A Taste for Love (27 page)

A few minutes later everyone seemed to arrive at the same time, and she got caught up introducing them to her mother while trying to fix drinks and top-up glasses.

‘What a lovely house!’ said Emmet, hugging her and presenting her with a box of handmade chocolates. ‘You look gorgeous, Tessa, darling!’

‘And you look great, too!’ she said, noticing he was wearing a beautiful linen jacket and crisp Ralph Lauren shirt. Steven was great fun, and was charming Florence by telling her how he and Emmet first met.

‘And you’ve been friends ever since?’ She twinkled, holding his hand.

‘You could say that!’ He laughed.

Kitty looked amazing: she had a beautiful soft mauve wrap-around dress on her, and had done something new with her hair.

‘I’ve stopped getting it permed, and am letting it grow a bit longer,’ she confided. ‘It was making me too old-looking.’

Larry, her husband, was deep in conversation with Paul about growing vegetables in a garden and the use of nets to
prevent birds attacking strawberries, something he seemed to know a lot about.

Tessa asked Kitty into the kitchen to give a quick check with her that everything looked OK, and then called her guests into the dining room as Rob attended to the wine.

Tessa held her breath as they tasted the mousse. Everyone complimented her on the delicate flavour of the fish on the cucumber and lettuce bed as she passed around the warm baby brown scones she’d made to go with it.

The lamb was melt-in-the-mouth tender, the rosemary sprigs she’d picked from the garden giving it a lovely flavour. As she looked around the table she could see everyone was really enjoying it. She carved some extra slices and saw them disappear in a trice, Rob saying that it was one of the best legs of lamb he had eaten in a long time. Gemma was chatting away to Florence, telling her all about her garden flat.

‘Did I tell you that I am thinking of opening a little café-cum-coffee shop?’ said Emmet, who was sitting beside Tessa.

‘What?’ said Tessa, surprised. ‘Where are you thinking of opening?’

‘I’ve been scouting around for suitable premises, and there’s a place on the seafront near Monkstown Village that has just come up. It’s literally only a two-minute walk from the beach and the DART station,’ he explained. ‘It’s a great little premises, used to sell toys and trinkets, and I think it’s in a good location. I’ve been talking to the landlord, and we are trying to come to a deal on the rent.’

‘But it’s so different from what you normally do!’

‘Did,’ he corrected. ‘There’s very little work for architects at the moment, unless you are prepared to go overseas. Half
of my office are travelling the globe, and I can’t just hang around hoping something will happen. So I guess opening a little place of my own has always been a bit of a pipe dream, and Steven has encouraged me to just go for it.’

‘What kind of place will it be?’

‘Well, nothing too fancy, and it will only open during the day. I have no intention of competing with the local restaurants! But you know something, Tessa? If you walk all along the seafront there is hardly anywhere to just chill and meet friends for coffee or lunch and grab a bowl of soup or have a nice slice of cake. So a simple café might work!’

‘Sounds great,’ said Tessa. ‘Just the kind of place most of us would drop in to!’

‘That’s what I hope.’ He sounded pleased with himself. ‘Well, that’s if I can get the premises.’

‘Fingers crossed!’ wished Tessa.

They all stayed chatting for ages, Tessa making pots of coffee and opening the bottle of Baileys that Kitty and Larry had brought along, as Florence loved a glass of the creamy liqueur.

Eventually Florence admitted she was tired and went off upstairs to bed, saying goodnight to everybody before she left.

‘She’s such a sweetheart,’ said Emmet. ‘No wonder you are so mad about her.’

As they all drifted off home in taxis, Rob was left behind. He and Tessa cleared the table and moved into the sitting room to enjoy the remnants of the fire.

‘That was a lovely night, Tessa.’

‘I’m so glad that I made the effort now,’ she admitted. ‘I was a bit nervous about everyone coming here with Mum and all, but she has had nearly as good a night as I have!’

‘It was perfect.’

‘Thanks for helping with the wines.’

‘My pleasure.’

She smiled to herself. He really was so old-fashioned and kind.

‘You’ve cooked me a lovely dinner, Tessa, so I hope that you will let me in return bring you to dinner next weekend?’ he said. ‘That’s, of course, if it suits you!’

‘The two of us go out on our own to dinner?’ she asked, taking in his serious face and greying hair.

