Wickham Hall, Part 2 Read Online Free

case, I’ll leave you to it. I think I’ve earned my keep for today anyway.’
    He picked up his coffee and left the office and I sat down to finish that pesky press release undisturbed. Oh yes, I knew exactly where to find issues of the
Wickham and Hoxley News
dating back to July 1984: our dining room.
    I’d agreed to meet Esme after work for a drink at The Bluebell in Henley. She had news, she’d said, and needed to talk. And after bashing out press releases all afternoon, I was only too happy to accept her invitation. She was already at the bar when I arrived, taking delivery of a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and two glasses.
    We kissed our hellos and carried our drinks outside to the back garden. We found a table in the corner and Esme poured the wine while I slipped my shoes off and wriggled my toes.
    â€˜Here you go; cheers,’ said Esme, nudging a full glass towards me. She giggled. ‘Oh Holly, your face yesterday when Benedict Fortescue appeared from the fitting room.’
    â€˜Don’t, please,’ I said with a shudder. ‘All those things I said . . .’
    â€˜And then he turns out to be your new boss. You were right about him being fit, though. Lucky you.’
    I raised my glass to Esme and drank. The wine was ice cold and tangy and hit the spot perfectly.
    â€˜I’m not so sure “lucky” is the right word,’ I replied, licking my lips.
    As much as I admired Ben’s energy and creativity, I hadn’t been exaggerating when I’d said we had a lot of work to do for the festival and today we hadn’t made much of a dent in it.
    â€˜However, to his credit, he didn’t bring up my indiscretions this morning. In fact, if anything, he was quite sweet about Mum.
And
today was the first time I’d greeted him with his trousers on. So that was a definite improvement.’
    She raised one eyebrow over the rim of her glass. ‘Oh, I don’t know.’
    We both giggled.
    â€˜I think you’ll be good for each other,’ said Esme thoughtfully. ‘Yin and Yang, opposites attract, and all that.’
    â€˜No. Men are off the agenda,’ I replied briskly. And even if they weren’t, I didn’t normally go for the rumpled look. ‘All men except my father.’
    â€˜I meant as colleagues, actually,’ she smirked, ‘but go on. Has your mum said something?’
    I shook my head. ‘Not yet. But I can’t shake the feeling that if I can only get to the bottom of the whole hoarding thing, then she’ll feel comfortable telling me the rest of the story. So that’s my priority at the moment. And she’s really making an effort. I’m proud of her.’
    Her eyes glittered. ‘I’m proud of
you
, Holster. The way you handle life’s hurdles . . . you’re an inspiration to me. I wish I had half your determination.’
    I peered at her, wondering what she was talking about. Esme Wilde was one of the most ‘look out world, here I come’ people I knew. She dipped her head and stared into her glass and I remembered with a jolt that we were here to talk about her news.
    â€˜That is a lovely thing to say, Es,’ I said, covering her hand with mine. ‘But enough about me. Come on?’
    My best friend held my gaze for a heartbeat.
    â€˜Mum definitely has the onset of rheumatoid arthritis; she went to see the doctor today, finally.’
    I squeezed her hand. ‘I’m sorry, Es.’
    She gave me a wan smile. ‘It could be ages before it really takes hold of her and who knows whether she’ll get it as bad as Gran, but in the meantime, we have to think what it means for Joop. We’re still sitting on a lot of summer stock,which means money tied up. We need something for Mum to get her teeth into now that she can’t sew and I need a fresh challenge too.’
    â€˜You need an action plan. Luckily you have a friend who loves a good plan.’ I grinned.