 Practically
Perfect
Anna, a newly qualified interior designer, has decided
it's time to put her money and her expertise where her mouth is.
She’s risked everything on buying a tiny but adorable cottage
so she can renovate it, sell it on, and prove to her family that
she can earn her own living.
Outside, the chocolate-box cottage is perfect, but
inside all is chaos: with a ladder for a staircase, no downstairs
flooring, candles the only form of lighting and a sleeping bag and
camping mat for a bed, Anna's soon wondering whether she's bitten
off more than she can chew.
 Her
neighbour Chloe comes to the rescue, providing tea, wine and sympathy
– and a recently rescued greyhound, Caroline. But just as
Anna's starting to believe she's found the perfect idyll, the good-looking
yet impossible Rob Hunter arrives on the scene, putting up more
obstacles than the Grand National. Can Anna get over all of life's
hurdles?
Chapter 1
The candle at her side flickered, and Anna shifted her position
on the pair of steps where she was perched. She was beginnning to
regret having the telephone connected so promptly. There was very
little mobile reception and without a conventional phone she'd have
been almost unreachable. As it was, her ear was getting hot and
her hand was getting cold, but her sister was still interrogating
her. Anna didn't bother to cut her short – it would only involve
another telephone call later – she tucked her free hand into
her sleeve and listened politely. The bib-and-braces dungarees she
was wearing were fairly warm when she was moving around, but now
she was getting chilly.
'So why was it you moved there again?' asked Laura for what felt
like the hundredth time. 'You know, property's much cheaper up here
in Yorkshire. We could have done the project together. Much more
fun.'
Anna embarked on her explanation again – rather patiently,
she thought. 'I didn't want to be so far from London, and Amberford
is a much more desirable area. Commutable from London, just. We've
been through this.'
Laura sighed. 'I just don't like you doing it all on your own,
so far from us. And I really wish you hadn't rushed into buying
it, without me having a chance to see it first.'
In fact Anna did feel a bit guilty about this. 'I'm sorry, but
I had to decide very quickly. There were lots of people after it.
It was such a bargain.'
 'You
were a cash buyer,' Laura pointed out rather snappily.
Anna sighed. 'I know, and that's partly thanks to you. But so was
the other guy. It would have gone to him if I hadn't been in a position
to write a cheque for a deposit on the spot.' She paused. 'I'm eternally
grateful, Lo. Without that loan I couldn't have done it.'
'You know I was happy to lend you the money, and you're paying
me more interest than I'd have got from anywhere else, I just don't
trust you to buy—'
'I know you don't,' said Anna, quite gently considering her frustration.
'But it's time you did. I know you're my older sister, but I am
an adult, you know.'
'Twenty-seven is not—'
'Yes it is.'
'I don't mean that, of course you're an adult, but this is all
your capital and a bit of mine. It's your inheritance.'
'I know money doesn't come from the tooth fairy.'
Anna wished she'd supplied herself with pencil and paper and a
space to sketch – she could have got on with some drawings
while all this was going on. Not that it would have been possible
in this light. She just hated wasting time.
'What I'm saying is,' Laura continued, 'you won't get that money
from Granny again. And you could lose everything, you know.'
|