‘Yes.’

‘No Bingo?’ she teased. ‘That dog is always with us.’

‘No Bingo, I promise.’

She noticed the way he laughed, those funny creases around his eyes making him seem younger.

‘Just the two of us,’ he promised, as he kissed her cheek. Then he got his jacket and said goodnight.

As Tessa blew out the candles in the sitting room and locked up it hit her that Rob was the kind of man she liked. They were comfortable together, relaxed. He made her feel attractive, and she certainly found him not only interesting but handsome in a well-preserved way. The age difference between them was nothing, really. They were already friends but maybe … maybe there could be more …

Lucy snuggled up to Finn on the couch. She had just made the most gorgeous coq au vin, as Alice called it, and Finn had practically licked his plate clean. They polished off the rest of the bottle of wine and as she curled up in his arms Lucy realized this was the place she wanted to be. She could hear his heart beat, his breath, feel his ribs move. Finn was so much part of her.

‘Lucy,’ he said slowly, ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately, and I was going to ask if you’d be interested in moving in with me?’

‘Move in here with Duggy and Karl?’ she said. She spent a huge amount of time here, but Lucy couldn’t imagine anything worse than being officially just another flatmate, and paying rent to stay in this kip of a place.

‘No.’ He laughed, sitting up a bit and looking at her. ‘I meant you and me on our own moving in together and finding a place. I love you. I just want to be with you all the time, and now that I have a bit of money maybe it’s time we kind of made it official and the two of us started living together.’

Lucy couldn’t believe it. It was exactly what she had been
hoping for, practically from the minute she’d started dating Finn: to be with him all the time. She loved him so much, and living together was something she felt they were both ready for.

‘Where will we live?’ she asked.

‘I dunno.’ He shrugged. ‘But it’s got to be somewhere nice. I’ve had enough of dumps like this!’

‘We can get in touch with some letting agents, check online,’ suggested Lucy, excited. ‘We are bound to be able to find somewhere nice. Somewhere that’s pretty central.’

‘And we are not having T-shirts all over the place,’ he warned. ‘This place we move to is going to be our home, not a bloody warehouse!’

Lucy laughed. At the moment they could barely fit into his bedroom or the hall, as they had boxes of printed ‘Busy’ T-shirts everywhere. Sales were going great, and the business was really beginning to take off, and their online website was just about to launch.

‘Wait until Mum and Dad hear!’ she joked. ‘I’m sure they’ll be glad to get rid of me.’

‘No one would ever want to be rid of you, Lucy,’ said Finn, touching her lips with his. ‘Unless they were some kind of madman!’

Lucy wrapped her arms around him, kissing his eyes and face and neck. ‘Finn, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me,’ she said as she began to kiss him everywhere else.

They were curled up on the couch still when Duggy arrived home.

‘Hey, what did you guys eat?’ he asked. ‘It smells great.’

‘There’s some left in the fridge if you want it,’ offered Lucy. ‘It will only take a few minutes in the microwave.’

She laughed as she watched Duggy dig into the chicken.

‘What’s up with you two?’ he asked. ‘You look like two Cheshire cats!’

‘We’re moving in together,’ explained Finn.

‘In here?’

‘No, I wouldn’t inflict that on Lucy,’ he joked. ‘Nah, we are going to find a place of our own.’

‘When are you moving out?’

‘Well, as soon as possible,’ teased Finn. ‘I’ll do anything to get away from you lot!’

‘Great!’ said Duggy. ‘Maybe now I’ll get a bit of a chance to use the couch if you two lovebirds are not around!’

‘Duggy, you spend half your life on this couch,’ jeered Finn. ‘It’s practically your office!’

‘A lot of good ideas have been generated on that old couch.’ Duggy laughed. ‘But it’s not going to be the same without you.’

‘Well, I won’t go far,’ promised Finn.

‘And I’ll have you over for some great dinners,’ added Lucy. ‘We’re not going to let you starve.’

‘Then we’re all cool,’ said Duggy, squashing in beside them.

