Page 13 of Her Fixer Upper

Leila grinned widely. ‘Oh, he’s proven himself very determined to deserve that second chance I’m giving him, and he’s in no doubt how pleased I am with him. Now, forget about all things horrible, and tell me about what’s happening with Charlie. I take it from your happy but slightly nervous expression that he went for your joint ownership idea?’

I nodded. ‘Not only did he agree to team up with me, we’re actually going to try to put an offer in on a place called Oak Tree Cottage. I know things are moving pretty fast, but it feels like an opportunity I can’t afford to miss out on.’ I thrust my phone towards her. ‘Here, have a look at the photos I took. It’s a mess, I know, but it has a certain something.’

To give Leila credit, after her first shocked intake of breath at the state of the kitchen, she managed to make mostly encouraging noises.

‘I guess when you know, you know. Best of luck to you both,’ she said in a studiously neutral tone of voice when I got to the final picture and explained Charlie and I were meeting a mortgage broker tomorrow. ‘It’s a lot to take on together. But I’m sure you’ll make it work.’

‘We’ll have to,’ I said.

* * *

A busy Monday supervising the last mock exams and introducing the Year Eights to the horrors of Victorian medicine managed to distract me sufficiently to keep the nerves at bay during teaching hours. But when the bell rang to mark the end of school, I felt as sick as if I was one of the pupils lining up outside the exam hall. I’d not heard from Charlie since he’d confirmed the meeting yesterday evening, and I couldn’t help fearing that he might have had a change of heart, especially as he’d not responded to my suggestion that we should agree on exactly how much we were or weren’t going to say to the broker. Now that the prospect of getting my own place was so tantalisingly close, I couldn’t bear for things to go wrong. I’d diligently submitted all my paperwork, bank statements, bills, in fact everything the mortgage broker could possibly need if they wanted to steal my identity and embezzle me. I knew they were legit because I’d done my due diligence when Charlie sent the details of the firm through, but as was my usual habit, I was thinking of everything that could go horribly wrong so as to be psychologically prepared in case it did.

Charlie drove the Land Rover up to the school gates to collect me, hooting the horn to attract my, and everyone else’s, attention.

As I hurried to the vehicle, one of the bolder Year Sevens called out, ‘Is that your boyfriend, Miss?’ while the rest of his little friends collapsed in giggles.

I pretended not to have heard the question. However I answered, I knew a completely fictional version would spread around the school like wildfire.

‘Good day at school? No change of heart, then?’ asked Charlie as we accelerated away.

‘It was fine. And no, for some reason this hare-brained scheme still seems like my best option. You?’

‘I’m still most definitely in,’ he said. ‘There is one thing I should probably talk to you about before we go into the meeting, though…’ His voice trailed off.

‘That sounds ominous,’ I said.

‘The thing is, I was having a think about what you said in your text yesterday, you know, about what we should tell the mortgage broker so that we sound like a safe bet, and I may have slightly exaggerated the nature of our relationship.’

‘By which you mean what, exactly?’ I asked, experiencing a strong sense of foreboding.

‘I may have implied that we’re engaged.’ He cleared his throat nervously, and made a great show of checking his mirrors before pulling out of the junction.

‘And how exactly did you imply that we’re engaged?’ I said, already half anticipating the answer.

‘Okay, so maybe “imply” isn’t exactly the right word.’

‘What is the right word?’

‘It might be more accurate to say that I told him we were engaged.’

‘Charlie, what on earth possessed you to do that?’ I asked, frustration making my voice rise.

He glanced quickly across at me, before turning his attention back to the road. ‘I wanted to be completely sure that we’d get the mortgage, and I guess I panicked. It seemed like a good idea at the time, the best way of making sure we get the loan.’

‘For goodness’ sake, Charlie, it’s not like it’s the 1920s and we’re an unmarried couple turning up at a hotel and trying to get a room together. All I was asking for was that we emphasise that we have a steady friendship. Why didn’t you think it through before you opened your mouth? The bloke’s far more likely to turn us down because you’re pretending that we’re something we’re most definitely not. This was not part of the plan.’

‘I know, I know,’ he said. ‘It was a really bad idea, but it’s too late to take it back. If I tell the truth now, we definitely won’t get the mortgage.’

He had a point.

‘I can’t believe you’ve put us in this position,’ I muttered. ‘Now I’m even more nervous about the meeting than before. I’m rubbish at acting. There’s no way I can convincingly play a fiancée. We’re bound to give ourselves away.’

Charlie swung the car into an empty parking space, killed the engine, then turned to face me.

‘You’re going to be even more angry at me for this, but I reckon it will help us get through the meeting, and reduce the pressure on your acting abilities. People rarely look beyond the surface appearance.’ He pulled something out of his pocket. ‘Here, put this on. I had a rummage through Alexa’s things in her old bedroom. It’s only costume jewellery but I reckon it’ll do the trick.’

‘You’re seriously suggesting that if I wear your twin sister’s ring this mortgage broker bloke will happily sign a fortune over to us? Now I feel even more like I’ve travelled back a century. This whole situation is utterly ridiculous. Besides, maybe I’m the type of woman who’d only wear an engagement ring if her fiancé did too.’

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