Chapter 4
Nic wondered what kind of idiot was enticed to buy a house after a tour of a show home?
This one reminded him of a museum – beautifully curated, but essentially rather soulless.
He sneezed three times and decided he needed a cleaner.
Stretching his legs out, he attempted to correct his posture, wrecked by hours hunched over a laptop making phone calls, sending out emails and hosting Zoom meetings.
It was only when he reached for a light switch that he realised he hadn’t even fully opened the shutters this morning.
Calling up an app on his phone, he pressed a button.
Late-afternoon rays flooded in as the panels lifted, and a pale grey lake appeared beyond the windows.
Above it, the sky was gradually growing darker, as though someone had used a paint-by-numbers kit to colour it in.
Stepping outside, he clutched the railings of the wraparound deck, like he expected the house to rock in the breeze.
He heard a woodpecker pick-pocking a hole in a tree trunk somewhere and felt a kinship with it – he’d spent years knocking down barriers placed in front of him while banging heads with the pillars of this Lakeland community.
Sighing, he realised his frustration might be heightened by hunger.
Taking out his phone to order the most convenient meal he could, he drew a blank.
Of course there were no delivery services around here.
The thought of going out for dinner drained the last of his energy.
He’d make do with toast and peanut butter using frozen bread and a jar he’d bought at the service station.
Not for the first time, he wished he was back in London helping Theo establish a new normal.