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‘It’s not my fault if she doesn’t know where she’s going.’
‘Just turn her off and direct me. You know you’re going to do it anyway.’
‘It’s a fair cop, boss. Did Abby get off OK?’
‘Yes. Her dad collected her. He was down to sign the paperwork for the new site anyway, so it made sense.’
‘John and Roberta are really going to miss her, I think.’
‘It was kind of sweet, though, wasn’t it? They made quite a convincing surrogate family. Imagine if she’d met someone while she was down here? I can easily see John doing the whole “what are your intentions” speech.’
When Abby first came down, the plan was for her to move into the caravan of shit. I’d already moved in with Noah, so it seemed like a good solution. John, unsurprisingly, took one look at her and started muttering darkly about the ‘birdifying’ of the construction industry now that there were two women on site. Kayleigh and Breanna appeared not to count, due to them being ‘sales birds’, who didn’t have anything to do with the actual building work. In typical John fashion, it was all talk, and he and Abby quickly formed a strong bond. When he invited her over for dinner one Friday and Roberta heard that she was on her own in the caravan, they ended up insisting that she move into their spare room, and Roberta mothered her to death until the day she left.
‘Before we get to the auction house, there’s something I need to tell you.’ Noah’s voice is suddenly serious.
‘What?’
‘The buyers dropped out earlier this week. The agent rang to let me know on Tuesday.’
‘Oh, no. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I’ve been thinking about what to do. You really love this house, don’t you? I can tell.’
‘I do, a little,’ I admit. ‘But I’m trying to be rational about it. I know you have to sell it.’
‘Not necessarily. In fact, I’ve been thinking that we might keep it.’
‘Really? But what about your plan? You know. Buy, renovate, make profit, rinse and repeat.’
‘We can still do it. It means going back to the beginning, mortgage-wise, but that’s not the end of the world. This house is special, though, isn’t it? It’s the first one we did together, and I’m surprised to find that I don’t really like the idea of other people living in it.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I think so. There will always be houses, but this one is our home.’
‘Our little space to argue about whose turn it is to put the bins out,’ I tease.
‘Exactly.’
I glance across at Noah and smile. I can’t believe I ever told him that I didn’t belong here, because the truth is that I don’t belong anywhere else.
