Free A Change for the Better? by Stephanie Drury Page B

as the majority shareholder still. Lastly they had drawn up a list of potential projects and contacts and divided it amongst them. They would work through the list and report back in a week. Ben felt exhilarated; he had not felt this good since he had decided to run his own business. They were taking a step up, it was a risk but he couldn’t stand still. Planning, designing and building his own projects had always been Ben’s ultimate dream; he was now many steps closer.

CHAPTER 7
    Ben spent the rest of the day visiting Cheadle House and speaking with the owners, allaying their fears and getting them to agree, he hoped, to a change of architect. Then he phoned Stewart, the new architect and filled him in on the details. It was only 3.30pm but Ben decided to call it a day and returned back to his flat on the west side of Rawlinston in a busy, up and coming area that had been revived due to a lot of warehouse loft conversions and a number of lively bars and cafes that had sprung up around them. Ben’s flat, on the corner of West Lyme Street and Lofthouse Road, was a first floor apartment; he passed through the shared entrance lobby at the front and ran up the steps two at a time. He hadn’t felt this energised in ages, he couldn’t wait to get in the flat and start working on the finances for the business and trawl the internet for other leads to possible projects. As soon as he opened the flat door the deafening music hit him full square in the ears, the latest R & B rhythms that Ben found incredibly repetitive. There was only one person who played this music, this loud, on his sound system.
     
    “Lucy, Lucy” he yelled, heading into the living room, “turn that bloody thing down.”
     
    A blond haired, extremely pretty teenage girl jumped off the beige leather couch and turned the sound down one notch, making virtually no difference to the decibel level.
     
    “Luce, NOW” Ben bellowed. She smiled a rebellious smile but turned the music down to a dull thud in the background.
     
    “Better?” She asked cheekily
     
    “Much” Ben replied “So, Luce, what are you doing here? You’re not supposed to visiting for another couple of weeks - have you had a row with Mum again?”
     
    “No” Lucy replied with exaggerated affront, “Mum brought me over here actually.”
     
    “She brought you here - I’m not you’re babysitter I could have plans tonight. I can’t just drop everything cos she’s got a new fella to go out with.” Ben paused “Has she got a new bloke?”
     
    “No, she’s still with ‘Clever Trevor’ actually - and she‘s not on a night out. I‘m nearly fifteen you know. I can manage an evening on my own without any trouble” Lucy said belligerently.
     
    “Actually, that’s highly unlikely as you can scarcely manage five minutes without getting into trouble, but I’m not getting into that now. So why has Mum brought you all this way for the evening?” Ben waited expectantly but Lucy seemed reluctant to answer this direct question and merely let her gaze rest in the far corner of the room by the door Ben had just entered. Ben, with an impending sense of doom, followed Lucy’s gaze to the rucksack and suitcase placed just so they wouldn’t be seen when you first came through the door. Ben swung round instantly
     
    “No, no way, absolutely not - get the bags I’m taking you back now.”
     
    “Too late, big brother, she’s on the plane by now.” Lucy took great relish delivering this news to her brother.
     
    “She’s on the what?” Ben boomed in disbelief “and where does she think she’s going?”
     
    “You know Mum; she said she needed a break, so she booked a week for her and Trev in Spain. She thought you’d be more than happy to look after your little sister while she recuperated.”
     
    “Recuperated from what?” Ben asked, momentarily distracted.
     
    “Oh from the stresses of everyday life, you know Mum, it doesn’t take much to set her nerves off.” Ben