Inglewood

Chapter 1 - Inglewood

As the car snaked around the last bend, a field stood at the end of the road, the large wooden gates stood open.
Across the field I could see 3 horses in the distance, galloping along the far fence. As I pulled upto the house that loomed ahead of me, I glanced at the paperwork on the seat next to me, yep, this was the right place, as run down as it looked from the outside, the potential was unreal.

The stained glass door swung open and out stepped a blonde woman, dressed in a skirt and blazer, I realised I may be slightly underdressed for this meeting in my mom jeans and vest top. A deep breath and off we go...

"Hey there, sorry, but Mr Flynn couldn't make it today so he sent me instead" her smile and kindness radiated and I instantly felt calmer, she reached out her hand, "Lara, I'm Mr Flynns PA"
"Nat, lovely to meet you, and thanks for taking the time to do a walk around with me".

We stepped inside the vast hallway and as I looked around, I could see 4 doors leading off to different areas of the house, to the left double doors lead to what looked like a sitting room with a large fireplace on the back wall, to the right identical double doors with what appeared to be a long dining table set up. Ahead of us was a central staircase that opened up at the top, at the base, doors to the left and right were closed.

Lara held her hands out next to her as she turned to face me, "Welcome to 'Inglewood'".
"Wow, well, it certainly makes in impact, doesn't it?" I chuckled, Lara was beaming at my apparent look of disbelief.
"It is a beauty, I'm so pleased Mr Flynn is finally getting it fitted out, he has been abit lazy when it comes to Inglewood, which is very unlike him. He works so hard on so many projects and I guess the personal stuff just gets pushed back further and further, but, here we are, and here you are, and here it begins!"

"What can you tell me about him? It would be good to have an idea of the sort of client I'm working for whilst walking around, helps me get an idea of what they might have in mind"

Lara stopped at the bottom stair, she turned and I could see her expression had changed to one of sorrow, "well, the thing is, he's a very private man, quiet, almost shy. I don't think I've ever heard him talk about family or friends, it's always work. He bought this place a few years back and had intended to move in straight away, but after a few weeks, everytime I asked about the plans for moving in, he dismissed the conversation, changed the subject."

Lara looked down and took a deep breath," anyway", as she raised her face, her smile had returned, "shall we start upstairs?".

After a couple of hours, I had some floor plans down, and measurements for all the rooms. Craig had either underestimated the sheer size of Inglewood, or conveniently left it out, with 5 bedrooms over 2 floors, an attic space, the 2 reception rooms, kitchen and laundry room on the lower floor and a basement that could of easily been transformed into a studio flat. Not to mention the grounds that surrounded the place.
I had asked Lara about the horses I had seen, apparently Mr Flynn payed someone to came up to the house twice a week to check over them. Trying to piece together this mystery client was starting to hurt my brain, a man with, clearly, alot of money, no close friends or family, too busy to get someone to work on this magnificent building, yet he pays to have someone come and look after the horses for the last few years. It didn't make sense to me.

I drove back to the city, my mind full of ideas, improvements and questions. But something was nagging at the back of my mind, I needed to meet my client, how could I be expected to put together plans for a house owned by someone I had never met?
As I pulled up next to the park, I grabbed my phone and shot off an email to Lara;

Dear Lara,

It was a pleasure to meet you today and to have you walk me through Inglewood. I'm still in awe at just how wonderful it is!
I've just arrived back in the city and it occurred to me that I meant to request a meeting with Mr Flynn to talk through his vision for the place. If I could possibly ask you to organise that for me it would be much appreciated.

I'm free on Wednesday and Thursday of next week if that works for him? If not, throw some dates at me and we can figure it out.

Again, thanks for everything today and I look forward to meeting you again soon.

Nat

As I threw my phone onto the passenger seat, a small brown paper bag slid out of my handbag and spilled its contents into the footwell, I cursed under my breath and leant down to pick up the book Mr Suit had left for me earlier. As I cringed at the memory of THAT encounter, I noticed something sticking out of one of the pages. I pulled a piece of paper out, and started to read...

Nice to of bumped into you earlier ;-)
If you'd like to get that stronger drink sometime, call me...

On the reverse was a phone number. My heart pounded against my chest, my cheeks flushed and that giddy feeling returned.

Maybe I hadn't of looked or sounded as psychotic as I first thought this morning.
I placed the book back in the bag with the note and grabbed my laptop. I crossed the street and headed towards the spot by the lake that had lead to so many useful brainstorming ideas in the past. I always found solace in the quiet of the lake, the birds flying over the silent still water gave a sense of calm that I had struggled to find elsewhere. Unfortunately today it seemed as though someone else had already found it and had taken up residence, as I glanced over at the two people sat on a blanket, I wondered if Rob and I would do that one day, maybe I could be happy again with someone in my life. I had never really wanted a man in my life, I was comfortable in my own company, nobody to expect too much from me, I was free and happy.
I decided to hang about for a few minutes, just in case they were about to leave, but after around 10 minutes, it was obvious that they may be there for a while, as the sun started to set over the lake, the man put his arm around his companion, that made my mind up, work was done for the day, it was time to head home and get a decent night's rest for a change!

Back home, the noise from the street below made its way into my apartment, the smell of fumes as the cars drove by, people on their way to socialise with friends and family. It had been a while since I had last felt the need to go out and get black out drunk, it had never really appealed to me, not as a teen and even less so as a now 29 year old. As the thought entered my head, I remembered the phone number left for me at the bookshop, I reached into my bag and felt around for it.

I sat on the kitchen side, legs swinging back and forth, staring at the bit of paper in my hand, did I really want to call him? It wasn't as if I knew him after all, and what if he had had second thoughts since our first meeting didn't exactly bring back great memories? Maybe he was sat hoping I wasn't going to call, maybe he hadn't even given me a real number? But, maybe he had spent the day wondering why I hadn't called, maybe he was secretly angry that I hadn't rushed to reach out.

Ergh, already I was freaking out! This was ridiculous, I hadn't felt like this about someone before, it made me nervous. How a chance meeting could stir up so much emotion and, dare I say it, turmoil. My heart was torn between calling and just throwing his number away.

Just then my thoughts were broken by the ringing of my phone, Laras name popped up and as I scrambled to answer it, I lost my grip and went tumbling off the side. My head hit the corner of the counter on the way down, the last thing I remember was laying there, looking at the floor, and thinking that I really needed to mop it more often.