‘What are you doing?’
‘Phoning the sales office on the development. Have you got their number?’
Marty got out his phone and reeled off their number.
Jake made the call. Five minutes later, after checking Marty’s full name, and agreeing an appointment for him to go in with his identity, and proof of funds, the show home, which hadn’t even hit the market, was officially off the market – for good.
Chapter 40
Marty stood there, gaping at him.
‘Now, where was I?’ Jake looked at the blank cheque. Now he had a figure from the sales person less the deposit money he’d just put down over the phone via his bank card. Jake wrote the cheque and handed it to Marty. ‘There. Take that in, along with some proof of identity. I took the liberty of passing on the details of a solicitor friend of mine who can deal with your purchase.’
Although Jake’s intention had been to sever all ties with the Ross Corporation when he had started teacher training, and he had not been pleased to discover he was still on the company payroll, the money had given him the opportunity to give Marty and Derrick a much-needed leg-up. He was starting to rethink his position. He wasn’t about to chuck in the towel with the new teaching job he loved, but he was still on the Board of the Ross Corporation. Perhaps it was wrong to sever all ties with the company. After all, the Rosses had always been a big part of his life.
Marty finally found his voice. ‘My parents are going to freak out. They’ll think I’ve been drug dealing, or something.’
Jake’s smile faltered. He wished Marty hadn’t said that. ‘Just tell your father that you’re a Ross employee now, part of the Rossfamily. You’ve got a job for life, Marty. Your job might involve a bit of foreign travel, here and there.’
‘Foreign travel?’
‘There are other properties around the world belonging to the Rosses, and the people who work for them. Obviously you wouldn’t be expected to fly off somewhere just to mow a lawn, but if there was a big landscaping project, say of a new Ross building project, that sort of thing, I take it you’d be interested? You’d be well remunerated, of course, with flights and hotels paid for.’ Marty was going to be on the company payroll now, with all the benefits that came with it.
‘I … I really, really don’t know what to say.’
Jake just smiled. ‘You don’t have to say anything. But I do expect an invite to your housewarming party.’
‘Oh … oh, of course.’
Jake shook his head. ‘I am kidding. You do not have to feel obligated to invite me over to your house when you move in, honestly.’
‘But I want you to come. You and William Ross, and Marcus Ross, and whoever they want to bring too.’
Jake sighed. It was a nice thought, the Rosses dropping in on Marty in his little show home on a new development outside of Aviemore. But unfortunately, that was just never going to happen. This saddened Jake. It was always the same at Christmas; they all met up at The Lake House, but they had never once made friends in the area, or invited anyone else from the local community over to the house at Christmas or New Year in Aviemore. It was about time things changed.
He looked at Marty. ‘You know what? I’m going to take you up on your offer, and I’m going to bring along as many family members as I can.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Jake tried to sound confident, although he wasn’tsure, with their busy schedules, and William’s withdrawal from everything, save the golf course, whether that was just a pipe dream.
Marty bent down and picked up his rake. ‘I’d love to meet—’
‘Jake!’ Marcus’s breathless voice came up behind them, cutting straight across Marty. Jake turned to see Marcus taking great gasps of air as he struggled up the small grassy slope to the house.
Ignoring him, Jake turned back to Marty. ‘You were saying?’
‘Yeah, I was just saying I’d love to meet them.’
‘Jake!’ Marcus called out again.
Marty leaned to the left, looking past Jake. ‘Your friend there looks like he could use a helping hand.’
‘He is not my friend,’ said Jake, cheesed off with Marcus for interrupting the conversation. He rolled his eyes. Marty was about to meet one of the family straight away. ‘Do you remember Marcus?’ he said to Marty as they both watched Marcus reach the top of the slope and bend over, hands on his sides, trying to catch his breath.
‘Yes I do,’ he sounded uncertain. ‘He looks … different.’
Jake stared at the hunched-over figure and wondered what had happened to that muscular, athletic frame, that guy who used to sprint up these slopes like it was a walk in the park.
