‘Hmm,’ he said, sounding discouraged, which was my intention.
I tried a bit more manoeuvring: ‘At the moment things are so frantic, getting ready for a move at such short notice, that I wouldn’t have time to keep an eye on what Poppy’s up to anyway, even if I wanted to.’
‘Someone needs to, because what she’s doing really could be dangerous.’ He sighed long-sufferingly. ‘I suppose I will have to.’
I made encouraging noises, even though I’m not entirely sure that Poppy will appreciate continually being shadowed by Felix on dates with potential suitors. But if they are all as dreadful as the first one, which seems quite likely, she may start to see what’s under her nose in a new light. They both might.
I reminded him, as I already had with Poppy, that I was not telling Jake anything at all about what I’d discovered in the attic. Mum’s behaviour had damaged him enough, he didn’t need to know that she only had him in order to try to extort money. I wished I didn’t know that that’s why she’d had me, but I’d cope – I always had.
Apart from packing his own belongings up, Jake has been pretty useless the last few days, glooming about like a slightly Goth Lord Byron (but without the limp).
When I asked him at breakfast one morning whether he was upset about the move, he said tersely: ‘No. It’s a girl.’
I looked at him in surprise. ‘I didn’t know you had a girlfriend at the moment, Jake. You kept that quiet.’
‘I haven’t got one, that’s the trouble.’
‘You mean, you fancy someone, but she won’t go out with you?’
He sighed heavily. ‘She doesn’t even know I exist! She’s new – her parents just moved to the area – and she seems only to want to work all the time. If she isn’t in class, she’s in the library.’
I wished Jake would be a bit more like that! ‘She sounds nice,’ I said kindly. ‘What terrible timing having to move college just before your exams, though. That’s probably why she’s concentrating on her studies.’
‘She’s dead set on going to Oxford too,’ he said, even more gloomily.
‘Are you doing the same subjects?’
‘Yes, that’s why I see her all the time. Only she doesn’t seem to see me.’
I didn’t really know how she could miss him – tall, brown-eyed, handsome, and all in black from dyed hair to big boots – but I saw an opportunity for some sneaky advice. Nagging him to revise always had the opposite effect, but revising to impress a girl could have a valuable knock-on effect…
‘You’ve got things in common then, Jake, and that’s a really good start. If I were you, I’d hang out in the library at the same time she does – ask her if you can check something in one of the books she’s using, that kind of thing. Show her you’re serious about your studies too.’
He gave me a suspicious look, but reluctantly conceded I might have something.
I cleaned and mended the pretty shell mirror, then covered it in bubble wrap and put it in the ottoman in the attic, together with a few more breakable things, like our box of Christmas decorations and a particularly pretty, but very fragile, spun-glass angel ornament.
While I was up there I noticed that Jake must have already transferred some of his more dubious treasures to the cabin trunk, because it now had a large padlock affixed to the hasp and, when I tried lifting the end, it weighed a ton. I only hoped the removal men could still get it down the narrow and steep attic stairs.
Jake did seem a little more cheerful since we’d had the conversation about the girl he liked at college, so perhaps my advice about how to get to know her was paying off? I hoped it paid off in better exam grades, too.
Chas phoned me up that evening, which took me by surprise, even though he does do that from time to time. And I suppose I must have sounded a bit odd, because he asked me if everything was all right.
I wasn’t ready to discuss what was on my mind yet, so I just told him I was tired, and all about the imminent house move.
He was kind and interested as usual, so that I found myself wishing again that he would turn out to be my father after all, though it would be even better to have one who didn’t make furtive phone calls from his mobile only when his family weren’t about!
Poppy came over to the flat after the next Parish Council meeting, which seemed to be taking place thick and fast because of all the changes going on in Sticklepond, and told me that the cat still wasn’t out of the bag about Grumps and the Old Smithy.
‘But I’m terrified I’m going to let it slip, and I’m sure Felix and I look really guilty all the time.’
I could just imagine Felix and Poppy avoiding each other’s eyes and looking shifty, though the news would have to come out sooner or later.
‘Luckily they had some other news to distract them, or they might have spotted it,’ she said.
‘Oh?’ I looked up from enfolding the last of my collection of ornamental angels in bubble wrap. ‘Have they finally found out who the ex-pop star vicar is, then?’
‘No, they still don’t know a thing about that, either. It’s just that an old cottage called Badger’s Bolt has been sold, after being on the market for absolutely ages, probably because it has spring water instead of mains and it’s a bit isolated – up a track near the edge of the Winter’s End estate. I only know where it is because we buy hay from Mr Ormerod, who has the farm next to it.’
‘I can’t see what’s so fascinating about that, Poppy. People buy and sell houses all the time.’
‘Yes, but Badger’s Bolt is important because it comes with the two pieces of land in the village where the tennis club and lido are, and if there’s a new owner then the lease might go up when the current one expires.’
The so-called lido field was a grassy picnic area next to a curve in the river, which had been partly dammed by large boulders to form a large, shallow pool where in summer the local families splashed about.
‘Didn’t you tell me ages ago that they were trying to raise money to buy the tennis club and lido? I’m sure I bought raffle tickets for it.’
‘That’s right, and Effie Yatton’s been organising it, but they haven’t got enough money yet, and now maybe the new owner won’t want to sell. But Conrad said he was a very pleasant elderly man, a Mr Drake, so perhaps he will be happy to keep things as they are,’ she added optimistically.
‘I wouldn’t have thought an elderly man would want an isolated house a long way from any amenities and with a dodgy water supply.’
‘He might not know the water pressure isn’t that good, especially in summer. I don’t suppose Conrad mentioned it.’ She giggled suddenly. ‘Do you remember when Felix moved into his shop and we found that trapdoor in the kitchen floor, under the lino?’
‘Yes, leading to a cellar with a stream running through a stone channel, right in the middle of it, which he knew nothing about. His face was a picture when you told him having cold running water in the house was probably a luxury when the place was built.’
‘It’s a pity there isn’t something like that at Badger’s Bolt. This Mr Drake told Conrad that he’d also bought the title of Lord of the Manor of Sticklepond when it came up for auction, and Hebe Winter thinks that is a sign that he will take a benevolent interest in the village generally.’
‘I would have thought the Winters were Lords of the Manor.’
‘No, some of these old titles don’t seem to go with local families, they get sort of detached