A Change for the Better? (6 page)

The flat at the top was the two bed-roomed one, although the second bedroom was little more than a box room. The flat itself had “a lot of character,” as Mo said, or as Katie said “a heap of slanted ceilings and wonky walls”. Its current inhabitants were Bradley and Tamsin Dixon, who according to Mo’s notes were newly married and friends of the earth. Katie knocked on the door but received no reply so she eventually stuck a note under the door

Tolpuddle House Get-Together

Next Thursday 16th at 7pm

Just Bring Yourselves

Katie C

Turning round in the small landing Katie noticed that the garish carpet that had disappeared from the lower floors was still laid in all its glory up here, and as there was no sunlight reaching this part of the stairwell it was still vivid in the reds, browns and oranges of the original
colours
. Maybe this was all part of the character Mo had been talking about! Carefully making her way back down to the first floor Katie surveyed the landing. This was a much more restful area with a light beige carpet and magnolia walls, nothing very striking but nothing to make you feel dizzy either.

There were three bed-sits, or studio flats as the estate agent called them, off this landing. Katie knocked on flat 1A first, this was Poppy’s flat and she could hear the muffled beat of music coming from within letting her know that Poppy must be at home. Sure enough she could soon hear someone moving things about inside and swearing at regular intervals until the door eventually opened.

As soon as Poppy saw Katie she grinned, “Quick come in - I thought it was Hermy come to invite me to some worthy event again or to offer me a selection of lace covers for my furniture.” Katie squeezed into the flat and attempted to find a place to stand. This was by no means easy as almost every available piece of floor was covered in drawings, material, discarded clothes or boxes containing all of the above.

“Sorry about the mess but I don’t work very well in a neat and tidy place. I’ve got a couple of projects to finish and I needed some inspiration” Poppy said by way of an explanation.

“
It’s
fine” Katie replied “look I won’t keep you long but I just wanted to let you know I’m having a house get-together next Thursday at 7pm, so I just wanted to make sure you could come.”

“Oh excellent” Poppy rubbed her hands together with glee “I’m fine for next Thursday. Are you doing the cheese scones and the coffee cake?”

“Um well I hadn’t quite decided what the menu was yet” Katie hesitated and saw Poppy’s face fall, she really was as transparent as a five year old, with all her enthusiasm and innocence, and every bit as
persuasive. “But of course” Katie continued “if that’s what you’d like, I’m sure I can knock something together.” Katie was rewarded with that beaming smile again, transforming Poppy’s features.

“Oh great, I can’t wait. Are you off to see Hermy and Guy next?” Poppy asked.

“Yes, I haven’t had a chance to meet them yet so I thought I should introduce myself.”

“Well, Hermy’s in 1B and Guy’s in 1C. I didn’t mean to be rude about Hermy before, she means well and she’s kind hearted it’s just sometimes she’s a bit much. I don’t really know Guy - computer geek, never really speaks; no trouble though.”  Poppy shut the door behind Katie, who smiling ruefully thought that most of the trouble probably came from Poppy, unintentionally of course, but she reminded Katie of a puppy bounding about with no idea of the destruction it was leaving behind in its wake but you couldn’t help but love it anyway.

Looking around the landing Katie decided to try Hermione’s flat first and rapped a couple of times on the door. A few seconds later the door was opened by a slightly nervous looking lady, who looked about fifty
but was probably slightly younger, she had clearly taken to dressing from Mary Allen’s Ladies Fashions and it added years to her appearance. She was wearing a tweed skirt, lace blouse with a bow, sensible shoes all below a very severe bun into which her hair was scraped with absolutely no chance of escape. As she opened the door wider Katie was struck by the complete contrast of Hermione’s flat to Poppy’s. Despite its tiny proportions the place was absolutely spotless with nothing left lying around or out of place. There wasn’t a great deal of furniture in the room, a sofa, a chair, sideboard, TV and coffee table but it was all set at right angles to each other, polished and covered in cloths and antimacassars to protect it. Taking in the curtains and cushions it seemed that Hermione, like Mo, was no stranger to chintz. All her belongings seemed a little old and worn, but were clearly all lovingly cared for. The smell of polish hung in the air and there was not a speck of dust to be seen.

After introductions were exchanged and Hermione enquired after Mo’s health, Katie issued the invitation to the ‘get-together’ and Hermione replied,

“I’d be delighted to attend. How kind of you to think of it. Of course I have a committee meeting at five, but I’ll be back by seven. Thursday
will be lovely.”

Hermione rattled on in this vain for a bit longer and Katie listened with a polite smile. It was clear that Hermione was a kind person involved in many committees and good works, but for all that she seemed a bit lonely and a little shy which made her appear nervous and to talk rather more than required. Hermione invited Katie to numerous meetings and charity events but she managed not to commit herself to any of them without appearing rude and after twenty minutes managed to make an exit back to the calm surroundings of the landing. “Just one more to go” Katie thought, Guy Masters, computer geek, not very enticing for someone whose IT interest started and finished with surfing the net for gossip or bargain designer gear. Katie used computers all day long at work, had a Blackberry and an
iPad
. She loved what they could do for her to make life and work easier but she was not remotely interested in talking RAM, megabytes, pixels or networks. In the past she’d simply ask the IT department or the pale skinned assistant at the computer superstore. Still she’d promised Mo she’d invite everyone, so she would! Knocking purposefully on the door she waited as she heard an irritated sigh behind the door and then the latch turn.

