Amelia Grey's Fireside Dream Read Online Free PDF

in the ribs. I liked the idea though.
    On the way back to the stairs, we passed a nook in the upstairs corridor. ‘We could put Grandma Niki’s side table here,’ I said. Jack nodded, then gave me a smile that I hoped meant he could see what I could – that with our things in it, this place could really be a home for us.
    Half an hour after we arrived, we were back in the lobby.
    ‘Thanks for showing us around,’ Jack said to Darren.
    ‘It’s a pleasure,’ Darren replied. ‘All the details are on this handout,’ he said, passing me a printed sheet, ‘but if you have any questions at all give me a call. Just to say, you might want to act fairly swiftly on this, if you’re keen. I’m expecting quite a bit of interest.’
    ‘OK.’ I glanced at Jack anxiously, wanting the place even more desperately now. ‘We’ll be in touch soon. Let us know if there are any updates.’
    We stepped out of the cottage and walked back to the car. We got in and closed the doors.
    A couple of feet away, a black Jaguar slowed down and parked at the foot of the gravel pathway.
    ‘Do you think they’re here for a viewing too?’ I asked.
    ‘Maybe,’ Jack said. ‘But forget about that – what did you think of the place?’
    I took a final look at the cottage, trying to fix it in my mind. The lovely grey stonework and lilac flowers, the traditional windows and immaculately maintained thatched roof. I pictured the rooms we’d walked through – whatthey’d look like with our furniture in them, our framed prints and photos up on the walls. We’d finally have a place that would do justice to the antique dresser and chairs I’d inherited from my grandparents, currently in storage because there was no space for them at Addison Road.
    ‘I know it would mean a longer commute for both of us, we’d be further from our friends …’
    ‘But?’
    ‘But I love it, Jack,’ I said, excitement bubbling up inside me. ‘I can see us being really happy here.’
    Jack fiddled with the car keys and looked away for a moment.
    ‘And you?’ I asked. My heart was in my throat as I waited for his reply.

Chapter 3

Only Half in Hackney
    Saturday, 11 May
    That evening, after we got back from viewing the cottage, I sank into a bubble bath. Candlelight flickered around me, and the room filled with the aroma of a Space NK candle Carly had given me for Christmas. I’d barely used it – a quick shower before I dashed out the door was normally all I had time for in the mornings. Our petite bathroom with its peach-coloured eighties fittings didn’t match up to the elegant white tub we’d seen in the cottage – the one big enough for two. Here, the matching basin, bath and toilet and magnolia walls looked particularly uninspiring. When Jack and I had moved in, we’d intended to do the room up, but like so many other home improvements, we had never got round to it.
    I thought back to my conversation in the car with Jack.He’d talked about the cottage in a fairly detached way, but underneath I could tell he was starting to get excited. After two years our wedding seemed like a distant memory, and I thought we needed a new project. The best thing about Arcadia Cottage, of course, was that it was a project that was entirely manageable – it didn’t really need much doing to it. We’d simply be adding personal touches here and there, in order to put our stamp on the place.
    I smiled at the thought of the house and the way I’d felt in it, and how I’d sensed Jack felt too. It was a home. There were a couple of things we needed to check first, but I was confident Jack would want us to offer.
    I squeezed out some Sanctuary body scrub, rubbing the apricot-coloured particles against the rough skin on my knees. If one day the paparazzi become interested in my knees (it happens, although granted not often to teachers in east London), I like to think I’ll be ready.
    I leaned back, my head cushioned on a towel, and visualized the cottage living room