Sophie held her face up to a sky patchy with clouds, sunshine, and a hazy mist. ‘Gosh, itislovely down here on the coast. I seem to think that daily or even hourly. What took us so long?’
‘Don’t ask me. I’m the same!’
‘Do you miss your London life at all?’ Sophie asked.
Nina thought for a second. She didn’t really, but sometimes she did feel as if maybe she missed the hustle and bustle, the trains, the red buses, and the option to have a lot of culture ather fingertips. Not that she’d ever utilised any of it anyway, so she wasn’t sure what she was actually thinking. ‘Yes and no. It’s more that IthinkI miss things, and then I think, well, actually, I didn’t ever do that anyway. There are so many things I haven’t seen in London and now I’m not there, I feel like I want to go almost as a tourist, if you see what I mean.’
‘Exactly. I do precisely the same. It’s bizarre that I’ve seen more of London now that I don’t live there than I did then.’
Nina nodded and continued with a chuckle. ‘Like I imagine myself cycling around and going over Southwark Bridge on a bike with a coffee in my hand. More chance of pigs flying. The fumes were awful, the other cyclists were a nightmare, and people yelled abuse at you if you got too close to them. That happened to me every single time I went out on my bike.’
Sophie cracked up laughing. ‘Hilarious. I imagine myself on a summer evening sitting outside that pub we used to go to over near Covent Garden.’
‘Thing is, we hardly ever did that because of the tourists.’
‘I know.’
‘And then I imagine myself sitting at the top of Primrose Hill looking over London and the amazing views. Itisnice up there.’
‘The problem is it was a right faff to get there,’ Sophie noted.
‘You’re not wrong.’
‘Ahh, I do miss it, though. Nothing a quick trip to my flat won’t solve.’
‘How is that?’
‘Yeah, no change.’
‘I don’t get how you can just let it sit there when it could be bringing in an income.’
Sophie certainly didn’t get it. She hadn’t buried her husband. ‘Yeah, I know.’ Truth be told, Nina couldn’t face packing up the flat, moving Andrew’s clothes from the wardrobe, or doing anything with it at all, really. Which was precisely why it had satthere and festered once Nathan, the bloke who had moved in for a bit, had gone back to his own flat. She was lucky it had been paid off with the life insurance. It wasn’t as if it was costing her any money, well, not much, but it wasn’tmakingher any money either. It was an issue she simply didn’t want to face.
‘I guess it will happen in time.’
‘Yes, it will.’
Sophie bumped the pram wheels up the pavement and widened her eyes at the harbour. ‘Ooh, yes, better than the pictures you sent me the other day. Nice.’ A few minutes later, they were standing with their heads up, looking at the building’s sloping roof. Sophie nodded. ‘Yeah, love it. I said it the first time I came with you, but it was chilly that day. It’s amazing today.’
‘I hope it’s better than the pics once I actually get in and get going on it.’
‘Too late now.’
Nina gulped. ‘Yep.’
‘You’ll be fine once you get the keys and move in.’
‘That won’t be for a while. There is a lot of work to do.’
‘Slow and steady wins the race, don't they say?’
‘I know. I sort of feel the opposite now, though. I’m raring to go. I want to crack on and get going on it.’
‘I get it. I would be the same.’
A voice behind them made them both turn around. Robby kissed Nina and then Sophie on the cheek. He peeked into the pram. ‘Aww, snug as a bug.’
‘Yes and hopefully not going to be waking up for a while.’
