Interlude Twelve
Liz
Present Day – Sunday February 4th 2007
Okay, I'll admit it: it only took me until the day after Christmas to make a decision about Max's suggestion of moving to London. As much as I like my current job and having my family close by, this is such a great opportunity; not just for Max, but for the both of us. After all, it's not every day that you have the chance to move to a different continent.
So, as you might have guessed, my answer was yes and now we're in the process of trying to sort everything out. Unfortunately, it's going to be a while before we can leave for London. Right after the New Year, Max told his boss that he'd like to take the job, which started off a long process of filling in work permit forms for Max, visa applications for both of us and doing all the other things we need to prepare in order to move. Since it can take several weeks to get our visas, we won't be able to leave the US for at least another month. However, Max's company has agreed to hold his position in London until the beginning of April, which will hopefully give us enough time to find somewhere to live and get settled in first.
So, for the last few days, I've been making lists of things we'll need to take with us, things we'll have to get rid of and things we need to do before we go…
"Hey, Liz, have you seen my blue shirt?" comes a shout from the bedroom.
… well, at least I've been trying to, anyway.
"It was hanging in the closet last time I saw it," I call back, before returning my attention to the pad of paper on the kitchen table in front of me.
"Liz, it's not here!" he shouts again a couple of minutes later.
I roll my eyes and put down the pen I'm holding as I stand up and make my way out of the kitchen. "It was in there yesterday, Max," I return, as I enter our bedroom. "I saw it."
I stop, holding back a giggle at the sight of Max, half-dressed and kneeling on the floor with his head stuck in the closet. He's pulling out all kinds of things from the bottom and grunting in annoyance every time he grabs something that is not his shirt. My eyes roam the items of clothing hanging neatly on the rack above his head and I quickly locate the shirt, which is tucked away in the corner. However, I stand in the doorway for a few moments, my arms folded across my chest and a smirk on my face as I watch him search. I would tell him that the shirt is right where he hung it up the other day, but I'm kinda enjoying the view… his butt looks so great in those tight jeans.
"Liz?" comes the now exasperated tone of his voice a few seconds later. Obviously, he's noticed that I've just been standing here watching him instead of helping him look it.
With a grin, I walk over to the closet and pull out the shirt. "Is this what you're looking for?"
"What?" he asks, straightening so he can look up at me. "Where did you find it?"
"This," I start, balancing the hanger on one finger, "was hanging right in here. Which is where I said it was."
"But," he frowns, confusion evident in his expression, as he climbs to his feet, "it wasn't there a minute ago."
"If you say so, Max," I grin, handing him the shirt. "Why did you want to find it so badly, anyway?"
"Because I want to wear it this afternoon," he tells me, as if it were obvious.
"Max, that's a smart shirt and we're only going for lunch," I remind him.
"I know," he shrugs, giving me a sheepish smile as he places the shirt on the bed. "But I do like to look at least halfway decent when I take you out for food."
"Okay, then," I nod, humouring him.
"Hey," he murmurs with a grin, slipping his arms around my waist. "Can I help it if you bring out the gentleman in me?"
"If you say so, Max," I chuckle. "But remember, we knew each other for many years before you grew into a gentlemen."
"Hey, I resent that," he protests. "I've always been a gentleman."
"Again, if you say so," I repeat, as I wind my arms around his neck and pull him to me for a hungry kiss, to which he complies eagerly. "Hmm," I murmur a moment later. "Have I told you lately how sexy you look in nothing but jeans?" I rise up on tiptoe to capture his earlobe between my teeth, before whispering, "It gets me so hot."
"Ahh, Lizzie, you're killing me here," he returns throatily, emphasising his point by cupping my butt with his hands and pressing my lower body against his rapidly growing arousal.
Well, all I can say is that I don't get any more list writing done and Max's precious shirt on the bed is pretty wrinkled by the time he slips it on two hours later. However, we do make it out to one of the friendly restaurants in the Plaza in time for a lovely light lunch and we do actually manage to discuss our plans for the next few weeks over coffee afterwards.
Tuesday April 3rd 2007
This is it; we've finally made it to London!
We arrived here a week ago, to cold and windy weather and a temperature of about 50 degrees – a far cry from the sunshine and 70-degree weather we left behind in Santa Fe – but I've been so excited to be in a new country that the temperature hasn't bothered me all that much, especially since I've spent four years living on the East coast, which has a similar climate. Max, on the other hand, is not particularly enthused by the cold temperatures and dull days. Having spent almost his entire life in New Mexico where, even if it is cold, the sun always shines, coming to live in a country where there is one hundred percent cloud cover on most days is not the most fun thing to do.
However, we've been so busy finding an apartment to live in (which is so expensive compared to Santa Fe) and discovering the sights, that after a few hours he temporarily forgot about his initial discomfort. Luckily, we managed to find a nice one-bed apartment near Clapham Common, although both Max and I were rather shocked at the rent prices. Our two-bed apartment in Santa Fe was almost twice as big as this one and we were paying $650 a month; and now… well we're suddenly very glad that Max will be earning more money in his new position, because the cheapest place we could find in a halfway decent area charges almost $2,000 per month – for just one bedroom, a tiny kitchen-slash-living room and a bathroom. But I guess the one good thing about the apartment is that it comes fully furnished, which means that Max and I don't have to worry about spending out on furniture and other things we might need.
Although Max doesn't start his new job until next Tuesday – it's Easter weekend and apparently here in the UK, they have two public holidays surrounding Easter: Good Friday and Easter Monday, so his new contract begins on April 10th – his boss is holding a welcome party tonight for all the employees of the new London branch of the company. I'm pretty excited, because it will mean the chance to meet and get to know his new colleagues – who are both fellow Americans and also Britons – and their wives and girlfriends, and hopefully we can make some new friends here.
"Hey," Max murmurs, slipping his arms around my waist from behind, interrupting my thoughts as I look out of the window of our new apartment.
"Hey," I reply with a smile, turning my head to kiss him on the lips.
"What're you thinking about?" he asks as he rests his chin on my shoulder.
I shrug, "Just taking it all in. It's so surreal, I can't believe we're really here."
"I know," he agrees. "It's kind of overwhelming, isn't it? I don't know whether to be excited that we're going to be living in England, or scared shitless about trying to adjust to it all."
"Yeah," I agree softly, as doubt begins to seep into my thoughts. We stand together in silence for a few seconds, the atmosphere almost sombre, before Max shifts slightly behind me.
"You know, we haven't christened this apartment yet," he says suggestively. "You wanna do something about that?"
An indulgent grin slides across my face as I turn to face him, running my hands up over his chest, "Sure, why not? After all, we christened our other apartment thoroughly… it just wouldn't be fair not to do the same with this one."
"I totally agree," he murmurs, his gaze dropping to my lips.
With a grin, he slides his hands under my legs and lifts me into his arms. I wrap my hands around his neck as he carries me into our new bedroom. We make love on our nice big new bed… and then in the kitchen… and again in the bathroom… and by the time we have to get ready for the welcome party, we both feel a great deal more relaxed and comfortable with our decision to move here.
TBC…