You're all too kind... apart from that wee moody Scot 
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“Ed, I’ve got something to show you?†Catherine came into the office with his mail for the day
“Okay, what is it?â€
“No, I mean I need to show you. If you’re free later today I can show you but it’s out of townâ€
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After she’d spent most of the day pestering him Ed had finally given in, the players had finished training in the early afternoon and, once he’d got his paperwork out of the way, he’d agreed to take a look at whatever it was that was so important.
She’d told him to drive out of town toward the mountains for a few minutes, once they got closer she started to give specific directions until he’d pulled into the driveway of a beautiful house perched right among the bigger foothills – looking up at the full glory of the Pyrenees.
“This place looks kind of familiar†he said as they climbed out of the car “have I been here before?â€
“Erm… kind of†Catherine mumbled, dragging him by the hand “See that house over there?†she pointed at a similar building perhaps three hundred yards away “That’s my parent’s house, you remember – you erm… stayed there after the party?â€
“Catherine, what’s this all about?â€
“Well you said you thought it might be a good idea to move…â€
“Wait a minute, I said I’d thought about it, nothing more, I’m not ready to actually do anything about it. Anyway, this place isn’t up for saleâ€
“No it’s not, but it will be next week unless you don’t want it to beâ€
She explained that the owners, friends of her family, were about to put the property on the market as they were moving East to enjoy the warmer climes of the south coast and the villa that they owned, overlooking the Mediterranean. It was a fantastic looking house, the view of the mountains to the rear was spectacular, and back over his shoulder he could see Pau – the late afternoon sunlight glittering off the river as it wound it’s way down to Lourdes.
After a look around the outside Catherine urged him to follow her as she ran up the steps to the door and knocked, after a couple of minutes a couple came to the door, both in their fifties at his best guess.
“Ahh, Catherine, how are you my girl?â€
“I’m fine monsieur Gomis, this is the man I was telling you aboutâ€
Gomis looked Ed up and down and smiled
“Come in, pleaseâ€
They went inside, the décor was pleasant enough – though not quite to Ed’s taste – and the couple made him feel very welcome. He discussed their plans with them, and what they intended to do with the property.
There was some hesitancy on his part, he knew that it was that part of him that didn’t want to move on, didn’t want to leave the past behind, but he knew that this was the perfect opportunity to do just that. He argued with himself for a while, as Catherine chatted to the owners, and eventually decided to bite the bullet. If you don’t do it now you probably never will, he told himself.
It was difficult to say anything certain, he’d been caught a little cold on this, but he promised the Gomis’ that he’d look into things as soon as possible, and asked them to hold off for a day or two before putting the property on the open market. Certainly the finances shouldn’t be a problem, in fact he could probably sell the villa at Mont-de-Marsan and make a profit on the whole thing, but that would have to wait for a few days.
“You see, I told you it would be worth it didn’t I?†Catherine looked at him enquiringly as they walked back to the car “So you are going to consider it aren’t you?â€
“Yes, you did, and yes I am, but I’m not certain yet it’s a big thing, moving house, I’ll have to think about itâ€
“What’s to think about? It’s perfect, I know it, and you’ll buy itâ€
She’s right, he told himself, you know she is, why not just admit it?. He knew the voice, and knew that it was right – he’d already made his mind up that it was time to bite the bullet, and for what he’d just seen the chances of coming across anything better, at such a good price, were pretty much zero… or less.
â€Like I said, maybe†he smiled
“Okay, whatever you say†she winked “I’ll see you tomorrow, I think I can manage the walk†she said and, giving him a wave, she turned on her heel and jogged down the road toward her parent’s house.
Ed sat in the car, the engine running, and watched her go. She really was a lovely girl, a little too much of the child about her at times but that was part of her charm, it was reminiscent of Sonja in their early days togeth…
Stop it Ed! Don’t start thinking of her like that! his voice said, the problem was – if he was honest – it was probably just a little too late to be suggesting caution on that matter.
