The old Brett would have pooh-poohed her objections and pressed ahead regardless. But the new, more sensitive version had proposed a place in the Hamptons as a compromise solution.
Their current visit was part-vacation, part-house-hunting mission. If Brett’s aim had been to sell Angela on East Hampton, she had to admit it was working. After the longest, greyest, most miserable spring and early summer in England that anyone could remember, it felt wonderful to wake up to blue skies and sunshine. And the town itself, with its pristine white sand beaches and idyllically understated shingle architecture, appealed to Angela immediately. They were staying with the Claridges. Dean Claridge, a business associate of Brett’s, had made hundreds of millions in Russian oil, and his wife Lavinia ‘Vinnie’ Claridge lived in their sprawling East Hampton beach house full time while her husband spent the weeks in town.
‘I just adore it here,’ Vinnie told Angela, over a game of tennis on one of the Maidstone Club’s many courts. ‘The summer’s a zoo, but other than that it’s so peaceful. And the club’s like a second home. The waiting list’s over a thousand names long. This is the club out here. But Dean and I can easily get you and Brett in, if you like it.’
Angela did like it, slightly to her own embarrassment. She disapproved of the snobbery of private members’ clubs. But she had to admit to herself that this was a very pleasant way to live.
A shadow falling across her body made her open her eyes.
‘Lunch time.’
Brett stooped down to kiss her. Still in a business suit, he looked handsome and relaxed. He must just have returned from his meeting in Manhattan this morning. Judging by the broad grin on his face, it had gone well.
‘Dean and Vinnie got us a great table inside. Why don’t you change and meet us in there? I’ll order you a drink.’
At lunch, talk was of nothing but real estate.
‘I’m telling you, it’s gonna be the Eighties all over again,’ Brett said to Dean Claridge, over a steak so sinfully juicy it would have tempted Linda McCartney. ‘More than twenty-five per cent of Cranley Estates’ growth in the last year has been down to the boom in the New York market. Mark my words, the Hamptons are gonna skyrocket too.’
‘Haven’t they already?’ asked Vinnie, between sips of her ice-cold Chablis.
‘As high as prices are now, this is just the beginning,’ said Brett. ‘You watch.’
‘Have you seen any places you like?’ Dean Claridge asked Angela. A stocky, bulldog of a man with a thick neck and a pronounced under-bite that gave him the pugnacious air of a bulldog, Dean was in fact a kind and generous man, uniquely among Brett’s work friends.
‘I like all of them,’ said Angela truthfully. ‘I’m just not sure it’s worth buying another big house.’
‘Why not? Big houses are better than small ones,’ said Brett with a grin.
‘Yes, but it’s so extravagant,’ said Angela. ‘Logan’s about to leave home and Jason’s long gone. We don’t need all that space. Especially for a place I’m going to visit a couple of times a year.’
Brett reached across the table and covered her hand with his. ‘Maybe we’ll start spending more time here. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’
Angela smiled nervously. Brett had dropped a lot of hints in the last few days about them spending more time in the US. In the back of her mind, she wondered whether he might be growing tired of Fittlescombe and their sleepy country life in Sussex. The Hamptons were lovely for a holiday, but the last thing Angela wanted was to be uprooted from her home. She couldn’t help but feel that Furlings was the glue that had held her and Brett together, through all the tough times and betrayals of the past seven years. Without it, things might slip back to the way they were before.
After lunch, Dean headed back to his home office to work and Vinnie and Angela joined some girlfriends for a game of doubles. Brett had another house to see at four, which made it hardly worth going home. He decided to catch up on some emails at the bar. Settling in to a quiet corner table, he ordered a grappa, the perfect postscript to a perfect meal, and opened his iPad.
So far, the trip was going exactly to plan. Angela was clearly taken by the Hamptons. Vinnie and Dean had been the perfect hosts. Thanks to them, Brett could see that Ange was starting to feel at home here. He must be careful not to push too hard and scare her off.