Kirsty heard noises coming down downstairs as she finished washing up. Turning, she hung the towel over the hamper before brushing a few fallen strands back behind her ears as she continued down the stairs. She wasn't exactly thrilled with her father's choice in moving half way across the world just for his stuck up ridged, and cold wife. Years ago when he first brought Julia home after meeting her while on a business trip, Kirsty was excited. She had missed her mother terribly, and longed to have a woman back in her life. She remembered how kind Julia had been back then, how timid, gentle, and welcoming. It all somehow changed shortly before the wedding less than six months later. Now after years, Kirsty watched her step mother become a cold void of the stranger she had once met and showed such promise as. Now she had somehow talked her father into moving to London, back into her grandmother's old house, and to start over again. She had known they had problems, she was close with her father, something she valued above all. Ever since her mother's death, she clung close to him and only wanted him to be happy. When he first met Julia she thought this was his one change. But after her sudden change, Kirsty sensed he was making a terrible mistake. She knew her father had seen it, but it had become some strange unspoken tension that lingered in the air. She had tried so hard to get him to talk to her about it. They had always been so close and open with each other before. But as usual, her father put on that fake friendly smile and told her everything was fine. Things were perfectly okay, and not to worry. This was the same exact thing he said when Kirsty had broken down crying in his arms after her mother's funeral. Her father had claimed the move was because of the new job he had been offered over seas. That it was a huge promotion for him that he simply couldn't pass up. Kirsty on the other hand knew better. She knew what a smart business man her father was, who had slowly worked himself up after starting as a simple sales man when he first married her mother. She knew they were very well off, and she counted herself lucky, but she also knew that this whole story of moving due to work was complete and total bullshit. He had moved to please Julia, which lately seemed harder and harder to do. Kirsty had just turned twenty-two.
She had graduated just last spring a semester early after majoring in child psychology. She wasn't exactly ready and willing to start grad school, and had told her father just a few months before his announcement in moving that she was taking a year off to get her head on straight, work a few part time jobs, and to just let things settle down. As usual her father smiled, told her it was a great idea and continued on his way. Kirsty meanwhile knew Julia had a lot to say about this, but didn't breath a word of it. Her entire family was dead, she came from money, and didn't want children. As much as Kirsty had tried to get close with her step mother she felt some sort of strange invisible wall between the two that she couldn't break. So she decided to follow them. Instead of staying in the states, she figured maybe she needed a fresh start as well. She had planned on moving over, getting an apartment and work a small job while she tried to figure out what exactly she wanted to do when she returned to the states the following summer. Her father kept urging her to come move in with them, but the thought of living with the ice queen sent shivers down her spine. Now just a few weeks later she had landed herself a small room in an apartment complex just down town.
She had answered an ad in the paper for a small part time job at a pet shop, and she was visiting with a few friends of her that she knew through her father's business partners. Somehow the movie made her feel good. She really did like London despite the gray skies and windy weather. She found herself exploring the city streets every day and looking out into the harbor. Maybe her father was right...maybe this was a new fresh start. Still, she missed New York and honestly wondered if this year off was a good idea. Before she began walking down the stairs, she had caught a small glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror and wanted to die. She looked awful after the sink had exploded on her. She felt sorta bad by how rude she had acted earlier coming in, but she knew with her father watching it was for the best, mostly if he was paying these guys to help move them in. Smoothing out her wrinkled shirt, she held onto the railing wondering what all the noise was coming from? She saw the older of the two movers look outraged as she grabbed her jacket and shot her a dirty look from down below.
"What's happening?" The younger of the two movers, the one she had first seen when she came in and had acted so rude was pulling off his gloves. He was handsome, tall, with thick bushy eyebrows and hair. She had squeezed by him when she first came in, ignoring his come on as she brushed against him and the mattress he was moving in.
