She nodded and followed him from the room, refusing to look at Niall for fear of setting him off on more sales patter. Quinn skipped up the stairs and she bunny-hopped up them after him, her skirt making it impossible to do anything else, wondering if the musty smell permeating downstairs would be worse up there. Quinn wandered in and out of the first two bedrooms while she gave them a cursory glance over. The bathroom made her shudder but if she were honest, she could see all it needed was a good scrub. The shower head was over the bath and the plastic curtain had a mouldy edge to it. It was a set-up that brought to mind the verruca she’d gotten one year at the public baths. She couldn’t muster up enthusiasm to match Quinn’s as he turned the handle on the shower and announced the pressure was good. She let him lead her through to the smallest of the three bedrooms not listening to his prattle that it was big enough for a small double. He was already wording the advert to rent the house in his head, she realised, seeing his face was lit up with an excitement she hadn’t once seen in the march toward their wedding.
‘Ash,’ he said, opening the wardrobe door and poking his head inside it.
‘Yes.’ He was taking leaving no door unopened to a new level. A wardrobe was a wardrobe for fecks sake and she played out a scenario where she pushed him inside it and shut the door.
He popped back out and the sight of his eager face sent guilt pinpricking through her. He only wanted the best for them. It wasn’t very nice of her to be plotting to shove him inside a cupboard. He couldn’t read her mind though and carried on excitedly, ‘I think we should go for it. Subject to a building inspection obviously but I can’t see how we can go wrong.’
She could see he wanted her to agree with him. To share in his enthusiasm but she couldn’t. What he was saying about financial security and investments for the future all made sense but she had a bad feeling. ‘I’m not trying to burst your bubble, Quinn, but I have a lot on my plate at the moment with the wedding.’ She shook her head, ‘I’m struggling to find room to think about anything else.’
‘I know that, Ash. But if we don’t act now, we’ll miss out. Who knows when a buy like this will come up again?’
Quinn didn’t often dig his heels in. He was the sort of fella who went with the flow but he wanted this property, she could see it in the determined set of his jaw. She wanted to react the way he wanted her to, she did. He deserved it. Sure, look at the way he’d agreed to their honeymoon at the Ice Hotel. Marriage was about compromise and this was her moment to capitulate and agree, yes this would indeed be a good investment for them. He placed his hands on either side of the tops of her arms his blue eyes boring into hers, willing her to agree.
‘It doesn’t have to be hard, Ash. We can arrange to take possession after our honeymoon. It’ll be one visit to the bank, there’ll be a few papers to be signed with a solicitor, that’s all. I’ll arrange the building inspection but I think we should move on this. It’s a smart move. We’ll regret it if we procrastinate.’ She barely heard him as he told her the figure he’d like to offer. She trusted him to have worked it all out but still the words he wanted to hear wouldn’t come. She managed another nod, wanting to make him happy. There was a part of her that loved the way he was thinking ahead for them and for, hopefully, one day in the not too distant future, their children. He pulled her to him and she enjoyed the feeling of security being in his arms always gave her. ‘Do I take that as a yes, let’s go for it?’
‘Yes.’
Her reward was a kiss and she returned it, glad he was pleased and wishing she could get rid of the sense of unease that had assailed her since she received his text the night before. He held her hand tightly as they headed back down the stairs to find Niall. He looked up from his phone as they appeared in the kitchen once more.
‘Well, what did you think?’
‘We can definitely see the potential,’ Quinn countered.
Niall sensed he had them on the hook and in case they hadn’t heard him the first time he repeated his earlier sentiment of this being a sought-after area and how he had another couple interested in viewing the property. The sense of urgency he was instilling in them made Aisling feel panicked, which was what he intended, but her head had started to hurt again, too. She was supposed to be meeting Leila in an hour and now she’d agreed to go ahead and do this, she wanted Quinn to cut to the chase and make an offer so they could find out whether or not it would be accepted and she could put some distance between herself and Niall.
Quinn squeezed her hand. ‘We’d like to make an offer,’ he said, before repeating the figure he’d told her he thought they should put on the table. Niall looked pleased but gave no clue as to whether they stood a chance going in with the figure, he’d just been given. He
