April
The morning
after Chloe Bulman, cried herself to sleep, Kenny
Barnhill was up early and went round to the bakery in Church Road and
picked up fresh croissants.
As he returned
to Caxton Court he could see the lights were on in her flat so when he reached
the door to flat 2b, he rang the bell.
After a minute
or two she opened it looking like she hadn’t slept in a week.
“Come on sleepy
head, croissants and coffee” Kenny said.
“Not for me
Kenny” she said.
“No to
croissant?” he said and putting his hand to his chest as if he was having a
heart attack.
“Not today,”
she said.
“I won’t take
no for an answer, so get your dressing gown on” he ordered her.
Reluctantly she
did as he instructed and followed him into his flat.
“Do we have to
do this this morning?” she asked, “I really don’t feel up to it.”
“Yes, we do
need to do it now” Kenny said, “and when you’ve heard what I have to say you’ll
understand why.”
“Ok give me
some coffee” she said resignedly.
After he had
poured two mugs of strong black coffee he sat down and began.
“I think I have
a solution to your problem.”
“Oh, yes? and
what might that be” she asked doubtfully.
“I think you
should give up your flat and move in here” he said.
“What?” Chloe
asked scarcely believing her ears.
“Give up your
flat and move into my spare room” he elaborated.
“But that’s a
ridiculous idea” she said.
“Is it?” Kenny
said.
“Well, isn’t
it?” Chloe asked back.
“Look we eat
together most nights; we watch TV together most nights” he explained.
“And you only
use your flat as a bedroom and dressing room anyway.”
“Yes but” she
interrupted.
“And my spare
room is almost as big as your whole flat” Kenny added.
“Yes, I know,
but” she persisted.
“I’ll continue
to pay the rent, and we can split the bills for the utilities” Kenny concluded.
“Well, I…” she began.
“And here’s the
clincher, with the money we both save we might finally get that holiday we’ve
always talked about” Kenny said.
“Greece?” she
asked.
“Greece” he
replied.
“Ok” she agreed
“now give me a croissant.”
Kenny and Chloe
had often talked about a foreign holiday, not that they ever thought they’d
actually achieve it, it was planned more in a fanciful way.
Neither of them
had been abroad or even owned a passport for that matter.
At first, they
spoke in general terms but over the years they had narrowed their search and
had decided on Greece as the object of their dreams, or more precisely a Greek
Island.
The particular
Greek island was unspecified as of that moment when Kenny invited Chloe to move
in; their only stipulation was that it mustn’t have its own airport.
The reasoning
for that was that it would limit the number of binge drinking lager louts.
Later that day
they were sitting in his flat, looking through old holiday magazines.
“Are you sure?”
Chloe asked.
“Sure, about
what?” he replied.
“Me moving in”
she explained.
“Never more so”
Kenny said.
He leant over
and kissed her forehead and said.
“So have you
seen anything you fancy?”
“Andros” she
replied instantly and handed him the magazine, and after reading the article in
detail he replied.
“Andros it is
then.”
Kenny got up
and switched on his laptop and went online, he typed in the address and
navigated around until he found the relevant page.
“Here we go,”
he said, and Chloe moved closer.
“It will be
cheaper if we go before the school summer holidays.”
“June” Chloe
said, “that will give us more time to save, and we’ll get our Easter bank
holiday pay in May.”
“Ok” he said, “two
weeks in June.”
“Two weeks?”
she asked, “can we afford two weeks?”
“Oh” she said
as he pointed at the figure on the screen “Two weeks then.”
“So that’s our
target” he said and bookmarked the page.
“We’re really
going, aren’t we?” she said and giggled.
“Indeed” Kenny
concurred “We are taking our search for love and romance on the road, so to
speak.”
“Hooray” Chloe
yelled and danced around.
“Let’s open a
bottle to celebrate” Kenny suggested.
“Let’s not” she
said, “Lets save the money and open one in Andros.”
“Damn you’re so
sensible” he said.
On Monday
morning Chloe gave notice on her flat and over the following month she
completed the move into Kenny’s flat.
This involved
helping him clear the spare room and redecorating it, they then had to decide
what she would take from the old flat and what would be dumped or sold.
She and Kenny
then gave her flat a thorough clean and they were rewarded by the return of her
deposit in full which meant she could clear her bills and put the remainder
straight into the holiday fund.
As of the 30th of November, she was properly moved in and there was no turning back because the day after a new tenant moved into her old flat.
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