Sorry it's been a bit of a wait, nearly there now. Thanks for reading.
Chapter Forty-Six
Tuesday 30th July
St Cecilia Road
They went to see the house late in the afternoon. It was striking, beautiful even, or it would be beautiful. It had been neglected recently and obviously needed some attention. The estate agent was standing by the drive; she was new or a temp and looked distinctly flustered. She was searching through an oversized handbag and unaware of their approach.
"I don't recognise this one," Harry said, as they drew near to the mature lady.
"So you've got a whole bunch of estate agent girlies showing you round London at the moment?"
"You'd better believe it and none of them look like this one."
"I bet they don't," Nikki agreed but under her breath.
He might not have heard the comment but he could read the expression on her face. Harry couldn't help but wonder why she was here with him, what was in it for her?
"I'd forgotten…" he blurted out.
"This isn't going to be another cheesy TV line is it?" Nikki asked.
"No, it's just that you don't have an ulterior motive."
"Pardon?"
"All this time, I've just assumed that you were only doing this, helping me because of what you could get out of it, but you're not, you're just helping me because you can, because you might conceivably want me to be happy…"
She looked up at him, "Of course I want you to be happy. Why wouldn't I?"
It wasn't that long ago, you were screaming that you wished I was dead, Harry thought, but knew better than to say it.
"It was the American way… Everyone was just looking out for themselves. It's taken me this long to realise that that's not true here. It's not true of you. Nikki, thanks for coming with me. Thanks." He shrugged in response to her quizzical gaze. "Just thanks."
They had almost reached the grey haired estate agent.
"Harry Cunningham, pleased to meet you," Harry said holding out his hand to the woman.
"Martha Thomas," the lady replied. She looked towards Nikki.
"Nikki Alexander," she said offering her hand distractedly. She was still wondering how Candy could have had such an influence over him. Martha smiled at her and began the search for the keys.
"Oh you kept your own names then?" she muttered.
Harry hadn't the heart to correct her; she was having too much trouble looking for the keys and he wasn't sure that Nikki had heard; she was staring at the house. He didn't want to make Martha's day any worse, SAT NAV must be this woman's best friend, he doubted she'd have even turned up at the right address otherwise. It was quite nice for a change; this woman looked like a retired school teacher but without the organisational skills. All the others could have been carbon copies of each other, the same overly made up faces and slightly too tight skirts, even the same way of speaking.
"Harry look!" Nikki hissed.
"What?" he wondered why they were whispering, but there was something about the older lady's appearance that just made it the thing to do.
"Look!" she insisted pointing to the front steps.
"What?" Harry hissed back.
"Look at those," Nikki climbed back down the steps and pointed at the two stone lions on each side, guarding the steps. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Don't start telling me that's a 'sign!' I'll not let you come with me on any more of these viewings if you're going to go all crazy on me."
"I don't think I'll need to," Nikki replied and stared up at the house with a smile.
Harry looked around at the location; the house was on a main road, not the place you might choose for your dream family house but perfect if you wanted an easily accessible office. He didn't notice a big imposing bell filled church either. It might be further down the street, but it wasn't next door.
"I have the key here somewhere," Martha said rooting about in her enormous bag. In the end she resorted to trying all the keys she had. She struck lucky on the third set.
"This would make a lovely family home," she said and gave the two of them a smile. "You'll have plenty of room to grow into the place. I'm not going to lie to you the kitchen does need updating, but then you can put your own stamp on it, can't you. Choose what you both want."
"Actually I'm more interested in the annexe, I'm looking for a place to work and this is my business partner," Harry said it was only going to get more awkward if he didn't correct her. He wasn't sure Nikki was up for hearing Martha suggest nursery colour designs. But watching Nikki walk through the house an almost skip to her step maybe she wouldn't mind. She was staring out at the garden through the back window, he wasn't sure if she could hear them.
"Oh, are you sure?" Martha asked.
"Why?"
"Oh, I don't know the two of you seem right together and look at her, she's pretty as a picture. You'd have yourself some beautiful looking children," Martha said to Harry.
Nikki turned back from the window. "The garden needs a bit of work," she said.
"Oh yes, but the helianthus are going to be beautiful in a month or so." Martha exclaimed. "Shall we go and look at the annexe?"
The space was perfect, two small rooms, a waiting area and cloakroom. It was much less intimidating than a shop and already had all the plumbing and electricity requirements that the dentist needed originally, if he ever wanted to develop it as lab space.
"It's been on the market for a while now, problems with the main road I think and of course now it's empty; the vendors may be willing to take an offer. It's always worth asking."
"I don't want to buy something and then be miserable because I can't afford to redecorate or eat," Harry said.
"But if it is the right house," Nikki interrupted. "If Harry wants this house, we'll have to pool our assets and buy it together.
Martha gave them a puzzled look, there was certainly more to this peculiar couple than she had first thought. She walked back through the kitchen and into the hallway. Martha looked at the stairs and then back to Harry. "I'll leave you two to look around upstairs, take your time. I'll wait in the kitchen for you."
Small apologies to estate agents out there, but I have met some like this and many worse…
