A Change of Pace Read Online Free Page B

you know Bet. Just said the place was still in a frightful mess and Mr Cameron was a nice man and doing his best. Honestly, I simply don’t know how Bet’s going to cope in the real world; she’s had Miles to wet-nurse her for so long ...’
    Pete’s eyes wandered longingly in the direction of his Financial Times . He twitched it towards him. Unfortunately he twitched too hard and managed to upset his still half-filled cup of coffee. A stream of khaki-coloured liquid trickled gently over the newspaper and down on to the expensive rug underneath his desk. ‘Bloody hell!’
    ‘Pete, are you listening?’
    ‘Of course I am, it’s just I’ve upset my coffee. I’ll have to get Fiona to clear it up before it soaks in.’ Pol snorted. ‘Do you ever do any work? I haven’t even had time yet for a slice of toast, let alone mid-morning coffee.’
    ‘Look, ducky, I’ll ring the Rectory this afternoon, have a word with Bet — and Cameron, if I can get hold of him — but quite frankly I don’t see the world falling apart because we can’t move down there for another week or two. Now I really must go, old girl, there’s a call from New York on the other line.’ He quickly replaced the receiver before she could say anything else. ‘Fiona, love, can you come in? I’m afraid there’s been a disaster with your coffee ... ’
    That afternoon, pleasantly relaxed after a heavy lunch, Pete put a call through to the Rectory. Would Bet be in one of her moods? He loved talking to Bet, she terrified him and excited him at the same time; like a nervous thoroughbred horse, you never knew what she would do next, kick out at you or smile that lovely smile of hers. Wasted on old Miles really. All those years stuck in Hampstead, reading the Guardian , canvassing for the Labour party and organising jumble sales for War on Want. He wondered what she would do now, let loose on the world after so long. She’d loved Miles Brandon totally, he’d always known that. But occasionally, just very occasionally, he’d glimpsed another quality in her; a kind of harsh sexuality quite out of keeping with her role of liberal-minded Hampstead housewife and mother.
    ‘Hullo, hullo! How’s my favourite sister-in-law? I gather there’s been a spot of bother with our esteemed friend Cameron?’
    ‘Look, Pete, before you go any further I should just like to say that I’ve quite enough to do down here without having to spend half my time relaying totally unnecessary messages to your wretched builders. I’m not surprised they’re behind, Mr Cameron says Pol changed her mind six times over the bathroom wallpaper and then went back to the first one they’d tried. He was practically in tears, he ... ’
    Pete closed his eyes. Bet always looked so delicious when she was cross. He tried to imagine her standing there by the phone, one slim, brown hand gripping the receiver, her hair bouncing about on her shoulders — the colour of sweet dark sherry, he’d once poetically described it, and even after all these years it was still like that except for one or two interesting streaks of grey at the temples. Her green eyes would be all stormy and tragic-looking, and ... ‘Pete, are you still there or has some idiot cut us off?’
    ‘I’m still here, ducky.’
    ‘Answer my question, then. Do you or do you not know that Pol is now insisting on having a daily? Not only that, but expecting me to scour the neighbourhood for one.’
    ‘Actually, ducky, I think she only wants one twice a week — someone to get things ready before we come down on a Friday and clear up afterwards on a Monday. The place will probably be a bit of a shambles; you see, the old girl means to do quite a lot of entertaining.’
    ‘It’s a pity she couldn’t have told me that in the first place. Now I’ll have to rewrite the notice I was going to put in the Post Office.’
    ‘What a bore for you, ducky, Pol should have made it clearer.’ Did he sound sympathetic enough? ‘Look