Chapter 11
For the next hour or so, Andy explored the house on his own while the girls moved things from the car into the house, as well as letting the cats loose into their new environment. He wasn't sure who was more overwhelmed, himself or the cats.
The building was immense, feeling both warm and alien all at the same time. Mostly, though, the space felt incomplete. It was a home that had been decorated by a real estate agent, not by someone looking to live in it. Everything was arranged for show not for actual use.
He wandered into the gym first and found it stocked with free weights, resistance machines and a small aerobics area, all the machines in pristine condition, never used. Looking at himself in the mirror, he wasn't even sure he recognized himself in this new home.
Andy strolled out of the gym and found himself in one of the three living rooms, with a wet bar off to one side. There were several couches arranged around the middle, as well as a handful of lounge chairs. Without warning, Muninn, his Russian blue cat, hopped up from behind one of the couches onto the back of it, which startled the hell out of Andy. As soon as the cat saw him, however, he sauntered over Andy's direction. Andy moved closer and pet the cat, who gave a healthy purr in response. "Yeah, I know, Mun, it's weird for me too. But we live here now, so explore away."
"Are ya freaked out?" Aisling said to him as she moved into the room. "It's just a home."
"That's just it, Ash," he sighed. "It's a home, but it's not my home, not our home. Not yet. I'm sure I'll get there at some point, but for right now, it's just reinforcing how weird all of this is. I mean, yesterday, there were seven of us crammed into that little tiny condo, and now Eric lives down the street, and we live... here. In the kind of place I never even dreamed about."
Aisling moved over, a soft sympathetic smile on her face, as she wrapped her arms around him and held him in an inviting hug for a long moment. "The world's changing, and we have to change with it, Andy. That means we're all going to be a bit out of our comfort zones now and then, but think of it this way -- you can make one of these bedrooms into a full on study, and line the walls with bookshelves, like you said you'd always wanted to do. We'll put your desk in there, and you can turn it into a writer's cozy, a space where you can go and work on your next book and nobody'll bother you. What's wrong with that?"
"There's nothing wrong with that, Ash. There's nothing wrong with any of this, except for the fact that I didn't really earn any of it."
"Luv," she said to him, "most of the people who get lucky in life, it was right place right time, and all they did was have the good sense not to muck it up. That's what you're doing here. You were in the right place at the right time, and you had the good sense to let me into your bed. And I've been good to you, haven't I?"
"Oh god, Ash, you and Lauren and Niko have all been amazing, far better than I deserve..."
"There'll be none of that, mister," she scolded, slapping his shoulder. "You've been grand to all of us, and you've helped Eric and Lily get their shit sorted out. I know Jenny doesn't have her head sorted out yet, but when she does, I'm sure she'll thank you. You could've been a right shite about alla this, but instead you've been a stand up guy. So take a deep breath."
Andy stopped and took a deep breath. "It didn't help much."
"It helped a little."
"Okay, it helped a little."
"Are you more bothered by the house, the staff or the fact that there's going to be a lot more women moving into our lives?"
"It's a lot of women, Ash."
"It will be a lot of women, Andy. Yes, that's absolutely true, but we'll manage it. Besides, the house is nice isn't it?"
"Understating things a bit, aren't you Ash?"
"Fine," she said with a wry grin, rolling her eyes in his direction. "It's a bloody magnificent place. Just in the tour alone, I wanted to strip down to my knickers and socks and play 'Risky Business' so if you hear 'Old Time Rock'n'Roll' blaring from the hi-fi, look both ways when walking through the hallways."
"You're changing the subject."
"It'll be fine, Andy. Just stop worrying and enjoy this." She moved to sit down in the couch, and picked up a remote control from the coffee table in front of it. She looked around the room for a moment before she finally just pressed the power button on it, to see what happened. From a small overhang across the room, a giant television dropped down and turned on, as concealed speakers all around the room hummed to life. "That is hell of a television."
Andy moved to slump down onto the couch next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "And just think, this isn't even the theater room. Let's just relax for a little bit and watch some TV."
Apparently whoever had set up their house had given them a deluxe cable package, with every optional channel Andy could think of, and loads he'd never even heard of. They settled on SpikeTV, which was in the middle of a James Bond marathon. They were showing "Goldeneye" and they'd had the luck to turn on right at the beginning.
"I've always loved Brosnan as Bond," Aisling said to him a few hours later, as the movie was over. "I don't know that he's the best Bond, but he's my Bond. You?"
"He was great, but I've always been a Connery man myself."
"You Americans, you all have your own Bond, much like those of us across the pond have our own Doctor. You a fan of Doctor Who, luv?"
Andy smirked wryly. "Tom Baker, but if I'm honest, I could watch David Tennant in anything.I watched "Good Omens" last year at least three times. I'm guessing you're a Capaldi girl."
"Chris Eccleston's my Doctor," Aisling said. "But I'm glad you didn't say I should be a Matt Smith girl, just because he had a ginger companion."
Andy shook his head. "So did Tennant, but neither of them were Irish. Catherine Tate's British and Karen Gillan's Scottish. I'm not an idiot, love."
"Bless, Andy," she whispered, as she kissed his cheek. "It's so strange. I feel like I'm missing time, what with all the holidays we've basically skipped over. I was getting my first injections on July 4th, but I didn't even hear any crackers in the sky. Were there any?"
"None that I could see, Ash. Halloween's just around the corner. Maybe now that we're in a gated community we'll get trick or treaters."
"You think there's children in the estates?"