Would she think they were sweet when those little baby teeth were big enough to do any damage to the Charles Jourdans? Thea wondered. ‘The lodgers are very good at taking Lara round the park,’ she said. ‘Pete in particular. Although of course I can’t persuade them to clean up after her, so I have to walk her first.’

‘Clean up after … ? Oh, my God!’

‘I shall leave them at home tomorrow, because I want to sand the floor and the noise will be dreadful, and Pete will be in to feed them.’

Molly, who had felt uncomfortably out of control when the talk had been of puppies and dog poo, swung into managerial mode: ‘Thea, you cannot do that yourself. You must get someone to do it for you. It’ll take you ages. I absolutely insist!’

‘But I’ve booked the sander, now.’ Thea actually hadn’t been looking forward to being dragged about behind a large and noisy machine, but she was intent on doing everything the very cheapest way possible, which meant doing everything herself.

‘Then leave it to me. I’ll get someone to do it.’

‘But Molly, we’ll have to pay them. I’ll do it for nothing.’

‘Thea, I’ve told you, I’m happy to finance the gallery. Derek’s happy. We’ve allocated an amount and you haven’t even spent a third of it yet. Save your energy and your talent for things that only you can do. I’ve chased the shippers, by the way. The paintings should arrive the day after tomorrow. You can think about where to store them.’

Thea heaved a larger sigh than usual. Sometimes it was nice to be bullied. ‘Most of them should fit in the little bedroom at the gallery and the rest can go in the passage.’

‘Good,’ said Molly. ‘Then you can’t sleep there.’

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

The floor had been sanded and the pictures had arrived (after at least a dozen enquiries as to their whereabouts) but the floor still had to be varnished and Thea wouldn’t allow anyone else to do it. She had not been pleased with the quality of the sanding done by Molly’s ‘little man’ and what she’d said to Molly was, ‘I’m damned if I’ll pay anyone else to do the job badly when I can do it badly myself for nothing.’

She’d tracked down some quick-drying water-based varnish, which wouldn’t poison her with fumes, and she planned to spend all evening and on into the night if necessary, putting on coat after coat until the floor would shrug off a diamond cutter, let alone the scuffing of hundreds of pairs of feet.

She had brought Lara and the pups with her, as there was no one at home to look after them. It was the first time, because until now someone had always been able to feed them and change the newspapers.