Unlucky For Some

Moving in at number thirteen called for drastic action from Ryan’s mum...

- Jo Styles

It’s a great doer-upper. With a little bit of work it’ll be a perfect starter home for us both.”

Maybe she’d oversold it, Sophie thought, as she sat at her desk.

“I would like to put in an offer. We can split the mortgage as planned.”

The line had gone horribly silent. Had Ryan, her boyfriend, wandered away from his own desk?

“Ryan, are you still there?”

“I’m – just not absolutely sure it’s the one,” he said finally.

Did he mean the house… or her? “It’s a wreck. It’s right beside the railway and… and it’s number thirteen,” he added.

Ah. What he meant was, his mum had seen the details and didn’t like the look of it. That was the problem with dating the only child of a widow; neither of them could quite cut the cord.

“I’m putting in an offer anyway unless you can come up with a good reason why I shouldn’t.”

“Fine. You didn’t bully me into a decision at all.”

Bully him? Sophie sighed. Surely that was his mum’s job.

Ten minutes later she called the estate agent. “Hi – I’d like to put in an offer on number thirteen, Station Road.”

Ryan stood grimacing outside the little terrace house six weeks later. “I can just feel the bad vibes…” He glanced at the number on the door, then back to the van he’d hired to move his things from his flat share. “Mum’s having kittens about me moving in here.”

“Well – ask for a black one, then, for luck,” returned Sophie with a grin. Black cats did signify good times ahead – at least in their neck of the woods.

Stop trying to please her… just for once, Ryan, she thought as she pushed the front door open.