‘Yep.’ Ella nodded as Nina peered into the bath and nearly gagged as the smell hit her fully, and an old toilet brush nudged her foot.
‘I don’t know…’
‘Okay, look past the junk. Imagine it with nothing in it. I’m talking not a thing. It will be amazing at some point.’
Nina peered at the green mould. ‘That’s a bit of a tall order.’
‘Nancy said how well you’ve done with the cottage. That was bare bones when you moved in.’
‘Yes, but it was clean, bare bones, and it had just been painted.’
‘Which is what you can do with this.’ Ella nodded. ‘The roof is sound, the floorboards are all in good condition, even the electrics.’ She screwed her lips up. ‘I really don’t think there’s a lot to spend. I mean, yeah, eventually a new bathroom and kitchen, but even those you could make do with to start off.’
‘Hmm.’
‘You have your own decluttering and organising company…’ Ella trailed off as if that made everything make sense.
‘I suppose I do. I amusedto junk. This seems on another level, though.’
Ella dipped her finger up and down towards the lower floor. ‘That down there is perfect for your storage needs for your business, as we said on the phone.’
Nina was silent for a second. ‘Mmm. It could even be used for hot desking. I know many people are looking for that nowadays. Every job I’ve done in the last few months has been clearing out rooms so that people can make the move to working from home.’
‘You’re right.’
Nina followed Ella back into the room crammed full of junk. ‘It’s crying out for someone like you. It really is.’
As they descended back to the ground floor, Nina felt butterflies in her stomach. The place needed work, a lot of work, but it was brimming with potential. It was a project that could really become something special for someone with the right eye who was prepared to take on a mountain of effort. Or had a huge bank account, which she most definitely did not.
‘So, what are your thoughts?’ Ella asked as they stepped back into the subdued light of the ground floor.
Nina paused, her gaze drifting over the room. ‘I’m intrigued,’ she admitted. ‘It’s a lot to take on, but... there’s something about this place. It feels right, somehow, or I’m imagining it.’
‘I thought you might feel that way. There’s something about these old buildings – they have a soul or something. As soon as I walked in, I thought about you. You could really bring this place back to life.’
Nina suddenly felt quite vulnerable and alone. She’d never done anything like it before. Deep down, she wasn’t actually surewhatwas feasible. Numbers and plans floated around her head in a jumble. ‘It would be a huge decision for me.’
As they made their way out, Nina felt a bit buzzy. The place needed work, a lot of work, but it was maybe what she’d been looking for. It was a project, a challenge, but it felt right.
‘So, what do you think?’ Ella asked as they stepped back into the sunshine.
Nina took a deep breath as she looked up at the building. ‘I think I just fell in love with an old building full of junk.’
Ella beamed. ‘I had a feeling you might say that.’
About ten minutes later, after looking around the outside as Nina watched Ella walk away, she felt a strange feeling of possibility. And just like she had when she’d first started her journey to Lovely Bay, she felt pure, simple, very easy hope. Itwas a feeling that had been missing from her life for way too long. Hope was becoming her new best friend.
5
Lost in a world of her own, Nina watched the moving platform slot into place on the other side of the station. A train pulled in, unloaded its passengers, and took off again. She observed a mismatch of people traipsing over the footbridge looking for the platform. The sign above her head flicked over to say that the train going the other way was approaching, and the track hissed, indicating that the sign was indeed correct.
A few minutes later, Nina was sitting on the train. As it started to make its way away from Lovely Bay and juddered over the tracks, her mind went back to the first day she’d arrived in town. Then she’d not really had a clue what she was doing or why she was there and she’d been travelling with a jagged slice running right down the centre of her broken heart. Then she’d been laden with all sorts, not just actual physical baggage, of which there was much, but also emotional, spiritual, and mental baggage and whatever else you wanted to throw in for free.
She smiled to herself as she thought about the Nina who had arrived back then. That Nina had been sad, down, and wondering about life all around. Things, however, had changed. She hadn’t felt as she had in the ‘before Lovely Bay days’ for ages as just about everything, but especially her heart, had healed.But now, going back the other way to London to complete the sale of the investment flat, she felt a bit upside down.
Had the jagged edge in her heart opened up again a tiny little bit? Even though she was happy as a pig in mud and very much looking forward to making her roots permanent in Lovely Bay, emotion was coursing through her veins at a hundred miles an hour. The sale of the flat truly was sealing the deal of a new life in Lovely Bay. A new life where Andrew really, really,reallywasn’t anywhere to be seen. He was now so much more than lost it wasn’t even funny.
Trying not to think about it too much and determined to keep Andrew’s memory a happy one, she opened her phone and went through her work emails. She’d started her little business, A Lovely Organised Life, almost by accident just after she’d moved into the cottage and had intended to start seriously looking for a proper job as her money had been fast running out. A friend of Jill, owner of The Summer Hotel, had heard what a good job she’d done with it and had asked if Nina would be interested in going to have a look at her house to see if there was anything she could do. Nina had gone along with an open mind, attempted to keep her shock at the state of the woman’s house off her face, and had quoted accordingly at the huge amount of work involved.
