It Started at Sunset Cottage Read online

  Sarah jumped happily out of her rust bucket of a car and crunched along the gravel drive to Kate’s front door, where she met Marmalade, who was sat staring up at the door handle.

  “Oh dear, has Andy shut you out again? Come on,” Sarah said as she unlocked the door and the cat shot inside. “Helloooo! Anybody home?” she called as she placed the lasagne, with instructions on a post-it note, in the fridge. She headed back into the hall and nearly fell over a cardboard box that looked as though it contained rubbish. She was about to browse through the papers when Andy appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked a little alarmed when he saw what Sarah was doing.

  “Hey, it’s the dinner fairy!” he said, running down the stairs to give her a hug.

  “Lasagne. It’s in the fridge. Read the instructions!” she scolded. “I see you’ve got some salad in there that’ll go nicely with it,” she reached up and flattened down his fringe, which was looking as though a cow had licked him. As soon as she’d done it, she realised it was actually quite an intimate thing to have done and apologised straight away, making them both a little uncomfortable.

  “Sorry, Andy. I just saw the sticky-up bit and… sorry.”

  “No, it’s fine. I don’t want to walk around looking like a dork. Thanks.”

  “So you’re being evicted, then?”

  “Yes, Kate’s back on Friday. To be honest, she did say I’m welcome to stay, but my little house is liveable now, so it’ll be nice to move in properly and call it home. Still a lot to do, including all the decorating, but apart from that it’s fine. You’ll have to come over and have a look around.”

  “I’d love to, thanks. I can’t stop. Did you want me to dump this in the recycling?” she gestured to the box on the floor.

  “Ah, no. Thanks for the offer. No, it’s stuff I need to sort out.”

  “Is that James’s stuff?” questioned Sarah, recognising that the letter on top was addressed to James.

  “Uh, yeah, it is,” winced Andy.

  “Where from?” asked Sarah.

  “It’s his office stuff,” said Andy running his fingers through his damp hair and making it stick up again.

  “But you said you’d done all that yonks ago.”

  “I know. Look, I’m sorry, I just bundled it into a box and then I just didn’t get around to sorting it out. It’ll be my first job when I move in. Promise,” he said running his fingers in a cross your heart motion across his chest.

  “Don’t worry, Waster. I’ll do it,” Sarah said good-naturedly picking up the box.

  “No,” said Andy, a little firmer than he’d meant to, “it’s fine. I will do it. I promise.” He repeated the cross your heart gesture.

  There was no fooling Sarah, something was clearly up and she was like a dog with a bone, so she stood there gripping the box as Andy now had his outstretched arms waiting for her to pass it to him.

  “Actually,” she said with a smirk, “I’m not in that much of a rush. Let’s go through it now, shall we?”

  “Oh no, sorry, I can’t. I need to be… Um, I have to…”

  “What’s up?” asked Sarah. “Don’t try to lie, it’s pointless. Just tell me what’s going on.”

  Andy stood for a moment and stared at Sarah. She was gorgeous when she was being bossy and for the life of him he couldn’t think of a valid reason not to tell her.

  “Put the box in the living room. I’ll make drinks and I’ll show you what I’ve found. It’s probably nothing and it was all a long time ago, so I think we should just shred the stuff and say nothing to Kate.”

  “Oh, my God, Andy, you are worrying me now. Sod the drink and just show me, whatever it is,” said Sarah, starting to get scratchy with him. They went through to the living room, Andy rummaged down the box and produced a large, brown envelope, which he handed to Sarah. Before she could take it he added, “It was two years ago. It probably means nothing and Kate most likely knew all about it.”

  “She can tell us what she did and didn’t know. Now give me the sodding envelope,” she said, snatching it from him. Sarah pulled out the two bulky documents inside and read the solicitors’ slip that was stuck on the front; it read, “Docs enclosed as discussed. Return to me once signed and witnessed. Regards, Becky”. Sarah leafed through the documents, taking what seemed to Andy like forever. The silence was crippling him.

  “How’s Shaun?” he asked, for something to say.

  “He’s fine,” mumbled Sarah, as she continued to read and flick back between the two documents. When she’d finished, she turned to Andy and he saw a flash of something in her eyes. “So your brother was going to get Kate to sign over her house and then he was going to mortgage it?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, putting his hands in the air. “It’s probably not unreasonable to put the house into joint names. I didn’t realise it was Kate’s house until I read this. I thought it belonged to her mum and dad.”

  “Her grandparents left it to her, something to do with avoiding inheritance tax. I don’t know,” said Sarah waving what she felt was irrelevant away, “but I do know it’s hers and she wouldn’t go signing half of it over to anyone. And this is already signed by James and dated for their wedding day. He’s signed the mortgage agreement, too. She definitely wouldn’t have agreed to mortgage it!” Sarah was on a roll and she was directing all of her sudden anger towards to Andy. “What the hell was he going to do with all that money? Oh, my God, was he going to leave her? Was it all a scam?”

  “No! No I’m sure it wasn’t! Christ, Sarah, calm down. This has nothing to do with me. I’m as confused as you are and have just as many questions. He was my brother and he didn’t mention any of this to me.”