"We're leaving." Kirsty looked around confused. "Where's my father?" The older of the two movers was pulling on his jacket. "He's fucked off." The other mover raises his thick eyebrows. "Eh...language." The older mover rolled his eyes before looking at Kirsty. "Sorry. He's gone upstairs. So we're fucking off too." Turning, he walked out in a huff slamming the door. Kirsty met eyes with the other mover who nervously cleared his throat and curled his hand into a fist and coughed into it.
"Um, can you sign for the bed?" Kirsty glanced back up at the stairs and saw the small trail of blood leading up. Right away she sighed before stepping down towards him. "Sure..." The mover reached into his back pocket and took out a medium sized pad of paper. Looking down at it, he then raised his light hazel colored eyes and stared at her. "Got a pen?" "One second, I wanna check on my dad..." Turning, Kirsty raced upstairs, skipping two stairs at a time, looking up on the third landing that went up towards the attic. There she saw her father, leaning against Julia, clutching his bleeding hand towards his shirt, sweating and looking sick to his stomach. She knew her father never liked the sight of blood, and from the look of his face, she knew he was ready to keel over. "What happened?" Julia was helping her father, slowly leading him down. "Just an accident, he'll need stitches. Will you drive?"
"Sure, the keys are in the kitchen..." They got down just a few steps before her father stopped, shaking his head. "Julia, she isn't used to driving here..." "Dad I can do it." "No, he's right. I'll drive. Fetch the keys for me and I'll take him." Her father stopped, shaking his head. "No honey, it's all right. Mind staying here and keeping an eye on things?" Kirsty eyed his badly bleeding hand, nervously she bit her bottom lip looking unsure. Right away she saw her father nod, trying his hardest despite the pain to smile and show her everything was all right. "It's okay princess, really. We'll be back." Helping them, she went into the kitchen and fetch the keys. Running back she gave them to Julia who seemed almost annoyed at how her father was acting. He swayed back and forth, still holding his bleeding hand, looking sick to his stomach whenever he glanced down at it.
Julia grabbed her purse, and led him out the back door. All the while the mover stood silently against the wall, watching them. Kirsty watched them slowly make their way down the side driveway towards her father's car. Sighing, she continued biting her lip when a voice behind her startled her, making her jump. "Everything okay?" Spinning around, clutching her chest she gave a little yelp as the moving man leaned against the doorway staring at her. Feeling her heart leap into her throat. Sighing, slightly annoyed she shook her head. Right away the mover dropped his eyes. "Sorry I scared you." Kirsty shook her head and hurried over to the counter, littered with packing tissues, and boxes of Julia's belongings. Seeing some pens in a small glass vase, she grabbed one and turned towards him. "What do you need me to sign?" The mover stepped forward handing the pad to her.
"Just your name down on the bottom line..." Just then a honking came from outside, right away Kirsty knew it wasn't her father's car, but the moving truck. Making a face, it was now the mover's turn to roll his eyes. Turning, he shook his head. "Bloody christ..." Before Kirsty could answer him he walked out towards the direction of the front of the house. Standing there, Kirsty sighed and looked down at the note pad and jotted down her name quickly. Hearing the front door slam closed, she figured maybe the guy had left. Shaking her head, she walked out into the hallway and found it empty. "Wonderful..." She looked over at the mattress wondering how in the world it was going to get moved up now? Just then the door flung open, the mover coming back in, his face slightly flushed looking more than a little upset. Kirsty stared at him as he sniffled and ran his hand over the back of his head in frustration. "Everything okay?" Sighing loudly, the mover met with her eyes. Shaking his head he motioned out towards the door. "He took off, didn't wait for me. I swear he's more moody than a teenage girl."
Kirsty laughed, she couldn't help it. There the mover cracked a grin, one that didn't seem creepy or forced. In fact it made his entire face light up. Right then and there, she saw that he was actually kinda handsome. Kirsty put the note pad down on one of the end tables, looking up at the mattress she motioned towards it. "How did my dad get hurt?" The mover looked up the flight of stairs. "Nail, cut his hand pretty bad. Sorry about that." Kirsty shook her head.
