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Kate appeared a few minutes later, two plates rammed with food, naan bread and poppadoms balanced precariously on top. “Can you grab the beers?” she asked, nodding to the two bottles balanced beneath her arm.
“So you haven’t got a dining table yet then?”
“No, not yet. I haven’t decided what to do with the dining room yet. I’ve had an idea, but you might think it’s mad.”
“Try me,” said Bob, through a mouth full of rogan josh.
“It’s my friend Maddie’s fault. She suggested it when I was up in Bath to collect my stuff.”
“Spit it out woman, your food’s getting cold.”
“I’ve been thinking about doing Airbnb, you know, in this house…”
A look of confusion spread across Bob’s face, and Kate couldn’t be sure, but she thought he looked sad. “Oh, right, I see. Well, yes, go for it. Bodmin probably would’ve been a bit dull for you, anyway. Yes, not much going on for young people. YOLO, as the youth say.”
“Bob?”
“Yes?”
“Stop blabbering, and just so you know, no youths I’ve met say YOLO these days.”
“Oh.”
“Look, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I don’t mean renting out the entire house, just some of the rooms. Like a B&B, though I’m a crap cook, so I won’t be offering breakfast.”
“Ah, I see. Well, it’s not the worst idea I’ve heard. But would you be comfortable sharing your home with perfect strangers?”
“I wouldn’t necessarily have to share it. I’ve been thinking about how it could work. I’d have the downstairs and guests could have the upstairs. The back bedroom could be en-suite as the bathroom leads off it, and the front bedroom could be a sitting room, with tea and coffee, microwave, etcetera. The sofa could even be a sofa bed, and…”
“Sorry to interrupt you, but wouldn’t that leave you without a bathroom?”
“Well, yes, but there’s the outside loo that you so carefully de-spidered for me. I had the plumbers take a look, and they said it would be easy enough to get a shower fitted in there as the plumbing’s already set up.”
“But you’d have to go outside every time you need a wee.”
“It wouldn’t be the end of the world. I’ve always enjoyed camping. But seriously, toilet aside, what do you think?”
“It would certainly be in line with the open house your grandmother talked about, plus you’d be getting an income from it. On balance, I’d say it’s a rather sensible plan.”
Kate smiled. She’d shown Bob Moira’s letter, confident that he wasn’t the usualsolicitor typeshe had written disparagingly about. He’d even had the good grace to laugh at that part. “Well I’m pleased you approve. Now get your food down you. I’m itching to show you around.”
*
Despite Bob’s ignorance over interiors, he oohed and aahed in all the right places as Kate led him round the house. He was particularly impressed with the new bathroom; white, shiny and complete with bath and overhead power shower.
“That’s an interesting choice of flooring…”
“I had a cork floor in my house when I was little. We weren’t living there long as the landlord kicked us out, but I remember our time there as mostly happy. I have so few happy memories from childhood I thought it would be good to be reminded it wasn’t all bad. And anyway, it will go well with the pot plants I plan to put in here. Do you like it?”
“Yes, I do. It’s unusual, but in a good way. I love the exposed floorboards everywhere too. You’ve done a great job sanding them down.”
“Thanks. I just hope it’s not too noisy when guests are here.”
“When do you hope to start taking guests in?”
“Well, there’s furniture to buy for the guest sitting room, and I’ll need to set up my room downstairs, but once that’s done, I should be all set.”
“Well, let me know if you need any help. You might want to get a lock fitted to your bedroom door.”
