Having a Ball Read online

  Feeling defiant, she walked over to her pinboard and took down the picture of her family outside Marsh's student house. She looked like a child in it. She replaced it, face down. Still, that didn't seem to be enough of a gesture. Searching her room, she saw a postcard of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.

  "You'll do," she said and pinned him up so that he covered the back of the photo. "Now then," she said to the postcard. "You are about to see the transformation of poor needy little Stevie into Stevie the strong woman." She threw her arms out and lifted her chin. "Ta daa."

  * * * *

  From: Stevie Winfield

  To: Dr. Evelyn Blackwood

  Hi Dr. Blackwood. Would it be possible to come up on Saturday instead of Sunday? Given the time frame, I think it would be best to start as early as possible.

  ##

  From: Dr. Evelyn Blackwood

  To: Stevie Winfield

  Of course Stephanie. I'd be delighted to see you. Would you like some directions?

  ##

  From: Stevie Winfield

  To: Dr. Evelyn Blackwood

  I don't have a car, so directions from the bus station would be brilliant, thanks.

  See you tomorrow.

  Stevie

  Chapter 3

  The house was in a quiet road in North Oxford. Walking along the sun-dappled pavement, Stevie felt as though she'd stepped into another world. The houses were all set well back from the road and stood, elegant and aloof, in detached grandeur. Every house had at least three floors and high pointy roofs with chimneys. She smiled to herself. It was impossible to feel harried in such tranquil surroundings.

  What an ideal place for an event venue. Most of the houses appeared to be used as offices by different departments of the university. Louise had mentioned that Dr. Blackwood was planning on running the house as a B&B. She imagined Oxford attracted visitors all year round and business would never be slow.

  Dr. Blackwood's house had a gabled white porch and high gothic windows. Stevie half expected there to be some sort of interesting door knocker and was disappointed to see a plain one, with a laminated notice saying 'please ring the bell' and pointing to an electronic doorbell. She rang and waited for what seemed like ages. Wondering whether there was no one in, she rang the bell again and crouched to peer through the ornate copper keyhole. Through the hole she could see a sunlit hall with red and yellow tiles on the floor. A shadow moved as someone walked towards the door. She quickly straightened up.

  The door, which was twice as wide as a normal door, swung open to reveal a teenage girl in skinny jeans and a Triphoppers tour t-shirt.

  "Yes?"

  "I'm Stevie Winfield. I'm looking for Dr. Evelyn Blackwood."

  The girl frowned for a moment, and then her expression cleared. "Oh, you're the party organizer. Come on in." She opened the door wider and let Stevie past. "I'm Alice. I'm Evelyn's granddaughter."

  Stevie gawped at the hall. It was enormous. To one side a big, carpeted staircase wound past long windows through which the sun poured in. The walls were a warm shade of primrose and the whole effect was like stepping into a light filled cocoon.

  "We only finished painting it last week," said Alice. "Do you like it?"

  "It's amazing."

  "Why don't you wait in the library?" Alice led Stevie into a room off the hall. "I'll go tell Gran you're here."

  The library turned out to be just that. The walls were lined with books, their multicoloured spines as decorative as any wallpaper. Light slanted in through more tall windows, casting the room in patches of bright and dark. A number of mismatched comfy chairs were arranged around a fireplace. Stevie sank into one of them.

  This place was incredible. It was like a stately home, only real people lived here. In her mind's eye she saw the people in evening dress milling around the room. Lighting could be a problem. She looked up to the ceiling and saw a chandelier. "Oh wow."

  Any precious books would have to be removed, of course. She leaned forward to look at the colourful spines and discovered that, rather than the learned tomes she was expecting, they were mostly modern hardbacks. She was sitting, it seemed, next to the Eighties bonkbuster section.

  * * * *

  From: Alice's iPhone

  To: Evelyn's iPhone

  Gran, where are you? The party planner lady is here. I've stuck her in the library for the minute.

