Stranger at the beach house (18 page)

Chapter 16

“How much?”
I almost yelled in complete and utter shock. “My
grandmother was a pensioner, it can’t be right,” I stared at Mr Redford of
Redford & Son, utterly and unreservedly gobsmacked.

 
“It is, my Dear, it’s all here in black and
white and it’s all yours. As soon as the necessary paperwork is concluded it
will be deposited into your account. I have attached details of the required
inheritance tax. Take it with you and digest it properly,” he said kindly,
passing me the paperwork as I made my way out of the office and down to a bench
by the river Ouse to try and collect myself.

My
grandmother was a frugal woman, a war baby. She didn’t believe in waste and
would use everything until it literally fell apart. The only thing she ever
spent money on was me. I couldn’t get my head around it all. How the hell had
she amassed almost half a million pounds in savings? It just seemed impossible.
It was impossible. She owned the house and that was mine, I knew that, I’d
always known it.
Her
and Grandpa bought it outright
when they sold the shop in town, but this...this was something else entirely as
a strange thought entered my head. Sam.

Samuel
Oscar Lawrence, hedge fund manager and sometime investment genius according to
Harry. Hadn’t he set up MI6 so he could ‘look after his investments’? I
couldn’t help but wonder if Mr Monopoly with his nine million pound apartment
had somehow played fast and loose with my grandmothers savings and turned her
modest little nest egg into an absolute bloody fortune.

Even
after the Government had taken their not insubstantial whack, it was still a
fortune and meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about capital any time soon.
Maybe I could just while away the hours making love to Sam and hanging out by
the beach I mused, making my way back to the car as a sign on an advertising
board caught my attention.

‘Learn
to teach at York University – open day’ it boasted as I read the blurb. It
sounded like something I’d enjoy and I could afford the time to be a student
now. It wouldn’t be like the first time where Lizzie and I had lived on baked
beans and vodka, waiting tables to pay the rent and shared a pint at the pub on
Monday nights. This time I could do it in financial security. Plus, there’d be
six weeks summer holidays to spend at the beach. I couldn’t stay out of work, I
wasn’t the type and a plan began to form in my head. I would have to give that
some serious thought.

I
was still as dumbfounded on the drive home as I had been in Mr Redford’s
office, pulling the car into the drive and letting myself into Sam’s through
the open patio door. I could hear him in mission HQ, speaking in a low clipped
voice on the telephone, trying not to eavesdrop but unable to resist the
opportunity to find out more about my mysterious neighbour. “I don’t believe in
coincidences, J, you have to assume she knows something and if she doesn’t,
pull your agent and wait for my instructions. Do you understand? She’s been
through enough and if this blows up there will be trouble”.

 
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was talking
about me and hovered out of sight for a little bit longer. He paused for a
moment as I wondered if I’d been rumbled until he said “I need that situation
contained in London right now”. Holy shit, what the hell was going on? There
was a two second pause before he spoke again. “Come in, Rose”. Oh bollocks.

“Hi,
Sam, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you it sounded serious,” I said
quickly, trying to justify myself. I stayed there in the doorway, wondering how
the hell he’d known I was there, when I saw the screen streaming live CCTV from
his wall. Well he had warned me about that.

“I
missed you, Baby,” he smiled as I stared at him. The puzzled frown indicated
that he had no idea what my problem was as I narrowed my eyes, my gaze
unwavering. “I’ve just got a bit of work to do, Rose, and then I’ll be right
out,” he said smiling and I couldn’t resist.

“What
is it today, Sam? Are you playing with the big boys or gambling with little old
ladies pensions again?” I asked as his face broke into a giant grin.

 
“I don’t gamble, Baby, I take calculated risks
and it was Alice that asked me to take one for her when I told her what I did.
Believe me, she wasn’t complaining when I returned her investment tenfold,” he
smiled, raising his eyebrows in a challenge straight back at me.

