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

Chapter Thirteen

‘It’s a lot of money to lose, Hattie and ideally I’d prefer to do the place up and get the extra twenty-five grand or so, but I don’t have the time or the money to do that. I need to put the cottage on the market as soon as possible. Let’s stick to our original plan and just give it a quick tidy up,’ her father told her. He’d sent her a message asking to speak to her while she’d been at the beach with Mali and Lou later that afternoon, so Hattie had left them making a big sandcastle and called him.

Surely he could hang on a bit whilst she gave the downstairs a coat of paint, at least. ‘Just give me a couple of weeks to see what I can do,’ Hattie told him. ‘I can use my redundancy money, it’ll be through soon. You could pay me back out of the sale of the house.’

‘That would take us to almost the end of June.’ Her father hesitated. ‘Okay, I can hold off that long if it means a quicker sale. Don’t do too much though, just cosmetic stuff. And just paint the walls white, that’s more appealing to buyers.’

‘That’s what Jonathan said, but I’d like to put a new bathroom suite in too, that bath is cracked, and maybe a new carpet in the lounge. It’s worth it to get a bit extra money, surely?’

‘As long as it isn’t too much work for you. I know how cluttered that cottage is. I wish I could come over and help you but I can’t spare the time right now. I feel terrible leaving all this to you.’

‘It’s fine, honestly. It’s helped me out of a corner being here, and I am living rent free,’ she reminded him. ‘There is one thing, though.’

‘Go on . . .’ Owen said, obviously noticing the hesitation in her voice.

‘Well, I would really like to sell Fisherman’s Rest to a family rather than someone wanting to let it out as a holiday rental. Uncle Albert loved this cottage, and it would be lovely to think a family was enjoying his home.’ She’d been thinking about that last night, ever since Jonathan had told her he had lots of clients waiting to snap up the old fishermen’s cottages to turn into holiday homes. She had no objection to holidaymakers, she’d loved her own holidays down in Port Medden, but this cottage had character, and she wanted to retain that, not have it gutted for a holiday home.

‘So would I, love, but we can’t afford to be choosy. We need to go for the highest bidder. We don’t want this dragging on through the winter. Besides, you need to sort yourself out somewhere to permanently to live and a job, don’t you?’

‘Yes I do but it’s only the beginning of June, there will be lots of interest in the summer months, surely? And I don’t mind staying here for the summer and sorting it all out.’ Actually, she was looking forward to it.

She heard her father draw in his breath. ‘Look, I’ve got to be upfront with you, love. We needed urgent repairs done to the B&B in time for our summer guests,’ he told her. ‘So, as soon as I heard Albert had left us the cottage, I took out a short-term loan for six months at a good rate, but if I go over that time the interest rates go up drastically. I really need to have the money from the cottage within the next three months, otherwise me and Raina could lose this place. We’re just about breaking even.’

She had never considered her dad short of money. It had seemed to her that he’d walked out on them, hopped on a ferry, and started a fantastic new life. She’d never been to the B&B; he and Raina had bought that after they’d got married a few years later, but it sounded idyllic.

‘What if Uncle Albert hadn’t died and left us the cottage, what would you have done then?’ she asked.

She could hear his sigh down the phone. ‘We’d have had to sell up, Hattie. We’d already prepared ourselves for that.’

She was silent. Had things really been that bad? Perhaps her dad’s life wasn’t as charmed as they all thought.

‘What about you? What would you have done?’ he asked.

‘Moved in with Mali, I guess, until I could sort myself out,’ she replied. She was being selfish, and just looking for an excuse to stay longer she realised. The cottage provided her with a much-need home and chance to have a go at setting up her photography business. Well, it belonged to her dad too, and he needed the money. Even so, they couldn’t afford to turn down a few extra grand for the sake of a bit of work.

‘I promise that I’ll have the house on the market by the middle of June. I’ll start tidying up as soon as Mali and Lou go home,’ she told him. ‘And we’ll accept the highest bid.’

‘Thanks, love.’ They discussed the cottage a bit more, then Owen asked, ‘What about Buddy? What will you do with him?’ He’d been surprised when Hattie had told him about Uncle Albert’s parrot still being alive and in residence. Hattie hadn’t told him about the problems she’d had with Buddy, and actually, the parrot had livened up since Mali and Lou had arrived and was eating fine now.

‘I’ll take him with me. I’d like to keep him, for Uncle Albert’s sake.’

‘If you’re sure.’ There was a pause on the other end of the phone. ‘And Hattie . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘You can always come here for a few months when the cottage is sold, if you want to. There’s plenty of room at the B&B in the winter months and, if you like it, well, property is cheaper here than in the UK. It might be a fresh start for