One Summer in Cornwall Karen King (positive books to read TXT) 📖

mother and then pointing over the road to a shop with an ice-cream-cornet-shaped sign. ‘Can I have one, please?’

‘Sure you can.’ Mali took hold of her hand. ‘Let’s go and see what flavour you want today.’

Marcus pushed open the gate and paused as he heard a man’s voice in next door’s back yard.

‘I think I can safely say that this place will be sold by the time summer is over, Hattie.’

He recognised that voice – it was Jonathan from the estate agent’s. Hattie couldn’t wait to get rid of the place, could she? He felt a surge of disappointment, then reminded himself what Mali had told him, that she had lost her home and her job. And she only had a share in the house, so the decision wasn’t completely hers.

‘Are you sure I shouldn’t do it up first? Give the walls a coat of paint at least?’

‘You could give it a general tidy round and declutter a bit but there’s no need to redecorate. Whoever buys this place will want to put their own stamp on it. As I said, it will probably be used as a holiday let and that could go two ways, either the new owners will want to keep everything as traditional as possible, or they’ll want to strip it out and modernise it. You don’t want to alienate either buyer, so best to leave it as it is as much as possible and give them the option.’

Holiday let. Marcus was seething with anger. Now he would have to put up with people coming and going at all hours of the night, and so would poor Winnie in Primrose Cottage. What a shock the news would be for her when she came back from visiting her sister. What did Hattie and her father care, though, as long as they got their money?

‘Well, that’s a relief. I thought I’d have to do a lot of work to it before we could put it on the market.’ Hattie sounded pleased. ‘I’ll talk to my dad tonight and tell him that you’re emailing the consent form to him. Will you be sending a photographer?’

‘Yes, I can send one tomorrow, if that’s okay with you. If your father agrees, I can get the cottage on the market by the end of the week. No need to put a “For Sale” sign up, as I said, I have a list of prospective buyers so let’s go with them first.’

Marcus walked over to the wall. ‘Remember to tell them the difference in sale price if they sell the house in the state it’s in rather than do it up first.

Jonathan spun around. ‘Ah, Marcus. Good to see you again.’ The look Jonathan threw him suggested that he wasn’t happy to see him at all. There hadn’t been any love lost between them since Jonathan had pulled a couple of sneaky stunts to try and persuade Winnie to sell her house, pretending it was in more of a state of disrepair than it was. Fortunately, Marcus had got wind of it and had managed to sort the work out for her at a reasonable price meaning she didn’t need to sell.

Hattie looked over at him, her expression worried. ‘Will there be that much difference in price?’ she asked.

‘At least twenty-five thousand, I’d say. Whereas you could do it up for about five,’ Marcus told her.

‘Well, I’m not sure that’s accurate . . .’

‘But it will be a significant drop?’ Hattie asked.

‘Obviously, the selling price will reflect the work the potential buyers will need to do on the property, but I thought you wanted a quick sale? And do you really want to do all that work?

Hattie looked hesitant. ‘I’ll have to talk to my dad. He wants to sell quickly so I’m not sure which action he’d prefer to take.’

‘That’s fine. I’ll email you the form and a quote later and then you can talk it over with your father and let me know.’

‘Thanks so much, Jonathan. You’ve been really helpful.’

Marcus watched as Jonathan reached out and touched her arm. ‘It’s my pleasure. Now, if you have any questions at all, please contact me. Any time.’

‘I will. Thanks again.’

He turned to Marcus, who was still standing by the wall. ‘And do let me know if you ever intend to sell your property. I can give you an excellent deal.’

‘That will never happen,’ Marcus told him. Then he went inside before he said anything he regretted. Hattie had every right to sell the cottage but he wished she hadn’t gone to Jonathan, who was always interested in buying up properties for holiday lets. More and more cottages were being sold for holiday rentals, or as second homes, and it was ruining the economy in Port Medden and other Cornish towns. Once summer was over, many of the towns and villages were dead, with hardly any shops open. Port Medden wasn’t like that yet, thank goodness; although it was quieter in the winter, there was still a strong community, but townies like Hattie didn’t help.

‘What did I tell you?’ Mali said after Jonathan had gone. ‘Do you want me to make a start on the decluttering and painting while I’m here? I can help.’

It was tempting – the thought of sorting through all of Uncle Albert’s stuff was overwhelming – but she wanted Mali and Lou to have a holiday, not spend the few days of their break working. ‘Thanks but no. I’ll do it after the wedding on Saturday. I’ll need something to keep me busy. And I need to talk to dad, too. That’s a lot of money to lose.’

It was tempting to sell the cottage as it was. Jonathan seemed to think he could do it within weeks, which meant she’d be out of here by the end of the summer and could start planning a new life for herself.

Yet, somehow, even though she had only been here a couple of days, she had started to love Port Medden and the