Chapter Twenty-Three
LUKE
Six Months Before the Anniversary Party
He smiles at the picture message that has just arrived. It’s of a beautiful dark-teal kitchen. It must be the house in Dulwich Village that Elena has been working on.
A text message arrives shortly after. It’s finally finished! What do you think?
And then another picture arrives, this time some wrought-iron gates the owners of a house he’d been working on with his dad had been insistent on getting rid of, despite being over a hundred years old, and absolutely beautiful craftsmanship.
Since he couldn’t convince the owners to keep them, they’d been quite happy to sell them on and put the cash towards the brand-new, electronic gates with an intercom system they’d wanted instead.
Recognize these?
Sure do!, he types back.
‘Hey, Jess!’ The TV is blaring the latest Netflix series they are bingeing, and Jess is sitting on the edge of the sofa, hunched over her bullet journal, drawing lines and scribbling things down.
It’s the start of a new month and she always seems to have lots of scribbling to do around this time.
‘Want to see those old gates I rescued restored to their former glory?’
Her head bobs up and she looks slightly confused. ‘What?’
‘The gates … from that house in Keston we worked on last month.’
He turns his phone around so she can see.
‘Nice,’ she says, but she glances away and goes back to her scribbling so quickly that he’s not even sure she’s had time to register the two gorgeous gates, which have now been turned into a focal point in the large garden. By next summer, Elena says they’ll be covered in jasmine and honeysuckle.
It’s absolutely stunning, he types into his phone. I can’t believe they came up so beautifully. And the pews look great round that old refectory table. Wish I had a kitchen large enough to fit one of those in!
One day, Elena types back. And did you see the flagstones? We searched all around the country for those. Aren’t they the most delicious colour?
Her enthusiasm is infectious. They spend the next couple of minutes chatting back and forth about the project, but he feels bad that he’s totally lost the plot of the TV episode he and Jess are watching. He probably should try to be more present when they have a rare quiet evening in together.
Instead of firing off another reply, he puts his phone down on the sofa. ‘It’s a place Elena’s been working on in Dulwich. Did I tell you about that yet? I’d love to go and see it. Do you want to come too?’
He realizes that he hasn’t mentioned to Jess he’s back in contact with Elena. Not that he decided not to tell her. It’s just that it started up again so slowly it hasn’t seemed like a big thing to share, just something he’d get around to when he remembered. And now he’s remembered, so …
‘Jess?’
She doesn’t even look up this time, just says ‘Huh?’ and carries on scribbling, and then she adds, ‘What gates are you talking about again?’
At the same moment, another message arrives, making his phone screen go from dull and grey to full of life and colour. So are you going to come and see it for yourself? The original wooden shutters in the dining room are to die for! The pictures don’t do this place justice.
He looks at his wife, who has stopped writing in her journal to stare at the telly. He doubts she even remembers she was waiting for him to answer her grunted question.
Sure, he types back. Would love to.