Chapter 5
FIVE
DECLAN
‘How was your day?’ asked Alice as she stepped outside the block of apartments with Declan.
It was a mild evening and Alice was looking forward to the walk to the office building.
‘Good,’ said Declan, even though he had been a little distracted by the possibility of being self-employed and having his own office.
‘Don’t you want to go in the car?’ asked Declan, car keys in hand, as Alice turned left outside the building.
‘As it is such a nice evening I thought we could walk. If that’s okay with you?’
Alice had been indoors all day, and was looking forward to a little fresh air and exercise.
‘Fine by me.’ He smiled.
They strolled along companionably, even though they barely knew each other, and Alice commented on some of the pretty front gardens as they walked past. Declan felt completely at ease in her company and wondered whether he would ever have knocked to say hello, had she not arranged the dinner party. Probably not.
As they turned onto the main road that was busy with traffic, Declan instinctively walked close to Alice as they crossed the road. There were some lunatic drivers around these days. Everyone seemed to be in such a hurry.
When they arrived at the office they accessed the single staircase and Declan was grateful that Alice was still physically fit for her age as there was no lift.
It smelt slightly musty inside as it had been unoccupied for a while, so Alice thrust the window open and let the early evening air drift into the room.
Declan glanced around the space that was carpeted with expensive-looking grey carpet.
There was a wooden desk in one corner, and an archway that led to a tiny kitchen area.
The room had a vaulted ceiling and with a little sprucing up, including a fresh coat of paint on the walls, it would be a smart place to meet with clients.
‘So, what do you think, then?’ asked Alice, as Declan took in his surroundings.
‘I think it’s brilliant,’ he said, visualising himself sitting behind the desk and it felt good.
‘I’m afraid there’s no chair, but you can pick them up reasonably enough, especially second-hand,’ suggested Alice. She didn’t tell Declan but she had taken the battered green-leather chair home with her. Sometimes she would glance at it and imagine her husband sitting there reading.
‘That won’t be a problem.’ Declan beamed. He had an office chair at home that he bought when he had toyed with the idea of setting up the second bedroom as an office which never quite came to fruition.
‘I still can’t believe you don’t want any rent, though.’ He glanced around the room. ‘And how come you don’t sell the place?’ he asked. ‘You do own it, don’t you?’
‘No. I’m just some crackpot old woman who managed to obtain some keys and show you around an empty office.’ She raised a perfectly pencilled eyebrow.
‘Sorry. I just can’t get my head around it. In my experience, no one does anything for free without an ulterior motive,’ said Declan as he walked into the small kitchen. He would install a decent coffee machine to offer his clients a drink, he thought to himself.
‘Including yourself?’ she asked candidly.
‘What? Um, no, I will always lend someone a hand if I can. I guess I just mean generally in this world we live in.’ He shrugged.
Alice studied the young man standing in front of her.
He was tall and muscular and may have been described as having an almost perfect face, had it not been for a nose that looked as though it had once been broken.
The overall effect was a handsome-looking young man who had dark-brown eyes that crinkled at the corner when he smiled.
‘What a sad state of affairs that is.’ She sighed.
‘As I said, if we all helped each other out a little more, the world would be a better place. And, actually, this was my husband’s old office.
’ She walked over to the heavy wooden desk and ran her hand along it.
‘He died two years ago, and I haven’t been able to bring myself to sell it,’ she admitted.
Alice still missed George every single day, especially his easy smile and sense of humour.
He had built up quite a reputation as a hot-shot lawyer in the city when he had been young and hungry for success, shrewdly investing money in stocks and shares, that over time had paid generous dividends.
It felt like yesterday when they had held parties that Alice loved to dress up for, or gone out for dinner in the city.
Life was full of excitement and possibilities for the future, especially following the war years.
As a young woman, she had enjoyed watching the regeneration of the city, particularly the ongoing building of Liverpool Cathedral that was finally completed in the nineteen seventies.
It was still one of her favourite places.
Declan reckoned Alice must have been a right cracker when she was young.
She was fine featured, with a slightly full mouth even at her age and piercing green eyes.
She wore her silver-grey hair in soft curls, and he imagined it dark when she was younger, giving her the look of a Hollywood movie star.
It would have amused Alice if she had known that Declan was studying her just as closely as she was him.
‘So, what do you think?’ she asked him.
‘I think it’s brilliant. Perfect. It’s just that…’ Declan hesitated for a moment. ‘I don’t have any clients, and I would need to work my notice with the council. I can’t see it being something I could take advantage of right now.’ He sighed.
Declan wondered if he was mad in considering a job move.
He had a steady position with a decent pension, but he could not build up a successful business working for the council, which was what he dreamt of.
He would need to do that himself, try and land some big accounts.
Not something he could really do around his full-time job.
It felt good to know that this space was available, though.
‘Well, it’s here if you need it.’ Alice smiled, as if reading his thoughts. ‘And it gives you time to advertise your services and take on some clients, should you decide to use the office.’
Despite Alice’s optimism, something Declan usually possessed bags of himself, he gave himself a reality check.
How could he just walk away from a well-paid job, even with some rent-free office space?
