Chapter 11

“You know, if you had a second bedroom in that house, I could come and visit you,” she said as we were getting ready to leave that morning. “It isn’t fair for you to always come over here, and I’ve got friends back home, and…”

Mark raised his eyebrows at me.

“Funny you should mention that, ’cause…” I told Gran about the plans Paul had drawn up.

“Is he a good builder?” she asked.

“The Council put in tenders for the library extension. They didn’t just go on price, but on proven performance, too. Paul got the contract. We only had a minor fault show up a few months after Paul had finished, but he came back and fixed it without any fuss.”

After being told how much Paul was charging for the job and assuring herself it was a fair price, Gran got to her feet and began searching the top drawer of her writing desk.

“Here it is.” She pulled out her cheque book and wrote in it. Tearing off the cheque she handed it to me. “Put this into your bank account.”