Chapter 35
Amy
London
Amy looked up at the house and tried, in the gathering dark, with the rain threatening to fall again, to hide her slight grimace.
It wasn't that she wasn't looking forward to moving into Naomi's house share, not really, but after the long flight from LA what she would have ideally liked was to be back at her old flat, the one she'd lived in for years, with all her things, with privacy, with everything set up just as she liked it.
She'd have loved to show it to Luisa, watch the expression on Luisa's face as she admired some of the furniture, or the décor, or anything. She'd have loved that.
But they weren't there, they were here. Part of the deal struck with James before she flew to LA was that he'd stay in the flat, at least for the six months where they were nominally in a trial separation.
.. in reality it was over between them, Amy knew that and so did he, but they had to go through the motions regardless.
She turned to Luisa and gave her hand a little squeeze. "We're here," she said with a smile that she suspected betrayed her thoughts.
The taxi driver put the last of their bags on the pavement and left. Amy could see some lights on in the house through the large sash windows.
"You ready to meet one of my best friends?" Amy asked.
Luisa smiled reassuringly. "Better... I'm excited to."
Amy smiled back and stepped up, about to ring the doorbell, when the front door opened on its own, a voice called out, "Amy!" and she found herself enveloped in a big hug.
Luisa stood patiently, and Naomi said, "And you must be Luisa," before wrapping her up in a big hug too. "It's so nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you!"
Stood just behind her, Amy was smiling happily. "As you might have guessed, this is Naomi. Naomi, meet Luisa." She paused and laughed. "Though I think I'm a little late to say that."
As they stood there a few heavy drops of rain started to fall. "Come on, let's get inside," Naomi said, picking up Luisa's bag and ushering both her and Amy into the hall.
***
A few minutes' later Amy and Luisa were alone again in Amy's new room.
Looking around, it was nicer than Amy had expected, at the back of the house on the top floor, its own small shower room off to one side, a large double bed, a couple of comfy chairs, a wardrobe and chest of drawers.
There were three lamps placed around the room which gave a nice glow, and with the warmth from the radiator it felt cosy, particularly with the noise of the rain against the sash window at one end.
Naomi had bought her pillows and a duvet with covers for the bed, enough to get on with, but the room still felt like it needed Amy's possessions to really feel like home.
"Home sweet home," Amy said with a smile. "Are you ok? You seem quiet."
Luisa smiled back and walked over to Amy, putting her arms around her. "More than ok, I'm so happy to see your life. Even if you've just moved in here. It's just London... it's all so different to what I'm used to. A lot to take in."
Amy put her arms around Luisa too and kissed her. "That makes perfect sense. I love you so, so, so much. Thank you for coming back here with me."
"I love you too... there's nowhere else I'd rather be." She kissed Amy again, and they held each other tight, both tired as much as anything from the travel.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door and Naomi came in with two mugs of tea, handing one to each of them.
"This'll sort you out," she said with a kind smile. "Luisa, I didn't know how you take your tea so I went with milk and no sugar, just like Amy and I take it. I hope that's ok?"
Luisa smiled gratefully. "To be honest, I've never had English tea before. So that sounds perfect. Thank you."
She took a sip while both Amy and Naomi watched her. "Mmm... that's perfect," she said. Amy could tell that she was lying, but felt her love for Luisa swell at her lying about it to be so kind to Naomi, whose beaming smile could have illuminated the room.
***
They'd landed on the Thursday, and Amy and Luisa were kind to themselves for the next thirty-six hours, taking it easy to get through their jet lag and not venturing far from exploring Amy's new neighbourhood, albeit a neighbourhood that she'd lived in a few years before prior to moving in with James.
There was none of the urgency to connect with each other that there had been when Amy had arrived in LA.
This felt like a continuation of their adventure together, so they could just relax in each other's company with Amy safe in the knowledge that she wasn't expected back in the office until Monday.
Amy could tell that Luisa loved it. Every single minute.
Everything was so new to her, so different to either LA or back in Mexico.
Even wrapping up in her newly bought coat and scarf for an early morning walk together around Clapham Common, stopping for coffee on the way, her excitement was palpable.
.. for Amy it made her yearn for Luisa to live in London, but she didn't say anything out loud.
On the Friday night Naomi had organised a welcome to the house dinner out nearby for Amy with her new housemates, two other women besides Naomi and one man.
All were good company, were friendly, and had no problem whatsoever that Luisa had tagged along, in fact two of the housemates brought their partners along too.
Amy had felt a little nervous turning up at her new house share with a girlfriend alongside her, but everyone was so welcoming that there was nothing for her to worry about really, not really.
It was a good night, and at the end of it, as Amy and Luisa settled into bed together, cuddled up close, naked, skin against skin, having made love to each other slowly, unhurriedly, Amy felt safe falling asleep with the quiet noises coming from the other occupants of the house around her.
With Luisa by her side, it all felt just so right.
All of that was good, because Saturday, at least during the day, promised to be at best upsetting and at worst fairly horrendous. She was going back to her old flat to pick up her possessions and it would be an understatement to say anything other than she was dreading it.