Lucy had dragged Finn around half of Ranelagh. The price of accommodation for two people was outrageous, and the landlords had you over a barrel because they knew that you were a couple. Some of the flats and apartments they viewed wouldn’t fit a dwarf, they were so small and cramped. Most suffered from some form of damp or mould, and
anything half-decent was way out of their budget. Finn was getting more and more disappointed with what they were being offered, but Lucy refused to give in. She was determined that their first home together would be something special.

They viewed the top floor of a house on Grosvenor Square in Rathmines. It was a hell of a hike up a rickety staircase, but there was quite a view from the small attic rooms. It wasn’t perfect, but they were about to agree to take it when Finn decided to push back the massive wardrobe in the main bedroom, and discovered a wall of damp coming from a leak in the ceiling! They practically ran out of the place. There was a modern one-bedroomed flat to let in a block in Terenure, but having to live, eat and cook all in one room – and sleep on a pull-out sofa bed – was just too much, no matter how cheap the rent was.

‘We are never going to find anywhere!’ complained Finn. ‘We’ll be stuck with Duggy for ever!’

‘We’ll find somewhere,’ she insisted, refusing to give up searching. They were going to look at a house on the Ranelagh Road at 8 p.m. which contained eight flats. The road was a bit noisy, and the flats were pretty grim, but at least the landlord had ensured the place was dry and warm. The ceilings in the room were very high and she imagined it would be hard to heat them during cold spells, and the only form of heating was storage, which she knew cost a fortune. The furniture was ancient, and looking at the bed she knew they would definitely need a new one.

‘Can we come back to you tomorrow?’ she asked. ‘We need to talk about it.’

‘I don’t like it,’ insisted Finn. ‘I know it’s the right location, but the house is so wrong.’

They were trudging back down towards Donnybrook when Lucy spotted the ‘Flat to Let’ sign up on a large three-storey house on Belmont Avenue.

‘This isn’t on our list!’ she said, rooting through her printout.

‘Well, let’s just knock and see if anyone is there,’ said Finn.

A middle-aged man opened the door to them.

‘We are enquiring about the apartment you have to let.’

‘That’s quick. I literally just put that sign up,’ said the owner. ‘And the advert is meant to be going on to the websites on Friday!’

‘We were walking by, and we are looking for somewhere in this area to live,’ Finn explained. ‘What size is it?’

‘It’s a one-bed apartment with a living room, small kitchen and bathroom in the basement. My daughter and her boyfriend used to live in it until a few weeks ago, but now they’ve bought a town house in Clonskeagh as they are expecting a baby and this place would be far too small for them.’

‘Can we look at it, please?’ begged Lucy. The man would hardly have his daughter living in a basement hovel, would he?

‘I wasn’t going to show it till the weekend, as I’m still decorating it, but if you don’t mind wet paint you’re welcome to have a look.’

Grabbing a key he led them down the steps to the outside door to the self-contained flat. The hall was narrow, with only a small space for hanging coats and storage, but once they stepped in they both couldn’t believe the small but
perfect cream kitchen with its window overlooking the front.

‘I put in a new hob only two years ago for them,’ explained the man.

The living room was big with a fireplace, a window, and a door opening on to a small paved terrace which held a barbecue and a wooden table and chairs. The bedroom was great, and had a fitted wardrobe. Everywhere was clean and bright, gleaming with magnolia-coloured paint.

Lucy looked at Finn and knew they were both thinking the exact same thing. It was perfect. Just what they wanted, but the awful thing was it was probably going to be way over their budget.

‘How much is the rent a month?’ ventured Finn.

Lucy held her breath, barely daring to inhale.

She couldn’t believe it when the owner came back with a figure that was only thirty euros above their budget, and this lovely little flat was well worth it!

‘We’ll take it,’ said Finn. ‘We’ll need to move in almost straight away.’

‘Well, once I have your deposit and we get the rental agreement drawn up I can give you the keys by Monday, if that suits you,’ offered the owner. ‘The wife and I live upstairs, so, to be honest, I suppose having had Niamh and Brian living here I’m happy to have another young couple like yourselves take it.’

Lucy couldn’t believe it! They had found a flat. They were actually going to move into this place. It was exactly what they both wanted, and was near to town and everywhere!

‘I love it,’ she said, squeezing Finn’s hand.

Outside, back up on the street, they looked at each other.
They had found a place of their own. This was the first step, the first move in their life together.

‘Can we really afford it?’ she asked Finn hesitantly.