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“I am quite perceptive,” she says quietly, changing her tone for just a moment. “I knew that Mom was sick way before she did. I kept begging her to go to the hospital but she never would. Not until it was too late anyway.” Her eyes fix on the ground as we walk, but still she doesn’t take her hand away from mine. I wasn’t expecting this vulnerable moment from this cool and spunky girl, but surprisingly I don’t mind it. Maybe this trip will end up bringing out a whole new side to me. “I also knew that Rory would be gone long before he did…” Suddenly she glances up as if she’s just remembered I’m here and she’s horrified at herself. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to get all heavy then, I don’t know what happened to me…”
“No, it doesn’t matter.” I need to put her out of her misery quickly before she falls into a pit of guilt. “Actually, when Doreen was warning me away from you she said you’ve had loss and heart break. How long ago was it?” I need to know to work out how I should behave.
“Four years, so a long time ago.” She gives me a weak smile and a bit of a giggle. “Long enough ago that Doreen doesn’t have to treat me like a child anymore.”
“Oh I think she just cares about you… to be honest, this does seem like the sort of place where everyone’s a bit like family. In a good way.” I think!
“And yet you want to come along and want to build all over it,” Lola says, but with a hint of teasing so I know it isn’t about to descend into an argument. “Just bloody marvelous. It’s always the big city types that want to wreck everything, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. We have no soul or heart, all we want to do is make money out of everything.” I say this as a joke, but actually it’s much closer to the truth than I’d like it to be. At least for my father, if not me. I’ve never cared too much about making heaps of money but that’s because I’ve always had it. “Anyway, it might be an improvement, you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you? In two months you might change your mind completely.”
“Hmmm,
we’ll see about that one. I don’t think I’ll agree until I’ve seen it for myself.”
“Or maybe you won’t be here… maybe you’ll be a famous singer by then!”
I am only teasing with my remark, but judging by the way Lola looks crestfallen I know I’ve said something wrong. Only I don’t know what so I can’t even make it right. All I can do is squeeze her fingers between mine and hope that whatever I’ve said doesn’t put her off me. She’s the most interesting woman in this town, I don’t want to push her away already.
“So, this is my home,” she suddenly blurts out, making me jump. I got so lost in worry then that I forgot we were even walking! “That little cottage, right there.”
She points to a small, wooden type building that can only be made for one. It’s sitting on the edge of a farm that looks like it was bustling and full of life once upon a time, the sort of place you might see in a children’s picture book, but now it’s failing. Not quite post apocalyptic, but certainly not thriving anymore. The animals appear to be few and far between, the equipment is rusty, the house at the other edge of the farm is crumbling and falling apart. It’s not the sort of home I would have pictured for Lola.
“Oh right, it’s nice!” I lie a bit too enthusiastically. “It looks really, erm, homely.”
“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better,” she replies dryly while unlocking the door to her home. “I know it isn’t much, but it’s all we have at the moment.”
I want to ask her more. I want to pry further into her life and find out all about her but I don’t know if I can. This isn’t even like a first date or anything, just a chance encounter than neither of us were expecting. I don’t know what the rules of privacy are, but I’m sure if she wanted to offer me an explanation, she would.
Instead of probing her, I step inside behind her and glance my eyes everywhere inside, which doesn’t take long because there’s hardly anything; a tiny kitchen with a tabletop oven and a microwave, plus a couple of drawers to store everything in, then a small table in the same room. There’s a partition separating a couple of chairs and a TV in what must be the living room, and two doors. I presume one leads to her bedroom and one to a bathroom.
Wow, she really doesn’t have much. Money must be the issue here. No wonder she doesn’t want some big shot billionaire coming into her town and telling her what it does or doesn’t need. We couldn’t be further apart in our worlds if we tried.
As I walk through and I take one of the chairs, I think about my own home back in the city. I have a massive, luxurious three piece suit in my living room and a massive flat screen television with all the extra gadgets a person could ever want surrounding it. Three of this cottage could fit in that one room. Then I have a kitchen with all the cooking equipment known to man, and I don’t ever use it, I just get take out. I have four bathrooms and five bedrooms. Plus a games room and a reception area. It’s ridiculous really, far too much for just one person. I’ve never seen it that way before, not even once.
“Why don’t you live in the other building?” I ask without thinking as she hands me a drink. A mug filled with wine so cheap it’ll probably make me sick. Not that I care about that. “I mean, you do have it lovely here, it just seems like there would be more room there.”
“That’s my dad’s house,” she replies quietly. “I live here so I get my own space and I can practice my music without disturbing him. It’s just easier, and I like it.”
Oh God, her dad must be a bossy bastard like mine. Maybe he runs a tight ship around here when it comes to the farm, which makes Lola’s life difficult. I shouldn’t have said anything to get involved with family stuff. “Fair enough, I like it too.”
We sit in silence for a few moments, both lost in our own thoughts. Inside my mind I’m trying to work out just who Lola is. She’s clearly a girl with fire, but that’s been dulled by her circumstances, which is a real shame. I know I can’t do much for her since I’m not exactly going to be around forever, but it’d be awesome if I could show her a good time while I’m here. For the both of us. I’m not usually a big believer in fate but it kinda feels like we’ve met at a time when we both need some fun and company, making it perfect.
“I have to tell you, I like those shorts,” I say with a wink, amping the tension back up to a sexual one. I think we need to put the serious conversation topics of family, death, and exes to bed for a while. It’s time to be flirty and fun instead. I even add in yet another wink, because she seems to really like them. “They make your legs look very long.”
“Oh yeah?” She stands up and twirls around, giving me a glimpse of them from the bottom to the top. “W0w, thank you very much. I’m sure you have nice legs too.”
“Do you want to see?” I join her by standing upwards. I shake off my suit jacket and toss it to the ground as if it didn’t cost me seven hundred dollars. Then I fiddle with the button on my trousers as her eyes bug out of her head. “I have runners legs.”
“Do you run?” she gasps out, clearly struggling to breathe because I’ve stunned her so much.
“Nope.” I pop the P teasingly. “Just got the legs for some reason.”
I think she thought I was joking because she makes a noise as the trousers drop. I have to really stifle a laugh. If that’s stunned her then she’s going to be in with a shock when it comes to me and her. I think we’re going to have a whole lot of fun.
“Wow.” She gulps loudly. “You really do have runner’s legs.”
I step closer to her, closing the annoying gap between us. Her flushed cheeks and wide eyes tell me that she’s ready for this. She might not know it herself yet, but she is. I just need to ease her in gently.