  ##

  From: Evelyn's iPhone

  To: Alice's iPhone

  I'm in the roof void. Get her a cup of tea and show her around the house. I'll be down in a minute.

  * * * *

  Stevie went to the window and looked out. The garden descended via steep steps into a sunken lawn. An old fashioned wooden gazebo gleamed white in the summer sun. "Oh my," she said. She tried to see further along to the other end of the garden, but her view was blocked by the deep columns of the windows.

  Someone opened the library door, making Stevie jump. She turned round and saw Alice, half in, half out.

  "Gran says she'll be along in a minute. Do you want a cup of tea?"

  "Oh, yes please."

  "Do you want to come with me to the kitchen? I can give you a mini tour of the house on the way. You can leave your stuff here, if you like. It'll be perfectly safe. There's only you, me and Gran here at the moment."

  "I'll just get my notebook." Stevie grabbed what she needed and followed Alice out.

  "This is the hallway," said Alice as they passed through it again. She stopped at the first door. "This is the front room." She opened the door to a room that was almost as big as Stevie's one bedroom flat. "We don't use if for much at the moment, but we've ordered a TV and we're hoping the B&B guests will be able to use it."

  Alice ushered Stevie out and down the corridor before she could absorb the particulars of the room.

  "We've got a small bar here." She pointed to a large hatch with a rolling blind. There was a note with "wet varnish" written on it propped against the wall next to it. "I know it's traditional to have the bar in the same room as the lounge, but Gran couldn't bring herself to put one in the front room. So we're getting that hatch thing sorted out instead." There were no bottles in evidence.

  "I take it your Gran has a licence to serve alcohol?" Stevie poised her pen to make a note.

  "U-huh." Alice shrugged.

  Stevie added a question mark to the end of her note, not convinced the teenager actually knew the answer.

  Alice led her into the biggest kitchen Stevie had ever seen. "This is the kitchen. But we tend to use it as our dining room too."

  A huge stove dominated one end of the kitchen. White cupboards lined the other walls. In the middle of the room was an old-fashioned farmhouse table with wooden chairs tucked in under it. It took Stevie a full minute to stop gawping and start making notes. While Alice put the kettle on, she walked around and found a stack of certificates in clip frames. Alcohol, catering, fire safety. Most of the certification appeared to have been taken care of.

  "The previous planner lady checked those things out anyway," said Alice.

  "Why did she leave the project?"

  Alice pulled a face. "Lady Beryl."

  "Lady Beryl?" Stevie tried to sound casual, but alarm bells were starting to ring. If this woman had caused someone to leave the project already, things didn't bode well.

  "Yeah. She's one of the trustees of the charity group. She can be...difficult sometimes. Sally--that's the other planner--had a bit of a dispute with her." Alice handed Stevie her tea. "Don't worry. I'm sure it won't happen to you. Gran's had a word with Lady Beryl. She's promised to behave."

  "Ri-ight." Stevie frowned. Party planners were a resilient bunch. This lady Beryl was likely to continue to be a problem. Still, she told herself, she needed this job, no matter how hard it was. She filed the information to consider
later. "This house is incredible."

  "Isn't it?" said Alice proudly. "It was in a terrible state when Gran and Gramps bought it. We all worked on it to get it renovated. It took years, but it looks good now, doesn't it?"

  "Yes, it's beautiful."

  "Dad and Uncle Tom think Gran should sell it and make a fortune, but Gran says she's sticking to the plan." Alice glanced down at her tea. "I think feels she owes it to Gramps."

  Ah. An emotional connection. Stevie made a quick note to follow up. "What happened?"

  "To Gramps?" Alice shrugged as though she didn't care, but her eyes misted over. "He had a heart attack. One minute he's painting the window frames. The next minute...pfft." She waved a hand to indicate that he was horizontal. "Gran called an ambulance but he didn't make it."

  "I'm sorry." Stevie knew from experience that there was nothing she could say to make things any better, but it didn't stop her wishing there was.

  Alice shrugged again. "It happens." She looked away. "He was old. At least it was quick."

