Chapter 2
CHARLIE
End of September
“Who was that?” Seb looks up at me as I walk back into the living room, phone in hand.
“Estate agent. They want to do a viewing this weekend.” I grimace at the mess surrounding us and sigh. “Two, actually.”
Seb laughs, the wanker. “Well, fuck.”
“Yep.”
I kind of lose track of everything else when I’m writing after work. Words have been flowing this past week, and my home has taken the brunt of it.
The flat’s been on the market for almost six months.
Not gonna lie, I’ve sort of given up at this point.
It’s not that there hasn’t been much interest, but they don’t want to pay the asking price.
And Dan won’t agree to lowering it. Not yet anyway.
He wants to give it a couple more months.
I agreed with him to start with—it’s already five grand lower than what it was valued at.
But that was four months ago. Now I just want it gone.
“Hey.” Seb nudges his thigh into mine when I sit down next to him. “You never know, maybe one of them will put in an offer.”
“That Dan won’t accept.” I let my head fall back against the sofa and sigh. Neither of us wants to get solicitors involved, but I wonder if it might come to that.
Seb huffs beside me. “Want me to have a word with him?”
That startles a laugh out of me. “Fuck no.” The last time they were in the same room together, I had to separate them. Seb still hasn’t forgiven Dan for leaving me stranded at a pub in the middle of the countryside last New Year’s Eve.
If I’m honest, I know I didn’t leave him much choice, and that wasn’t even why we broke up. It was everything he said before we got to that point.
Anyway, that was months ago. The only thing still tying me to him is this bloody flat, and I just need it to be done with.
“Seriously,” Seb says, nudging me again. “My other offer still stands.”
Yeah, I don’t want to take him up on that one either.
After the first few times of Dan refusing to accept a lower price, Seb offered to buy out his share.
I know Seb has money saved up, but he’ll still need a mortgage to do that, and I don’t want to pull him into this mess.
I’m not even sure how easy it would be to transfer it over, and even thinking about it gives me a headache.
“No,” I say quietly. “Thank you, but no.” I sigh again and pick up my phone.
“I’m gonna talk to him like the adults we are and see if we can’t sort this mess out.
I don’t get why he doesn’t want this over and done with as much as I do. ”
Seb snorts. “You know exactly why that is.”
Ugh.
Maybe.
Dan hasn’t been subtle in his hints about wanting to get back together.
“Well, that’s not happening. Ever.” You’d think he’d have got the message by now, considering our home—which he no longer lives in—is up for sale, but apparently not.
He also insists on coming here a couple of hours before the estate agent brings people round to help me stage the flat. “I really can’t deal with seeing him this weekend.”
“Tell him no then,” Seb says pointedly. “You’ve done it enough times by now.
I bet you can get this place ready without knob-face’s input.
” I laugh and Seb grins at me, a glint in his eye.
“Or better yet, why don’t you go away for the weekend and let him have at it?
Tell him he can come round but not that you won’t be here. ”
“Where would I go?” It’s already Wednesday, and I’ve never been one for spontaneity. Well, except for in my writing. I never seem to stick to a plan as far as that’s concerned.
Seb opens his arms wide. “Literally anywhere you want. Within a three- or four-hour drive, I’d suggest, unless you’re thinking of the train or flying?”
“I’m not bloody flying anywhere.” I shudder at even the thought of getting on a plane.
He grabs my laptop and opens it up. “There’s still a thousand places you could go if you fancy it.” He glances up, waiting for my nay or yay.
Do I fancy it?
My first instinct is to say no. It’s my flat too. I should be here to help make it look the best it possibly can. But as Seb opens a browser, the page that pops up stops me dead.
He frowns. “Isn’t that the place you stayed for New Year’s?”
I nod, gaze caught on the photo of the pub. It looks different in summer.
“Fuck, sorry,” Seb grumbles and moves the cursor to close the window, but I snap my hand out to stop him.
“Wait.”
I don’t know what it is that’s caught my attention until I peer closer at the screen. The photo is the front of the pub with a familiar bench. I’m smiling before I realise.
Out of all the shittiness that happened there with Dan, that bench reminds me that it wasn’t all bad.
“You should go back there this weekend,” Seb says, startling me.
“What?”
“Well, it obviously holds some good memories, judging from that smile you’re sporting.” He nudges my thigh. “Maybe you’ll run into him again.”
I told Seb about Pete on our way back home on New Year’s Day, in between rants about what an arse Dan was. I should’ve known he’d remember. “I’m not driving four hours just for a . . .” I wave a hand in the air, not sure how to finish that sentence.
“Hook-up? Booty call?”
“Fuck off. I talked to him for about twenty minutes, tops.”
“And yet clearly he left an impression.”
Yes. He did.
The one bright moment in a fucking awful night.
“The chances of me running into him again over one weekend are slim,” I try.
“Are they, though?” Seb taps the screen. “You said it was a local pub, and he’s a local . . .”
“Even if I run into him, I doubt he even remembers me after all these months,” I mutter, and Seb grins in triumph.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out then!”
He types in the dates for this weekend, fingers hovering over the keys. “Am I booking it or not?”
I bite my bottom lip, unsure.
Seb sighs. “All joking aside, I think it’d be good for you to get away for a couple of days. Let Dan and the estate agent deal with the flat. It doesn’t have to be this place.” He taps the screen. “There are plenty of others to choose from.”
