Never leave the past behind (Book 2)

Chapter 211 - New place

"Thanks for inviting me Clar. But I'm off..." John said towards the end of the day.

"Thanks for coming. You don't usually follow through on these things..." Clara nodded.

"Well I'm trying." He nodded. "Have I said I'm sorry?"

"Yeah just a few times..." she nodded smiling. "This weekend still ok?"

"Yeah this weekend is fine because I'm going to Paris next weekend now." John smiled.

"Ah ok enjoy see you Friday." She said as he left.

- - - - -

"So Emilia's now 1, I'm going to have another baby in less than 4 months and in just over 5 months Eva will be 18." Clara sighed sitting down on the couch in the aftermath of the party.

"It's pretty wild." Chris said.

"It's going to be a pretty hectic couple of months." She smiled cuddling up to him on the sofa.

"Yeah look I was thinking about it the other day... my house it's just sitting empty at the moment. I've basically moved in here." He explained.

"Oh god yeah I wanted to talk about that." Clara shuffled to sit up a little.

"I know Eva will be going off to university next summer but we will still have a long time living in this house between now and then..." Chris explained.

"I wondered if you wanted to sell your place you know? If you're not too attached to it or anything?" Clara asked.

"Oh it a 2 bedroom house I'm not attached to it at all clar. I just thought how about we look at a bigger house for us, bigger than this." He smiled.

Where they lived at the moment was a 3 bedroom house but the third bedroom was Emilia's and it was like a tiny little room that just fit her crib and a wardrobe in it.

The house was all Clara could afford after deciding to leave the flat but in all fairness it wasn't much bigger than the flat.

"Leave here?" Clara asked.

"I know it's quite soon. You haven't lived here a year yet but don't you think we need more room? And with the money I get from selling my place we can afford a nicer, bigger place." Chris explained.

"That would be nice." Clara hummed. "I guess the baby would be sleeping in our room for a bit anyway so I assumed we wouldn't need to move him or her out until Eva had gone to university..."

"Which is fair enough but Emilia still has a tiny room and Eva will be coming back here... she'll need a place to sleep." Chris nodded.

"I guess we could look at some places. Moving house is a stress though. I don't know if it's wise while I'm pregnant you know?" Clara frowned.

"All you need to do is pick the house. I'll do all the rest." He grinned kissing her forehead.

"You know I love you right?" She smiled up at him and then kissed his lips gently.

- - - - -

"Everything ok clar?" John said after a lot of small talk over the phone.

"Oh uh yeah fine." Clara assured him as she looked across at Eva who doing her homework in a service station Starbucks on their road trip.

"You need me to take Eva at all? You doing ok?" He asked.

"No, we're fine why would you say that?" She scoffed.

"Because you were meant to get married last weekend." John sighed.

"How did you—" Clara started.

"Your dad told my parents. Hey am I not worth even an invitation?" He laughed.

"You wouldn't have come." She sighed.

"Look to back out of a wedding, a marriage that's huge clar... If you need anything you let me know ok?" John said calmly.

"Yeah uh thanks john. Look I'm sorry I ignored your calls recently. I've been busy, but whenever you're next in town Eva would love to see you, you know?" Clara explained.

"No problem you had a wedding to plan. I hear that can be stressful. Actually I was calling because I'm around for some of the holidays. New year actually and I wondered when you were free around that time..." John asked.

"Whenever." She stated.

"Well I'll check my calendar and let you know. But uh thanks for calling back." He chuckled.

"Always." She mumbled before hanging up.

"Was that dad?" Eva asked as Clara walked over to the table she was sat at and sat down opposite her.

"Yeah." Clara nodded.

"What did he say?" She asked.

"He might pop in around the new year..." Clara explained.

"Oh cool. Not Christmas?" Eva asked.

"No but he gave me money to get you any present you want so start thinking." Clara smiled.

"Oh I've got a list don't worry." She laughed to herself as she returned to her homework.

- - - - -

"Hey clar." John said as she opened the door Friday morning.

"Hey." She kissed him on the cheek like they always did.

"You going into work?" He asked nothing she was dressed smart.

"Actually yeah. There's a meeting and Richard wanted me there." Clara nodded.

"Ah I see." John nodded.

"Yeah so uh Emilia is actually asleep right now..." Clara mumbled.

"Right... why?" John asked.

"She got a cold I think from being around so many people at her party... she hardly slept last night. She had breakfast at like 5am and I put her back down to bed at 9." Clara explained.

"Well that's only just over an hour earlier than usual. I'll try my best and try not to wake her when strapping her in to the car." John smiled heading upstairs to get Emilia.