  Stevie nodded and, not knowing what else to say, took a sip of tea. Before the silence could get awkward, someone stamped up the outside steps and entered the kitchen from the back door.

  A small woman with short grey hair entered, brushing cobwebs off her shoulders. "Hello," She strode up to Stevie and shook her hand. "I'm Evelyn Blackwood. You must be Stephanie."

  "Stevie. Please, call me Stevie." She winced at the woman's enthusiastic grip.

  "Then you must call me Evelyn. Has Alice shown you the house yet? I see she's given you tea. That's fantastic. I was up in the roof void, I'm afraid. Hence the cobwebs. It needs cleaning out. Damned useful storage space though," said Evelyn without pausing for breath. "Nice of you to agree to take this job."

  "I haven't taken it yet," Stevie said quickly, before Evelyn spoke again. "I have quite a number of questions to ask--"

  "Quite right too. Come. Let's show you round the rest of the house first. Come, come." She shooed Stevie, who had to abandon her tea, out the kitchen and back into the main house. Alice grinned and waved goodbye.

  * * * *

  Evelyn took Stevie through a bewildering maze of corridors and stairways, showing her the parts of the house that were to be the B&B and the parts that were to be rented out as venues to local groups. As they walked, Stevie did her best to interrupt Evelyn to ask the questions on her list.

  "All that's really left to organise is the food, the entertainment and where to put people," said Evelyn. She opened the door to an old fashioned wooden conservatory.

  "So, basically, the whole party," said Stevie. Sunlight filled the glass-walled room, raising the temperature several degrees higher than inside the house.

  "Goodness. Best get those windows open." Evelyn dragged a chair over to the window.

  "Here, let me." Being taller, Stevie could reach the latch by stretching.

  "Thank you." Evelyn moved on to the next window.

  "Another question," said Stevie, over her shoulder. "Would I be working for the charity? Or for you?"

  "Ah." Evelyn wobbled a little on her chair and paused to steady herself "Good question. We didn't think about that with Sally because she was doing it for free. I think you'd be working for the charity really." She carefully descended. "I did mention we can't pay very much, didn't I?"

  "We can discuss that in a minute," said Stevie smoothly. "Tell me more about the charity."

  "Oh yes." Evelyn brushed a stray wisp of hair off her face. "We ladies are a group that gets together to do fundraising. We're mostly retired academics or academics wives, like Beryl. Anyway, this year, we chose a charity in Sri Lanka. It's called project Peds. Ghastly name. It was set up by a group of American doctors and it's raising money to buy equipment for a new children's hospital in Sri Lanka. The old one got swept away by the tsunami."

  Evelyn paused before going on to the next window and shook her head. "Terrible business that. All those people who lost everything. It makes one so glad to have what we have." She looked up towards the house, visible through the glass roof of the conservatory.

  "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Priya, one of our ladies, is from Sri Lanka and suggested we adopt it this year. We're hoping to raise enough money to buy equipment for an operating room."

  Stevie felt at a loss for what to say. "It...sounds like a very good cause."

  "Oh it is," said Evelyn. "Priya showed us some photos of people from the village. You know, survivors. There were these babies. Oh, they were so beautiful. It breaks your heart."

  Stevie nodded. The cause did sound like a good one. For some reason, it had brought a lump to her throat. Perhaps it was the mention of babies. Or being grateful for what you had. At least it wasn't an orphanage. She probably would have burst into tears if it had been. She forced herself to concentrate on her notebook.

  "You mentioned food. Do you have a caterer lined up?"

  Evelyn looked surprised at the change of subject. "I think Sally was talking to one, but when she left in a huff, she didn't tell us who it was."

  "No caterer." Stevie wrote "aaargh!" in her notebook, but kept her expression neutral. "Any leads on entertainment?"

  "No."

  Stevie added another exclamation mark to her notes. "And you mentioned where to put people. How many people can this place take?"

