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‘They have,’ says Alex. ‘I’m not quite sure where I’ll be living this year. I finished university in June, and I’m looking for a job, but I hope to be here for a few weeks at least. It’s a lovely village.’
Mr. Martin looks pleased. ‘I’m glad you like it. I hope your parents will be very happy here. I mentioned that we’d be painting the hall this afternoon, and your mother told me you’d be delighted to help.’
‘Did she indeed?’ says Alex with a laugh in his voice. ‘Possibly, she didn’t know how dangerous it would turn out to be.’
He smiles at me, and I smile back. It was inevitable that when I finally met the man of my dreams, I would be lying on the floor, covered in paint. And inevitable too that Suzy would be there to provide the perfect contrast.
‘I’d better get on with this wall,’ I say. ‘Do you have a cloth I can use to wipe up the paint, Mr. Martin?’
Alex gives me an odd look. ‘Do you intend to carry on?’
‘Why not? I can’t get any messier than I am now. I may as well finish the job.’
‘I’m impressed,’ he says. ‘I thought you’d want to rush home for a bath.’
‘Annie doesn’t mind getting messy,’ says Suzy with a giggle. ‘She isn’t interested in how she looks.’
She claps her hand to her mouth. ‘Sorry, Annie. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you like wearing old jeans.’
‘As do I,’ says Alex. ‘And you obviously don’t.’
Suzy looks pleased. ‘I like to make an effort.’
‘Even when you’re painting?’ he asks.
She holds up her paint brush. ‘I’m going around the windowsills. But the paint’s runnier than I expected.’
He raises an eyebrow. ‘I think that’s how they make it.’
She giggles again. ‘I’m not really used to this sort of thing. Perhaps you’d like to help me?’
I mentally roll my eyes as I wipe up the spilled paint. Thank goodness Mr. Martin put down drop cloths or I’d have ruined the wooden floors. It hasn’t taken Suzy long to annex the stranger. It never does. He won’t know what’s hit him.
But Alex doesn’t take Suzy up on her offer. Instead, he walks over to me. ‘Can I give you a hand with this?’
I hold up the cloth. ‘I think I’ve cleaned up the worst of it. Anyway, most of it went on me rather than the floor.’
‘I can see that,’ he says. ‘What are we doing here?’
‘Just giving it a fresh coat of white paint. The rollers are over there.’
‘What are we doing after that?’ he asks, and my heart skips a beat.
‘The pub!’ says Suzy. ‘Perhaps you’d like to come too, Alex? Annie probably wants to go home and get cleaned up, but you and I could have a drink and get to know each other.’
‘I don’t mean that,’ he says. ‘I mean what are we painting on the walls when we’ve finished emulsioning them?’
‘I hadn’t envisaged anything else,’ says Mr Martin. ‘Do you have something in mind?’
‘I assumed you’d want some sort of a mural on the walls,’ says Alex.
‘What a good idea!’ Mr. Martin beams at me. ‘And we have the perfect person to do it. Annie here is studying art at university.’
‘Graphic design,’ I say.
Alex looks interested. ‘And how are you enjoying it?’
‘I love it. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.’
