Chapter Thirty-Four Homeward Bound
With the mystery of my vanishing love life now firmly in the hands of others (so it seems), it’s good to get a phone call that enables me to grasp hold of my own destiny without any outside interference.
‘Ms Shepherd?’ says the voice on the other end of the line. ‘We have something you might be very interested in.’
And indeed I am. It’s the estate agent telling me that an apartment has just come up for sale. They haven’t advertised it yet but they expect lots of interest when they do. I know that’s just the sales pitch — I do it myself. I tell customers that I can’t hold an offer price much longer or I can’t guarantee the deluxe suite unless they book today. We all do it and I’m not fooled, but I am extremely keen because when they email through the address, I know that it’s the mansion house that I saw and loved last year. I hold my voice steady as I arrange to view it early that evening and ask them to hold off advertising it if they can. This is me also playing the game as I’m guessing if it’s just come on their books, they haven’t done the floor plan or the detailed description so there’s no way it’ll be advertised before the evening.
I’m going to be on tenterhooks all day but fortunately there’s no chaos occurring in the shop. Mercury Travel is a happy place today; Charlie is singing to himself as he types away confirming bookings, and he’s making lots of them thanks to that cheery disposition. Customers seem to be swept up in his joyfulness and say yes to all of his suggestions. Added to this, he tells us that his wedding plans are going very well but he won’t reveal the details to anyone and he’s revelling in the secrecy. He has told us that the dress code is 1950s glamour, which is both easy and flattering so I’m delighted. Josie and I have guessed that he’s going for a Mad Men theme as that’s one of his favourite TV shows, but his lips are sealed. Whatever it is, I hope he has some of those crystal champagne coupes. I think they’re so elegant but have always been too afraid to buy a set, knowing that I’ll likely break them within weeks. Come closing time, I tidy up promptly and tell the others that I have to go. They wish me luck and look as if they’re about to settle in for a post-work coffee and chat. I sincerely hope it’s going to be about the wedding but I daresay my life will be discussed too.
This evening, I don’t care. I’m on my way to see a place I would have been terrified to live in last year. Terrified because back then I felt it was too good for me; all I had was a failed marriage and a fledgling business to my name. I remember feeling a fraud just looking around the place. Now things have moved on. We won the Business Award I coveted and Mercury has a fabulous reputation with five star reviews all the way. Okay, so the relationship stuff seems to roll from bad to worse, but I can’t wait for all the stars to align, can I? Perhaps I’ll start to succeed in love when I’m in my own place but if I’m destined to live alone then this is the kind of place to do it.
I reach the address in Didsbury and turn into the grounds. Grounds!!! I’d have grounds! I don’t think I’d ever tire of saying that. I’ll have a huge lawn that someone else looks after — how perfect. The estate agent’s little electric car is already there, so after parking up, I do a little tidy-up in the mirror to check that I look like a woman who means business and then stroll assertively towards her, holding out my hand for her to shake. We walk through the grand doorway into the beautiful Georgian hallway and through to the apartment that is for sale. Opening the door, I get a frisson of excitement running right through me; it’s a mirror image of the one I fell in love with last year. It has the high ceilings, spacious rooms and period features that I remember, and a fireplace where I pictured my Business Award trophy sitting. I look around with the agent and then on my own, opening the French windows to the private patio, now completely able to see myself living here. I feel calm and at home — as if this place has been waiting for me to feel ready.
‘Okay,’ I tell the agent. ‘What’s the asking price?’
She tells me what they’re thinking of putting it on for and it’s higher than last year but still within the limits of my divorce settlement. I nod sagely and try to look as if I’m considering what she’s said but there’s no point in me pretending — I want this place.
‘I’ll give you five thousand more, cash, with no chain and I’ll allow the vendor to set the moving date, but I need my offer accepted today with no further viewings permitted,’ I tell her assertively.
She looks slightly startled but agrees to call the vendor and I stand tall, prompting her to do it right now. She moves into the grounds so I can’t hear the conversation, while I sit on the huge sofa imagining that I live here already. The agent comes back into the room ten minutes later with a big smile on her face, so I know it’s a done deal.
‘They’ve accepted your offer,’ she says. ‘Congratulations, Ms Shepherd, you have a lovely new home.’
After signing some paperwork I head to the shop and pick up a bottle of champagne. I feel fabulous that I’ve actually done something for myself at last. And none of my friends or family were around to encourage or otherwise. It’s as if I’ve taken the stabilisers off my ability to make decisions. All the way back to Patty’s I sing Helen Reddy’s ‘I Am Woman’ over and over again and I yell that I’m strong, that I’m invincible,and I know this time I’m not faking it.
I’ve watched cartoons where the main character is in full flow — doing something they love or just running fast and then all of a sudden they have to screech to a halt as they hit an obstacle in their way. This happens when I walk into Patty’s still singing and holding out the bottle of champagne. I feel my whole being screeching to a full stop as I see the faces of Patty, Poppy and Mum staring back at me. I find myself glued to the spot feeling like Wile E. Coyote just waiting for an anvil to fall on my head.
