*
Small pieces of the elephant,Harry advised him. And Kate said something similar when he called her for advice about the flatpack (although he prefers not to think about that): ‘Just take it bit by bit.’
Vince no longer dwells on the Agata aberration, or fantasises about Deborah scooping him into her powerful arms and throwing him against her double-doored fridge freezer. Instead, he has serious work to do as he is going to sell his house.
Obviously it’s not quite as simple as flogging an unwanted trumpet or a set of dumb-bells. Preparation is needed, in order to present it at its best. It’s not that Vince is fixated on achieving maximum profit. After all, the bungalow was gifted to him by his beloved mum and dad. However, if and when Kate comes back, he’ll want her to see the changes he’s made, and how he’s worked so hard to put things right. Then, when the house is sold, they’ll be able to look at buying a flat in London together.
It’ll be smaller than this place. He realises that. But he knows Kate won’t mind, and that being there right in the heart of things is more important to her than having their own garden and being able to park outside their own front door.
They might even rent for a while. Kate isn’t even that fussed about owning property – not like most people seem to be. But he’d ignored that fact. He hadn’t taken her wishes into account at all.
The first piece of the elephant requires a meeting with Colin over a beer one evening, where he basically plunders Colin’s contact list of every decent tradesman in the area. Some of the work Vince can do himself: repainting the kitchen and stripping off all that dated wallpaper in the living room, bedrooms and study. But he can’t plaster walls and he’s certainly not about to tear out the purple bathroom all by himself. Or indeed install a modern white one – the kind that Kate had asked for all along.
It all snaps into action quite quickly. ‘D’you have a paint roller extension pole?’ Colin announces during one of his many, many visits. He’s taken to popping in almost daily while his hamstring injury heals, keen to advise on the ‘upgrading’. Plus, he grew fond of Jarvis during those couple of days when Vince was in Scotland. Jarvis runs to Colin, delighted, whenever he shows up.
‘I don’t know,’ Vince admits. ‘Is that just a normal pole or something different?’ Next thing Colin’s gone to fetch his. Over the next few days, with his new friend back at work now, Vince tackles the job. Painting is surprisingly easy – cathartic even. He just feels a bit guilty shutting Jarvis out of the kitchen while it’s going on.
Next comes the wallpaper stripping. He’s found a metal scraper thing in the shed and sets to work, starting with his study as it’s the littlest room in the house.Small pieces of the elephant.It’s laborious and thankless work. At this rate he’ll be at it until summer – or until death, whichever comes soonest.
One slate-grey rainy afternoon, he tosses down the scraper, checks his emails to see if Zoe’s got back to him yet, and mooches through to the kitchen. With his enthusiasm waning Vince wonders if he should have just painted over the wallpaper instead. Too late now. It’s all scraped and hacked at – a complete mess.
Bizarrely, the bathroom is easier as he doesn’t have to involve himself with it. The old purple fittings are taken away by two magicians named Phil and Naz, and the new white bath, loo and washbasin installed in their place. At least, it seems like magic to Vince. The job is done and dusted before he’s managed to scrape off a square metre of wallpaper.
He’s mulling over what to do next, while flicking through properties for sale in east London. There’s a place in the next street from Tash’s. Could he bear to live in a flat again? Of course he could. Who needs a garden when there are public parks, and you don’t have to look after them? He could live in a bedsit – a hut, even – if Kate was with him—
At the sound of a knock on the door he goes through, thinking it’ll be Colin back from work. Vince plans to ask him about the hallway, and whether he thinks he should rip up the ugly grey carpet and sand the floor—
He opens the door. ‘Hi, Vince,’ Lenny says. ‘Got a minute?’
Vince freezes. It’s as if he’s been winded. Thrown belly-first onto that wooden horse. But nothing happened between him and Agata! Nothing at all! Hang on, he kissed her naked breasts. Is that ‘nothing’?
Lenny gives him a steady and sympathetic look, as if he were a patient.So, what can I help you with today?With his heart battering in his chest, Vince tries to wrestle his expression into some semblance of normality as he croaks, ‘’Course I have, Lenny. D’you want to come in?’
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Kate
Lately, it’s seemed as if life has conspired to keep Fergus and me apart. He’s been out and about, picking up book collections from as far away as Glasgow and Aberdeen. Then baby Finn had a fever, and Liv needed her dad to help out. It was all hands on deck and, for a week or so, Fergus disappeared into family life. ‘Don’t even think about the shop,’ I reassured him. ‘I can take care of everything here.’
Something else is happening too. Practicalities aside, since Vince’s visit, we’ve stepped back from each other. No more kisses, even on the rare occasions we’ve been alone together. I’ve felt a little awkward around him – because of my deceit. And now it feels too late to come clean, to tell him the real story of how I ended up here.
Whenever Fergus says, ‘Have you seen anything of Alice?’ my heart seems to thud.
‘No,’ I’ve replied. ‘Not for ages.’
‘No news about whether there’s been an offer on the house?’
‘Not that I know of,’ I said. And he gave me a look that said:I thought you two were friends?It seems all the odder to Fergus as, since he bought her mother’s book collection, Alice has been a regular customer in the shop. She’s helped us out too, making coffees and pottering around, straightening books on the shelves. She’s even manned the shop occasionally.
And now she doesn’t come at all.
I miss her, and want to call or drop round. But she made it pretty clear that day how she feels about me now.
The bells tinkle above the shop door, even though we turned the sign to ‘Closed’ an hour ago. I swing around to see Liv at the door. She greets us both, announcing, ‘Happy birthday, Dad!’
‘Thanks!’ Fergus grins.
‘It’s your birthday?’ I exclaim. ‘Why didn’t you say?’
