‘I still can’t believe you don’t want any rent, though.’ He glanced around the room. ‘And how come you don’t sell the place?’ he asked. ‘You do own it, don’t you?’
‘No. I’m just some crackpot old woman who managed to obtain some keys and show you around an empty office.’ She raised a perfectly pencilled eyebrow.
‘Sorry. I just can’t get my head around it. In my experience, no one does anything for free without an ulterior motive,’ said Declan as he walked into the small kitchen. He would install a decent coffee machine to offer his clients a drink, he thought to himself.
‘Including yourself?’ she asked candidly.
‘What? Um, no, I will always lend someone a hand if I can. I guess I just mean generally in this world we live in.’ He shrugged.
Alice studied the young man standing in front of her. He was tall and muscular and may have been described as having an almost perfect face, had it not been for a nose that looked as though it had once been broken. The overall effect was a handsome-looking young man who had dark-brown eyes that crinkled at the corner when he smiled.
‘What a sad state of affairs that is.’ She sighed. ‘As I said, if we all helped each other out a little more, the world would be a better place. And, actually, this was my husband’s old office.’ She walked over to the heavy wooden desk and ran her hand along it. ‘He died two years ago, and I haven’t been able to bring myself to sell it,’ she admitted.
Alice still missed George every single day, especially his easy smile and sense of humour.
He had built up quite a reputation as a hot-shot lawyer in the city when he had been young and hungry for success, shrewdly investing money in stocks and shares, that over time had paid generous dividends.
It felt like yesterday when they had held parties that Alice loved to dress up for, or gone out for dinner in the city. Life was full of excitement and possibilities for the future, especiallyfollowing the war years. As a young woman, she had enjoyed watching the regeneration of the city, particularly the ongoing building of Liverpool Cathedral that was finally completed in the nineteen seventies. It was still one of her favourite places.
Declan reckoned Alice must have been a right cracker when she was young. She was fine featured, with a slightly full mouth even at her age and piercing green eyes. She wore her silver-grey hair in soft curls, and he imagined it dark when she was younger, giving her the look of a Hollywood movie star. It would have amused Alice if she had known that Declan was studying her just as closely as she was him.
‘So, what do you think?’ she asked him.
‘I think it’s brilliant. Perfect. It’s just that…’ Declan hesitated for a moment. ‘I don’t have any clients, and I would need to work my notice with the council. I can’t see it being something I could take advantage of right now.’ He sighed.
Declan wondered if he was mad in considering a job move. He had a steady position with a decent pension, but he could not build up a successful business working for the council, which was what he dreamt of. He would need to do that himself, try and land some big accounts. Not something he could really do around his full-time job. It felt good to know that this space was available, though.
‘Well, it’s here if you need it.’ Alice smiled, as if reading his thoughts. ‘And it gives you time to advertise your services and take on some clients, should you decide to use the office.’
Despite Alice’s optimism, something Declan usually possessed bags of himself, he gave himself a reality check. How could he just walk away from a well-paid job, even with some rent-free office space? Maybe he would stay put. For now, at least. A decent pension pot was everything these days, and everyone knew how good the council ones were. He told Alice this.
‘I understand,’ she reassured him. ‘I have no intention of selling for a while yet, so if it can be put to good use, all the better. And if I am honest,’ she continued, ‘I still enjoy coming up here occasionally. My memories of George always come flooding back when I am here.’
‘That must be nice.’ He smiled.
‘Bittersweet.’ She sighed. ‘But I would rather he remained strong in my memory than my thoughts of him fade away.’
Declan understood what she meant only too well. There were days when he worried that he might forget what his sister looked like.
‘Anyway, thanks,’ said Declan. ‘And you never know, I might take it sooner rather than later.’
He would do everything within his power to secure some clients; there was no way he was going to pass up an opportunity for rent-free space like this in such a prime location.
‘That’s the spirit. Think positive.’ She winked.
Outside, Alice offered to buy Declan a coffee from a local restaurant that had sprung up in town just recently. He glanced at his watch and as he had nothing to rush home for, he agreed.
He would have gone to the pub, but one of his mates was on holiday; the other, a single parent was unexpectedly having his son overnight. He was comfortable enough going on his own to his local pub as he knew plenty of people, but didn’t really feel like it this evening. He supposed it was one of the benefits of being single, answering to no one and doing as you pleased.
The Forest, a vegan deli, looked inviting. The red-brick exterior had a black metal butcher’s bike propped against the window, its basket filled with purple and yellow flowers. Inside, pale-blue painted walls contrasted perfectly with stripped, dark-woodentables and benches; a string of bulb lights ran across the counter area, giving it a modern, cosy feel.
‘So what made you become an accountant?’ asked Alice as she sipped her coffee at a table for two as they waited for their food.
‘Dunno. I was just good at it. I like having things in order I suppose.’ He shrugged. ‘And having a stint working in a meat factory made me realise I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life,’ he told her as he stirred his coffee. ‘I went to night school.’
He told Alice all about his high school and how most of the kids there had underachieved. There was no need to tell her anything else about his past life.
‘That is such a shame. I think it unfair that you should only get a good education if you are in the right social class.’ She shook her head.
