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As he stares at the view he remembers where Nicole is. She said she was going to the County Show, an agricultural fair. Perhaps he should have gone with her this morning, but if he’shonest, farm animals aren’t his bag. Nicole will love it, though. He hopes she’s having a nice time.
He has a shower and heads to the kitchen. His phone catches his eye. He checks it with a knot in his stomach and feels relief that Patrick hasn’t sent any more messages. He tips cereal into a bowl, splashes milk over it and sits at the island, spooning it into his mouth, chewing with his mouth open because Nicole isn’t here to tell him not to. He reads the sports news and considers making a bet on the racing, but it’s not as fun as it used to be because there’s no thrill in winning money he doesn’t need.
He hears the buzzer and is halfway to answering it when he remembers he should have tried doing it via his phone, because it’s all set up to let people in remotely. He doubles back to get his phone but can’t make the app work. Nothing works. He remembers that he disabled the security cameras by mistake last night and reminds himself to sort that out today. He’s beginning to think the systems have it in for him, that they want to mess with his head. He should have listened to the architect’s advice about not installing too many things.
The bell rings again and whoever’s outside raps on the door. He puts his phone down and hurries to answer it, tripping over Nicole’s nest of ‘ghost’ coffee tables on the way and giving his leg a scrape. He curses them. Why she had to buy see-through furniture, he does not know.
When he gets to the door, he finds a large cardboard box, almost waist height, outside and an unfamiliar car is on the drive, but Tom doesn’t see anyone.
‘Hello!’ he calls and, as he does, he thinks he can hear someone calling back. He follows the path around the side ofthe Barn, towards the pool, to see a squat man in a baseball cap standing beside it. The man has thick legs, a beer belly and wears dark glasses which make it hard to age him.
‘Hi,’ Tom says.
The man turns. He’s about forty, Tom thinks. He has a logo on his cap, a farmland motif, which seems familiar to Tom, but he can’t place it. ‘Can I help you?’ he asks.
‘Sorry, when you didn’t answer the door, I came round to see if you were outside,’ the man says. He gestures to the pool. ‘This is something.’
‘Thanks,’ Tom says. ‘Yeah. We like it.’
The man walks back towards him and Tom follows him round to the front of the house. Tom has no idea what’s in the box – presumably something Nicole ordered. They’ve had so many deliveries. ‘Do you want me to put the box somewhere?’ the man says. ‘I’m supposed to ask customers.’
‘Is it heavy?’
‘Not too bad. They make them out of fibreglass,’ the man says.
Tom connects the logo on the man’s cap and the comment about fibreglass.
‘Is it the sheep?’ he asks.
‘It’s the sheep.’
Tom pulls the box open a little to see a full-size sheep replica standing inside. It has kind eyes. ‘Amazing. It’s a surprise for my wife,’ he says. ‘She loves sheep. She collects models of sheep, but she’s never had one that’s life-size. She’s going to be chuffed.’
‘Lovely,’ the man says.
‘I didn’t know it was coming today.’
‘Boss didn’t tell you?’
Tom shakes his head. He feels a bit annoyed because if Nicole had taken receipt of it, the surprise would have been ruined.
The man shrugs. ‘Sorry, mate. I hope she likes it.’
‘Thank ewe,’ Tom says. He waits for the man to get his joke. ‘Thank. Ewe,’ he repeats.
‘Haha!’ the man says. ‘Very good. Never heard that before. Have a good day then.’
Tom pulls the box indoors and wonders how to hide the sheep, because he wants to give it to Nicole on her birthday in September. She’s going to love it. He can imagine getting a whole flock of them. Maybe they can stand around the pool. Or on the front drive. He looks at the row of small ceramic sheep she’s arranged on a shelf. ‘Ladies, meet your big sister,’ he says, and adds, for good measure, a ‘Baaa’ sound.
He sets his mind to the problem of where to hide the sheep and realises he probably should have given it some thought before now, but it’s nice to have a little problem to solve. It’ll stave off the boredom.
He kneels to eyeball the sheep. ‘Right, darling,’ he says. ‘Where shall we put ewe?’
40
THURSDAY
Hal
