***
The next morning we started in on our new daily routine. We'd travel to the alley near Henry's place, take up residence across the street, and wait. When Henry would appear, we'd let him get ahead then follow him to work. Now that we had money, we could pay the pence for the boat-taxi.
The boat-taxis were a bit perilous for my tastes. They did have boarding mastered, so I didn't have to worry about falling into the nasty, smelly Thames while getting in. The boats themselves were little more than a modern-day rowboat. In my opinion, they were woefully below the task at hand, but they were cheap, reliable transportation in an age where large bridges hadn't been mastered. They did allow for a fair amount of employment, as I could see hundreds of boats in use up and down the river at any point in time. You just...had to be sure not to sit where someone had stepped.
After seeing Henry safely to the Globe, Eddie asked me what I wanted to do for the day. “We can catch the bear baiting, it's just down the street.”
I stared at him open-mouthed. “Seriously? Why don't we hit up the bull baiting while we're at it? I'd love to be trampled, gored, or chewed on. Sounds like a pleasant way to pass the day.”
The sarcasm wasn't lost on Eddie. “Chill, Schroeder. I was joking.”
I sighed. “I'm sorry. Spending all the time here has been draining. Don't get me wrong,” I continued as we walked towards London Bridge, “I love coming back here. We're honest to goodness time-traveling. There's so much I want to do, see, visit. But...I'm getting tired. We spend hours here, and go back to our time and finish off a normal day there. We've mastered having more hours in a day, and it's exhausting.”
Eddie guided me around a merchant's cart that had spilled. “Do you want to go home? Get some sleep?”
“Yes. No. I don't know. I feel like it'd be stupid to waste a trip and not do more.”
“It's not wasted,” he insisted. “We protected Henry. We've done our good deed for the day.”
I didn't want to get started on that. I still didn't believe that we had to protect him in the first place. I doubted that we could save his life. Ripples from a butterfly, that type of thing. It wouldn't surprise me if we saved his life only to have him die the next day. Would Eddie insist on saving him again and again? Would we never be 'free' to just time-travel as we wanted?
“Eyes right!” Eddie suddenly ordered me. I couldn't help it – I looked left.
“Too late,” I answered, and now looked right to find a place to throw up.
I had heard that the London Bridge had the decapitated heads of traitors on pikes. The last time we crossed the Bridge, I was too fascinated by the several story buildings on it, making it look more like a road than a bridge. Maybe there weren't any heads up – there definitely was this time.
Whatever they did to the dozen or so heads was beyond me, and I did not want to stare long enough to fully understand the process. They were barely recognizable as heads. Which, actually, probably made the punishment effective. Who'd want to end up like that?
“Eddie, I want to go home. Now.”
He stopped me before I could slip the ring off of my finger. “Not here, there's too many eyes. We'll cross the bridge, then find an alley.”
Half an hour later, we weren't even halfway across. All the buildings took up valuable real estate. There was barely enough room for two carriages or wagons to pass each other going the other way. If we had traveled to the bridge directly from the future, I wouldn't have known it was a bridge at all.
We were pressed up against one of the houses to let a wagon pass when a door opened behind me, almost dumping me inside. “Perfect!” I grabbed Eddie's arm and yanked him into the privy.
I knew castles had privies that were on the side of the castle, so that waste ran down the outside. It made sense that the bridge had similar concepts. I didn't want to use the multi-holed restroom, but instead use the privacy to head back to the future. Eddie closed the door behind him, and nodded for me to take of the ring. I just hoped someone wasn't waiting outside to use the facilities. They'd have a long wait.
“I still think we need to talk about this first,” Eddie told me in no uncertain terms as he took the driver's seat later that 'modern' morning.
“It's only a month-to-month lease, that's all, Eddie. I just want a place to live until the buyout and we can live together.”
“But you don't need to get an apartment. You can get a house too, you know. Even a rental.” He followed the directions I gave him to the first apartment.
“A house is too big. I'm not going to waste money on furnishing a house. And there's plenty of nice apartments right around the office.”
“Fine,” he scowled. “But we're making sure there's a fire hydrant close by.”
The first two complexes were duds. The first one didn't have the availability mentioned online, and the second Eddie didn't like the looks of so he drove right on by. I hated to think of what he would have thought of my former place – it was the cheapest in the area, and that certainly wasn't a misnomer for inexpensive. Different social class, different world.
“These look nice,” Eddie said, pulling into the driveway of a gated community.
“These are townhomes, not apartments.”
“So?”
I sighed. “Townhomes are overpriced apartments that you have to buy. Similar to condos. We're not interested in townhomes.”
“Says you,” he teased. “I'm interested. Come on, what does it hurt to take a look around?”
Your pocketbook, I thought, but didn't say it out loud. Sighing wasn't getting me anywhere, so I climbed out of the car after Eddie as he went into the community information office.
