Page 70

Chapter 70

September 2011

‘Fiona is coming for dinner tonight,’ announces Georgia over breakfast. ‘And she’s bringing a friend with her who may be able to advise you what to do about your situation.

’

‘I’m not sure I’m up to explaining it all again.

’

‘Don’t worry about that.

’ Georgia opens the Ottolenghi book.

‘I’ve renewed this twice but it’s due back to the library tomorrow.

I want to try his recipe for grains and squash and pomegranate seeds.

Lebanese, I think. Look.

’ She pushes the open book across the table.

‘Don’t you think that looks really tasty?

’

Tess glances at the page.

‘It’s pretty, certainly.

’

‘Jolly good. You can do the shopping for it; just take the grocery purse off the dresser over there.’

‘I’m sure I can afford to buy a pomegranate and some bulgur wheat.

’

‘Please don’t undermine how things are done, Tess.

We have the bulgur wheat already, it’s the fresh pomegranate that’s missing.

And perhaps something deliciously wicked for dessert?

I shall leave it up to you to choose.

’

Tess shakes her head.

‘You pay for all the food and I don’t think it’s fair.

’

‘Please just stop .’ Georgia’s voice has a sudden edge.

‘I am immensely privileged. I have a lovely house, albeit one in need of some care and attention in the garden department. I have chosen to share it with various young women over the years, at my own expense. None of them, not one, not the most broke, nor the most broken-hearted, would have lived here with me and shared their lives for a couple of years if they thought I was offering charity. Every single one of them was far too proud to be beholden to me or anyone else. They have given me so much, Nicola included.’

‘But—’

‘But nothing.’ Georgia’s voice gives away her exasperation.

‘Perhaps you will feel differently if I remind you that Keith paid rent when he first moved in. My own mother took a job in the year between being at school and going to university; she refused to let anyone pay her rent for her. She took a job at the greengrocer on Morningside Road and apparently that caused quite a stir among the well-heeled at the university.’ Georgia stops as a piece of the family jigsaw slots into place.

‘Annie made me study the ledger when I took over, so I would understand how it all worked. I always wondered why Olivia was allowed to stay for longer than two years and we now have the answer to that question. But even though Annie knew that Olivia was her niece, the accounts show that she paid rent. It wasn’t a lot, but she paid it.

It is the way things are done here.

’

‘I’m sorry.’

Georgia glares at Tess.

She is not finished.

‘You are not so special, I have to tell you. Not so special that you are going to avoid the rules which have been in place here since 1931.’

‘That’s me told, I suppose.

’ Tess stands up and reaches for the little grocery purse, which always has cash inside.

‘Pomegranates and pudding.’

As suddenly as Georgia’s frustration had arrived, it vanishes.

‘I don’t think you’ll be able to find a Lebanese wine, but it’s called Chateau Musar if you happen to see it.

Just get a bottle of something nice.

In fact, get two.’

Tess tucks the purse into her pocket.

‘I’ll take Baxter, he likes going to the shops.

’

Georgia raises her hand like someone stopping traffic.

‘Actually, I’ve been hearing that dogs have gone missing recently when they are tied up outside shops.

’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, it was on Facebook.’ Georgia looks down at Baxter.

‘And we don’t want that to happen to you, do we?

Oh no we don’t, so I think you should stay here with me.

’

‘That’s just so you can fuss over him when I’m away.

He’s spoiled rotten when he’s with you.

’

Georgia smiles. ‘I’m expecting a parcel today and he will protect me from the delivery driver.

’

‘As if you need any protection .?.?.’

‘Be off with you. I have to weed the herb patch and try to stop the mint spreading even more energetically than it usually does. He can keep me company.’

*

They cook together, side by side.

The routine has fallen into place quite naturally.

Tess opens jars and chops vegetables, and peels garlic.

Tess is the percussionist, Georgia the conductor of the orchestra.

‘Eton mess?’

Tess nods.

‘That was my thought. I went to Stan’s allotment for the fruit.

It’s easy to make and I haven’t met a person who doesn’t like it, so it seems like a safe option.

’ Georgia walks over to the larder.

‘You know, I think there are some bottled redcurrants in here. I found a bush growing wild in the park two summers ago and I took advantage. Free food. It would have been terrible to let the birds get away with them all.’

Tess scoops the seeds out of a particularly large butternut squash.

‘I told Fiona about the weedkiller, a while ago.’

Georgia puts the jar of redcurrants on the worktop.

‘Fiona is so utterly discreet; I promise you, she never said a word.’

‘Good practice for a lawyer, I guess.’

‘The extra person is a friend of hers, someone she thinks might be able to advise. I expect they may have some questions for you, but you aren’t in trouble.

’

‘I don’t want to be made to feel like someone who is not in control.

I can assure you I was very much in control of that watering can.

’

‘I’m sure you were.

Pass that wooden spoon, please, this needs a stir.

’

*

The guests come around the back of the house, as everyone does, except those delivering parcels or flyers for the local pizza place.

‘Hello there.’ Fiona is carrying a bottle.

‘My goodness, Georgia, what a difference.’ She looks up and down the new scullery-kitchen.

‘Very nice indeed.’ She nods to Tess and thrusts a bottle of fizzy white wine at her.

‘This could do with cooling down, I think.’

Georgia is standing on the steps between the kitchen and the scullery.

‘If you like that, just wait until you see what’s been happening in here.

’

‘It’s all so exciting.

’ Fiona follows Georgia up the steps.

‘Let me see what you’ve been doing to the old place.

’ She stops. ‘Wow! You said you were ripping things out and you’ve certainly done that.

He’s a good plasterer, my cousin, isn’t he?

