Page 15 of Her Fixer Upper

Charlie sounded surprised. ‘If you think you can get us a table, then fine.’

‘It’s a Monday night. How many people go out for dinner on a Monday?’

* * *

It turned out, quite a few. And as we were shown to our table in a dimly lit corner of the restaurant, I understood why.

‘This was a mistake. I didn’t realise it was Valentine’s Day,’ I muttered, mortified as the waiter motioned for me to sit down on a chair which was festooned with heart-shaped helium balloons. Charlie ducked his head to avoid colliding with the particularly nauseating Cupid decoration that was dangling from the ceiling. He waited to reply until we’d been handed the menus, which were on pink paper and reeked of some kind of synthetic floral scent.

‘I don’t know how you can have missed it. I would have thought you’d be overwhelmed with offers tonight,’ he teased.

‘All I cared about was that it’s half term and I have slightly more time to do my marking than usual. The rest passed me by in a blur. So that’s why Leila was MIA. No wonder the restaurant said they could only fit us in for the early sitting. I hope I didn’t spoil any of your plans?’ I suddenly realised that I didn’t even know if Charlie had a significant other. I’d assumed he didn’t because otherwise, why would he be buying with me? But then again he might be seeing someone and just not be at the moving-in stage yet.

He brushed away my comment. ‘Plans can wait. The house is the important thing. Or rather it will be, once I’ve had something to eat. I’m starving. Now by the looks of the pizza that couple over there has been served, the portions are massive. Do you want to go fifty-fifty on a veggie feast with me?’

‘Just because we’re surrounded by couples, it doesn’t mean we need to start sharing food. I’ll stick with my usual choice, the ravioli, thanks all the same. Anyway, stop trying to distract me. We need to talk about what’s next.’ I took out a printed copy of the survey, which I’d marked up with highlighter pen – there was a lot of neon red for danger – and put it down on the table with a thud. ‘The thing is, Charlie, we neither of us know what we’re doing. You’re a social media manager and I’m a teacher. Our professions don’t exactly give us any transferrable skills which we could use on a building site. And I don’t know about you, but I barely have the time to function outside work, let alone adding construction into the mix. When it was a matter of ripping out a few cupboards and painting the walls, that was one thing. It would still have been a challenge, but an achievable one. But this, this is stress on a different scale. I mean—’

I broke off as the waiter sashayed over to take our order.

‘Today is the day foramore, not for arguing,’ he said softly.

‘Oh we’re not—’ I started, but Charlie interrupted.

‘You’re absolutely right. We should be enjoying the atmosphere in this beautiful place. My fiancée is just feeling the stress about our wedding plans. Not long to go now,’ he said, flashing me an infuriating smile.

I glared back at him.

‘Congratulations, congratulations. I’m so glad that you came here to enjoy some time together before the big day. Let me fetch you some dough balls, on the house,’ said the waiter.

‘That would be lovely,’ said Charlie, before I could say anything.

I seethed internally while the waiter took the rest of our order. As soon as he hurried off to the kitchen I confronted Charlie.

‘First at the broker’s, now at the restaurant. You really need to stop this stupid fake fiancée game, Charlie. Our life isn’t one of Granddad’s Mills and Boon books. And to swindle free dough balls from the restaurant as well, that’s really underhand behaviour.’

‘Relax, Freya, it was a joke. It was only meant to be a bit of fun. The waiter would be disappointed to learn that he’s given the most romantic table in the restaurant to a pair who aren’t even a couple, and as for the dough balls, if you’d read the menu properly, you’d realise that everyone is being given them as a freebie for Valentine’s Day. But I’m sorry for messing around again and upsetting you. That wasn’t my intention at all.’

The genuineness of his apology rather took the wind out of my sails.

‘I suppose free dough balls are not to be sniffed at.’

‘Exactly. I promise not to do it again. You will have sensible Charlie at your disposal from here on in. Now, shall we turn to the matter in hand? What is it about the survey that’s worrying you?’

‘It might be more accurate to ask what isn’t worrying me. I couldn’t even understand half the technical jargon within the report. I know we’ve both spent a fair bit of money pursuing things to this point, but it’s not too late to change our minds. Perhaps it’s best we do that now, before we get any further. I still think the principle of us buying together works, but I’m sure there’s another place we could find which would be a better solution for both of us.’

‘I thought you liked Oak Tree Cottage?’ asked Charlie, as the dough balls arrived, complete with a pat of garlic butter in the shape of two interlocking hearts. I noticed he quickly destroyed the shape with his knife, perhaps worried it might set me off again.

‘I do like it,’ I said, picturing the tumbledown property and once again imagining what it could look like. Despite everything, there was something about the cottage that called to me, that said ‘home’. I firmly corrected myself. It was a house with investment potential and it didn’t have to become a home. ‘But liking it isn’t enough. We’ve got to be rational about this, much as the thought of having to back out frustrates me.’

‘It’s not all bad news. The walls aren’t falling down. And the roof is mostly intact,’ Charlie pointed out.

‘Hmm, but even so… The amount of stuff that needs fixing means that we’d have to seek professional help. How are we going to make the budget stretch to cover all this?’ I waved the survey report at him.

‘Look, let’s not be too hasty. The survey is a huge shock, but the mortgage company haven’t backed out of the deal, which has to be a positive sign. Surveyors are always over-cautious because they have to cover their backs. Equally, the bank has to be careful about where it lends money, but as it’s still happy to go ahead, then Oak Tree Cottage can’t be a complete disaster zone.’

‘Yes, but…’

‘But what?’

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