‘I must admit, I buy the bottles but never think about it.’
‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me?’ she teased.
He indicated left into another road, this time lined with houses; some large, some small, some grand, others modest.
‘I had visions of planting the trees,’ Evie continued, ‘and then spending my days tapping the bark to let the sap run into a bucket.’
‘It sounds like a nice dream. So what happened? What made you exchange maple trees for wedding dresses?’
Evie smiled. ‘I was only a kid when I dreamed of the maple syrup. As I grew up, I made a few of my own clothes and found I loved it and did it well. My dream changed from the sticky stuff to the magical dreams of couples tying the knot.’ She shrugged, the change of career direction a fait accompli.
They pulled into the driveway of a property where a young lad was hauling sticks, stones and other debris into a heavy-duty garden waste bag. ‘Whose place is this?’ She unclicked her seat belt when Jack did the same and they got out the car, pulling their coats on to meet the December chill.
‘It’s mine.’ He kept walking towards the boy, leaving Evie to turn around in circles taking in the neighbourhood, the family area it seemed to be and the contrast to a place where she’d ever put Jack.
‘Evie,’ said Jack, ‘I’d like you to meet Todd.’
Jet-black hair fell into duck-egg blue eyes as the boy wiped a hand on filthy jeans. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said.
Evie held out her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you too.’ She wondered who he was and what he had to do with Jack.
‘How’s it going?’ Jack asked Todd. ‘You look like you’re making some headway.’
Evie let them talk about the garden, the old fence panels, a cut-down tree and the remains of an old shed. All of it needed to be cleared. She heard Jack ask Todd discreetly whether he’d eaten. She didn’t catch the response, but Jack seemed happy with whatever he’d said because he beckoned to her to follow him inside.
Evie left the view of the neighbourhood around the front of the property. The houses either side of it were well kept, neat hedges bordering their gardens, one with a white picket fence standing at the front, the other with low black railings running in front of the garden bed. She wondered how long it would be before Jack’s house fitted in neatly with the others.
Jack leant in to Evie as they walked up the porch steps. ‘I’m afraid it’s not much warmer inside. But we can make coffees to warm us up and replace the two we left sitting on the table in the café.’
She blushed all of a sudden, remembering the heat from his hand as it had touched hers to stop her storming off.
She followed him through the front door, the first thing on the property to look new and secure. ‘At least now I can see the reason you come out here.’ She walked behind him until they reached what must have been a kitchen once upon a time, but now had only a very old, rickety table, a small bar fridge and a cardboard box filled with essentials including teabags, coffee supplies and a tub of sugar. ‘It needs a lot of work.’ She hesitated and then said, ‘I never expected you to want to set foot outside the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, let alone buy a place. Unless you’re doing it up to sell?’
‘It’d fetch top dollar if I did, especially with the enormous porch out front.’ He pulled out the coffee jar and placed it on the table, then filled the kettle at the sink that still stood, just about. The tap groaned when he switched it on, and it spat the water out before the flow improved. ‘But it’s for me.’
Evie tried not to let her utter surprise show. ‘I assumed you’d sell,’ she said, almost to herself.
‘Exactly,’ he said, his voice playful. ‘You assumed. You’ve got a lot to learn about me, Evie.’
She nodded to the offer of coffee, shook her head to the suggestion of sugar and took the cup when he’d filled it. ‘It’s enormous, this place.’
‘Come, let me show you around. You don’t even need to worry about spills, as I’ve not tackled the floors. In fact, this has been the first week I’ve done anything with the place since I bought it.’
He showed her the laundry room behind the kitchen, then the dining room, another room that he suggested he may use as an office, and finally an enormous living room with a bay window at the front to one side of the porch. The ceiling in this room had damage, but the cornicing was fancy enough that, once painted, would give the room character.
‘That’s a gorgeous fireplace,’ she said. ‘Tell me you’re keeping it.’
He joined her where she was standing looking at the mahogany mantelpiece and surround with tapered columns. It had a tiled insert of sea green and cream tiles, dirty now, and a couple of them chipped, but nothing a good restoration wouldn’t fix.
‘Don’t worry, I’m keeping it. It’s a feature of the room.’ He took a sip of coffee, and when he looked around him, Evie wondered if he was doing as she was and furnishing it in soft cream to blend in with the darker floorboards, hanging chocolate drapes at the windows, a rug in front of the fireplace.
They moved to the wide staircase to take them one floor up, and both avoided the broken step halfway. He showed her no less than five bedrooms, two with ornate fireplaces. The house was so old, and Evie could see opportunity at every turn to make it into something so beautiful, rescue it from its demise.
When she passed the farthest bedroom from the top of the stairs, she noticed a pillow, a sleeping bag and a few blankets. ‘Do you stay here sometimes?’ She nodded to the bedding.
He shook his head as they moved along to the window in the front bedroom. He nodded down to where they could see Todd working away. ‘I don’t, he does.’
‘Who is he?’