  “When did you know about this? Have you known all this time?”

  “God no, of course not. I came across the box when I was sorting things out for the new house and realised I had never got around to going through it. So one night when I was here I settled down with a beer and started looking. Most of it was statements, printed-off emails, receipts for stuff – you know the sort of thing,” he said, “then I came across this.” He pointed to the envelope. “I must have read it a dozen times and I’m still confused. I was just going to shred it.”

  “You can’t do that!”

  “Why not?”

  “Kate has a right to know what was going on behind her back!” said Sarah vehemently.

  “Sarah, it was two years ago. James is dead. What good can that possibly do? It will only cause upset. You can’t do that to her so near to the anniversary.”

  “Don’t you go making me into the guilty party. I’m not the bad guy here.”

  “And you don’t know that James was, either. Kate might know all about this. It’s really nothing to do with us. It will do no good to tell her.”

  “The good it will do is that Kate has spent two years with a broken heart over a man who was about to rip her off.” Andy opened his mouth so Sarah amended her statement, “who could have been about to rip her off.”

  “We can’t take away her faith in James. Even if he was, and I’m not saying he was, but even if he was, he didn’t actually do it.”

  “Only because he died!”

  “Right, okay, but my point is she still has the house, everything is in order and she’s getting over losing him. I wondered at times, in the early days, if she would ever get over it, but she is. Before Christmas, she was laughing about that time James and I trashed the bouncy castle at Amy’s birthday party, and she did it without that pause at the end where you see the sadness hit her. It didn’t happen. She is coping and maybe she’s even moving on. She’s got the film coming up. This is her time. This would just make her question her memories of James and I can’t see how that would help her.”

  Sarah hated it when other people were right. She was still boiling mad, but Andy was also right that this wasn’t his fault. It was James’s and he was no longer here, so unfortunately she couldn’t interrogate him. Sarah slumped back against the cushions. />
  “Oh, crap. Get me a cuppa, please,” she sighed, kicking off her shoes and pulling her legs up underneath herself.

  “I thought you were in a hurry.”

  “I was only going food-shopping. Where’s my tea?”

  “Coming right up.” Andy smiled at Sarah as she slumped into the sofa and picked up the documents to have another read. When Andy returned with the tea, they sat in silence for a bit.

  “Do you think he really loved her?” asked Sarah.

  “Kate is a very easy person to love. She’s beautiful, kind, generous, funny, loving.”

  “Okay, I get the picture! What does that make me? The quirky, ugly one?”

  Andy put his arm around Sarah and gave her a friendly squeeze.

  “Don’t be silly, Quasimodo.”

  Marcus and Kate had a few changes sent through for the script as the storyboard was coming to life, but they were all things they could accommodate with ease. A week had passed and the work rate had reduced considerably, so Kate turned her attention and free time to finishing her latest novel, which was now embarrassingly overdue. Eventually, they got the call that the script and storyboard were agreed and, once crew and finances were approved, they were set to go to production, which Marcus explained to Kate comprised rehearsals, set design and production and, ultimately, filming. Tim had called a few times to speak to Marcus from some exotic location, a top hotel or a celeb-ridden party and each time Marcus had passed on Tim’s regards, but she wasn’t sure if Marcus was just saying it to be kind.

  “It’s our last night tonight. I think that calls for a trip to the pub!”

  “Here, here!” agreed Kate. She would be very sorry to leave the cottage, and Marcus’s company for that matter. It was early March and spring was just around the corner. The pub was busier than it had been, as people were clearly coming out of hibernation. Despite their recent reduction in visits, they got their favourite table and Kate settled on the duck breast followed, obviously, by the crème brûlée. After their meal, they were lucky enough to grab the pole-position sofa in front of the open fire. Kate sank into it and nursed her tumbler of Baileys, her last-night treat.

  “It’s been nearly two years, hasn’t it?” asked Marcus. Kate knew exactly what Marcus was referring to.

  “Yes. On 15th March it’ll be two years since James died.”

  “I thought it was soon. Does it feel like two years?”

  Kate thought for a moment and sipped her drink. Time was a funny thing; it had a way of confusing things.

  “It feels like a long time since James was here, but not that long ago since the police were standing at my door. It’s odd when you think about it – James and I were only together for 26 months.”

  “Were you?” quizzed Marcus. “I didn’t realise.”

  “We were a bit of a whirlwind, really, but it’s odd to think that he will soon have been gone longer than the time we had together.”

  Marcus put an arm around her shoulder. He was like a second dad and being close to him helped when her own father was so far away.

  “I’m okay. I miss him, but my life is plodding on and, shhh don’t tell anyone, but I’m enjoying it. Just a little bit.”

  “Well done, darling girl, I’m proud of you. James would be proud too.” And he kissed the top of Kate’s head.

  Chapter 10

  Kate came home to an empty house. There was a lovely feeling about stepping inside her own home again and she hadn’t realised how much she’d missed it while she’d been away. It was definitely good to be back. Marmalade came to greet her and danced excitedly around her legs.