"Not your fault, just this house, it's older than the hands of God." The mover lightly chuckled. "Yeah, big though...you originally from the states?" "Yeah, Brooklyn." "New York?" "Yeah, ever been?" "Never been out of the UK. You moving in?" "This was my grandmother's place...my uncle I guess lived here for a while but my dad bought it for Julia." "Your step mother?" "Yeah, she's a peach isn't she?" The mover laughed again, raising his thick eyebrows and shaking his head.
"Noticed she's a bit on the icy side." "That's saying it lightly..." "Listen, I feel terrible about what happened. If you let me use your phone I'll call up my agency and get a few guys down here quick, no extra change, we'll move the bed up before your dad comes back." "That would be great, as long as it isn't much trouble?" "No trouble at all." The two stared at each other in silence before Kirsty smiled, shaking her head. "Um, yeah the phone is in the kitchen..."
"Thanks..." "Kirsty." He smiled. "Kirsty, I'm Oliver." Before Kirsty could say anything, Oliver walked towards the kitchen to use the phone. Turning, Kirsty watched him figuring there were much worse ways to spend an afternoon. After he used the phone, the two waited. Kirsty poured the two of them coffee, using two mugs from one of the opened boxes and the two leaned against the kitchen doorway trying to make small talk while they waited. Oliver seemed interested that she had gone to college, something he claimed he always wished he had done. He asked about her major, and then where she was staying. When Kirsty mentioned the area he grinned.
"That bad huh?" "I live in worse, at least there's some nice pubs in the area." Oliver was twenty-six. He had been working odd jobs for a while and had been with the moving company for the past three years. He had a one year old daughter with his ex girlfriend who had her most of the time. He reached into his wallet and showed her a photograph of a giggling blond baby. "She's beautiful." He seemed to beam when he talked about the baby. He told Kirsty she wasn't planned, and most likely a bad attempt to save a bad relationship but in the end she was so far the only thing he felt he had done right. He told Kirsty he got to see her for one weekend every month.
Before they could talk any further there was a knock on the door and two other workmen who knew Oliver were there. Together the three of them moved the mattress up the narrow stairwell after some sweating and struggling. Kirsty offered to help but they claimed they were fine. In no time it was moved to the upstairs bedroom and Kirsty offered them the rest of the beer in the fridge. The moving men thanked her as they headed for the truck. Right before leaving Oliver stopped, looked at Kirsty and smiled. "Sorry about all of this." Kirsty waved her hand. "Trust me, it's okay." "Hope your father is all right." "I'm sure he'll be okay." Turning, Kirsty smiled as he jotted down her new number onto the back of the paper she had to sign. Handing it back to him, she had to hold back her smile. Right away Oliver raised an eyebrow as she turned and saw his surprised yet pleased expression. "Maybe we can get together your next night off." Oliver smiled looking at the number before tucking it into his side pocket. "That would be great, guess this is my lucky day."
Kirsty laughed before Oliver looked over at the clock. "Maybe I'll give you a ring tonight, I can show you a few of the pubs in your area if you like?" "Oh I would love to, but my father is having this house warming party..." "Oh, all right..." "You can come if you want, it's just a bunch of my dad's boring business friends..." Oliver smiled. "Eh, might not be such a great idea...but if you finish up early maybe we can grab a pint." "Can I have your number?" "Sure..."
Taking the pen from her, he leaned over before gently taking her small smooth hand into his larger and rougher one. Gently he wrote his number across the palm of her hand, causing it to tickle a bit. The two met eyes before he grinned and stepped back. "Nice to meet you Kirsty." "Same here." With that Oliver grinned, turned and left. Standing there, Kirsty drew back the curtains and watched him walk back to the truck. Smiling, she stood there feeling maybe, just maybe this move wasn't a bad idea after all.