Time Will Tell Read Online Free Page B

back.’
    â€˜It’s gorgeous. And these floorboards are beautiful.’
    As she showed him through the house, the initial tension left Emily and she felt prouder with every bit of praise Nathan heaped on her. She offered him a coffee and they sat at the kitchen table.
    â€˜I can’t believe you and Des did all this yourself,’ he said. ‘I’m not a bit handy with tools – I wouldn’t have known where to start.’
    â€˜Actually, Nathan,’ Emily said, after they’d been sipping their drinks for a few moments, ‘there’s something I’ve been wondering about. Maybe you can help me. Do you have any idea how much it costs to subdivide a property?’
    â€˜Not off the top of my head, but I could find out easily enough – this place you mean?’
    Emily was suddenly unsure if she should be discussing it with him. Would it jinx things? Would he tell anyone? Could she really trust him?
    â€˜Oh, just dreaming really,’ she said, blushing slightly, and peering down into her two-thirds full mug.
    â€˜Come on Em, you can’t just leave it at that. Honestly, I’m the vault of discretion if you want someone to bounce ideas off. You’d have my absolute confidence. Trust me, I’m a banker,’ he said with a grin, before taking a long slug of coffee.
    She took another sip while getting her thoughts in order. ‘All right – if you promise to keep this to yourself. Because it might not happen anyway.’
    â€˜Scout’s honour,’ he said, saluting.
    â€˜Well, my landlords have offered to sell me the house and surrounding land if I pay to have it surveyed and subdivided…’
    â€˜Can you afford to buy? The place must be worth a couple of hundred thousand.’
    â€˜They’re both on the pension, which they have to be careful not to jeopardise. So they’re offering the most amazingly generous terms.’
    â€˜If it sounds too good to be true, Emily, chances are… Sorry, I don’t mean to sound negative – it’s the cautious banker in me. Sorry. Go on.’
    â€˜The place looks quite tidy, but there’s a lot of work to be done – it was empty for years, so it’s not worth nearly what it once would have been. Anyway, they only want twenty annual payments of ten thousand – five to each of the brothers. No interest.’
    â€˜Wow, well that really is a good deal then, and probably too good to pass up if you’ve got the first payment and can afford the subdividing costs. Maintenance might be your biggest problem. But I don’t suppose you’d be living here if the main structure was a total disaster.’
    â€˜Yes, Dad had a pretty good look before I moved in and said it wasn’t bad, but the roof will need replacing fairly soon. So I’ll have to factor in the cost of that. I’ve told them I’m definitely interested but that I’ve got to do some sums.’
    â€˜Do you think you’ll want a loan? You’d need a twenty percent deposit to avoid mortgage insurance, which is pretty hefty.’
    â€˜No point – I don’t have a job, so I wouldn’t be able to pay anything back.’
    â€˜Hmm, I wouldn’t be much use to you then,’ he said, thoughtfully.
    â€˜I wasn’t expecting you to be,’ Emily said, beginning to wonder why he had come here.
    â€˜No offence, but I thought you said you got a really rough deal – financially – from the ex. How are you planning to pay for all this?’
    She felt a little taken aback. You turned up out of the blue on Christmas morning; I didn’t invite you to come out and discuss my finances! She wanted to say these things aloud, but didn’t.
    She stared down into her mug, wondering if she’d done the right thing telling him she was unemployed. Thanks to her mother’s prolonged conditioning, unemployment was much the same as having ‘loser’