  Kate dumped her case in her bedroom and peeked around the guest bedroom door; she could see that Andy had clearly moved out as there was no trace of him upstairs. She discovered that he had been at work in the kitchen as the wobbly kitchen cupboard and sticking kitchen drawer had both been fixed. She looked in the fridge and was pleased to find milk, eggs and a key lime pie with a note on it from Sarah: “Be over lunchtime to help you out with this! Missed you, love Sarah X”.

  Kate sent a text to Sarah before she gathered up the mountain of post and went to sit in the conservatory to read through it. As she looked out across the garden she was pleased to see the splashes of colour from daffodils and tulips in every flower bed, as if a child had been busy with a paint pot. She decided she would sort out the post, unpack and then visit James’s grave. The post was fairly dull, as she had expected – mainly brochures for things she didn’t want, vouchers for things she didn’t need and bank statements. She put on her coat and gloves and, looking out of the window, decided she didn’t need a scarf as it was clear and bright and only a little chilly.

  Her car had just turned the corner into the neighbouring street when Sarah’s car appeared at the other end of the road, drove along and then pulled into Kate’s driveway. Sarah was a bit surprised that Kate’s car wasn’t there because she knew she was home from the text she’d received. Sarah let herself in, took off her coat and felt the kettle; it was still warm, so she guessed that Kate had just popped out for something. Sarah wandered through to the conservatory and looked out across the garden and wondered how long Kate would be when it hit her.

  “SHIT!” she said out loud and ran for the door, slinging her coat on as she went. The gravel flew up behind her as she sped out of the driveway in the same direction that Kate had gone. It was only a short journey, but Sarah spent all of it repeating the same word over and over again.

  “SHIT. SHIT. SHIT.” She could not believe that she had completely forgotten. Maybe she could believe it just a little bit; she really did need to get a big calendar and large day-glo marker pen. More importantly, she now couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought this through properly. She felt like such an idiot.

  Sarah parked the car in the first two parking spaces she could see and ignored the neat signs saying, “Please keep off the grass”. Wrapping her flapping coat around her, she sprinted across the lawn area, dodged around some rose bushes and then joined a path. In the distance she could see Kate standing alone at the foot of James’s grave. Sarah ran to join her and Kate turned as she approached. Sarah threw her arms around and her and hugged her hard. They both stood and stared at the grave. The whole grave was crammed full of daffodils, their big yellow faces bobbing gently in the breeze.

  “I’m so very sorry. You weren’t meant to find out like this. I was going to explain. It was one of my impulsive moments. You see, it seemed like such a good idea when Amy had said it and she’d been getting puzzled that he wasn’t a flower yet and I thought it would be nice and I was going to tell you, but then you went away….”

  Kate interrupted “Shut up you daft tart. They’re beautiful.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. James would have loved that he was a daffodil for Amy. Well, about a hundred daffodils!” Kate linked her arm through Sarah’s and the two women stood and stared at the sea of yellow. It really was a glorious sight that covered the entire grave like a blanket of sunshine.

  “It was the spare bulbs at Back to the Fuschia that swung it. We’d been making up pots and Esme had seriously over-ordered the daffodil bulbs and she asked if I wanted some. So I took the lot.”

  “And that’s where the ones you gave me came from, too.”

  “Yep. You really don’t mind?”

  “I said I love it. Come on. Let’s get home and have a natter. I’ve done what I needed to do here.” Kate bent down and snapped off a few daffodils and they walked back arm in arm to the car park.

  Back at home, Kate arranged the daffodils in a small vase and put them on the kitchen table. Despite having spoken on the phone every week, they found they had loads to tell each other and barely came up for air for the first hour.

  “So, you didn’t give Tim my photo and phone number and he isn’t a tosser,” said Sarah, finally coming to the end of her long list of questions to ask Kate about him.

  “No, he’s kind of normal. Well, he start
s off as a bit arrogant and he sort of slips back into the über-confident style, but in between, he’s fine.”

  “In between he’s dull?”

  “No, he’s not dull, don’t be unkind!”

  “Very hot, but a bit dull?” persisted Sarah.

  “No, he’s hot, obviously, but, no, he’s not dull.” And she threw a cushion at her, which Sarah adeptly caught and snuggled behind her head for extra comfort. “So, is Shaun still behaving himself?”

  Sarah tensed and instantly looked less comfortable, despite the extra cushion. “Yep, he’s er, he’s okay.”

  “Not let Amy down recently?”

  “No, he’s been fine and he’s been spending more time with her.” Sarah stared at her chipped nail polish.

  “That’s good, then,” said Kate, in a very perfunctory manner.

  “I wanted to ask you what you honestly thought of Shaun. You didn’t really hate him, did you?” asked Sarah leaning forward and studying Kate closely.

  “Hate is a strong word,”

  “He has some good points. Don’t look like that,” said Sarah, registering Kate rolling her eyes. “What did you think? Honestly?”

  “Honestly?” asked Kate. Sarah nodded in response, biting her bottom lip.

  Kate took a deep breath.

  “I didn’t like him. I tried to like him, but he was just generally unpleasant to me most of the time. He frequently made snide comments to me, but he was always careful to make sure they were out of earshot of anyone else.”

  Sarah looked shocked, “You never said.”