WITH BOTH of them working, the van was emptied in no time, and they were on their way to Ed’s old house. It felt strange to be taking someone new to a home that was no longer his.
Ed shifted in his seat as they pulled onto the drive.
Oliver let out a low whistle. “Wow. You sure you want to move?”
“Not much choice now.” The house was beautiful, no denying that. Small by some standards—only a two-bed—but it was spacious inside with a lovely garden both at the front and back. But it wasn’t his home anymore. He had some wonderful memories from living there, but also some shitty ones, and unfortunately, they were the most recent and all he could think of when he looked at it now. “Anyway, I’m looking forward to a new start up north.”
“Up north?” Oliver asked as they got out of the van. “What about the bungalow?”
Ed fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. “Elise left it to me and my sisters. We’re going to sell it eventually; I’m just living there while I look for somewhere new.” He stepped through into the hall. “Help do it up a bit while I’m there, you know?” He glanced over his shoulder to see Oliver walking in behind him, looking around.
“Why up north though?” he asked again. “Why not somewhere closer to home?”
Ed led the way through to the living room where the last of his belongings were all boxed up. He shrugged as he came to a stop in front of them. “Fancied a change.”
“Fair enough.” Oliver stood next to him, hands on his hips. He nodded at the boxes. “This it then?”
“Yeah. Plus the bed from the spare room upstairs.” He hadn’t planned on bringing it to the bungalow, but Ruth suggested it’d make it look better when they sold it. More appealing to buyers if the second bedroom actually looked like one. Made sense.
“Okay.” Oliver rubbed his hands and grinned. “These or the bed first.”
“Bed.”
“JESUS,” Oliver grunted as they struggled down the stairs with the double mattress. “How did you plan on moving this by yourself?”
“With great difficulty,” Ed muttered, then stumbled down the bottom two steps, causing Oliver to burst out laughing.
“Yep.” He held tight to the top end, much to Ed’s relief. “You okay down there?”
Ed righted himself and huffed out a breath. Christ, he was out of shape if lugging a mattress down the stairs took it out if him. In contrast, Oliver held onto it easily, as though he could carry the thing down single-handed if he so chose. Ed frowned before replying with, “Yeah, I’m good.”
After they’d managed to wrestle it into the van, Ed leant on it, embarrassed that he was more than a little out of breath. “You must be stronger than you look,” he said gesturing half-heartedly at where Oliver stood watching him.
Shit. He groaned inwardly as he belatedly realised how that sounded.
Oliver snorted. “I’m not sure whether to be offended or take it as a compliment.”
Once again, Ed felt a blush creep over his cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Oh.” Oliver tilted his head to one side, amused eyes never leaving Ed’s. “How did you mean it?”
“I um...”Yes, Ed, how did you mean it?Fuck. He was his own worst enemy, really. “Okay, yeah. I meant it exactly how it sounded, which is both rude and ungrateful of me.” He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before meeting Oliver’s gaze again. “I’m sorry. Again. I don’t seem able to make a good impression when it comes to you, do I?”
Oliver’s expression was hard to read for a moment, until he offered Ed a smile. “Apology accepted.”
Ed let out a sigh of relief. For some reason he didn’t want Oliver to think of him as a complete twat. Now if only he could stop acting like one.
“Hey,” Oliver said, nudging his foot. “It’s no big deal, don’t worry about it.” He held his arms out wide. “I know I’m a bit on the skinny side, so I’ll let you off for thinking I can’t pull my weight.” Giving Ed a pointed look, he added, “Just this once though. Don’t go making any more assumptions, all right?”
“Yep. Got it.” Ed was going to keep his thoughts to himself from now on. Given his track record over the past few days, it was the safest course.
The rest of the bed and the boxes took less than an hour to load between them, and all too soon they were done.
Ed stood in the empty living room, turning in a circle as he took in the barren space that had once been his home. Without any of his things in it, he struggled to picture it now. “Right.” He sighed and rubbed his hands together. “I think we’re done.”
Oliver pointed at the ceiling. “You don’t want to have one last check upstairs, make sure you haven’t forgotten everything?”
“Nah,” Ed shook his head. “Pretty sure I’ve got it all, and if anything’s left, then I obviously don’t need it.” He’d imagined this would be a sad moment, letting this place go—and it was in some ways—but the overriding feelings as he locked up for the last time were relief and a tentative excitement.
