Chapter 4
-Kate-
Kate shifted on her feet as she waited for Anna to open the door. She wished the other girl would hurry up before she lost her nerve. She smoothed down her hair and clothes again. It had been a bit of a walk from the hotel and she was feeling slightly windswept. She ought to have got a cab, she chastised herself. Unkempt hair suggested untidy living, which was not a great advert to somebody you were trying to swap flats with. She just hadn’t been able to resist the chance to walk. In part, she wanted to convince herself that she could still navigate around London; if she was a Londoner by nature if not by birth as she kept telling herself, she should be able to take the side streets without getting lost. She had forgotten that when she actually lived in London she would just have got a cab. It was amazing the excuses she had been able to think of to justify a ten-pound taxi fare, and having neat hair was one of the least tenuous.
It was the London buzz that had really compelled her to walk, though. As she had come out of the tube station on her arrival, she had been hit immediately by the vibrant pulse of the city she had not been to for two years. The scale of the noise and the crowds was much larger than she was used to, but far from being bewildered she breathed it all in, and relaxed. It was like coming home, she thought, re-entering the world of infinite possibilities. She had quickly checked into the hotel and deposited her bags, then bounded out onto the street again, ready to embrace the capital. She had been slightly disappointed to find she was staying in a small hotel off Euston Road rather than somewhere more glamorous in the West End, but the room was clean, it was only for one night, plus Anna was paying so it wasn’t such a bad deal, Kate told herself. Anyway, as a true Londoner, she should be happier staying out here rather than in the dead centre with all the tourists.
She’d furtively snatched a glance at the print-out from Streetmap that she’d brought with her, and set off. She was excited about meeting Anna. She had tried doing a search for her on the internet but her endeavours had yielded little result: there were too many Anna Robertses to choose from. She had ruled out Anna Roberts the curling champion, Anna Roberts the burlesque dancer, and indeed Anna Roberts the wannabe bull-fighter. No real basis for that, just a hunch. So she was going in cold. There would be a lot to find out in that day’s meeting.
Kate had soon found herself outside the door of the block of flats that Anna lived in. She was slightly underwhelmed by the building’s appearance. It was shabby, with paint peeling off the windowsills and scrawls of graffiti on the walls. She noted with distaste that the yard in which the building stood was strewn with litter, and had a pile of discarded furniture in one corner. She wouldn’t fancy going down there on a dark night to put the rubbish out – she only hoped the black metal rat poison containers placed strategically round the walls were actually refilled, although that seemed somewhat optimistic given the general down-at-heel feel the place had. Looking around her, she tried to notice the positive features. In its favour, there were some decent-looking cars parked in the yard, and the location was very good – there were assorted small shops and restaurants on the adjoining road and she had noticed it was only been five minutes’ walk from the tube. She imagined the ease with which one could pop home, change quickly and pop out again to dinner, maybe grabbing an emergency pint of milk on the way back. A far cry from the current reliance on cars and infrequent bus services in Kielder and Portsmouth. Besides, having seen a range of properties in her time renting, she knew the outside décor may just mean a landlord who took a relatively relaxed view of his obligations or an overstretched council, and that the inside may be a hidden gem. Accordingly, she had convinced herself to press the appropriate buzzer to announce her arrival and waited for Anna to appear, smoothing down her hair and clothes and composing her features for a greeting to ensure the impression she made was a good one.
The door opened. There was the customary moment before identities were confirmed and greetings were exchanged to allow the two women to appraise each other. Kate took in what she saw. In front of her was a willowy brunette, wavy long hair flicked back from a long slim, naturally made-up face, wearing a stylish but low-key combination of a loose white linen shirt and combat trousers. Kate mentally regretted her choice of the more formal dress and the impact the wind had made on her neatly straightened hair, which she saw the other woman take in with a hint of a supercilious raise of a perfectly groomed eyebrow. Still, they were the same build, and although Kate had gone for a slightly more high maintenance style than the other woman, she had made a considerable effort getting ready that morning and knew that overall she looked good – or at least would do when out of the wind. Neil would have been proud.
Having apparently completed her assessment, the other woman brought a smile to her features and held out her hand.
“Hi – Kate? I’m Anna. Glad you found me OK. Come in.”
Kate shook the proffered hand firmly, and followed Anna upstairs, taking in the common areas of the building while responding to Anna’s predictable but courteous questions about the journey and the hotel. The building was slightly more presentable inside than out, although the carpets were somewhat worn and the paint at the bottom of the walls was scuffed, presumably knocked by the comings and goings of furniture and bags that marked the rental market. Anna stopped on the second floor and unlocked the door.
“Welcome!” she said, looking back to Kate. “Let me give you the grand tour and then we’ll sit down and talk it all through.”
Kate was pleased to find that her supposition had been correct. The flat itself was an immense improvement on the building’s exterior. Anna led her through to a large open-plan living room and kitchen, with the hardwood floors and artistic lighting that had come to typify the image of a desirable London residence. It was furnished in neutral colours, with a simple but stylish wooden dining table and chairs and comfortable-looking tan leather sofa. The kitchen surfaces were made of what looked like granite.
“It’s all fake, of course,” cautioned Anna, following Kate’s gaze. “I like cooking but there’s a limit to how much rent I can pay – the landlord clearly did a good job with some plastic coating!” Kate smiled understandingly, and they moved through to the next room. Anna opened the door onto a double bedroom.
“This is my room,” she explained. “The bed takes up a fair bit of space but it’s so important to have a double, I think – it would just be such a demoralising admission of singleness otherwise!”
Kate nodded her agreement, only half listening, trying to take in as much of the flat as she could. True, the room was slightly on the small side, she thought, but it had been furnished with exemplary taste, almost like a show home with its complementary shades of blue on the walls and bedclothes, and abstract print hanging above the bed. There was a mirror hanging over the dressing table by the bed, and full-length mirrors on the wardrobe – Anna was clearly a girl who liked to look good, and Kate could easily imagine herself getting ready to go out with friends or into London. Kate came out of her thoughts to see Anna scrutinising her quizzically.
“Sorry!” started Kate. “Just thinking what it would be like to live here.”
“Well, that’s the idea,” bantered Anna, looking pleased that Kate was giving due consideration to the proposition. “I love having the big wardrobes. I would stick some of my clothes in the loft to make way for you – I know the idea is to do a swap, but I think perhaps swapping clothes would be a step too far, don’t you?” continued Anna, looking Kate up and down. Kate felt vaguely offended by this glance, and moreover that she was meant to, but then pulled herself together – it would indeed be strange and perhaps a little unhygienic and uncomfortable to wear a stranger’s clothes. True, as she had noted earlier they were of roughly same build, but that did not mean their clothes would fit each other in all respects.
“Come through to the next room,” Anna instructed her.
Anna took Kate through to the bathroom. It was small, but again elegantly executed, with a powerful looking shower hanging over the bath, with tiny eggshell and beige tiles on the