Page 11 of The Wedding Pact
‘Then why? At least tell mewhyyou’re getting all huffy with me and trying to convince me not to go in there.’
August paused for a minute, as if finding her words. ‘There’s just something about this house. I’ve always wanted to live there. As in, not just in the six months I’ve been back in Bath, but like, always, at least for maybe twenty-five years. But although it’s divided into four, maybe five flats, it’s really rare for one to become available. Really rare.’
‘I see. Have you ever been inside?’
‘Just once, only into the entrance hall, when I was little, and my grandmother told me that one day if I worked hard and followed my dreams I could live here,’ August replied.
Flynn assumed she was going to elaborate, but instead, after a moment, she said, ‘You know, this is a really rough neighbourhood.’
‘Is that so?’
She nodded. ‘Crime, debauchery, noisy neighbours.’
‘That’s bad news.’
‘Yep.’ August sighed. ‘You’d be much better off getting a flat down there somewhere, near the park perhaps,’ she pointed down the hill towards Royal Victoria Park.
‘You’re so helpful,’ Flynn smirked. ‘But you know what, if it’s that bad, maybe you should just stay living in the flat you already live in.’
‘No, no, I’ll take one for the team, I’ll move in here, and you can take my old flat.’
‘That doesn’t seem very efficient.’
‘Why does life need to be efficient?’ August shrugged. ‘Anyway, back to your question. You asked me why this house was so important to me. It’s because this house iswhyI moved back to Bath, in a way. No matter what big thing has happened in my life, from exam results, to break ups, and other life decisions, I’ve come back to Bath, stood at the top of the hill right here in front of this house, and let the magic of the city lights guide me.’
Flynn raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s not really a reason. You’re very welcome to come and hang out on this wall after I move in.’
‘No,’ August cried. ‘I have to live in there. It’s hard to explain but I’ve been waiting so long, like my life has been on hold, to live here. And now I have the chance, and I know that when I live here I can move on and be successful and make my grandmother proud.’
Flynn sighed. ‘I feel like you’re just saying this so I back off.’
‘I’m actually not,’ August laughed. ‘It’s true. I even had my first kiss in front of this house.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
‘It must have been a good kiss to want to live in front of the memory of it?’ he asked.
‘Yuck, no, it was horrible – wait, was your first kiss good? Did you have a movie-version of a first kiss?’
‘My first kiss was okay; the back of my hand is pretty sexy. But if yours was such a bad memory, why would you want to live somewhere you’d have to stare at that spot every day?’
‘I said it was a badkiss, not a bad memory,’ August said, wagging a finger at Flynn. ‘You’re not getting me to back down that easily. This is my greatest aspiration; you could live in a million other houses.’
‘I need somewhere to live now – this is my last hope.’
‘You’re in a hotel.’
‘But I can’t stay there for ever, and I’m out of time to house-hunt.’
‘There’s always time. We all have the same number of hours in the day as Beyoncé,’ August reasoned. ‘Anyway, I can’t stay where I am because there are too many memories wrapped up there with my ex-boyfriend.’ The twitching at the corners of her mouth gave away that this wasn’t necessarily the entire truth.
‘That’s a shame,’ Flynn concurred. ‘But I went to the doctor who told me my jet lag may never pass if I’m kept awake by the stress of not having a home to call my own.’
‘That’s not a thing,’ August cried. ‘You’ll be over your jet lag in like, three days. I however, may never get over my ex-boyfriend. Not unless I can move out of there and into here.’
Flynn shook his head. ‘My hotel room has a ghost. A poltergeist actually. It keeps throwing things at me at night – little bottles of shampoo, the TV remote. I need to get out of there before it does me any serious damage.’
