Friday, 20th May 2022
"Turn right here," Roy grunted at Jamie as they ran down the grass. After Jamie had found Roy icing his knee in secret in Jamie's kitchen after their morning exercise while Jamie was in the shower and Roy was making breakfast – he'd started running on the grass instead of the pathways. It wouldn't fix the issue of Roy needing surgery on his knee, but it was more gentle on the damaged joint.
Jamie slowed and looked at Roy but followed the instruction. "Why?"
"I have an appointment; you can run around the block while I'm busy."
"Appointment…here?"
"My real estate agent called me about a house bordering the green."
"You're moving?"
"No."
Jamie sighed and followed Roy down the street until he stopped in front of an old house surrounded by a garden going to seed.
"What's this place?" Jamie asked.
"The woman who lives here is selling."
"And…" Jamie prompted.
"I'm thinking about buying it."
"You're going to move?"
"No, I'll sell it or rent it out. I've been doing it for years; I need an income stream when I stop coaching."
"You're going to stop?"
"I don't know, Ted's gone; new gaffer might not want me on the team."
Jamie gaped at him. Roy ignored him to open the gate and walk up to the front door, Jamie followed behind him instead of continuing along the pathway. Roy knocked and an older lady opened the door.
"Hello, Mrs Boniface? I'm Roy, I believe you're expecting me, my real estate agent Melanie organise it. I'm here about making you an offer on the house."
"Yes, come in." Jamie hung back. Mrs Boniface waved at him. "Come on, young man, don't be shy."
Jamie bounced on his feet and over to her, sliding into the house before Roy could object. "Thanks, ma'am."
"You can call me Linda."
"Melanie mentioned you reached out to her about selling and she let me know as I've been working with her for years and I love projects like this," Roy said, trying to face Linda but distracted by Jamie.
Linda followed his eyes to Jamie who was spinning and looking at the house.
"What's your young man's name?"
"Jamie," Jamie offered, stopping and holding his hand out. "This reminds me of me old nana's house, she used to look after me when I was sick…I was a bit of a sickly baby ya know, but Mummy got me into football and I grew out of that stage."
Linda smiled at him.
"My parent's lived here before me, had done since they were married. It was half rebuilt after the Blitz, then I came along a little while later…bit of a change of life baby. They'd been convinced they couldn't have any children, you know? Before the war they had one of my cousins up here to look after him, send him to a good school, help him out, he went home during the war but came back again afterwards to keep going to school. When he was done with school, he went and worked for Whitehall and that's how I met my husband. We lived here together until his death, raised three beautiful children here. They had all left and made themselves lives before he passed. Afterwards, I had a friend come and stay with me…I probably don't have to lie to you boys, she and I loved each other. She died a few months ago."
"Oh," Jamie said with a sad noise, he stepped forward and wrapped Linda in a hug. "I'm so sorry for both of your loses."
Linda's face changed and she wrapped her thin arms around Jamie.
Jamie gave her a final squeeze and pulled back. Roy looked awkward but offered his own condolences.
Linda smiled slyly at Roy. "Thank you both. It wasn't a shock, my dear Lizzie was sick for a few years, but she stayed here until she died, enough about little old me, let me show you the house."
"How did you meet Lizzie?" Jamie asked, following her down the hall.
"We were friends at school, lost touch, she didn't marry, I did, call it bisexual nowadays…I had my children and Lizzie travelled everywhere. Both had good lives and then we found one another again," Linda sighed and then shook her head. "I'm moving to Cornwell with my eldest, his wife, and kids. I'm going to be a full time granny and spoil them."
"They don't want the house?" Roy asked.
Linda shook her head. "Too expensive to do up, I haven't let it go, you understand, but it is in the old style, not set up for how families want to live now. They're all settled, my oldest in Cornwell, my daughter is working in Wales at the moment but she moves around a lot, and my youngest is in the army – just got married and they are thinking about moving to Cornwell too. Hopefully, they will both be there, that way I can be there when he and his partner have kids. Or not, never know these days. But, the house, you know how things change. I never remodelled after the Blitz, we just kept it all safe and we just lived along our lives. I know there is a lot of work that someone would need to do if they decided to renovate. That's why when I reached out to that lovely Melanie and she mentioned you, I thought it would be right that it would be someone who wanted to renovate the house and make it beautiful again – Melanie said you respect the houses you renovate."
Roy smiled at Linda. "It is in the older style but it's a beautiful house."
Linda showed him around the rest of the house and garden. There was a dining/living room at the front on the right and a bedroom on the left, a kitchen at the back that led to the back garden which was a little larger than others in this area. There was an upstairs with two bedrooms and a bathroom. Linda and Jamie chatted while Roy looked at the cupboard under the stairs where the fuse box was, pulled down the stairs up to the loft, and looked around the unaltered space.
