Jamie Holland - One Thing Leads to Another

For Rachel

Cover

Title Page JAMIE HOLLAND One Thing Leads To Another

PART ONE: summer PART ONE summer

chapter one: The Beginning of Summer and a Pact is Made

chapter two: A Promising Encounter on the Piccadilly Line

chapter three: La Vita è Bella

chapter four: Geordie and Jessica have Dinner at Tommy Byng’s

chapter five: La Vita è Bella Part Two

chapter six: Ponderings on Love

chapter seven: Money – Or the Lack of It

chapter eight: A Sunny Afternoon in Richmond (and a Bit in Borehamwood)

chapter nine: Summer Games

chapter ten: In the Footsteps of Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman

chapter eleven: Stag Party

chapter twelve: Families

chapter thirteen: Playing Away

chapter fourteen: Jessica Eats Modern European

chapter fifteen: Eddie Fussle Gets Married

PART TWO: autumn

chapter sixteen: Long Weekend in Cornwall

chapter seventeen: Jessica’s Turn to Feel Disgruntled

chapter eighteen: Flin’s Annus Grows More Horribilis

chapter nineteen: Nadir

PART THREE: winter

chapter twenty: Ring in the New

chapter twenty-one: Jessica Starts to Realize her Plan

chapter twenty-two: Birthday Surprise

PART FOUR: spring

chapter twenty-three: A Life Beyond London

chapter twenty-four: It’s Always Good to Pause and Reflect

chapter twenty-five: Renaissance

chapter twenty-six: May 24 and Back at the Atlas

postscript

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading

Copyright

About the Publisher

Outside in the pub garden, it was still light, and surprisingly warm. It was the first time they had been able to sit outside that year, and the three of them were making the most of summer’s arrival.

‘OK then,’ said Jessica, laying her hands decisively on the table and looking at Flin and Geordie in turn, ‘we’re agreed. Yes?’

Geordie looked at Flin, nodded, and looked back at Jessica. ‘Agreed.’

‘Great. At last.’ Jessica smiled, and stood up. ‘I’ll ring the landlord straight away.’ She took her mobile phone out of her bag and walked away from their table.

It had been a trying few weeks. Initially the prospect of finding a new house had seemed quite exciting, but after sacrificing two Saturdays and several evenings trudging round gloomy, soiled houses, all three of them had become extremely disenchanted with the whole procedure. Nothing they’d seen had ever quite fitted the bill; even the house they’d finally agreed on wasn’t perfect, but for a year, they’d decided, it would certainly do. And the location – Barons Court near to the west road out of town – was certainly a big point in its favour.

‘Give it a lick of paint and it might look really quite nice,’ Geordie suggested hopefully.

‘Sure, it’ll look great,’ Flin agreed.

‘And I could easily put up a few shelves and bring a few bits and pieces up from home.’

‘Brilliant,’ said Flin. Geordie’s enthusiastic DIY-talk was cheering him up. He really wanted their new house to be as homely as possible and not like the down-at-heel digs he had lived in before; after all, they weren’t students any more.

Jessica switched off her phone and walked back over to them. ‘Ninety-three Turneville Road is ours.’ She grinned triumphantly. ‘We’ve got to sign next week and then we can move in the week after next.’ She kissed them both happily. ‘I can’t wait – it’s going to be such fun, the three of us.’

‘And Geordie’s already got great plans for improving the place,’ put in Flin.

‘Brilliant, darling – what a little DIY king you are. I honestly don’t know where we’d be without you.’ Jessica gave Geordie another kiss. Their decision had cheered her enormously and she felt suddenly more affectionate towards her two friends.

‘And you two are going to help,’ Geordie added, sternly.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ said Flin flippantly, then reminded Geordie it was his round.

Having returned with more drinks, Geordie sat down and lit himself a cigarette. ‘Thank God this is sorted out. Moving in will be fun. I need a bit of excitement in my life.’

‘Me too,’ added Flin.

‘Not much going on otherwise. Same old job, still no girlfriend,’ Geordie continued.

‘We’ll be a house of singletons,’ put in Jessica brightly. Flin and Geordie both glanced up from their pints dubiously.

‘Whoopee,’ said Flin.

Jessica tucked a strand of her newly shortened hair behind her ear and said, ‘OK, I’ve got an idea. We move in on the twenty-fourth of May and we’ve got the house for a year. By the same date next year we should all make sure we have better jobs and are in steady relationships. We should make it a special goal.’

‘But that’s always my aim,’ said Geordie. ‘I spend my whole time wishing my work wasn’t so boring and yearning for a girlfriend.’

‘We should make it a competition though,’ added Flin, warming to Jessica’s notion. ‘I mean, I’m obviously in more or less the same boat as you, Geordie, but if we had a definite time-scale to work to, then perhaps it would make us try harder.’

‘Exactly,’ said Jessica, ‘we should make a proper pact, right here, right now.’

‘I s’pose we could,’ said Geordie glumly, ‘although you two have such a head start. Jessica, you nearly always have a boyfriend.’

‘Nonsense – they’re just flings. I haven’t been out with anyone properly for ages, and anyway, I’ve never, ever been in love. By next May,’ she announced emphatically, ‘I want to be head over heels.’

‘And Flin’s always in love and he has a great job,’ continued Geordie.

‘Rubbish,’ said Flin. ‘Firstly, Claire and I split up nearly four months ago, and secondly I wasn’t really in love with her anyway. And film PR might seem fun to you, but the pay is dismal.’ He grinned at them both. ‘By next May, I want someone to be in love with me, and I want to be better paid, so at last I’ll be able to keep up with you two.’

‘And I want to be promoted too,’ said Jessica, ‘and working on much more exciting accounts, not just low-fat microwave meals.’

‘OK,’ said Geordie resignedly, ‘I don’t mind going along with this, although ideally I’d like to be doing a job I enjoy and both be in love and have someone love me by the end of next week.’

‘Pressure’s on already,’ laughed Flin.

‘That’s the whole point, darling,’ said Jessica, ‘it’ll focus our minds.’

‘And a bit of competition never hurt anyone,’ continued Flin, slapping Geordie heartily on the back.

‘What’s the prize?’ said Geordie dejectedly. ‘If it’s a competition, then there’s got to be a prize.’

‘All right,’ said Jessica, ‘the prize is free drinks all night. On May the twenty-fourth next year, we meet back here, at the Atlas, and whoever hasn’t fallen in love or been promoted has to buy the other two drinks all night. I think that’s fair enough, don’t you?’

‘What happens if none of us wins?’ added Geordie.

‘Then we still meet here, but everyone buys their own and we discuss what we’ve been doing wrong.’ Jessica looked at her two friends and raised her glass. ‘A pact has been made and we’ve got our house at last. Cheers to that, darlings.’

And two and a half weeks later, the three of them moved in. Flin managed to persuade Geordie to pick him and his belongings up from his sister’s house (where he had been staying temporarily for free), and Jessica and Geordie successfully transferred their belongings from their tiny two-bed flat in Hammersmith. It was a beautiful early summer’s day. The trees in the street were full-bodied with fresh deep-green leaves, lending an air of calm serenity to their new home. Inside, the sunshine brightened the whole house, and all three felt a renewed sense of expectation for the year ahead. It was going to be a good year.