‘I’m sure Carla and I can hump a few boxes around. Especially since it will be in Carla’s best interests.’
Carla was bemused. ‘It will?’ Despite Dulcie’s offer and her mum’s advice, she wasn’t entirely sure she would still be here at the weekend. She had to go home at some point, and the jury was still out on when that would be.
Both Dulcie and Maisie were grinning at her.
‘What?’ she demanded, wondering if she was missing something obvious.
Maisie repeated, ‘We are moving into this house on the weekend.’
‘Yes, you said.’
‘Which means, I’m movingoutof the house in Picklewick.’
‘Okay…’
‘It’s rented. There’s a couple of months left on the lease.’
It dawned on Carla what Maisie was getting at. ‘I can’t afford it,’ she stated flatly.
‘You won’t have to. Adam and I aren’t paying any rent. My mum is. She’s the one who’s supposed to be renting it. When she came to Picklewick, she took out a six-month lease but ended up moving in with Walter, as you know. Me and Adam have been living in it while we renovated this place. She said you can move into her house until you’re ready to return to Birmingham.’
Carla didn’t know much about property rental, but she knew enough. ‘Isn’t that classed as subletting?’ she pointed out.
Dulcie answered, ‘It is, but both the estate agent who manages the property and the landlord are okay with it.’
‘Blimey.’ Carla didn’t know what to say. It was a generous offer, but… ‘I haven’t got any furniture. Not a stick to my name.’
Maisie said, ‘Mum has. It’s her furniture in the house at the moment. Adam’s is in storage.’ She pulled a face. ‘Mum’s stuff is really old-fashioned, so we won’t be bringing any of it with us to the new place. What do you say? Are you going to move in for the duration?’
‘Yes – I think.’
To say she was shocked was an understatement, and she wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing. Still, it was only for a couple of weeks, and it occurred to her that this was an opportunity to try living on her own. It would also allow her to find out what it would be like to live in Picklewick itself – because she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she didn’t want to leave.
‘We’ve got to stop eating out,’ Carla protested as she and Ashton tucked into a sharing plate of Tex-Mex later that evening. They were dining in one of Ashton’s favourite restaurants, one he didn’t get to eat in often because Lacey didn’t like the food.
‘I know, but I thought we should mark the occasion,’ he said, popping a taco in his mouth. Mmm, delicious!
‘Me moving into Beth’s house for a couple of weeks is hardly a cause for celebration.’
‘I think it is.’ He met her gaze solemnly, stretching a hand across the table to slip into hers.
It meant she wasn’t leaving yet, and that was all he could think about – Carla leaving Picklewick and him never seeing her again. It was all he had been able to think about since yesterday, because seeing her in Birmingham had brought it home to him that she wouldn’t be in Picklewick much longer. And it also reinforced the fact that he really didn’t want her to go. A couple more weeks was definitely something to be celebrated as far as he was concerned.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, and he wondered what she had been about to say. He considered asking but decided against it. He didn’t know her well enough to pry into her thoughts.What are you thinking,was the kind of question lovers might ask one another. Although he wouldn’t say no to taking her to bed (he was a red-blooded man with a healthy libido, after all), they weren’t at that stage in their relationship and never would be. They were friends with kisses (not benefits), and he doubted they would be anything more than that. Which was a good thing, as he didn’t want to fall for this woman any more than he already had.
But it didn’t mean he couldn’t kiss her, and he shuffled his chair around so he could do precisely that.
‘Dulcie took me to see Beth’s house this afternoon,’ Carla said as they broke apart, the kiss too fleeting for his liking. ‘It’s perfect. You’ll have to visit. I move in on Saturday.’
‘I will,’ he promised.
‘What’s your place like?’
‘Small.’
‘One bed or two?’
‘Two, but the spare room is mostly filled with camera equipment.’ Which reminded him – he hadn’t yet spent the voucher Dulcie had given him. Maybe he would get Carla a new lens? It could be her going away present.
