to be part of our future
.’

‘
Neither do I
,
but that shouldn’t mean you don’t tell me
stuff
. We’re about to get married
.
W
e should be able to share everything with each other
.’
H
e got to his feet and picked his jacket up from the floor.

‘
We do
.
I’ve told you everything, except this
. A
nd I
’
m telling you now. Nick, please, sit down
.
I’m sorry
.’ She stood up and tried to take hold of his arm. He brushed it away.

‘
Back in Corfu, we said no
more secrets and I meant that
.’
He folded his arms across his chest.

‘
I mean
t
it
too.
I
t was stupid not to tell you about Jonny, I
realise
that now. In fact I
realised
it the minute I thought it was too late to mention it
. Then,
as time went on
,
I
realised
more and more how stupid it was
.
B
ut
,
you know now
.’

She sounded pathetic. There was no justification for it.

‘
Well
,
what did he want? You haven’t
really
told me
anything yet
.’

‘
Will you sit down and help me out with the sweet and sour pork?
’
She gave him half a smile, wary of his reaction.

‘
What did he want
,
Freya?
’ Nicholas repeated, unmoved
.

‘
He wants to develop some land near
Gatebrook
and turn it into a community for the Every Day project.
Housing, j
obs, a school.’
She rattled it out fast.

Nicholas didn’t reply
.
He
remained standing, his arms crossed, looking down at Freya.

‘
He’s a property developer now
.
He owns the chain
,
Recuperation Inns
,
amongst other things. He’s changed so much
-
in appearance, in personality
-
I hardly
recognised
him
.’

‘
So
,
let me get this straight. This Jonny turns up
…
where?
At your office?
At our house?
And
he
pledges millions of pounds to your charity
. I don’t get it
.
Why would he do that?’

‘H
e told me he thought the project was a great idea
.
But I also think
he was feeling a little guilty about how he treated me
.’

‘
I’m sorry
,
Freya
.
I don’t buy it
.’

‘What
d’
you
mean? He told me he made a bid on some land I
’
ve bought for the first centre in
Chesterville
and
he
foun
d out I was behind the project.
’

‘How?’

‘How what?’

‘How did he find out you were behind the project?’

‘I don’t know. He said he had contacts and…’

‘Whoa!’

‘He wants to support the charity.’

‘
But what’s in it for him? If he
’
s turned into some big shot hotel owner and property developer
,
why does he want to throw money at your charity?
’

Freya could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. He didn’t get angry often, but when he did it wasn’t pleasant.

‘Well, y
ou could say the same about us. And anyway, why does
anyone
give to charity?
Maybe to do something for someone else
.
O
r get rid of some excess cash so the tax man doesn’t get it
.
O
r perhaps they do it because it makes them feel good or look good to other
people. I don’t know, maybe he wants to make himself feel better about building those ugly hotels all over the place
.’