"What do you think?" Linda asked, sliding the biscuits closer to Jamie who had already nibbled two after dipping them into his tea.
"I would like to make an offer," Roy said. "I want someone to come in and check the foundations but assuming that comes back the way I think it will, this would be my offer…"
Jamie cocked an eyebrow at Roy, that was a lot of money, he watched the way Linda's eyes widened.
"No," Linda told him. "I had someone come out and look at it, and they said given all of the updating and renovating that I would be lucky to get £50,000 less than that."
"That's my offer, Linda, I'm willing to put it in writing but I do want to wait and see the foundation report before I commit just in case."
Linda looked at Jamie, who was sneaking another biscuit. Jamie froze and dropped the biscuit.
"No, no, you eat as many as you want, Jamie, no one here to appreciate my cooking now."
Jamie grinned at her and dipped the biscuit before sliding it, whole, into his mouth.
"Is Roy serious?" Linda asked.
"Always," Jamie mumbled around the biscuit, fighting not to open his mouth too much.
"I am," Roy said, sliding the biscuit he'd taken but not eaten across to Jamie's plate.
"I would be silly not to take the offer," Linda said. "Especially from Roy Kent."
Roy froze.
"My Lizzie was a diehard Chelsea fan, and she loved your anger."
"Thank you. I'll chat to Melanie and she will be in touch this afternoon about the check and then the formal offer."
Jamie rolled his eyes. "Do you have a pen, Linda?"
Roy frowned at him.
Linda handed him a pen and paper.
"That's my number," Jamie told her handing both back, "if you need to contact Roy, here, contact me. He's a bit of a numpty about people selling his number but I know you wouldn't."
Linda smiled at Jamie and took the number. She grabbed a little bag, slid the rest of the biscuits inside, and then handed them to Jamie.
"Mint," Jamie said, pressing a kiss to her cheek and bouncing out of the house with Roy following behind him.
Roy headed back towards their normal route and Jamie followed him, eager to start asking questions.
"Do you do that often?" Jamie asked, matching Roy's speed as the other man accelerating to their normal speed.
"I don't always buy personally," Roy told him. "But with properties I'm going to renovate like this one, I like to have a proper look at them. Don't normally meet the sellers – normally set up a private viewing but Linda sounds like someone I should meet."
"The ones you're going to renovate, are you a secret electrician?"
"No, I have a lady."
"Plumber?"
"I have a guy but he's retiring soon so I'm going to have to find another one."
"Carpentry?"
"I can do a little bit of carpentry but not this type of carpentry."
Jamie's jaw dropped. "What?"
Roy shrugged. "Hurry up, you need to warm back up now…and work off those biscuits."
"Nope, you forgot, I promised Phoebe I'd take her to that tea place Rebecca told her about. The one you thought was boring."
Roy rolled his eyes. "She knows I'd have taken her."
Jamie stuck his tongue out at Roy. "Too late now, me and Fifi are going to have fun without you."
Roy growled at him.
Jamie ran forward, did a cartwheel, and turned to Roy. "Can I help with the house?"
"Fuck no."
"We could go halvsies."
"Fuck no."
Jamie sighed. "That's poopey, I'd be excellent at it."
"What gives you that impression?"
"I have great taste," Jamie said.
"I've seen how you dress," Roy told him.
Jamie rolled his eyes. "We can't all wear variations of black and call it an aesthetic."
Roy growled at Jamie. "We are not getting into business together."
"Fine," Jamie said, sighing.
"What do you do with your money?"
"I look at the number in my bank and remember Mummy and I will never be poor again."
Roy made a noise and continued on, leading the way to Jamie's house. When they got there, Roy sent Jamie up to have a shower while he made them a breakfast of waffles and fresh fruit. Jamie might be able to relax his diet now they were in the off-season but he didn't want Jamie's fitness to go down too much; it was going to be an intense season with both their regular games and the Champions League.
"You want a shower before we head to pick up Fifi?" Jamie asked, popping a raspberry into his mouth off Roy's plate.
"Oi!"
"Thanks, Roy-o."
"I thought I wasn't invited," Roy told Jamie, hip-checking him out of the way so he could take the plates to the table.
Jamie rolled his eyes. "As though Phoebe would ever throw you over for anyone…you're her favourite fucking person."
Roy made a noise. "Do I still have that bag in your spare room?"
"Yes, but I put your clothes in the cupboard, weirdo."
Roy rolled his eyes. He took both the plates and put them on Jamie's table. "You own this place at least, right?"
Jamie shook his head. "I rent, didn't know whether Ted was going to take me back when I was looking for a place, I'm used to it now."
Roy looked at Jamie again.
"What?" Jamie asked.
Roy growled and pointed at the food. "Eat."
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