“You
could have lost everything she had, Sam,” I said, wondering what the hell my
grandmother had been thinking.

 
“But I didn’t. Besides, that was never going
to happen. There was no way she’d have come out of it with less than the fifty
grand she put in, even if it hadn’t worked out. I would have seen to that,” he
said, beckoning me onto his knee as I walked slowly over to him, feeling
instantly better about the whole scenario. I sat as he pulled me in for a deep,
long kiss and I looked up at him shaking my head.

 
“Are you sure you didn’t talk her into it,
Sam? My grandmother wasn’t a gambler,” I said, watching his face closely as he
smiled at me.

“No
of course I didn’t, she just knew a good thing when she saw it, Rose, it’s a
shame you’re not as perceptive,” he said as I laughed. “Besides, your
grandmother was a lot of things you didn’t know about,” he said, maintaining
the huge smile on his face. I hated he knew things about Alice that I didn’t.

 
“Like what, smartarse?” I challenged him as he
tapped his finger to the side of his nose.

 
“Some things are privileged between a man and
his client,” he laughed as I pouted dramatically.

 
“You’re not a bloody doctor or a barrister,
Sam” I chided as he chuckled.

“Go
and make me some dinner while I finish up here and I might tell you,” he winked
as I jumped off his lap, making for the door and shaking my head. “And don’t
forget I like you naked in the kitchen,” he shouted behind me as I skulked off
down the corridor, still unable to quite believe the course that the day had
taken.

The
solicitors had thrown me slightly and Alice was dominating my thoughts. I had
loved her so much and missed her terribly. Before I had even hit the kitchen I
had an idea, but I wasn’t sure Sam would go for it. I’d already dragged my
recluse out once which apparently was unusual, but I decided it was worth
asking the question and padded back to his study just as he finished his call.

“I’m
done here,” he smiled, pulling me into a hug and gripping my waist tightly as I
smiled up at him.

 
“Good. I’d really like to show you a
Winter
tradition if you’d indulge me in going out again,” I
smiled as he looked down at me puzzled.

“Its
autumn, Baby,” he said as I laughed. “Winter, as in Rose Winter, not the
season. It’s a family tradition of mine. Have you ever been up to the
promenade?” I smiled and he shook his head. It didn’t come as a surprise.

 
“How does fish and chips on the seafront and
an hour or so in the arcades sound?” I grinned excitedly. It was a big benefit
of living at the seaside and I couldn’t believe he hadn’t experienced it yet.
The look on his face betrayed the fact that he wasn’t convinced it would be
fun.

“Come
on Mr Nine Million, we can get you in a disguise and I guarantee, the fish and
chips here would give The Ivy a run for its money in the freshness and quality
stakes.” I had never been to The Ivy, but I felt sure he had. “Take a gamble,
my grandmother did,” I laughed as he smiled at me, kissing me gently.

 
“Go on then, show me what the
Winter
family does for fun around here,” he smiled as I
looked him up and down.

“Right,
do you have a hooded top and some sunglasses?” I asked.

 
“Sure,” he looked at me quizzically.

 
“Well go and put them on, it will disguise you
well enough. The prom is really quiet at this time of year. Only one of the
fish and chip shops stays open for the locals and one of the arcades.
Everything else pretty much shuts up until Easter when the tourists start
coming again,” I smiled, as he made his way to get his disguise on.

“Bloody
hell, Sam, you look hot in absolutely everything. Is there anything you can
wear to make you blend in?” I laughed, my heart fluttering at the sight of him
looking utterly gorgeous in a black Ralph Lauren hooded top and aviator shades.
If I didn’t move quickly I doubted we’d have got out at all, such was the rush
of arousal that flooded my being as I tried to quell the hormones that were
racing through me. The look on my face did not go unnoticed as he smirked at
me.

 
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked,
raising his eyebrows. I wasn’t. Right now I wanted him on top of me in that
huge white bed.

