Chapter 3

They went out to breakfast, as usual the flat was utterly devoid of food, but after that Andrew left to do a couple of visits. He stopped by to see his Grandma and was delighted to find she had a visitor. Mrs. Graves, the librarian at school, was sitting having tea when Andrew turned up. His Grandma seemed younger somehow, although she was about to turn 81. Mrs. Graves must have been a decade younger.

“Oh Andrew, it is good to see you. You remember Margaret?”

“Hello Grandma, you are looking great. While I do remember this lady I remember her as Mrs. Graves.”

“Oh yes of course.”

There was no earthly way Andrew was going to call Mrs. Graves anything other than Mrs. Graves. It was just way to weird. The two widows had met on separate church outings that had ended up at the same place. The connection of him meant they had kept in touch and now visited for tea every week. It seemed to be making a difference for Grandma. He spoke about Cambridge for a while, giving more detail and more history than normal but when he was done and Mrs. Graves had been caught up Andrew stood up to leave.

“I will let the two of you finish. No it is alright. I will be back tomorrow with dinner. Fish suppers as usual? It will be Suzanne and I and you and Vi can win some money off us at cards.”

It was nice to see them both, his leaving then would allow his Grandma to bask in all the stories he had told. Grandparents love to boast about the grandchildren. Talking of grandchildren. Andrew’s next call was to go and see Mhairi Connelly and her infant son. He had been so focused on studying when he was there at Easter that it never even occurred to him to go and see her. A telling off from Leslie over the phone one Sunday had fixed that so he had arranged to go over for lunch. Mhairi had a month of maternity leave left and then she was going to go back to work. When she opened the door she was back to her usual size. She looked very well. Andrew and babies? He was 21 years old and the only child he had held in his entire life was his little brother Scott when he had been 14, so it was a long time ago. And Andrew had worried the whole time that he was going to drop him. Since then nothing and Mhairi took pity on him and didn’t force him to hold her son. Andrew was at the age where all kids looked the same to him and he had little to no interest in them. He oohed and aahed appropriately for half a minute, enough to satisfy the new mother and then they sat at the kitchen counter and caught up.

“How are three of you doing?”

“I think Callum is doing the best of us. He shouts, I feed him. He shouts and Neil changes his nappy. He has us well trained already.”

Andrew smiled not really knowing whether she was joking or not. He knew nothing about babies.

“How has Neil adapted to fatherhood?”

“Really well. He is a patient man and so is really good when Callum is cranky. And his mother is just giddy. It is the first grandchild on his side, for Mum it is her third. She is pleased but the ‘oh my gosh I’m a grandmother’ is not there. How are you doing? There were a lot of questions from those investigators.”

He shrugged.

“Careful what you wish for. I am working overseas for the entire summer. I don’t know whether I will even get to see the house before I have to return to Cambridge for my final year. That really annoys me, more than I can explain almost. Finally after five and a half years I get the chance to see the house, look round the house, never mind live in the house and then it is denied. I am like a child having a tantrum about a denied treat.”

“It is understandable. I remember you saying to me once that you had all these things, the house, the car, the distillery but they weren’t real. You never saw them.”

“I drove the car for the second time two weeks ago. It is best that Creighton hides the bill that I will get from DK. I can’t imagine what I have spent with them for somewhere between 10 and 12 hours of driving. All he ever tells me is that the value has gone up.”

“As you say, best not to know. Switching topics Grace told me that the office building finally closed. That took a long time.”

“Yeah, at one point I really thought they didn’t want to sell because they were dicking around so much. Iain Barrett from the estate agents told me there were several silent partners involved and getting all the approvals and signatures was what took so much time. Something about them being overseas, offshore maybe, something like that. Anyway it is done. It would be no different if someone tried to buy the distillery from us. It would be like herding cats just to get us all in the same place never mind agree on something.”

“Hold that thought but let’s finish London first. Are all the rental agreements in place?”

“Yes they are. Three different dates of expiration if I remember right. The shop has a five year lease, I think they wanted ten but Barrett recommended we stand firm at five. The area is cleaning up quickly and when it comes time to renegotiate we should be able to lock in a better rate. The first floor offices both have 40 month leases, to the end of September 1989. A lot will depend on how big AMJS gets. I doubt we will need the space, we’ll see. And the offices that AMJS is going to take over have until June next year. Then we will renovate over the summer ready for occupancy in September. That is the plan at least.”

