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Chapter 10
Alice trudged across the shale of the harbour and climbed the steps to the first floor of the boathouse that was situated just where the valleys stream met the main river. There was a bell hanging with a rope dangling beneath.
She grasped hold of the rope with her tiny hand and shook it gently. It had a high clear sound that carried across the small harbour area on this lazy, sunny afternoon. There were sounds from within and after a few minutes a dishevelled Danny appeared. He seemed surprised to see her.
"I couldn't resist finding out if your romantic description matched reality, "said Alice, smiling.
There was a pause as Danny assimilated this information.
"Well, you'd better come in," said Danny, at last, and opened the door wider for her.
There was a short corridor beyond the door and then another door that led to a large room that ran the full length of the building. A cooker, a washbasin and hanging utensils defined the kitchen area. An unmade double bed towards the back of the room was near a door that looked as if it went into the bathroom.
Most of the riverside end was glazed and led on to a wooden veranda. It was untidy but friendly. Paperback books, some still in the process of being read lay everywhere. Original looking amateur oil paintings were on the wall; Alice noticed most were hanging crooked and crying out to be straightened.
Alice walked through to admire the view across the water. It was calm on this sunny afternoon and flowing steadily down towards the sea.
"If I had known you were coming, I would have tidied up," said Danny. He shuffled a few books from one table to another. It made little difference so he gave up. Instead he joined Alice by the window looking out over the blue water.
"It's a lovely view," said Alice. "You are very fortunate. There must be many people who would be willing to pay a large amount of money for it."
"That doesn't matter to me, "said Danny. "What good is money unless you can do what you want? I want to live here. It makes me feel comfortable. No amount of money could improve on that. The only disadvantage is the constant nagging I get about selling it from people who don't understand and want to make a profit out of me."
"Surely you don't get pushy estate agents in a small village like this?"
"You'd have to go a long way to find an estate agent more pushy than that Melanie." Danny spoke the words with vehemence. "First she wanted to buy my boathouse as an investment. Then she wanted to find somebody to buy it through her agency. For a while, she was even trying to kid me that she wanted to live here herself."
Alice looked at the young man in front of her with his hangdog eyes and raised a quixotic eyebrow.
"I thought she was interested in me at first," he admitted. "She was always coming down and hanging around."
"But isn't she married to the policeman?"
"She might be. But she's the one that wears the trousers and he does what she tells him to do. If she wanted to spend time mooching around down here, he couldn't stop her."
Alice looked meaningfully over to the double bed in the corner with its four wooden posts.
"I can't quite imagine her here. To me she seems more the sort of person you would meet in a Parisian boutique. I can't imagine her as a boat yard groupie."
Alice looked encouragingly at Danny hoping he would say more but Danny merely looked disgruntled and refused to elaborate.
Alice went back into the living area and picked up a book by D. H. Lawrence. She flicked it open and browsed a few lines.
"He loved the countryside too, "she said.
"You've read him."
"I read most of his stuff a long time ago. As one gets older, there is less time to read as the practical things in life become more pressing."
Danny crossed the floor to join her, taking the book out of her hands, gently but firmly, as if he were retrieving a friend. He was standing close to her.
"You don't look very old to me. I can imagine a lot of young men being attracted to you."
Alice was wearing an old pair of jeans and an old floppy pullover. Her short curly fair hair pulled back away from her face with a ribbon.
"Old enough to know better, "she said, wagging her finger at him and standing back. "Just because I've come to visit you and have agreed to come into your boudoir doesn't mean that I am going to forget that I have a husband back at home."
"It's OK, you can trust me," smiled Danny, easily. "I don't know if I would say the same for that man who runs the horse riding centre on the hill."
"You may not be surprised to know that he had little confidence in you too," said Alice.
"I'm only surprised that he recognized my existence, " he said contemptuously.
Alice wondered back to the window. "How much would you charge me for a boat ride out to the centre of the river. You made it sound so nice out there."
"You can pay me what you want or you can have it for free. It's the same to me." Alice noticed the double entendre but said nothing.
Danny slid aside the glazed door to the wooden veranda and led Alice down the wooden stairs to where a small rowing boat was moored.
She climbed in, uncertainly, and sat down, feeling awkward.
Danny leapt into the boat, lightly, and pushed it out into the river. With quick short strokes of the oars took the small boat out into the current. When he had almost reached the other side of the river, he stopped, retrieved an anchor from the bottom of the boat and dropped it over the side.
Alice shaded her eyes from the glare of the water. She could see the course of the main river now as it curved between the high trees on either side above and below where they were moored.
She lay back against the prow of the boat with her arms along the curved sides. With her eyes almost closed against of the glare of the sky, in the distance at the top of the hill, she could just see Jack's riding centre. Could this be the same view Estelle had seen?
Danny pulled a short rod and line from the bottom of the boat and dropped it over the side.
"Tell me when you're ready to go," he said, tranquilly. "Take as long as you like."
"Mmm! Now I feel I'm on holiday," Alice said. "The sun is shining. I'm warm and the sound of the water flowing could easily send me to sleep.
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