Nina smiled. ‘You can do whatever you like.’
Robby put his arm around her. ‘Tell me what to do, and I’ll make it happen.’
Nina zoomed to the moon.
‘Aww, I need a Robby in my life,’ Ella joked. ‘Rightio, I’ll love you and leave you. Enjoy and congrats, Nina. I’ll remember this one. Nice working with you.’
‘Thank you. I don’t know about enjoy! It seems like a lot to take on now.’
‘Ahh, you’ll love it. I’ll be back to check up on your progress.’
Nina followed Robby down the side of the building to the small yard behind, put her arm over the gate, slid back the bolt, and pressed down on the latch. The gate opened with a creak, they walked over the somewhat depressing yard with its funny little mossy, slippery steps and she fiddled with the keys to open the back door.
‘Will I be carrying you over the threshold?’
In an instant, Nina was by the door of her flat. Her mind raced. Andrew had done exactly that when they’d bought it. Instead of making Nina sad, however, she smiled fondly. She laughed and stepped in. ‘I think I can manage. I don’t need carrying, plus I don’t think you’d be able to pick me up.’
Robby made a whooshing sound as he followed Nina in, sucked in air through his lips, and looked around. ‘Sheesh.’
Nina zoomed around. ‘What? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
‘I don’t know. What are you thinking?’
‘That we have a lot of work on our hands. Oh dear, it suddenly looks dreadful.’
Robby nudged an old fishing net with his boot and dust flew up into the air. His straps jangled. ‘You’re not wrong there.’
Nina half spoke to herself, half to Robby. ‘I must not get buyers' regret. I must remember at all costs to look at the bones of the place. I must remain calm and in control.’
‘Formulate the plan, stick to the plan, execute the plan.’
‘I am beginning to think the plan was made in cloud cuckoo land.’
Robby squeezed Nina’s elbow. ‘Worst case scenario is you rent it out, remember? Keep that front and centre.’
Nina nodded as if trying to convince herself. ‘Yes, yes, that’s right. Or have it as a hot desk place for digital nomads and use the upstairs for storage for the business. I need to keep that in mind.’
Robby walked over to the far side and ran his hands over the barn doors. ‘Or we’ll run off into the sunset together and leave all this to itself. That is another plan of attack. Or you move in with me. There are lots of options as we discussed before you signed on the dotted line.’
Nina swallowed as she felt her heart sink. ‘Right now, that’s looking like quite the attractive option. I might be moving in with you. What in the world have I let myself in for?’
11
Both Nina and Nancy were wearing white disposable hooded overalls. Sophie was kitted out in a similar get-up; only hers was bright orange and even less attractive. Nancy and Nina had spent the morning cleaning the ground floor of Nina’s new abode whilst Sophie, with the help of Robby, had made multiple trips up and down the two sets of stairs, emptying the attic room.
Nina yanked the straps from the backpack vacuum off her shoulders and leant the vacuum up against the wall. Nancy followed suit. Nina rolled her shoulders around, winced, and rubbed the back of her neck. She walked over to her phone, where it had been propped up recording a time-lapse of their progress for her social reels. She pressed the red button to stop the recording and put her phone in the pocket of the suit. ‘You see, in my mind’s eye, it didn’t look like this when I first looked around. I must have been hallucinating or drunk. One of the two. There’s so much dust and dirt. What was I thinking? It’s bad.’
Nancy grimaced and pulled the hood down on her disposable suit. ‘What did you envision? I’m having trouble seeing it, too, at this moment in time. Blimey, this is hard work and I thought I was fit.’
Nina widened her eyes. ‘I saw myself sitting at a lovely desk doing my quotes and talking to customers on the phone with the sun shining and the view of the harbour at the end of my nose.’ Nina looked out at the pouring rain, grey, angry sea, and even greyer sky. ‘This isn’t living up to my expectations in any shape or form. Thank goodness I now know that Lovely has four seasons in a day. It’s grim today. Flipping weather!’
Nancy harrumphed. ‘Hmm. I’m having the most trouble with the sunshine part of that scenario. It feels like it‘s been raining for weeks.’
‘Ithasbeen.’
‘True. Which has made this job a million times harder. Blooming rain, rain, rain for days!’
Nina nodded. ‘I just didn’t realise how big the place was. It’s not exactly a cottage and so much bigger without the junk. I should have remembered that from my experience with The Summer Hotel. Everything takes so long.’