The photo on my laptop screen draws me back in. The place looks so fucking welcoming, despite my experience with Dan. I glance at the picnic bench and think of wide shoulders and a warm smile.
Even if I don’t run into him, it’ll be a weekend away in a lovely part of the country.
But then again, I might.
“Yeah, have a look,” I say before I can change my mind again.
Seb hits return on the dates for this weekend. “Shit.”
Fully booked.
Disappointment hits me hard. I hadn’t realised until that moment how much I wanted to go. “It’s fine.” I shrug, swallowing past the sudden lump in my throat, which is ridiculous. Ten minutes ago, the idea didn’t even exist. “It was a long shot anyway.”
“There are other places,” he says, and goes back to searching.
I zone out as he looks for somewhere else, and my enthusiasm is definitely lacking when he taps my leg to get me to look at the screen again.
“What about here?”
I glance at the screen. It looks nice enough, and I’d rather be there than here when people are looking around my home. It’ll also get me out of seeing Dan. “Book it.”
I get back from my weekend away to find Seb waiting for me at my flat. “Hey, I didn’t expect you to be here?” I set my overnight bag down on the floor and my laptop bag on the table.
Seb stands to give me a hug. “Dan suggested coming over tonight to discuss the flat, so I told him I’d be here, too.”
“Bet that changed his mind.”
“Quicker than you can imagine.”
I laugh but sober quickly. “Do you know what he wanted to talk about?” He’d sent me a couple of texts, but I told him not to bother me while I was away for the weekend.
“Pretty sure he’s ready to take the next reasonable offer you get.”
I perk up at that. “You reckon?”
“Yep. The estate agent had a chat with him.”
“Figures he’ll listen to them and not me.” Not that it matters, as long as he agrees, but it still pisses me off. “Were you here for the viewings?” From what the estate agent said, both parties seemed to like the place, but they had others to look at too.
“For the first one.”
“What did you think?”
He moves his hand in a see-saw motion. “He liked it. She wasn’t so keen.”
Doubtful they’ll be back then.
“Anyway, enough about that. How was your weekend away?”
“Good.”
He raises his eyebrows expectantly and I huff out a laugh.
“I worked on my book.”
“All weekend?”
His look of disappointment makes me laugh out loud.
“Yes, all weekend. You booked me a lodge in a place famous for cheese. Not exactly conducive to a weekend of wild sex.”
“There are apps for that.”
I send him a look, because nope. Not doing that ever again.
He throws his hands up with a smile. “Fine! Did you at least write all the words?”
“Yes.” I grin back at him, excitement raring to life. “I got so much done. Worked out a few plot holes, planned the rest of the book and the one that comes next.”
“So getting away from here helped then?”
“Yeah.” I narrow my eyes at the calculating look in his. “Why?”
“Well . . .” He pulls out his phone and beckons me to sit next to him on the sofa. “You’ve got all that time off in December, right?”
“I do.” I’ve saved up a lot of holiday over the year and bought an extra five days to give me four weeks off work. “My editing deadline is January tenth.”
“So you could probably do with somewhere quiet and out of the way to write. Like you had this weekend?”
“I guess.” Although Cheddar was perfect for two nights, I’m not sure I can face four weeks there, especially when it’s practically down the road. “Not sure I want to be away from home for that length of time though.”
“But you could do a couple of weeks.” He softens his voice. “And is this place really home anymore?”
I open my mouth but stumble over the words. Is it? I look around the living room, still free of clutter and most personalisation from the viewings, and it’s like I’m seeing the place with fresh eyes. “No.” I sigh. “It’s probably not been that for a long time.”
“There’s nothing stopping you from taking yourself off for a writing retreat, is there?”
My gaze drops to his phone, a familiar website filling the screen.
Seb grins.
“What have you done?”
He holds his phone up in the air as I grab for it. “I may or may not have booked you a couple of weeks at that pub.”
“I can’t afford that.” Well, I could, but it’d have to come out of my savings. Those rooms weren’t cheap.
He winces. “About that. Dan’s got to move out of his place soon but can’t move into his new one until two weeks after that. He asked me to ask you if he could stay here.”
“Fuck no.” It might not feel as much like home as it used to, but it’s still mine. Well, half mine, but I can’t have him back here. Even if it’d be for just a couple of weeks.
Seb rolls his eyes. “Naturally, I told him to do one. But—” He raises a finger when I go to object. “If you’re not going to be here, you could charge him rent and he’ll be available if you have any more viewings.”
“I can’t charge him rent.” His name is on the mortgage, even if he stopped paying his half.
“Course you fucking can. He’d have to pay to stay anywhere else.”
“Mm.” Still not convinced.
“Just think about it.” He taps his phone to wake up the screen. “Am I cancelling this or leaving it?”
I glance down and those same memories resurface.
Broad shoulders and a warm smile.
There’s no denying the way my pulse kicks up or the curl of excitement in my belly at the thought of going back there. Of maybe running into him.
And even if I don’t, like I said before, it’s a beautiful part of the country. There are worse places to spend a couple of weeks writing.
“Leave it.”
Seb crows in triumph, and I give him a shove.
“Writing,” I say, pointing at his phone. “That’s all I’m going to be doing there.”
“Of course.”