Page 54 of Come Back To Me

“This one is going to go very fast,” she says, walking toward the lifts. “Being so centrally located and all. It’s just a short distance from the Tube and there are some wonderful restaurants and shopping nearby.”

I take in the chandeliers, the heavy wood paneling, and the crisp uniform of the doormen.

“I’m afraid there’s quite a long application process as well,” she says. “Only the cream of the crop allowed in here.” She glances back at us to see if we’re afraid.

I nod solemnly. When her back is turned I make a face at Ethan.

We get off on the seventh floor and she leads us down a wide carpeted hallway, stopping at 37G. She types into a keypad and there is a click as the door opens.

“Keypad entry,” she says over her shoulder like we were too daft to notice.

The space is 1,200 square feet of perfect. Weoohandahhas we walk through the small rooms and come to a stop in the kitchen. Three identical windows face the Eye, the Thames spread out before it, glittering like black magic. I give Ethan a look. Ethan gives me a look.

“Can we afford it?” I ask softly, doing a tally of money and bills in my head.

He smiles like that’s the silliest question in the world.

“Yes, Yara. Do you want it?” he asks.

“Very much so, but shouldn’t we look at some others? It seems so hasty to jump into the first thing we see.” I glance at the agent who is pretending to investigate a cabinet while she eavesdrops.

“That doesn’t sound like you at all,” he says. “You’re a see it, want it person. Usually you’ve decided within the first few minutes.”

He’s right, of course. I knew the minute I walked in that there would be no need to look further.

“I suppose I’m trying to be responsible,” I tell him. “Not so hasty.”

“No. Don’t change. The way you’re sure about everything makes me sure too.”

“All right then,” I say, looking at Lucinda. “We’ll take it.”

She nods.

“So how did you two meet?” she asks as she pulls an application from the folder she’s holding.

“I was working the corner,” I said. “I had a brown wig on that day and he picked me up in his convertible and took me to a hotel to fuck me. We just hit it off, you know? Been together ever since.”

Ethan’s eyes are wide, his hands shoved in his pockets. I don’t know if he wants to laugh or chastise me, but he plays along, nodding his head.

Lucinda looks from one of us to the other, her doughy face strained. It’s like the dumb bitch has never seenPretty Woman.

“Thank you,” Ethan says, breaking the silence. He pulls the application from her fingers. I shrug and wander over to the window to watch the Eye in her slow rotation.

It’s time to stop waiting, isn’t it? To be ready. For life to start. I’m not even sure what I was waiting for. Very soon I will see David, and then I can say a proper goodbye and get on with my life. He deserves that and I do as well. I made mistakes in my youth, but it is time to move forward.

Ethan and I take the flat. Or we fill out an application and turn it in with our twenty quid, hopeful and positive. He is positive because he wants the flat. I am positive because I want to want the flat.

When Posey questions my lackluster enthusiasm I freak out on her.

“Oh my God! I want the flat, I freaking want the flat, all right?”

“But, do you want the flat alone or with Ethan?” she asks me.

I have to think about that one for a minute.

“You’re evil,” I tell her. “And I hate you.”

“It’s okay to be you, Yara,” she says. “The people who love you will work with your shortcomings, not against them.”

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