Flora's Lot by Katie Fforde (best books under 200 pages TXT) 📗

if tomake quite sure Charles saw her as anextravagant dilettante who was bound to cost the firm money.

‘Or,a much cheaper idea, we could ask Geoffrey to help with the valuations,' suggested Flora, biting her lip.

‘But he's just a porter!' protestedAnnabelle.

‘Not"just a porter",' Flora contradicted her. 'He used to be adealer and is extremely knowledgeable.’

Charlespursed his lips, clearly reluctant to agree with anythingFlora said. 'If we used Geoffrey, we could get going onthe roadshows right away,' he conceded reluctantly.

‘Well, if youinsist on employing him full time, he might as well dosomething for his money,' said Annabelle. 'So you thinkthe roadshows are a good idea?' If she hadn't stillbeen reeling from her row with Charles she might have clapped her hands withglee.

‘How wouldthey work, exactly?' asked Annabelle, oozing scepticism.

‘Well,'said Flora, 'we'd rent a room somewhere, if we weren't in Bishopsbridge,advertise, and people would flock to uswith their valuables, which we would then sell.'

‘Ithink "flock" might be putting it a bit strongly, Flora,' saidCharles.

‘Oh.Well, yes. I suppose it's the television that brings all those people.' Shefell silent, but the word 'television' had lodged itself in her brain. No ideaconcerning it had come to herimmediately, but she was prepared to be patient.

‘It's not a bad idea, I suppose,' saidAnnabelle.

‘Floraalso wanted to discuss rethinking the buildings,' said Charles, apparently leaping in to prevent Annabellethinking any good of Flora.

‘Whatdo you mean?' Annabelle suddenly sat up very straight.

‘Florathinks we should sell the house and use the money to put some capitalinto the business.’

Annabellewas silent for a few moments. 'Of course, I can seethat having this whole house for just the office does seema bit wasteful, but there is Charles's flat at the top.'

‘Orwe could divide it up into flats and he could keep it. Anyway, why does he need a flat? You livetogether.'

‘That'sAnnabelle's house,' said Charles firmly. 'I like to have somewhere that's mine.'

‘If we didthat,' said Annabelle, who hadn't noticed Charles'sstatement, 'we could buy another house and do the samething. Bishopsbridge is such an up and coming town -practically commuting distance from London, the music festival—'

‘I thoughtwe should invest the money in the business, the auction business,' snappedFlora.

Annabelletook a sharp breath. 'Which would just be throwinggood money after bad. It's about time you faced that. There's no money inauctioneering.'

‘Thereisn't a lot of money, I admit,' said Charles, forced to come over to Flora's side. 'But we employ a lot ofpeople and the hall is used by all of the local community, in one way oranother.'

‘Oh,wake up and smell the coffee, Charles! You can't really keep a failing business going just because a few old-agepensioners and children use the hall! That buildingwould be worth an absolute fortune if it was divided up and sold off ! It would raise even more money thanthis house would.’

Floraopened her mouth to wonder how many flats in largehouses a town like Bishopsbridge really needed, but closed it again. This was betweenCharles and Annabelle.

‘Stanzaand Stanza is a very old, established business, and while I'm prepared to consider selling this house, or dividing it into flats to raise capital, I amnot even going to think aboutselling the hall and converting that to flats.'

‘Well,I think you're mad. You're letting sentiment rule you,' said Annabelle.

‘I'm sorry youthink that, but I'm not budging on this one.’

The twoconfronted each other. Flora felt she should have leftthe room a few minutes before, but was far too interestedto do anything of the kind. Now she let them stare ateach other for a few moments before clearing her throat.

‘Well,'she said. 'We could have the first roadshow without having to sell anything. An ad in the paper isn't goingto break the bank, is it?'

‘I suppose not,' said Annabelle.

‘Andnor would getting a website,' Flora added, while the going was good.

Annabelle turned to Flora. 'Haven't yougot any money you could invest in thebusiness? After all, it's half yours.'

‘I'mafraid not.' She didn't think now was the time to remind Annabelle that she owned slightly more than half.

‘Whatabout your father, couldn't you ask him for some?’

Flora wasoutraged. 'No, I could not! I've just become an heiress,for goodness' sake! I'm not going to ask Dad if he couldput money into a business which should jolly well be able to afford to pay to marketitself!'

‘Oh,'said Annabelle. 'I know for a fact that if I asked my father for a bit of capital he'd be only tookeen to let me have it.'

‘Well,I'm thrilled for you, Annabelle,' said Flora, still furious. 'But I'mstill not going to ask him.’

`So we'll go ahead with the roadshowidea,' said Charles, attempting to smooththings over. 'Flora, you write theadvertisement and I'll speak to Geoffrey about helping with thevaluations.'

‘AndBob Butler?' asked Flora. 'In case he was willing to help, too?'

‘Ihardly think that will be necessary, Flora,' said Annabelle nastily.'It'll only be two damaged Staffordshire figurines and a fake Steiff bear.’

Florapulled back her lips in a fake grin. She would get peoplethere in their hundreds, if she had to sell her body to do it!

‘Well,'said Charles tensely, looking at his watch. 'I must go.’

When thetwo women were left alone, Annabelle said, 'I'm reallylooking forward to your dinner party. Have you got a date yet?’

Floracouldn't believe the way Annabelle changed track sofast. 'I need to check when Emma can come down,' she said cautiously.

‘Andhave you found out anything else about that man? Why he was in yourgarden?'

‘Actually,I have! Well, I was right - he's a friend of Emma's from university. She told him where I was and he came to look me up, only of course I wasn'tin.'

‘But hedidn't leave a note or anything. I checked.'

‘No. Emmaexplained he couldn't find anything to write with,or something.' Flora regarded Annabelle firmly.'It wasn't as if he was in the house, or anything.'

‘No,'Annabelle admitted. 'Have you seen him again?'

‘He's goneaway, but he should be back for the dinner party.'

‘Oh good.'

‘But I must get a dining table beforethen.'

‘I'll see toit,' said Annabelle. 'And did Charles ask if he could invite Jeremy?'

‘Yes, but I'm not sure—'

‘Good.' She smiled, suddenly refreshingly girlish. 'I must thinkwhat to wear for it.'

‘What? The reunion?’

Annabelle'sforehead wrinkled a little.