One Thing Leads to Another
One Thing Leads to Another is Four Weddings and a Funeral in book form.Three friends, post university, two men and a girl, take up a year’s lease on a house. Sitting in the pub, they make a bet – a challenge to them all – that they will find perfect (if temporary) partners and real jobs by the end of a year.As each season unfolds, with highlights of themed parties (for the girls) and rugby matches (for the boys), romantic holidays in Italy (disastrous), New Year’s Eve’s festivities (even worse), Flin, Geordie and Jessica find (and in some cases, lose) new friends, new jobs and even themselves.The year’s challenge ends completely differently than they – or the readers – anticipate.One Thing Leads to Another has a wonderful warmth and humour, which gives readers a real feel-good factor.
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JAMIE HOLLAND
One Thing Leads To Another
For Rachel
Contents
chapter one: The Beginning of Summer and a Pact is Made
chapter two: A Promising Encounter on the Piccadilly Line
chapter three: La Vita è Bella
chapter four: Geordie and Jessica have Dinner at Tommy Byng’s
chapter five: La Vita è Bella Part Two
chapter six: Ponderings on Love
chapter seven: Money – Or the Lack of It
chapter eight: A Sunny Afternoon in Richmond (and a Bit in Borehamwood)
chapter ten: In the Footsteps of Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman
chapter thirteen: Playing Away
chapter fourteen: Jessica Eats Modern European
chapter fifteen: Eddie Fussle Gets Married
chapter sixteen: Long Weekend in Cornwall
chapter seventeen: Jessica’s Turn to Feel Disgruntled
chapter eighteen: Flin’s Annus Grows More Horribilis
chapter twenty: Ring in the New
chapter twenty-one: Jessica Starts to Realize her Plan
chapter twenty-two: Birthday Surprise
chapter twenty-three: A Life Beyond London
chapter twenty-four: It’s Always Good to Pause and Reflect
chapter twenty-five: Renaissance
Outside in the pub garden, it was still light, and surprisingly warm. It was the first time they had been able to sit outside that year, and the three of them were making the most of summer’s arrival.
‘OK then,’ said Jessica, laying her hands decisively on the table and looking at Flin and Geordie in turn, ‘we’re agreed. Yes?’
Geordie looked at Flin, nodded, and looked back at Jessica. ‘Agreed.’
‘Great. At last.’ Jessica smiled, and stood up. ‘I’ll ring the landlord straight away.’ She took her mobile phone out of her bag and walked away from their table.
It had been a trying few weeks. Initially the prospect of finding a new house had seemed quite exciting, but after sacrificing two Saturdays and several evenings trudging round gloomy, soiled houses, all three of them had become extremely disenchanted with the whole procedure. Nothing they’d seen had ever quite fitted the bill; even the house they’d finally agreed on wasn’t perfect, but for a year, they’d decided, it would certainly do. And the location – Barons Court near to the west road out of town – was certainly a big point in its favour.
‘Give it a lick of paint and it might look really quite nice,’ Geordie suggested hopefully.
‘Sure, it’ll look great,’ Flin agreed.
‘And I could easily put up a few shelves and bring a few bits and pieces up from home.’
‘Brilliant,’ said Flin. Geordie’s enthusiastic DIY-talk was cheering him up. He really wanted their new house to be as homely as possible and not like the down-at-heel digs he had lived in before; after all, they weren’t students any more.
Jessica switched off her phone and walked back over to them. ‘Ninety-three Turneville Road is ours.’ She grinned triumphantly. ‘We’ve got to sign next week and then we can move in the week after next.’ She kissed them both happily. ‘I can’t wait – it’s going to be such fun, the three of us.’
‘And Geordie’s already got great plans for improving the place,’ put in Flin.
‘Brilliant, darling – what a little DIY king you are. I honestly don’t know where we’d be without you.’ Jessica gave Geordie another kiss. Their decision had cheered her enormously and she felt suddenly more affectionate towards her two friends.
‘And you two are going to help,’ Geordie added, sternly.
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ said Flin flippantly, then reminded Geordie it was his round.
Having returned with more drinks, Geordie sat down and lit himself a cigarette. ‘Thank God this is sorted out. Moving in will be fun. I need a bit of excitement in my life.’
‘Me too,’ added Flin.
‘Not much going on otherwise. Same old job, still no girlfriend,’ Geordie continued.
‘We’ll be a house of singletons,’ put in Jessica brightly. Flin and Geordie both glanced up from their pints dubiously.
‘Whoopee,’ said Flin.
Jessica tucked a strand of her newly shortened hair behind her ear and said, ‘OK, I’ve got an idea. We move in on the twenty-fourth of May and we’ve got the house for a year. By the same date next year we should all make sure we have better jobs and are in steady relationships. We should make it a special goal.’
‘But that’s always my aim,’ said Geordie. ‘I spend my whole time wishing my work wasn’t so boring and yearning for a girlfriend.’
‘We should make it a competition though,’ added Flin, warming to Jessica’s notion. ‘I mean, I’m obviously in more or less the same boat as you, Geordie, but if we had a definite time-scale to work to, then perhaps it would make us try harder.’
‘Exactly,’ said Jessica, ‘we should make a proper pact, right here, right now.’
‘I s’pose we could,’ said Geordie glumly, ‘although you two have such a head start. Jessica, you nearly always have a boyfriend.’
