Page 61 of Out of the Shadows
DANIEL
We walk along the busy high road before turning off into the quieter side streets towards our homes. Shoulders and arms nudge into each other, not consciously touching, although I don’t think there’s anything unconscious about it either. There are few people out, on a cold weekday evening. I hesitate to take his hand, and I’m both disappointed and guiltily relieved when he makes no attempt to take mine.
We reach the street where my house is, first.
“I love the houses in this street.” He looks around at the mix of Georgian and Regency townhouses. “Although it’s not really a street, is it, it’s more like a little square. I always tell myself when I grow up I’ll buy one of these.”
I’ve had my house for about eighteen months, eighteen months when I’ve been living just minutes away from Cosmo and I wonder how we’ve never bumped into each other. London may be a huge and sprawling metropolis, but this little part of Clapham has a distinct village feel to it.
We come to a stop by the steps that lead up to my front door, and my skin prickles with awkward self-consciousness as all those jokes about coming up for coffee suddenly loom large. And it can just be coffee, there’s no reason why it should be anything else… I switch my brief case from hand to hand, as I shuffle from foot to foot.
“My caffeine of choice is a sweet and frothy cappuccino which must shatter your Italian soul because that’s a breakfast time only drink I believe.”
“Not shatters, just fractures. I’m only half Italian, remember?”
“I think you’re now supposed to open the door,” Cosmo says, when I don’t move. “I want to check you haven’t got red spiral patterned carpets, velour covered sofas, or even a print of that picture above your electric bar fireplace of the woman with the green face. If I’m dating I want to make sure I’m not dating somebody who’s got the aesthetic taste of a serial killer.”
“Serial killer?”
“Yes. Of course.” He looks at me with wide incredulous eyes before he smiles. “But also, in case you’ve not noticed, it’s starting to rain and I really don’t fancy standing here getting soggy around the edges. But if you’d rather I didn’t come in, that us having dinner this evening is enough, for now…” His sharp wit and his brashness wobble, which somehow helps to settle my own nerves.
“Come on. Can’t let you get soggy, can I?”
He gives me a grin, follows me up the steps and inside.
“Oh wow.”
He looks around at the large hallway with its black and white tiled floor. His wide-eyed reaction is a reminder of how impressive it is.
It’s a large space, almost a room within itself. Up ahead, the stairway with its ornate wooden balustrade curls up to the next two floors. At the end of the hallway, and down a handful of steps, is my huge, sleek kitchen. There are two reception rooms, and I head to the one where I spend most of my time when I’m at home, which isn’t much time at all.
I don’t get further than a couple of steps before an uneven, staggering shape makes its way along the tiled floor accompanied by a plaintive mewling.
“What’s that?”
I look from the scruffy ambling shape coming towards me, to Cosmo. And well may he ask.
“That, or rather he, is Wallace. My cat. Oh, you’re not allergic, are you?”
Cosmo shakes his head. “No. I grew up in a house full of animals. Dogs mainly but we also had cats. And rabbits and guinea pigs. But I’ve got to say Wallace doesn’t look like any of them.”
It would be easy to be offended by his comments if he wasn’t looking at Wallace with an indulgent smile.
“I suppose he is a little unusual looking.”
I scoop Wallace up in my arms — and he’s most definitely a Wallace, and not a Wally, despite Geraldine’s attempts to make him so — and tickle him on the stump that was once his right ear. The left one isn’t that much better. I’m rewarded, as I knew I would be, with a deep and rumbly purr and a quick lick from his long pink tongue which catches the edge of my chin.
“Poor thing. He looks like he’s been in the wars, but he also looks like a tough old nut otherwise he wouldn’t be here.”
Cosmo’s words make me smile but they also make me feel warm inside. I’ve had Wallace for years. He was an ugly kitten who turned into an ugly cat who had attitude to spare and his many and various war wounds are testament to that. He is a tough old nut who doesn’t like people very much, and people don’t like him.
“I’m not sure I’ve seen such an ugly cat. Just saying, no offence or anything. But I like ugly animals because they always seem to have more character. They have to try harder I suppose. Freddie and Elliot have this little dog called Jasper, and you can’t get much uglier than him. He farts, sleeps and eats, in that order, but he’s kind of okay.” Cosmo’s lips turn up in an affectionate smile. “Can I hold Wallace?”
“Best not. He’s not good with anybody other than me. You’re more likely to come away with scratches than a welcoming purr.”
“Try me.”
I’m unsure, but Wallace doesn’t react when Cosmo steps in and rubs his hand over his fur, or at least where there is fur because Wallace’s bald patches seem to be becoming balder by the day. I’m ready to pull him away as soon as I sense any antagonism but instead he meows and I stare in surprise as Wallace pushes his scrunchy little face into Cosmo’s palm.