  "About a hundred and twenty," said Evelyn. "But that's only if we include the garden."

  Stevie looked at the garden. It was gloriously sunny. "The weather should hold for the next four weeks."

  "It's not that. The garden--" Evelyn's phone beeped. "Excuse me."

  She answered it. "Beryl, can I call you back? Yes, under a minute. Bye." She hung up and pulled a face. "That was Lady Beryl. Blooming nuisance, that woman, but she's a generous donor and chairwoman of the charity group, so we must be nice. Hang on, I'll get Alice to come and show you the garden."

  She pulled her phone out again. "This house is so big, we keep losing each other in it. So Tom bought us all these iPhone things to keep in touch. It's made the world of difference. She sent a text. There, Alice should be along in a minute. I'll just go and phone Beryl back." She disappeared back into the house.

  After finding a seat, Stevie looked at her notes and did a quick calculation of how much the ball was likely to raise from ticket sales. She tapped her pen against her notebook. She only had a rough idea of the budget, but she could see that the event wasn't likely to raise much money for the charity, let alone enough to pay for an event planner. She wondered if she should just walk away. It wasn't going to make her any money. And it was a huge job for her to undertake without help.

  She sighed. Maybe opening envelopes for minimum wage wasn't so bad. It was pretty mindless, but at least it wasn't stressful. If she could find another job without a supervisor with despotic tendencies, she might be happy.

  There was a noise just outside the window. Stevie turned round to see a sparrow hopping along the wisteria stem. She smiled. Sitting there, in the sunshine, with a big challenge to occupy her, she suddenly felt happier than she had been in months. If she got this job, the extra work would mean that she had less time to think about Marsh and Jane and the sprog they were having. The thought of her brother made the smile drop from her face.

  Despite the open windows, it was still hot in the conservatory. Stevie noticed that the door to the garden was also open. She cast a glance at the door to house. There was no sign of Alice.

  The wisteria that covered the side of the conservatory had put out runners that were visible through the grille work on the wrought iron steps, making Stevie feel like she was descending into somewhere primal where nature had taken over.

  At the bottom was a riot of flower bushes. Some attempt had been made to cut them back to make a path that ran the perimeter of the sunken lawn, but the plants threw higgledy-piggledy arms into the path.

  She tried to get her bearings. Peering through the plants, she located the white gazebo on the lawn. She set off in the direct
ion that she thought the library would be. With the foliage towering either side, she felt as though she were exploring a particularly colourful jungle. When she came level with the front of the house, she saw the front porch. As she watched, a man bounded up the steps and rang the bell. He leaned against a pillar to wait for someone to open the door.

  Stevie instinctively drew back so he couldn't see her. From where she was, she could see him perfectly. He was tall, with dark curls verging on needing to be cut. His handsome face was set in concentration. There were deep frown lines on his forehead. He was tapping his PDA impatiently against his thigh.

  The door opened and Stevie heard Evelyn's voice saying "Darling! How lovely to see you."

  The man smiled. The frown eased briefly, making him look not merely handsome, but drop dead gorgeous. He went in and disappeared from her view.

  She stood still, staring at the spot he'd vacated. There was something familiar about him. She wondered how she could have met him. You'd have thought she'd remember meeting a man like that. He was definitely the best looking specimen she'd seen in ages.

  "Stevie?" Alice clanged down the metal steps from the conservatory.

  "Yes." Stevie returned down the path.

  "Hello," said Alice. "Sorry I took so long. I was on the phone. How did you get on with the tour?"

  Stevie dragged her thoughts back from the man. "It was good, thanks. The rooms look great."

  Alice's phone beeped, and she looked at it. "Gran says she and Uncle Tom are in the library and you should come up."

  Uncle Tom? Stevie turned as though looking back at the garden. Tom Blackwood. That must have been the man she'd seen a few minutes ago.

  No wonder she hadn't recognised him. The Tom Blackwood she remembered had been pale and stubbly, with long hair in a ponytail. Clearly the last nine years had changed him for the better.