The bored property manager was pleased to have someone expressing interest in buying a house, and handed us packets of information extolling the virtues of living in their planned community. I had to admit, it looked really nice. Each unit had their own garage, and buildings only had two residences in each – I only had to deal with one neighbor sharing a wall, which would have been first time I'd had that since leaving for college. There were trees and canals artistically laid out, with sidewalks for walking or bike riding. I'd even consider buying a bike to ride on their trails, which was a scary thought. One thing I did notice was the decided lack of a price anywhere on the pamphlet.
“Do you have any one bedroom units available?”
The guy looked hesitant. “You're not really going to be finding one bedroom townhomes. We do have some units that can be considered one and a half to two bedrooms – there's one official bedroom, and a loft that can be used as an office or second bedroom.”
Eddie noted my ears perking up at the concept of a loft.
“Let me show you one that is available,” Mike, the lanky guy in a suit, told us. He led us out to the ubiquitous golf cart used to move visitors around, and drove the winding sidewalks along the canals to the home.
“Do the canals flood?” I asked bluntly. North Texas was known for microbursts and heavy rainfall, and I didn't want to have the canal run through my living room.
“Our engineers have planned for a hurricane stalling on top of Dallas,” the man said proudly. “We'd have to get three feet of rain in three days before the water would start getting close to homes. And at that point, we'd probably have other problems facing us.”
The unit he took us to was the left side of a building, and looked the same as all the rest of the street. Good lord that must be confusing, I thought.
“Lawn care is done by the community, and includes basic landscaping. If you wish to customize the landscaping by bringing in your own plants and flowers, you are welcome to after signing a lawn care landscaping release. You would be responsible for caring for the plants at that time, and they must follow community aesthetics guidelines.”
I nodded. My parents were green thumbs, but as in so many other things, they selfishly kept that to themselves.
Mike unlocked the door, and I ducked under Eddie's arm as he held the door o
pen.
“As you can see, you enter into the living room.” Technically, we entered into a foyer; there was a five foot square of tile bounded by the front door, a coat closet, a half bathroom, and the living room carpet. I opened the closet door; it was much deeper than expected. The tile continued into the half bath, which, though small, was bigger than my last bathroom.
The living room was good sized; easily bigger than any one I had had. A fireplace was on the wall on the front of the house. French doors opened onto the side patio, where gas hookups waited for a barbecue to be installed. There was a canal fifty feet or so off the side of the house, and the nearest neighbor to that side was another fifty feet on the other side of the canal. The living room had a vaulted ceiling, and the second story of the patio wall was glass windows that were probably a pain to keep clean.
Stairs up to the loft ran against the shared wall, starting half way back along the wall. We bypassed the stairs to finish touring the downstairs first. A closet was tucked under the angled part of the staircase.
The dining room was more of just the space between the living room and the kitchen. The dividing line was technically where the loft balcony overlooked, but if someone wanted to, they could get a smaller or bigger table and adjust the size of the living room accordingly.
The kitchen had what I thought was called an open design, where the sink was facing the dining room, with bar-level counter tops between the rooms. A stove and refrigerator were already installed, and were top of the line. The pantry and laundry room were along the shared wall, tucked behind part of the kitchen, going what seemed to be the rest of the length of the house.
On the other side of the kitchen was a small hallway that led to the master bedroom. It was basically a regular bedroom, pretty standard. There were several windows, and I noted that you'd really want to keep the blinds closed in here. Both from the sun, and the neighbors. Bad enough that we had sex in public in the past; no need to do it in the present. Closets ran against the back of the kitchen, and the bathroom was tucked in the back right corner, against the shared wall.
The bathroom was a lot more spacious than Eddie and I anticipated. “Because the Cowboys practice facility is right down the road, we wanted to be ready for any players that wanted to take up residency here. So all of our units are equipped with six foot long super deep soaking tubs. Water or air jets are available upon request.”
I didn't hear anything Mike said after that – I was too busy drooling over the tub. Eddie so shouldn't have taken me here. Now all other tubs would pale in comparison.
“Now let's show you two the loft,” Mike said, leaving the bathroom.
“You doing okay?” Eddie asked me, amusement on his face.
“Uh huh,” I answered, trying not to have a glazed over expression on my face. I wanted this townhome, damn it. And I wasn't even looking for one.
The loft was decent sized, easily able to be a bedroom or office, just like he had said.
“This is the only living quarters that shares a wall with your neighbor,” Mike told us. “As you can see, though, the stairs are immediately against the wall. You will not be affected by sound traveling through.”
“Thank you for the tour,” Eddie said quickly. “May we stay here a few minutes in private to discuss?”
“Certainly. You know the way back to the office?” He gave a quick refresher, and left, leaving the front door open as he went.
I sat down on the staircase as Eddie went through the kitchen, opening and closing all the cabinets.
“Kinda sparse on room in the kitchen,” He reported. He took a look at me. “What's wrong?”
“Why are we here?” I asked tiredly, crossing my arms over my knees and resting my head on them.
“We're finding you a place to live.”
“I can't afford a townhome. I can barely afford rent in the apartments around here.”
“Don't you like it?” He sat down a few stairs up from me, and started rubbing my shoulders.