“Good, that all makes sense. And there were no issues with Grace?”

“You know me Mhairi, I disappear at long stretches of time. Hell, I was here at Easter for two weeks and barely left the flat. I studied really aggressively, even for me. We were lucky, there was nothing that needed a quick answer. I would look at anything she sent at the weekend, sign off or change something and then send it back. The course was tough, you picked a good time to be off as I hardly thought about anything other than engineering.”

Someone had been practicing their concerned mother look.

“I have expressed my concern to you about your study habits before. There is only one more year of being able to hide behind a book. Next summer you need to work on getting balance.”

“I know. Next summer is going to be very busy. Is there anything else about the distillery?”

Mhairi shook her head at his blatant changing of the subject but let it go.

“The three of you have eight shares of the sixteen. Creighton and I have one, Julian’s dad has one, three of the original investors now share one, and the remaining five are individually owned, and Julian senior knows them all well. I think we should start to raise questions now about what is going to happen in seven years. The place is a money pit at the moment. We have a distillery, and the capital requirements are finished for present, although there is always the risk something breaks and needs replacing. We are also spending a lot of money every year laying down whisky. And that is mainly the purchase of the barley, casks, and the salaries and wages of the employees together with the costs of actually running the distillery. To get that money back we have to sell the whisky. There is some very bland and vague wording in the original partnership document and I think we need to start thinking about it. The process of bottling the whisky will be expensive but then we have to sell it. Shops, off-licences, duty-free, the UK, overseas, all of that needs to be taken into account. We are on track to have hundreds of casks, thousands of casks, of whisky. But we need a plan to get our money out of the business.”

“Was it really not that clearly laid out?”

“There were costing assumptions made and a lot of the final year’s cash requirement was to set this part of the business up. We are paying slightly more than the annual running costs so that at the end of nine years there are enough reserves to fund that part of the business in the 10^th year. The 10^th cash demand is for the sales side. So the costs are considered, although the assumptions will need to be revisited. But what the actual organisation looks like, are we setting up ourselves, are we just selling the casks to other distillers as the base for a blend for example.”

Planning seven years in advance seemed a long time even for Andrew but it was also important to understand what everyone thought the end game was. He had given it no thought.

“I agree then. I think we need to find out what everything thinks the plan is. Personally I thought we would bottle and sell our own malt whisky but that might have been what Julian senior told me and I am merely parroting that. But since we invested that is the vision in my head, realistic or not. I think that Leslie and Julian are the same. Creighton, Leslie, Julian and I all have the same idea as you. I will talk to Julian senior and get him to sound out the others.”

The conversation had quickly turned to business, even if it was personal rather in her role as his lawyer.

“Is there anything else new that I will need to deal with when I return? What are saving for my return?”

“I have been so tied up with the course that I have thought about nothing else. I sent Grace a letter asking her to have Iain Barrett do a walkthrough of the house when the French family have left. I asked for a builder to accompany him and I want their recommendations for the place.”

“That is a good idea. It was in brand new condition when it was leased so I doubt there will be anything substantial. Replace some skirting boards, check the appliances, stuff like that. There were kids in the house so it may need to be painted. It is all going to be superficial.”

“I hope so. Leslie furnished it, I did not have any knowledge and so had little input at the time. That is why I am so disappointed to be away. It doesn’t feel like my place and I want to look at it. I want a bed like the one I have in the flat, I will need to get bedding. Who the hell knows about the kitchen. None of this is earthshattering or a big deal but I worry that it is going to be this time next year and I still live out of a backpack.”

“Would that be the worst thing?”

Mhairi brought Andrew up short with her question.

“The reflexive answer was going to be yes but I can see your point. Suzanne helped me furnished my flat. It has two bedrooms, a box room, living room and the dining room with a small kitchen off it. It did not take us long. But this place is five bedrooms with a drawing room, dining room and kitchen, all of which are huge. I have no idea how I would live in such a place. I will rattle around like a pinball. It is all the little things, being there for deliveries, getting groceries.”

