“Umm, no… but baby, I don’t think it would be appropriate for you t—”
“Not me,” I interrupt. “What about Emma?” He’s silent for a moment, and I can almost hear the cogs whirring.
“Emma? She wants to move here with you?” I smile.
“Yeah. She loved it there when we visited. She gets on like a house on fire with Rain – a little too well, if you ask me – and she thought we could get a place together to rent maybe, andthen we were chatting about things the other day, and we realised that she’d be kind of—”
“Perfect,” Nash exclaims. “She’d be fucking perfect. Nancy already knows and loves her, I trust her and know she’s experienced, and she completely blew my mind with all that Steiner education she was talking about, and I’ve been down a bit of a rabbit hole with it, if I’m honest.”
I laugh, a raw, throaty laugh that feels as though it’s been hibernating in my gut since I left this man behind.
“I’m not in the least bit surprised about that. So, do you want to interview her or…?”
“No, I don’t need to. We can work out a schedule that works for all of us—”
“She’s already said she’ll do whatever you need. She’s just looking forward to a bit of a change. And if you didn’t hire her, she was going to apply to get back into teaching anyway.”
“It sounds ideal.”
“You know, Rain told me something his mum used to say to him. What’s for you won’t go by you, and Nash, right now, I think that’s the truest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I do too, baby. Now let’s get a list together of what we need to do and get you home.”
And so, we do just that. The next couple of weeks are a blur of video-call house viewings – not that there’s a whole heap of property available to rent at a price we can afford in such a small village – packing, and booking a mover to drive us over with all our stuff.
Emma and I both get a bit panicked when our planned moving date creeps closer and closer, and we still don’t have anywhere to live, but then I get a surprise phone call from Poppy.
“Hello?”
“Corey? Hi, it’s Poppy,” she says, her slightly husky voice smooth, like French coffee on a Sunday morning.
“Oh,” I say in surprise. “Hi, Poppy, how are you?”
“I’m good, hun. I saw Nash this morning, and he told me the news. You’re coming back soon?”
“Yeah, we are. My friend Emma is coming with me too.”
“Oh yes,” she says, excitement filling her voice. “She’s going to work with Nash, right? Give him a hand around the house and with Nancy?”
“That’s the plan,” I say. “We’re just franticallytrying to find somewhere to rent together. I don’t think Rain and Aidan will want us both crashing with them.” That, and I’ve heard Rain orgasm more than enough times in the few months I lived with them already, thank you very much.
“Well, that’s sort of why I’m ringing,” she hedges, and I sit up straight.
“What d’you mean?” I ask.
“Well, Chris and I realised that there’s a perfectly good flat above the café that we currently use to store cake boxes and old, broken-down kitchen equipment. We could give it a clear out and a spruce up?”
“Poppy,” I say nervously, hoping to God she means what I think she means. “What are you saying?”
“We’d be happy to rent the flat to you and Emma. Full disclosure, it would only be for six months. After that, we’ll…” she trails off. “Well, we’ll need it back by then. But it would give you somewhere to stay while you look for something more permanent?”
“Oh my God, Poppy. That would be amazing. Are you sure?”
“Of course. It’s a bit shabby right now, so we’ll keep the rent low, but we’ll spruce it upbefore you get here. It has two bedrooms, a kitchen/diner, a living room, and one bathroom, so it’s small, but the bedrooms are both nice. Chris has already cleared out the loft, and that was the worst of it. You’ll be here next Saturday, right?”
“That was the plan, but we can—”
“No,” she interrupts. “Next Saturday will be fine. There are plenty of people who are looking forward to you guys getting here sooner rather than later, so it’ll be ready. All the utilities are tied up with the café, so we’ll just include them in the rent. That OK?”
