* * *
‘Work? For you?’ Sophy exclaimed dazedly when Charlotte had finished. Already her shoulders seemed straighter. There was a pretty pink glow to her skin, and her eyes had brightened. Her face fell abruptly.
‘But, Charlotte, I don’t have any kind of experience in estate agency work.’
‘I know that. Sheila is willing to train you up in the office routine, while I’ll take you round with me, show you how to measure up et cetera. It will only be a part-time job at first,’ she warned, ‘and, to be honest with you, if Oliver Tennant is as successful as he intends to be I doubt that there’ll be enough work for Sheila and me by the autumn, never mind for the three of us, but at least you’ll have had a training, and who knows what might have happened by then?’
‘I’ll need to find a child-minder.’
‘What about Mrs Meachim?’ Charlotte suggested. ‘I know she’s not young, but as an ex-schoolteacher…’
‘If she’d do it, there’s no one I’d rather trust the kids with. She’s marvellous with them.’
‘I thought we could work out the hours to fit in around the twins.’
A faint shadow touched Sophy’s face. ‘You’re not doing this just out of pity, are you?’ she blurted out.
Charlotte shook her head firmly. ‘No way. We do need the extra help, especially now with our busiest time coming up, and with new competition opening up we’ve got to be on our toes. We can’t afford to keep people waiting.
‘You’ll want time to think it over,’ she added considerately, but Sophy shook her head.
‘No, I won’t. It’s a wonderful opportunity. I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I’ll have to check with Mrs Meachim that she’ll have the twins, but subject to that…when do you want me to start?’
‘Monday,’ Charlotte suggested.
‘Wonderful. Look, I’ll give you a ring on Friday, if I may, just to let you know that I’ve got everything organised.’
As Charlotte got up to say her goodbyes to the twins, they both clung to her legs. Laughing, she picked the little girl up and carried her down the path with her. Sophy came with her carrying her son, but neither twin would let Charlotte open the gate and leave until they had had several hugs and kisses.
‘I’m really grateful to you for giving me this job,’ Sophy told her as she retrieved her children and Charlotte slipped through the gate.
‘Don’t be,’ Charlotte told her firmly. ‘I’m the one who’s going to be grateful to you over the next few months.’
She was just about to move over to her car when a familiar dark blue Jaguar pulled up in front of her. Her heart started thumping as Oliver Tennant got out. How had he managed to track her down here? He must have either rung or been in to the office. What did he want?
He was coming towards her; she could feel the tension curling her stomach. He gave her a smile, and then to her shock turned aside to say easily to Sophy, ‘Mrs Williams, I’m sorry to bother you, but I understand that you might be selling your house.’
Charlotte was stunned. She had heard of the keen business tactics of the more entrepreneurial of London’s agents, but this! Her mouth dropped open, even her chagrin in realising that Oliver Tennant had not, as she had first supposed so stupidly, been looking for her forgotten as she fumed over his effrontery.
She could feel Sophy’s surprise, and hear the awkwardness in her friend’s voice as she said hesitantly, ‘Well, no…I’m afraid I’m not.’ She turned to Charlotte, looking for guidance.
Taking a deep breath, Charlotte said as calmly as she could, ‘You go in, if you want to, Sophy. I’ll deal with this.’
She could see Oliver Tennant frowning as Sophy scooped up her children and hurried indoors.
‘I’ve heard of being quick off the mark,’ she said bitterly, ‘but this almost amounts to sharp practice. This isn’t London, Mr Tennant. Out here we wait to be invited to act in a sale. We don’t go out and chivvy our clients like salesmen.’
She was bitterly, furiously angry, and shockingly mingled with that anger was something almost close to pain…as though something inside her hurt at finding this incontrovertible evidence that Oliver Tennant was every bit as bad and unscrupulous in business as she had feared he would be. Pain…what a ridiculous idea. She ought to be feeling triumph, not pain.
‘I could argue the point that sales people are exactly what we are,’ Oliver told her, so obviously unperturbed that she was silenced. ‘However, in this instance I’m afraid you have rather jumped to conclusions. I haven’t come out here to persuade Mrs Williams to give me her business. I simply want to discuss with her the possibility of my buying her house. I need somewhere to live…something short-term and convenient while I look around for a more suitable property. If all goes well down here I may sell out the London end of the business and work exclusively from here.’