He snorted.

“Goodness only knows where the nearest supermarket is. Fuck it. It is done. I will deal with it at Christmas as much as I can and this time next year. Jim and Freya did not want me to leave cold turkey anyway.”

“How are they?”

“I have not seen them much since before Easter. They were away for Moira and Lars’ wedding in Iceland and then I have been tied up at university a lot this term. They are fine and are incredibly generous in letting me stay there whenever I want.”

Andrew decided not to mention his ambivalence about Freya. Instead he and Mhairi talked about Jim and she reminisced about the consternation his befriending of her caused. But then Callum loudly announced his hunger and so it was a chance to head off. He gave her a quick hug and left her to be mum. It had been nice to catch up.

Suzanne was masturbating when Andrew got back to the flat. And making no attempt to hide or stop. He had not been quiet entering the flat so it was clearly part of her plan to break down his resistance. Andrew had to admit it nearly worked.

“If you don’t stop at once and get dressed there will be nothing but cuddling tonight.”

Someone’s pouty face was getting a workout that day. But he distracted her by talking about the house. He pulled out the folder of the house details back when he purchased it from the half filing cabinet at the side of his wardrobe. Andrew had a two drawer filing cabinet that sat under his shirts, often partially hidden by them. It was where he stored things like these details. Bloody hell, show a woman a floorplan and all thoughts of sex went out the window.

Andrew’s Mews house had a basement which opened out on a small paved patio, the ground floor which had the garage, and the two upper floors. In total it was about 3,500 sq. ft., not massive but way more than one guy needed. The top floor had three bedrooms, all around 12’ by 10’, one of which had an ensuite and the other two shared a bathroom. The first floor had the master bedroom and a large drawing or living room. The master bedroom was not huge and was ‘el’ shaped because of the ensuite. The ground floor had the garage, hall and the main reception room. That is what the plan called it. A more formal living room. There was a small terrace looking out over the patio below. Finally the basement had the kitchen and dining room at the back of the house with a bedroom at the front. There was access from the dining room out onto the patio. Given that they were in central London the back of the house was overlooked by several office buildings from neighbouring streets. This was his home and what he had to furnish, or at least personalise.

“Wow, Andrew. It is only when you look at the floorplan that you see how much space there is. I am glad they have put the dimensions on the rooms. Look the dining room is 20’ by 10’. That is huge. The kitchen is almost the same size. All the living space is really huge. Your bedroom is an odd shape but still big. Even these three bedrooms are as large as the ones here in the flat. It is a lot of house for just you.”

The thought had crossed Andrew’s mind more than once as well as then, and as he looked at how big the house was it was even more obvious. He explained how it had been decorated and furnished more than five years earlier in time for leasing as a furnished let on July 1.

“So part of my anger at the job situation is that I don’t know what state the house is in. What, if anything, needs to be replaced or refurbished. I want to get an identical bed as the one here for my bedroom. I doubt I will replace sofas or the dining room table but there will need to be one bed swapped. And I think I want all new linens. Even if they are clean, someone else has used them for five years.”

With Suzanne’s help they worked their way down through the house. It was hugely beneficial since what seemed like a huge task was suddenly manageable. Bedding and towels were the main purchases other than the new bed for his room. Most other things would still be fine, at least at first. Andrew relaxed a little and realised that the house was not an overwhelmingly daunting undertaking. Living in it on his own was a different matter but that was a challenge for another day.

They were going round to Leslie and Julian’s for dinner and so it was time to reward his helper. When he took Suzanne’s hand and led her towards the bedroom her face lit up. Andrew stifled a smirk. He stripped her naked taking a moment as he knelt in front of her to sniff and savour the aroma she was producing. Someone was seriously turned on. When she saw him take out the playsuit Suzanne all but jumped with glee. His resolve almost cracked when he turned her to face him after tightening the buckles on the back of the suit. Magnificent, spectacular, you get the idea. But Andrew stayed strong and they went through to the front room, notionally her bedroom but in reality, her enormous closet. It took him a moment or two to find the perfect summer dress, light, short and very sexy. He lifted the dress over her head and did up the zip at the back.