Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,55
property attachments to look at from the estate agents websites. Making herself a quick meal, she read through them all and devised a list of favourites starting with the area, because that was the most important consideration, followed by price, and the size of the kitchens.
Lisa rang to chat and she told her that she was making a list of favourites in readiness for when she received her settlement.
“But darling, what are you waiting for?” she asked in her usual outlandish manner. “I mean, you know you’ll definitely be buying somewhere, it’s only the amount of money that could change. So why not go ahead and view them straight away?”
“Well…” Katie said, “I suppose I could view them now without making any concrete offers. And at least the vendors would know I was interested.”
Lisa puffed and breathed heavily down the phone. “Sorry, I’m doing my Pilates on the bedroom floor. Of course you could, and then if you narrow your list down to the top three you can go back for second viewings straight away without losing any time.”
Katie excitedly agreed and then suddenly felt quite anxious. It wasn’t so much about the viewings but what if she made a bad decision and bought the wrong flat? In this market whatever she bought would be really hard to sell-on. She shook herself realising Lisa was talking about different considerations for flats and whether neighbours should be above or underneath and decided her self-confidence had definitely taken a dip since she’d left Tim. She knew she’d always felt more confident when he was by her side.
Cautiously she asked, “Lisa would you come with me to look at them? It’s just, well, it’s a big decision and because Tim’s not around…”
“I thought you’d never ask,” she said laughing. “I love looking around places and we’ll drag mother hen along with us just in case we get over excited and she has to keep our feet firmly on the floor.”
Katie smiled at Lisa’s pet name for Sarah and knew out of the three of them Sarah was the most cautious about her new plans but this she decided wasn’t a bad thing because it would keep her grounded and realistic about what was achievable. Ending the call with a promise to text her with Saturdays schedule of viewings she then rang Sarah with the invite.
By Wednesday, and after numerous emails ping-ponging between her and the estate agents, she had a plan of her four favourite flats to view starting with the first one late on Saturday morning and then the other three appointments after they’d had lunch in the bistro. On more than one occasion that week she prayed the contact from Graham or Tim wouldn’t take too long so she could have a financial figure in her mind to work with and surprisingly on Friday afternoon when she returned to the flat a long white envelope was waiting for her.
She recognised Graham’s handwriting on the envelope and ran up the stairs two at a time struggling with her key in the lock because her hands were trembling with excitement. Ripping the envelope open she skim-read the details about how long she’d been at the apartment, how much money she’d contributed on a monthly basis, and how much hard work, time, and effort she’d spent upon the beautiful decor. She gasped in awe at the final figure on the bottom of the document and the cheque that fluttered out of the bottom half of the folded paper onto the carpet.
Oh my God, she thought retrieving it and looking again at the unbelievable figure. This was more, so much more than she’d expected and was thrilled and then humbled at Grahams generosity. A lump the size of a boulder gathered in the back of her throat and tears came to her eyes when she read the last three lines added by Lynne in her elegant handwriting. She wished her well, and said she would miss her terribly and how sad she was that Katie would not be her daughter-in-law. Her cheeks were soaked with tears at the jolt back to three weeks ago and she slumped down onto the settee. Her new look-forward resolve crashed around her into little pieces and she sobbed and cried her heart out.
Katie met Lisa and Sarah the next morning outside the first property on Oakland’s Road. She’d wound a thick scarf around her neck and wore her wool winter jacket because although it was dry the wind was