At ten o’clock, even Rousseau was hovering around, pretending to look for a book he’d lost which Juliet had seen on his desk just the day before.
‘You’re such a fraud, Dad, why don’t you just admit that you’re dying to see Pandora James in the flesh?’
‘Well, if I am, you only have yourselves to blame. I had no idea who this woman was until you all started twittering about her and leaving glamorous photos littering the place. Samuel Johnson said that curiosity is “one of the permanent and certaincharacteristics of a vigorous intellect”, so my being here is rather to my credit, I think.’
Juliet laughed.
‘You’ve got me there. Oh, look, is that them?’
A sleek silver car pulled up in front of the house and started to disgorge glamorous women with improbably long hair and enormous sunglasses. Léo emerged from the front door, and they watched as he greeted them warmly and introduced them to Sylvia. Martha was next out, followed by Will, and Juliet was spurred into action.
‘Come on, Dad, you can help with their cases as well. This could be a big thing for Feywood’s future. Think of the roof.’
‘I only ever think of the roof,’ he said morosely, following his daughter outside.
Although she didn’t have much involvement, it seemed to Juliet that the weekend went well. Sometimes, perhaps, rather too well. Although she told herself repeatedly that Léo was just doing his hosting duties, and perhaps laying things on extra thick so that Pandora and her friends would gush about the experience once back home, she couldn’t help comparing his manner with the moodiness he had been showing towards her recently. She had tried to speak to him once, just to catch up, but had been disappointed.
‘Hey, how’s it going? From what I can hear when I’m upstairs, they’re having a great time.’
‘Yes, yes, they seem to be enjoying it. They’re pretty demanding, though.’
‘Oh, I know. Even I’ve been changing beds up at the house, and Martha sent me out for a special kind of disgusting sounding coffee substitute for one of them.’
‘Thanks for your help. I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now. Are you coming to the final dinner party tonight?’
‘I’ll certainly be there to help things get going…’
‘Great, great. See you later then.’
And he was off. Juliet trudged back up to the house to see what help Martha needed now. Doing the extra housework was the worst part of their contribution to Feywood, but she doubted any of them would have been able to concentrate on their work anyway, and she wasn’t allowed to take any photos because of the magazine people being there. At least Agnes and the ‘girls’ were coming at the end of the weekend to help with the final clear-up, but they couldn’t afford to have them every day.
‘It won’t be like this forever,’ said Martha, as they changed the sheets on Pandora’s bed yet again. ‘If things go well, then we’ll be able to get people in to help more.’
‘It would’ve helped if Frankie had been here,’ grumbled Juliet, balling up a sheet and tossing it into the doorway.
‘I wonder,’ said Martha. ‘She’s even sharper than ever at the moment, so I’m not sure she’d make the perfect hostess – unlike us, of course.’
‘I’m not sure it’s really mything,’said Juliet, wrestling a pillow into its cover. ‘But I don’t mind helping to get Feywood back on her feet again. Just as long as we don’t get many more guests like these ones.’
‘Theyhavebeen rather demanding, haven’t they? No one’s ever asked us to change their bed daily, and some of their dietary requirements are extremely strange.’
‘I’ve got no idea how Léo and Sylvia are handling all that in the school,’ said Juliet. ‘I’m not sure that almond milk freshly squeezed by the light of the moon is a decent substitute for double cream.’
Martha giggled.
‘Sylvia’s always so calm, but even she was looking wild-eyed yesterday when one of them said they needed to have “any bread, as long as it was non-processed”.’
‘I hope she gave her a sheaf of wheat and wished her luck.’
‘I think she was on the verge of it. Oh well, maybe a weekend’s cooking will teach them a bit about ingredients and what not to be scared of.’
‘Maybe. At least they’re doing the food for tonight’s final dinner party, then there’s only one more breakfast to get through. Dad had to drive all the way to Oxford to find organic seaweed powder for one of them to add to their smoothie.’
‘Yuck. So, are you still hoping for an invitation to the wedding?’
‘Oh Juliet, I’d love it, but only if I don’t have to do any of the organisation.’
Everyone gathered in the living room that evening for drinks before dinner. Even Will put in an appearance, at Pandora’s insistence. She and her friends had rather taken to him in what Juliet suspected to be something of a Lady Chatterley fantasy. She wasn’t going to break it to them that, far from being some hired muscle, Will had a degree in estate management and was currently studying for an accountancy diploma. But she didn’t like seeing the pain in Martha’s face as the women flitted around him, flirting and pretending to be helpless so that he would come and open a window for them. Mind you, Will seemed completely impervious to their charms and remained his usual stoic, professional self. It wasn’t long before Léo tapped his glass with a knife.
