The Girl I Used to Be(5)

“Have you lived here long?” he asked.

I nodded and told him I’d grown up on the Wirral, twenty-five miles north of Chester. “I moved down to London to university and then moved here.”

“You were in London? I was there, too. Imperial. I studied maths. How about you?”

“Queen Mary’s. Business. I graduated in 2005.”

“Me too!” He grinned at me. “That’s weird. And then you moved back north?”

“I always wanted to work for myself, but it’s virtually impossible in London, so I moved here about seven years ago when I decided to open my own business. I love it here.”

“That’s your own agency? You’ve done pretty well.”

“Thanks. I love having my own place.”

I was really proud of myself for owning my own business. It had always been my dream. I trained as an estate agent immediately after graduating, and worked down in London for a few years. Sales were high in those days, so my commission was, too, and I saved as much as I could, knowing I wanted my own place in the future. When I met Joe, we decided to head north so I could set up on my own. It would have been impossible to do that in London. I have a few properties that I’ve bought to rent out, too. It seemed crazy not to, when there were cheap houses coming up at auction. We’re managing agents for a number of landlords, so it’s just as easy to manage mine at the same time.

“It’s a big responsibility, though, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It’s a lot of work sometimes, but I love working for myself.”

“I’d love to do that,” he said. “I’m in a great job, but there’s something about having your own business . . . I’d really like to try it. Did you buy an existing agency?”

“Yes, I bought one that had been running for a few years.”

What did you do about staff?”

“Brian, the older guy who was in the office when you came in, was someone I inherited. He was a lifesaver; he’s worked in lettings for years and knows all the local landlords and tradespeople. I leave the letting side to him, though he’s heading for retirement now and works shorter weeks. It won’t be too long before I have to look for a replacement for him, I suppose. I hired the women myself.”

We arrived at the first apartment and took the lift to the fifth floor. The previous owners had already moved, so a sale could go ahead quickly.

“Hmm, this is pretty nice,” he said. “How long has it been unoccupied?”

“They’ve just moved out,” I said. “Last month. May. It’s much better that it’s empty; you could move in within weeks. You’ll probably find there’s room to maneuver on the price, too. If the vendor’s still paying a mortgage, they’ll want a fast sale.”

He went over to the window and opened the doors to the balcony that overlooked the central courtyard. There was space out there for a small table and a couple of chairs. He closed the doors without comment, then went into the bathroom. There was nothing to complain about there and he went into the kitchen, pulling out drawers and opening cupboards. Everything there was high spec; it was just the kind of place I thought he’d like.

“What do you think?” He smiled over at me. “Could you see me here?”

I laughed. “It’s a great city center apartment. Well, on the edge of the city, which is better, really. You don’t get the noise.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s pretty noisy out there, when the French doors are open.”

“Really? It seems quiet to me. Well, it’s the middle of the day, so there’ll be a lot of tourists and shoppers. At night it’d be much quieter.”

He nodded. “Let’s go. Where’s next?”

Next was a house in a popular area a couple of miles from the center of town. It had its own busy center, with bars and restaurants, gyms and shops.

“Houses move quickly here,” I said as I showed him around. “This one’s only been on the market for a few days and I’m expecting it to go by the end of the month.”

“Sounds great,” he said. “I could be living here within a couple of months.”

I smiled, absolutely certain that pretty soon he’d be making an offer on one of our properties.



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    BY MIDAFTERNOON, THOUGH, I’d shown him six places, and although he’d enthused about them all, when I dropped him off at the office he made no suggestion that he’d be taking any of them further.

“I’ll be in touch in the next few days,” he said.

“Great!” I smiled at him. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“Any luck?” asked Sophie as I entered the office.

I frowned. A number of people were looking at houses listed on the boards and looked up in interest when she called out.

“Can I see you for a moment?” I asked, and went into the kitchen to wait for her. She bounced in, but the smile left her face when I reminded her not to call out in the office. “Just e-mail me or ask me quietly if it’s busy out there.”

She squirmed with embarrassment. “Sorry.”

Rachel came into the kitchen and filled the kettle for tea.

I said, “That’s okay,” to Sophie. I didn’t like to reprimand her while anyone else was around.