‘That as well,’ agreed Anna.
‘I have wine,’ called Michaela bursting into the room holding a bottle aloft. She stopped dead when she saw the accumulated furniture. ‘You got all of this from a dumpster?
Jan grinned at Leo. ‘What did I say?’
‘Isn’t it lovely?’ said Anna. ‘Or rather it’s going to be.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Er … um.’
‘Good question,’ said Leo, grinning at Anna.
‘Take off all the mouldings, sand it down and paint it. Put some new legs and different seat covers on them and they’ll look like new,’ she said.
Michaela jumped in. ‘Or you could wax it and keep the natural colour and buy some fabric to reupholster the chairs. I’ve got a staple gun you can borrow.’
Anna gave the other woman a winning smile. ‘Thank you.’
‘Small point,’ said Leo, already envisioning the living room turning into a workshop, not that he minded. Anna’s enthusiasm for her project was rubbing off on him and sparked a desire to learn as well. There’d been few opportunities to get involved in any DIY growing up as his stepfather was hopelessly impractical and always booked tradespeople to complete that sort of job around the home. ‘What about tools? And supplies? Buying those won’t be easy. You’re going to need a translator.’
‘Jan has lots of tools and I work with fabric and I’ve refurbished a few items. Nothing on this scale, but I have a good eye,’ said Michaela.
‘Perfect, because I think I might have the practical skills but I’m not always good with colour and decorative detail,’ said Anna.
‘Michaela is very artistic,’ said Jan. ‘She knits, she sews, she paints, draws. And offers my tools.’
At Anna’s stricken face, he smiled and patted her arm. ‘It is okay, you can borrow my tools. I can tell you will look after them.’
‘Are you sure? That’s really kind of you.’
‘Of course. I know where you live, I can find them when I need them.’
‘If you don’t mind, that would be really helpful. I’m not even sure what I might need.’
‘Jan has everything,’ said Michaela. ‘We rented our apartment because it has a garage to keep his collection. He bought a cement mixer in Lidl last month.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Because everyone needs one. He was like a boy at Christmas.’
‘I’ll show you later, if you’d like,’ said Jan.
‘The workmen need refreshment,’ announced Leo as he straightened up, having replaced the last dining table leg.
‘You can open the wine,’ said Michaela, handing over a tall slim bottle. ‘This is from Mikulov in South Moravia, near ourchata.’ Her eyes crinkled in delight. ‘I love saying that. It’s so exciting. But yes, the wines from this region are excellent. They’re a well-kept secret. We like to keep them to ourselves. They’re so good.’
Anna invited them all out onto the roof terrace, directing Leo to grab the corkscrew as she already had glasses.
Michaela sat at the little bistro table. ‘I am very jealous of this.’ She waved her hand at the view. ‘It’s very special.’
‘We won’t be able to use it for much longer. It’s getting colder every day.’
‘Yes, it’s mild for Prague at the moment.’
Leo, charged with opening the bottle, filled the glasses with the pale straw-coloured wine.
‘Na zdraví,’ he said, pleased he’d remembered.
The others chorused it and all took sips from their glasses.
Leo who’d drunk a lot of good wine, thanks to eating in some of the best restaurants in the world and his mother’s knowledge of fine Italian wine, was surprised by how good it was. He took a second enthusiastic sip. ‘This is lovely.’