“Yes,
but there’s a lot more I want to do when we get back,” I grinned, picking up my
purse as he locked the house and we made our way to my car.

“I’d
love to go in your car, Sam, but we’re aiming for inconspicuous,” I smiled as
he smiled back, hopping in the driver’s seat ahead of me.

“This
is my car, what are you doing?” I said as he took the keys from me.

“Call
me a control freak, but you’re not driving”. I was pretty stunned and found
myself muttering ‘control freak’ as I made my way around to the passenger side.
I wasn’t getting
pissy
about it because I knew that
very soon I would have my sweet revenge.

“Park
here,” I said, as we pulled up at an empty space near the sea front. There was
hardly anyone around, which is exactly how I wanted it as we walked towards the
front of the fish and chip shop which opened out under a canopy onto the
promenade. “Do you want mushy peas?” I asked as he grimaced. Bloody philistine,
everyone knows that fish and chips and mushy peas were just about the best meal
going and I wondered if he’d ever even had them before. I could bet he
certainly hadn’t had them out of a plastic carton and paper. “Fish and chips
three times please and one mushy peas.” I smiled at the lady behind the counter
who I vaguely recognised, although I didn’t know her name.

“Three
times Rose? You must be hungry,” Sam laughed, slightly mystified as I nodded,
trying to stifle my grin. He was looking around him like he was in another
world and it was really endearing. “Jesus Christ, these seagulls are huge,” he
said, ducking as one flew past his head and I nodded. “I’ve never seen anything
like it, have they been genetically modified or something?” he asked as I
shrugged, trying desperately not to laugh. He pointed to a bench, right on the
edge of the prom with a great view of the violent waves crashing relentlessly
against the sea wall, their white foam almost reaching the railings as splashes
of salt water hit the walkway.

 
“I’m going to eat them there,” he said as the
lady passed him his portion and a little plastic fork.

 
“Aren’t you going to put salt and vinegar on
them, Sam?” I asked as he pulled a face. He really was a philistine. “I’ll join
you in a second when I’ve put some on mine,” I smiled, resting back against the
counter, giggling with the lady who was serving and waiting for the inevitable
to happen as Sam sat down on the bench and lifted his chip loaded plastic fork
to his mouth.

It
came from nowhere like they always did, swooping down to grab half his fish as
he squealed and screamed, ducking sideways to avoid the battering wings of the
huge gull, arms flailing and his fish and chips flying through the air to land
on the prom as half a dozen others swooped down, filling the air with their
piercing shrieks and claiming the rest of his dinner.

He
jumped and bolted back under the awning, sweating and cursing as I howled with
laughter, bent double and unable to control the tears that were streaming down
my face. “That’s fucking insane,” he shouted, his anger making me and the lady
behind the counter laugh even harder.

“You
got off lightly, Sweetie, in high season it’s like a scene from Alfred
Hitchcock’s The Birds,” she said to Sam as he huffed and shook his head.

“You
should warn people,” he said to the fish and chip lady as I put my hand on his
chest in a bid to stand up straight and recover from my laughter, but the
pounding of his heart beneath my palm foiled my plans somewhat and I was
crippled by hysterics once again.

“We
do, there are signs everywhere,” the counter lady said, pointing to the large
boards warning of the aggressive birds. It was always the same. People either
didn’t see them or paid no attention, and Alice and I had spent hours over the
years sat laughing at the tourists losing their lunch. It never got tired.

Eventually
my laughter subsided for long enough to pass Sam the third portion of fish and
chips I’d ordered in advanced as he glowered at me. “Very fucking funny,” he
said,
his mouth twitching as he scalded me.

 
“It really was and you squealed like a little
girl,” I laughed as he narrowed his eyes. “Eat them here, they won’t come under
the awning...unless you’re really unlucky,” I grinned, biting into my freshly
battered fish. He started tucking in and we ate in relative silence, only
broken by the sound of my intermittent chuckling as I recalled the scene I’d
just witnessed over and over again.