‘Cheek!’ Luke said, as he climbed into the other end of the bath, took one of Juliette’s feet and started massaging it.
‘I’ve got so much to tell you. All about A Christmas Sparkle, and Maggie’s horse riding, but I don’t even have the energy to speak.’
‘You don’t need to. I’m quite happy here taking in the view from this end of the bath. I’ve had worse welcomes home from work.’
Juliette leant back onto the old tub and sighed. ‘Bliss. Quite where did I get you from again?’
‘I found you, remember, surrounded by a pool of Baileys and Marmite on your feet.’
‘Wherever it was, I’m so very grateful.’
‘So grateful that you’ll make an honest man of me? Tie the knot?’
Juliette smiled at Luke and laughed, ‘Well, I could maybe be persuaded. One day. I mean, you do have a much nicer bottom than the last one. So, there is that.’
Chapter 16
‘Juliette!’ Luke yelled from the bathroom right at the top of the house.
Juliette was in the garden with the radio on, Maggie by her side with a tiny little watering can and some seeds, and Juliette was kneeling on a cushion weeding around the roses. She stopped and looked up thinking she’d heard something.
‘Juliette! Help!’ Luke shouted again.
‘What the heck?’ Juliette muttered, dropped her trowel on the grass, started running down the path and into the house.
‘Where are you?’ she called out.
‘I’m okay, but I’ve gone through a pipe!’ Luke yelled back.
‘I’m coming up now,’ Juliette shouted and ran up the two flights of stairs to the top of the house, across the floor of their bedroom, and into the bathroom.
‘What are you doing?’ Juliette said as she burst in, observing Luke who was lying on the floor with his whole hand in a gap in the floorboards. His shirt was wet through to the skin and the seat of his jeans dark blue where water had soaked into the denim.
‘Whoever ran the pipes in this house was crazy. I just went to fix this wobbly board and the pipe runs through the joist.’
‘What does that even mean?’ Juliette replied, looking down in confusion.
‘Put it this way, if I take my finger off this pipe the whole house will fill with water.’
‘Ahh, what do I do?’ Juliette said and started to look around wildly and panic. ‘I cannot afford a leak Luke.’
‘Don’t panic is the first thing,’ Luke replied, looking up at her with his finger on the pipe.
‘You need to go around the house and find the water mains, and then switch off the stopcock.’
‘You’re speaking in another language, Luke. I have no idea what you are talking about,’ Juliette replied, her voice rising at an alarming rate.
‘It’s like a tap and might have a red top. It’s probably under the sink in the kitchen.’
Juliette ran all the way back down the stairs and nearly tripped over the bottom step as she got to the hallway. She opened the cupboard under the sink and rummaged around. She studied the pipes, trying to remain calm. Nothing. Either she couldn’t see for looking or it wasn’t located under the sink.
‘Nothing,’ she yelled up the stairs.
‘Look outside in the front garden by the railings and be quick,’ Luke shouted back.
Juliette flew along the hallway, yanked open the front door and couldn’t see anything as she looked across the tiny patio strip under the window and into the bed on the right with the hydrangeas.
Roy Johnson from the council was just getting out of his car over on the other side of the lane.
‘Roy! Roy, can you help?’ Juliette called out.
Roy jogged across the road and opened the black gate.
‘What’s up, Juliette? You look like you’ve had a fright!’
‘Stopcock. Do you know where the stopcock would be? I need to locate it. And fast. Really fast.’
Roy Johnson took one look at Juliette’s face and Juliette could see that he had realised that she was in a panic and then Roy Johnson went into action and took control.
‘Some of the stopcocks on these old places are out the front here, but right at the side,’ he said calmly, and walked over to the right side of the house, bent down behind a hydrangea bush, and pulled back the foliage.
‘I need to turn it off and I need to turn it off as quickly as I can,’ Juliette said, urgently.
Roy Johnson leant down, turned the stopcock tap clockwise, and turned the water off.
He stood up and they heard Luke lean out of the window at the very top of the house and shout down.
‘Thank you! So, it’s out there is it, good to know. Also, I might need an anaesthetic for my finger. Possibly a tetanus, too!’
Juliette and Roy started laughing.
‘Welcome to living in Mermaid Lane, Juliette,’ Roy said and continued, ‘There are lots of other little foibles like that one to get used to. Just wait until you open up that basement.’
Chapter 17
‘Maggie, are you ready? Daddy will be here in precisely two minutes!’ Juliette called from the hallway. Maggie came flying down the stairs, sliding down the bannister with her pink backpack on her back and a sparkly pink baseball cap on her head.
‘All ready!’
‘Okay, did you put Delilah in or not? Just so as I know.’
‘Yes, she’s in my bag,’ Maggie replied smiling.
‘Make sure you don’t forget her when you get dropped off, then. I don’t want to have to go all the way back over there and collect her.’
Juliette slipped on her polka dot gardening clogs and walked out into the back garden with Maggie. ‘Oh, he’s here already. Excellent,’ Juliette said as they saw megawatt-smile Jeremy had let himself in the back gate and was standing at the top of the garden waiting. Maggie went running along the path to him and jumped up into his arms.
‘Everything good with you, Juliette?’ Jeremy asked.
‘Yep, all good, thanks.’
‘The house is positively radiant in this weather. It looks really good, you should be very proud of yourself,’
