Action

It irritated her that all of Jack’s plans hinged on seeing the back of her.

“That’s great. I’m glad you have a direction in life again, but could you do your thinking somewhere else?”

“Sure,” he said.

Davina was more suspicious than relieved. That was way too easy. He stood up, folded his deckchair and stepped towards the shed.

“Oh, just so you know.” His voice was heavy with false innocence. “I’m doing some tree trimming today – it might block the driveway for a while.”

“How long is a while?” She could feel her blood pressure spike.

“Oh, you know. Until I clear up the mess. No big deal. Anyway, might be a good idea to tell all those people who hang out here every day to park at the gate and walk up the driveway. Otherwise they could be trapped at the house. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

He was doing this on purpose. It was clear that he took a sick delight in screwing with her life.

“It won’t be a problem.” What else was she supposed to say?

“Great.” He walked past the shed with the deckchair under his arm.

“I thought you were putting that away?” She pointed at the deckchair.

“You asked me to move. I’m moving. If you want something else, you need to be clear.”

He sauntered over to the old oak tree and set up the chair under its boughs. He grinned as he poured himself another cup of coffee from his flask.

“Isn’t there something in the tenancy agreement about you keeping away while I pay rent?” she called over to him.

“Probably,” he said as he put his feet on the old tree stump in front of him. “It’s probably right beside the bit about tenants not doing anything illegal with your property. You know like running a business without a licence, or...” He cast around for another example. “I don’t know, storing stolen goods.”

She felt her cheeks burn. For a moment it seemed like he knew about the borrowed equipment. Her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t sure if his face was blank on purpose. If it was, then he was a better actor than she was.

“Don’t annoy me.” She pointed at him. “I have a lot of stuff to do.”

“I’m sure you do,” he said with a smile. “After all, you’re on a deadline.”

Her mouth fell open.

“Two weeks, inspection day, remember?”

Oh. That.

“Quite right,” she said before turning her back on him and marching towards the house.

She felt his eyes on her until she was shut inside. When she peeked out the window he was sitting under the tree staring at the house. Davina went to find the aspirin bottle as her temples began to throb.

Jack waited until all of Davina’s usual guests were in the house before he made his move. It was just after lunch, everyone had parked on the road at the bottom of the driveway and walked up the long uneven drive to the house. Jack waved cheerily at each of them, well, except for Ken Doll. For him, he scowled. The man was wearing tight-fitting leather trousers — there was no way he was waving at that. Jack sat, watching the house and drinking coffee until he saw one of the upstairs rooms beam like a lighthouse. Show time.

The doorbell rang just as they were filming a scene in one of the spare bedrooms.

“Cut,” Davina shouted. “I’ll get that. You guys run over your lines one more time.”

Cursing the person who’d stolen precious time from filming, Davina went to answer the door. When she opened it she found Jack on the other side. His arms were folded over his blue hooded sweatshirt – this one advertised some football championship cup.

“What?” she demanded.

“Nothing.” He rocked on his heels.

She clenched her teeth and counted to ten.