‘Thank goodness you’re back,’ says Mum. ‘We have news.’
I hold the champagne bottle aloft and tell them I have news too but that’s ignored. Patty takes the champagne and says she’ll chill it while I hear what the others have to say.
‘So we’ve been on surveillance,’ begins Mum as they sit me down on the sofa and surround me. ‘Poppy was surprisingly good actually — they went in a flat cap and dowdy old man clothes and nobody paid a ha’penny worth of attention, did they?’
‘Told you I was good,’ says Poppy.
‘Just tell me what you found,’ I say wearily.
‘It’s interesting.’ Patty reappears from the kitchen and reassures me.
Mum gets out her little notepad and clears her throat.
‘At one fifteen, suspect and his work colleague park their van and have lunch in the park,’ she says. ‘We did start following him before this but he was in some office block all morning and we couldn’t see what he was doing.’
‘You needed a pass to get in, otherwise we would have tried,’ adds Poppy, getting a nod from Mum. How such an unlikely alliance formed will probably baffle anyone who doesn’t know my family.
‘Suspect had cheese sandwiches without any salad,’ declares Mum as if this is a groundbreaking finding.
‘How close did you get?’ I ask.
‘Poppy has binoculars,’ explains Mum. ‘You can see in the windows right across the street with them. I know what I’m asking for my next birthday.’
‘The key point here,’ Poppy says, picking up the thread, ‘is that we think if there was a woman around, she’d probably have bought salad and made him put it in his sandwiches.’
‘He might not like salad,’ I suggest. ‘Or, here’s a theory — maybe he makes his own lunch even though he has a girlfriend.’
‘No need to be uppity,’ says Mum. ‘You may not like the thinking but I know people and that was not a female-made sandwich.’
‘Is there anything else?’ I sigh.
‘Oh yes,’ declares Mum. ‘I’ll skip past the following him all afternoon and into the supermarket where he bought microwaveable meals for one as you’ll probably have some snarky remark about that. We’ll get onto the key discovery.’
‘Please do.’
‘I stayed in the car park while your mum followed him around the shop,’ says Poppy. ‘Just in case she lost him and he came out early.’
‘We had the phones on so we could alert each other,’ adds Mum, absolutely loving all of this.
‘When he came out, he sat in the seat of his van and made a phone call before he left,’ continues Poppy. ‘Well, we were standing quite close by, and we heard that call in its entirety,’ she said with a flourish. ‘He called you.’
I sit stunned and eventually say, ‘Me?’
‘That’s right,’ adds Mum, reading from her notebook. ‘We wrote this down afterwards but we both heard it:
‘Angie — Michael again. Really sorry to keep calling you like this but I’m worried and do wonder if everything is okay. I know you said not to bother you but if you could call back and let me know whether your friend Patty is recovering, I’d love to hear from you — and just in case you’ve lost it, my number is...’
‘Are you sure?’ I ask the wall of faces now staring at me. ‘I haven’t had any calls from him at all. Maybe it’s someone else he’s calling.’
‘Someone else called Angie with a friend called Patty?’ asks Patty.
‘I promise you that’s exactly what he said,’ says Poppy. ‘Somehow, he’s using the wrong number.’
‘How? I gave him my number and called him from it,’ I say.
‘Don’t know, but it’s the only explanation,’ says Mum. ‘He obviously thinks that you’re ignoring him.’
‘What are you going to do?’ asks Patty. ‘Call him?’
‘No,’ I say, channelling the strong woman who has just bought a beautiful apartment. ‘No more mixed messages, I’m going to go round to his house and talk face to face. If he’s out, I’ll wait. If he has a female visitor, I’ll take two minutes of his time then leave them to it. I want this cleared up once and for all.’
‘Can we come?’ asks Mum, getting a very firm ‘No!’ from everyone in the room.
I want to stop the speculation about what the possible reason behind this mystery could be so I wrestle myself from the sofa and head to the kitchen, emerging with the champagne and four flutes. It stops the conversation.
‘I have news too,’ I tell them as I place everything on the table and begin to undo the metal tie and take off the muselet. I twist the bottle rather than the cork but it still flies off, hitting the ceiling, rebounding and ricocheting off Mum’s head. I honestly couldn’t have aimed better and we all burst out laughing at the astonished look on her face. I pour glasses and hand them out, raising mine and telling them, ‘I bought an apartment today.’
They all put down their glasses to give me a hug of congratulations and then start plying me with questions. It was Mum who first spotted this mansion house so she’s taking credit but I don’t care. I promise to hold a housewarming party, and a garden party and New Year. I only hope the neighbours are a friendly bunch with all these celebrations going on, and that’s before Charlie and Josie have put their requests in.
Even though I plan to confront Michael tomorrow, I won’t worry about that tonight — what will be, will be. Now, I’m simply celebrating being ready to move on. I raise the champagne flute to my lips as Patty toasts me and my new apartment. As I take a sip, I promise myself one thing — I’m going to buy those crystal champagne coupes. After all, I’m worth it.