Read Online A Summer to Remember by Victoria Connelly - Free Book Online Page B

person to be put in charge of an office, but that was before she’d seen this room. In her four years of babysitting at the mill, she’d never ventured into this part of the house, and she could now understand why nobody had encouraged her to do so.
    The room had one floor-skimming window overlooking the sweep of driveway, and patio doors on the other side that looked out over a lawn as immaculate as a billiard table. But it was what lay in between that made Nina nervous.
    Two large wooden desks lay like felled oaks at right angles to one another, and a yellow sofa stretched alongside the biggest bookcase Nina had ever clapped eyes on. Every available surface, though, was completely covered with great mounds of paper and files that threatened to topple and cascade onto the carpet, which itself had its fair share of papers stacked in precarious piles. It was as if a whole army of Hilary Jacksons had been let loose in the room.
    Nina’s eyes widened as she tried to take in the scene, desperately searching for some sort of filing cabinet or stack of in-trays: any sign that order could be restored to the room. She looked at Olivia who smiled a very tiny smile and shrugged her shoulders.
    ‘You see what I mean – chaos! Absolute chaos.’ She’d started up with the bracelet-twiddling again. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but you would get a good hourly rate and you could stay here if you want. I mean, I’m sure you’ve got your own place, but you’d be very welcome here. But I should mention that Dudley probably wouldn’t agree to more than a couple of months – to begin with. Just until you both find a routine with each other. He obviously needs help getting everything into some sort of order and keeping it that way. Then there’ll be the typing duties for the book he’s writing, and he’s been making noises about help with his research, too. I don’t think it’ll be anything too onerous – just a bit of reading and note-taking really,’ Olivia said, chewing her glossy lips anxiously.
    Nina nodded. It sounded absolutely blissful to her. A bit of tidying, a bit of typing and a little light reading. She scoured the room again, noticing the coating of dust on the backs of the chairs and along the pictures that lined the walls. A sorry-looking Swiss cheese plant slouched in a dark corner, in dire need of a drink, and dozens of empty envelopes were scattered like dead leaves on the floor. A computer sat on the floor under the far window, its screen turned away from onlookers as though trying to avoid attention.
    Then there was the paperwork: great mountains of the stuff, untouched by human hands for what looked like decades. This was more a job for a large team of archaeologists rather than a solitary secretary.
    It was certainly different – but wasn’t that just what she was after, Nina reasoned?
    ‘I should warn you, though,’ Olivia said, ‘my husband can be—’ she paused, ‘erm, a little difficult to work with.’ Her face twisted into a strange expression.
    ‘Difficult?’ Nina said. ‘I’ve done difficult before – believe me.’
    ‘But I’m sure you’d be able to cope with Dudley’s little ways. It’s just part of the creative temperament, you see, and we’d all be so grateful. We’ve always felt so comfy with you, Nina,’ Olivia said warmly. ‘It would be lovely to have you here again.’
    Nina smiled. She wasn’t used to such flattery. It would be hard work, but not impossible, and surely Dudley couldn’t possibly be worse to work with than Hilary Jackson. She remembered him from the days when she used to babysit. Sure, he had a bit of a temper, but she didn’t think it was anything she couldn’t handle and besides, she needed to be occupied at the moment; she needed to find an escape. After being with the wrong man and the wrong boss for an inexcusable length of time, she needed a change, and it looked as if she just might have found it.
    ‘I’d be happy to help in any way I