’ She strokes the smooth surface, now a delicate shade of very pale peach.

‘I keep trying to get him to do the ceilings in my place but he never has time.’

‘A case of the cobbler’s child having no shoes?

’ says a voice from the doorway.

‘Sorry, Georgia. This is Cait. I’ve known her since Primary Five and she’s an expert in all things financial.

’ Fiona looks around the kitchen as though seeing it for the first time.

‘Amazing. Look at that old range. I shouldn’t really say this, but if you ever want to sell, that’s a property photographer’s dream shot.

’

‘It was behind the chimney wall all the time,’ says Georgia.

‘It was when I was at university, the summer before I went to Germany for third year. Annie and I went away for a couple of weeks and when we came back it had all been covered up and the wall was painted.’

Fiona laughed.

‘When I think about all the times we used to sit here having dinner with the others and listen to you reminiscing about it, and we had no idea.’

Tess caught the scrap of information.

‘Did you live here too, Fiona?’

‘I did indeed. Two years.’ She points at Georgia.

‘I don’t know how this saint put up with me.

’

Tess suddenly has a hundred questions but it’s already too late, and the conversation moves on.

‘Does it work?’ asks Cait.

‘Stan says that it’s sound enough, the fireplace in Tess’s room upstairs uses the same chimney stack.

But I think I need someone a bit more expert to look at it, and of course the chimney will need to be swept.

’ She points at the grate which is full of pinecones.

‘I picked those up in the park and they look pretty enough for now. I think I’d need to use smokeless fuel, so I’m not sure I’ll ever light a fire in it.

’

Fiona smiles. ‘It would be such fun, though.’

‘It’s a beast. Isobel was the only person who could get any sense from it.

You have to coax it, and know its ways.

It was always warm and cosy in the winter in here, but in the summer it was roasting and not pleasant at all.

And it ran the hot water, so if you let it go out then your clothes went unwashed, and there were no hot baths either.

’ She raises her arm, sniffs her armpit theatrically and pulls a face.

‘We started getting smelly pretty fast.’ She points at the table.

‘Shall we eat?’

*

There is homemade pitta bread, bulgur and butternut salad studded with pomegranate seeds, and courgette and yellow peppers dressed with lemon and oregano.

And Eton mess, and what turns out to be not Prosecco, but Cava.

It’s a good meal. The four women chat and laugh, but Tess can’t forget the reason for the visit.

After the last of the meringue has been scraped from the bowl and the dishes have been cleared away, she knows that she has to get this over with.

She looks at Cait. ‘I think Fiona has told you about my predicament? What do you think?’

‘You aren’t denying it was you who did the damage?

’

‘Oh no, it was definitely me.’

‘In theory, Fiona says you need to pay the bill, but .?.?.’

‘But?’

‘But it may be that the cost of the reinstatement is very, very small beer when compared with the cost of years of unpaid tax on rental income.’

‘Pardon?’

‘Fiona mentioned that when your ex was out of the country he rented his house out?’

‘Yes, that’s right.

’

‘And he didn’t declare the income?

’

‘No. He said he didn’t need to because it was a private arrangement, not done through an agency.

’

‘Unfortunately for him, that’s not the case.

’ Cait takes a sip of Cava.

‘And he would also need to have had a buy-to-let mortgage, not a regular one. Banks are pretty fussy about that. And insurance companies too.’

‘But I couldn’t possibly drop him in it.

’

Cait pulls a calculator from her bag.

Her fingers hover over the buttons.

‘Have you got any idea how much he charged?’

‘No idea, but it’s a nice three-bedroom house in Craiglockhart.

’

‘OK. If we play with some numbers for a minute and say that hypothetically the rent was a thousand a month? That’s twelve thousand a year.

How long did he rent the house out?

’

‘I’m not sure, at least eight years.

’

Cait stabbed at the screen.

‘Ninety-six thousand pounds.’

Tess goes white.

‘But if he had to pay tax on all that, it could be, well, quite a lot would be an understatement.’

‘And you’re not going to tell Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, but he doesn’t know that.

’

‘I’m not?’

‘No one is. However, it can be suggested that not declaring rental income to HMRC is unwise. It’s quite possibly all that would be needed to get him to back off.

’

‘Seriously?’

‘If he has any sense at all, yes. It’s likely he owes a not inconsiderable sum, especially when compared with the cost of some gardening and grass seed.

’

‘And a phone. And a designer coffee table.’

‘Even with those things too.’

‘But you aren’t going to tell HMRC either?

I don’t want that.’

‘No, I’m not.

But I can’t imagine it’ll be long before he decides to voluntarily pay the tax anyway, once the situation has been explained to him by his solicitor.

’

Fiona, who has been silent during the discussion, joins in.

‘I’ll draft a letter and you can see it before it gets sent.

’

Tess frowns. ‘Solicitor’s letters are expensive.

’

‘You can pay me in ironing. I have a Munro-sized heap of it, and it’s only Thursday.

’

‘Are you sure?’

‘M and P Legal have always been,’ she makes inverted commas in the air with her fingers, ‘“helpful” to Georgia’s friends.

Let’s just say the sisterhood supports when necessary.

’ She wags her finger at Tess.

‘And I will extract my fee in pressed T-shirts and pillowcases, you can be sure of that.’

‘Ironing I can cope with. I just don’t want to be pulled into a huge argument over all this.

’ Tess looks at the three women with whom she has just shared an excellent meal.

‘I think I’ve finally got to the point where I’m thinking about what comes next in my life, and I don’t want to get dragged backwards.

’ She stands up. ‘And since we are talking about what comes next, who would like coffee and chocolate?’