“Yes, but that's not the point. Stop, you're distracting me.” He didn't. “Um, yes, I like it.”
“And what did I say about the money?”
“Eddie...”
“Schroeder.”
“They say you shouldn't buy a house – I guess a townhouse would count – if you can't be there for three years. It's not a good investment.” I was grasping at straws.
“I don't care about the money. It's a nice place. There's a hydrant right next door, and a canal.”
“Hon, the odds of my place burning down twice is slim.”
Eddie smiled at my use of a nickname. “Ok, love, think of it this way. You can be as loud as the hell you want when we're making love.”
I froze, remembering the neighbors in the hotel banging on the wall the night before.
“You're a screamer,” he whispered in my ear.
“Fine, you win.” I tilted my head up for his waiting lips. After making out for a minute, we decided Mike might be getting other ideas of what we were doing, and figured we should head on back before we were christening the place.
“How much?” Eddie demanded when we entered the office, without so much of a hello.
It took Mike a second to catch up. “Two seventy five.” I winced. It wasn't worth that much in this housing market.
“One seventy five,” Eddie negotiated.
“I can't possibly--”
“Cash.”
“Sold.”
I blinked. “Wow.”
Mike reduced a stack of paperwork to just a few pieces, the mortgage ones not needed. “I have three units pending foreclosure right now. I'd rather take a hit in price and get guaranteed money then get more now but lose it in the long run.” He started filling out addresses on the forms, and I wandered off, but still in hearing range.
“With all due respect,” Mike started, “I'll need to verify the funds availability with your bank.”
Eddie chuckled. “Not a problem. Would a funds transfer be easier for you? I can call my bank and set that up right away.”
Mike cleared his throat with a cough. “Um, sure. Let's just get this paperwork filled out first.”
Less than an hour later the papers were all filled out and the money transferred. I thought they hit record time, according to Mike's demeanor.
“And here are your keys. Mr. Valenti-Kirby, Ms. Kelly – welcome to your new home.”
***
“Wait.” Eddie stopped me after I unlocked the door, before I stepped inside. He scooped me up in his arms.
I threw my arms around his neck. The modern world might not know we were married, but it wouldn't mind us playing the part anyway.
“So how are we decorating this place?”
“There's no we, it's just me,” I said firmly, putting my feet back down on the ground. “I'm the one who has to live here. If you have bad taste, I'm not going to be the sucker left living in it for the next six months.”
I stuck my tongue out at the face he made, and sprinted up the stairs. He chased after, and leaned me against the wall to kiss me thoroughly after catching me.
I straightened my shirt when we parted. “I'd like for this to be a library and office area. I'm thinking bookcases against the back wall. Put a desk, in matching wood, along the half-wall. Half sized bookcases next to the desk as well. Think there's room for a recliner too?”
“Oh, plenty. Let me guess, dark leather? Going with the whole British library feel?”
I couldn't tell if he was teasing or not. “Yes. That a problem?”
“Nope,” he said, giving me a kiss on my forehead. “Just cute.”
I wrote down the shopping list, and followed him down to the living room.
“Flat panel tv hanging next to the fireplace, couch here, another recliner here, and coffee table here?” Eddie walked and gestured to the difference locations as he spoke. I agreed; they were the natural places for the furniture.
“Table with four chairs, or six?” I asked.
“Four would be fine. Need everything for the kitchen, right?”
“Yep.”
They headed into the bedroom.
“King size bed so you can fit. Dresser, nightstand.”
“What about a cedar chest?”
“Let's wait until I have a wedding dress to put it in first,” I said firmly.
I insisted on going to IKEA. The prices were reasonable, and the simple style suited me. Since it was a weekday, IKEA wasn't very packed, which was good. Generally when I had been to the one in Dallas it was more crowded than an amusement park. The first time I had gone, there literally was a line to just get in.
“Ooh, I like this room,” I said, stopping the cart in front of one of the pre-made room displays. I went and flopped on the couch. It didn't give. “Okay, not this couch. But what do you think of the entertainment center?”
“And you need an entertainment center why? I thought we were getting a flat panel to hang on the wall?”
I blushed. “Oops. Forgot.”
“List,” he tapped at the notebook. “Follow the list.”
We struck out on the couches. Some were soft enough, but didn't have enough room to snuggle on. Most of the arms of the sofas were hard and square, and I loved leaning back against an arm of a couch to read. These just wouldn't be good for that, and I didn't want to spend my (well, Eddie's) money on something that I didn't like.
“How high was the railing? The half wall thing?” Eddie asked, looking at the bookcases.
I stopped and tried to think. Obviously, I didn't carry a measuring tape around with me. “Um, I leaned against it when I wasn't paying attention. Just above my butt, I think.” Eddie got far too much enjoyment using one of the paper measuring tapes IKEA offers to see how high my waist was.
“Are you done being fresh?” I snapped, conscious of women's stares and men's grins. I got a quick glimpse of one guy before he turned away, and the creepy grin reminded me of Alan. Ugh.
“Yep,” he said, giving a slap on my rear when he got up from his knees. I was mortified, and horny.
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