Maybe he would stay put. For now, at least. A decent pension pot was everything these days, and everyone knew how good the council ones were. He told Alice this.
‘I understand,’ she reassured him. ‘I have no intention of selling for a while yet, so if it can be put to good use, all the better. And if I am honest,’ she continued, ‘I still enjoy coming up here occasionally. My memories of George always come flooding back when I am here.’
‘That must be nice.’ He smiled.
‘Bittersweet.’ She sighed. ‘But I would rather he remained strong in my memory than my thoughts of him fade away.’
Declan understood what she meant only too well. There were days when he worried that he might forget what his sister looked like.
‘Anyway, thanks,’ said Declan. ‘And you never know, I might take it sooner rather than later.’
He would do everything within his power to secure some clients; there was no way he was going to pass up an opportunity for rent-free space like this in such a prime location.
‘That’s the spirit. Think positive.’ She winked.
Outside, Alice offered to buy Declan a coffee from a local restaurant that had sprung up in town just recently. He glanced at his watch and as he had nothing to rush home for, he agreed.
He would have gone to the pub, but one of his mates was on holiday; the other, a single parent was unexpectedly having his son overnight.
He was comfortable enough going on his own to his local pub as he knew plenty of people, but didn’t really feel like it this evening.
He supposed it was one of the benefits of being single, answering to no one and doing as you pleased.
The Forest, a vegan deli, looked inviting.
The red-brick exterior had a black metal butcher’s bike propped against the window, its basket filled with purple and yellow flowers.
Inside, pale-blue painted walls contrasted perfectly with stripped, dark-wooden tables and benches; a string of bulb lights ran across the counter area, giving it a modern, cosy feel.
‘So what made you become an accountant?’ asked Alice as she sipped her coffee at a table for two as they waited for their food.
‘Dunno. I was just good at it. I like having things in order I suppose.’ He shrugged. ‘And having a stint working in a meat factory made me realise I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life,’ he told her as he stirred his coffee. ‘I went to night school.’
He told Alice all about his high school and how most of the kids there had underachieved. There was no need to tell her anything else about his past life.
‘That is such a shame. I think it unfair that you should only get a good education if you are in the right social class.’ She shook her head.
‘Too right.’ He had lost count of the number of people from school who had to return to education to make something of themselves.
‘Where did you go to school?’ asked Declan.
‘A private school not far from here; that was when I was a young child,’ she explained. ‘My father was a British diplomat.’
‘Wow. Did you move around a lot?’
‘A few times,’ she told Declan. ‘Although, my father often went off alone preferring not to uproot the family, which would have been almost impossible anyway during the war years.’
Just then their food arrived. Alice’s thick, steaming bowl of soup looked amazing and Declan marvelled at the sight of his pizza loaded with vegetables and topped with huge basil leaves.
They were quiet as they ate their food, and Declan was surprised at just how easy he felt in the company of this older lady.
‘That was tasty,’ said Declan later, wiping his mouth with a napkin. ‘I thought I might have missed a bit of spicy chicken or pepperoni, but it was spot on.’
‘Glad you liked it,’ said the blonde-haired woman in the black apron who had just arrived to take their plates away.
‘I did. To be honest, I didn’t realise the deli was even here. It was a sandwich takeaway last time I looked,’ said Declan.
‘We’ve only been open a week,’ the woman explained. ‘It’s been absolutely mad busy, more than we dared to hope for and the online reviews have been fantastic.’ She piled their blue bowls and plates that matched the colour of the walls onto a tray.
‘I suppose more people are going vegan. You might even have converted me,’ he said, although he could not imagine giving up his bacon sandwiches at the weekend or meat pies at the football match. ‘Good luck anyway, and I’ll definitely be leaving a review online.’
‘Thanks for that.’ She smiled warmly. ‘And if this is the shape of things to come, I think I’m going to have to employ an accountant. I’ve done my own books in the past, but that was only for a kiosk serving drinks and snacks at a bus station.’
‘An accountant?’ Declan’s ears pricked up.
‘Yeah, but I’m not sure where I will find one, although saying that I haven’t actually had the time to look, I have been so busy.’ She blew a strand of her blonde hair that had escaped her bun away from her face.
‘It might be your lucky day,’ said Declan. ‘I’m an accountant, and I live locally.’
‘Really? Can you write your number down?’ The café owner pulled a piece of paper from a pad and handed it to him as she juggled the tray of plates.
‘Give me a call. Maybe I can help you out,’ he said, handing her the paper with his number.
‘That’s brilliant. Can I call you tomorrow?’
‘Sure. Lunchtime might be best, or after five.’
‘No problem. Thanks for this.’ She waved the piece of paper in the air, before putting it into her pocket.
Declan insisted on settling the bill. Alice had been really kind to him with the offer of the office premises if he needed it, so it was the least he could do.
He felt an excitement in the pit of his stomach. He thought of names for his company. Johnson Accounting Services maybe. No, that sounded dull. He would think of something dynamic and modern.
A group of four people walked into the deli then asking for a table, and a waitress hurriedly cleared one that had just become vacant, before inviting them to sit down.
Declan saw the blonde woman retrieve the paper from her pocket and glance at the number before she waved him and Alice off. His first potential client.