“Yes” came the less than promising start from Guy as he opened the
door. Katie paused, open mouthed for a minute; the man in front of her was not the stereotypical computer expert she had expected. He was over 6ft, but well built, dark hair, no glasses and fairly good looking too. In fact apart from the obligatory pale skin of the computer enthusiast, gained by too many days and nights spent in front of a flickering screen, instead of in the fresh air, he seemed a pretty regular guy, did Guy. Katie smiled at her own joke and then smiled again more purposefully at Guy.

“Hello, I’m Katie Collins, Mo’s granddaughter. I’m having a bit of a house get-together next Thursday night. I just wanted to ask if you’d like to come.”

“Er, I don’t know, I’m not really into social gatherings” he replied noncommittally. Katie viewed this as a challenge. She wasn’t going to let this man refuse, no, she would turn on the charm and soon have him eating out of her hand.

“Oh but Guy, may I call you Guy, it will only be a few of us from the house and it wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there.”

Guy looked slightly bewildered as she continued; “it’ll just be a bit of
fun for us all to get to know one another a bit better.” With this Katie flashed her killer smile, to leave Guy with the feeling that it was, in fact, only him who she wanted to know better.

“Well of course, I don’t want to be rude” he answered curtly and in complete contrast to his words, “I’ll pop in as long as I don’t get a call out or anything” with that he shut the door almost in Katie’s face. Feeling a little foolish Katie took a step back, although he was no Adonis, Katie liked to think she could make an impression on a man when she wanted to and Guy’s apparent imperviousness to her winning smile and slightly flirtatious manner was, in all honesty, a bit deflating. It seemed Katie was turning into a dab hand at repelling men at the moment. It didn’t bode well for the future!

The following Thursday afternoon Katie was busy in the kitchen preparing the food for the house gathering that evening. She was well
organised
and already a large part of the menu, approved by Mo at her hospital visit on Saturday afternoon, was ready or in the range cooking. They had finally settled on a simple finger buffet that everyone could eat without the need for sitting down or knives and forks. That way everyone could mingle around the table and through the rest of the room without being in danger of landing a forkful of food onto someone else. At many of the corporate events Katie had organized at Dawson, Phillips & Chamberlain there had often been near fisticuffs over an unexpected forkful of tomato pasta or two, landing unceremoniously on someone’s Giorgio Armani!

Katie had prepared crudités of carrot, cucumber, celery and apple served with homemade dips of cheese & chive and yoghurt & cucumber, cheese straws (and scones for Poppy), brioche stuffed with cream cheese and smoked ham, freshly baked bread sliced and buttered with a variety of toppings of pate, cheese and cooked meats, but nothing too
‘slippy
’ to land unexpectedly in someone else’s lap. Katie had also made mini quiches and sausage rolls for the meat eaters,
cheese & onion for the veggies. In addition she had made the promised coffee cake and added a tray of oatmeal honey flapjack. She had just put the white wine and orange juice in the fridge to chill and the re
d wine was on the side to acclimatise when the front door bell echoed through the house. Cursing under her breath as she really didn’t want a distraction now, she grabbed a towel and rubbed her hands quickly on it, ran them through her hair to straighten it out, make it more presentable. Opening the door she found Ben Wilson on the other side crouched down inspecting the lower part of the door frame.

“Er hi, was I expecting you?” Katie asked

“Well sort of - I said I’d let you know when I found a door suitable for Tolpuddle House, which I have, and I have a couple of hours to spare so I can put it on now if that’s ok?” Ben responded with what Katie presumed he thought was his ‘winning’ smile.

“Well I don’t know, I mean I do want the door sorting out but a bit of notice would’ve been appreciated.”
Katie paused, feeling a bit ungracious, after all, the guy was doing her a favour “but sure it’ll be great to get it fixed.”
Grinning even more broadly Ben stepped inside producing a toolbox that had been hidden round the corner

“Good, I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll just get on and you can get back to your cooking.” Katie’s indignation rose up straight away

“Cooking, what makes you think I’m cooking, you chauvinist, just because I’m a woman at home during the day I must be cooking or cleaning or watching talk shows on TV I suppose” she snapped.

“Well yes all that of course, - and your hair” Ben replied gesturing to the top of Katie’s head. Swinging round quickly to look in mirror, too late Katie realised that in running her fingers through her hair she had deposited a few streaks of flour and also had a fair sprinkling across her nose and cheeks. Quickly rubbing them away she spoke with what she hoped was dignity and disdain

“Absolutely, I’ll leave you to get on. Just give me a shout if you need anything. The kitchen’s just through here.” She pointed through the open door on the left hand side of the hall.

“Yes, I know my way about; I’ve done quite a bit of work for Mo in the past.” Ben informed her as he started to remove tools from his box. He looked up just as she was about to disappear he added “it wasn’t just
your hair you know, the smell of freshly baked bread is everywhere - it’s making me quite hungry.” he winked and rubbed his stomach as he spoke. Katie turned towards the kitchen but couldn’t help a smile crossing her face. Ben Wilson was just as annoying, cheeky and funny as he had been twenty years ago. Never mind, she thought, I’ll get my own back when he least expects it and then Katie realised she too was a lot more like herself twenty years ago – really, he definitely brought out the worst in her.

For the next hour Katie polished glasses, set the big kitchen table and finished up the food preparation for the evening, to the accompaniment of various bangs, crashes and sawing noises from the hallway and also the occasional burst of song when things were going well and a few mutterings when things clearly weren’t. As she’d done everything she needed to in preparation for the house guests, she decided to put the kettle on and made Ben and herself a mug of tea. Shouting through the doorway she asked if he took sugar, just one came back the reply and just as she was about to ask if he wanted the tea bringing through Ben stuck his head round the corner.