Page 41 of A New Life in Amsterdam

Ted jumps up on the bed, waking me with a start as I remember that I stayed in Abe’s houseboat.

It is the first time I have stayed over here, rather than let him come to me.

His bedroom is more masculine with a black cabinet of drawers and plain blue curtains that match his bedsheets.

His jeans are thrown on the floor beside the bed, a reminder that nothing else mattered more than being united again last night.

‘Ted, can you get your butt out of my face?’ says Abe, laughing.

‘Who says romance is dead?’ I laugh.

Ted pushes between the two of us, creating a barrier.

‘So much for snuggling in together this morning,’ says Abe.

‘Ah, it’s fine. It’s cosier with Ted,’ I tease.

I can’t help grinning to myself as I lie in Abe’s cosy bed with Ted already snoring beside me.

‘I just want you to know that’s not me,’ says Abe.

‘I know. You never snore because you’re just perfect.’

‘And so are you.’

We both reach over Ted, to hold hands and gaze at each other.

‘What a lovely way to wake up,’ I say.

‘I couldn’t think of a better way to start the morning.’

‘So, what shall we do today, once Ted decides it’s time to get up?’ asks Abe.

‘Don’t you have to get to work?’

‘Nope. Beatrix is in. It’s my day off. I was thinking, if you like we could sort the paint out?

I was worried about that as I knew you wouldn’t know where to pick exterior boat paint up from.

We can go together and order everything, if you want.

We might even be able to start painting later today.

At least we can do the base coat. What do you think? ’

‘That would be amazing. Why not? If you’re sure you have nothing better to do.’

‘Oh, I can think of something better to do but, unfortunately, Ted got in the way. Maybe we can get back to that later,’ says Abe, grinning.

‘Sounds like a plan.’

As Abe gets up to make us coffee to start the day, Ted follows at the sound of his food bowl being filled up.

I sit up in bed as I wait for Abe to return with our morning coffee and smile. I can’t believe I almost lost all of this because of assuming something so ridiculous. From now on, I promise myself that I will never doubt Abe’s intentions again.

After dashing back home to change, Abe and I head to the paint store on our bicycles and collect the first items we need.

Abe recommends a primer for the wood, and we take the pots back to the boat in our respective baskets.

As soon as we get back, he puts on those paint-splashed overalls that I love so much and together we start work on the outside.

Abe and I make the perfect team as we begin sanding down the barge.

I soon realise how much more fun it is doing renovations when you have someone you care for doing it beside you.

We sing along to the Eighties radio station that blasts out from my small radio as we paint on the primer.

This job is going to take a lot of time and hard work, and I am already impatient for a quick result and wanting to start painting on the colour.

Thankfully Abe is more patient than me, and reminds me of the importance of getting it right from the off if I want a good result.

When we finally use the body filler to cover some uneven bits, I see what he means.

‘You see why you can’t just gloss over things?’ he says.

‘You’re right. We have to start from the foundations. It’s just tedious when you can’t wait for the end result.’

‘It will be worth it. Just you wait.’

By the end of the following week, Abe is right.

It is so worth it. With the pots of green and red paint in front of us, we can finally start painting the boat together.

By this stage, even the neighbours are involved and Pieter and Lotte pop over with some fizzy drinks to keep our strength up and motivate us by reminding us what a wonderful job we are doing.

Even Camilla walks past and smiles at me while she introduces us to her new, younger boyfriend, Rick.

The happiness around New Beginnings is contagious.

It takes another week before it is almost complete. The previous name of the boat has been painted over in red. I pick up the stencil so that I can write the new name with precision across the side. Now this is the moment I have been waiting for.

‘I’m so excited, Abe.’

‘It’s going to look wonderful. So, what are you waiting for?’ says Abe, looking at me with the thin paintbrush in one hand and the stencil in the other.

‘I’m scared I’ll make a mistake.’

‘Do you want me to help you do it?’

‘No. Thank you for offering, but it’s something I have to do myself.’

Taking a deep breath, I start painting the first letter. Then the second and the third.

I look at the first word, painted in a white fancy scroll: New.

‘Looks good,’ says Abe.

‘It does. Now for the rest of it.’

I paint in the B and then the E and the G and then my mind goes blank. It must be my fear of getting it wrong, but I have some kind of brain fog from nowhere and forget how to spell beginnings. I look at Abe in disbelief.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asks.

‘My mind’s gone. I can’t remember how to spell beginnings. I mean, is it two Gs and one N or the other way around? The pressure of getting it right has got to me.’

‘One G, two Ns.’

‘I can’t believe you can spell better than me and English is your second language.’

Abe laughs and then dips his finger in the white paint and splats me on the nose with it. I wave my paintbrush in the air to give him a warning.

‘Just wait until I’m done. It’s paint wars now,’ I tease.

‘Sounds fun to me,’ says Abe.

‘Right. No more messing about. I’m going to have to concentrate now.’

I focus so hard on getting the spelling correct that I bite down on my lip. Then slowly, I remove the stencil from the front of the boat and step back. There are no mistakes as I feared and thankfully the name is in a straight line.

‘New Beginnings,’ I say as I read it out loud.

‘Beautiful, well done,’ says Abe, giving me a kiss.

We stand back with our arms around each other and admire the houseboat.

‘You’ve done a great job,’ says Abe.

‘We did. It was a joint effort.’

‘Ah, it was all your idea. The colours, the name. I was just the assistant.’

‘I could get used to having you as my assistant. You know what would be nice now, my assistant Abe? A nice cold beer.’

‘I think we need something more than that. I have just the thing.’

I take a photo of the completed houseboat as I wait for Abe to pop over to his place to get whatever he has in mind.

Then I send the photo to Hannah and Debbie.

I am astonished that I have managed to get it all so beautiful in so little time.

If I could have dreamed of the most idyllic houseboat to live in, it would be this one.

There is nothing I would change about it.

As Abe walks back towards me, I can see him carrying a bottle and something red that I can’t quite make out. I try to squint but have no idea what it is.

‘Here, the final piece to make it home,’ says Abe. I look at what he has in his hand and realise that the red item is a little pair of wooden clogs for me to put out on deck.

‘Oh, Abe! This is the final touch? They’re so cute.’

‘I thought they’d be a nice decoration for you.

They used to always be on the deck, by the front door.

When they cleared Henrik’s place after he died, I couldn’t bear the thought of someone throwing them out, so I took them to keep safe.

It’s up to you, but I thought perhaps they could be a memory of the last owner.

A mark of respect to him? Perhaps you can even use them to grow flowers in. Some people do that.’

‘I absolutely love that idea.’ I throw my arms around Abe and thank him once again. ‘What would I do without you?’

‘You’d be fine without me, although maybe you wouldn’t have quite so much fun,’ says Abe, handing me the bottle he’s brought over.

I look at the fancy bottle of champagne in my hand.

‘Wow, this looks expensive.’

‘It’s the last memory of my old life and the one thing I didn’t leave behind when I came here.

It was a gift for reaching a target at work.

It was too nice to open. All these years, I’ve been saving it for a special occasion.

I think it’s time to open it. After all, we are celebrating New Beginnings, right? ’

‘Are you sure? Once it’s open it’s gone forever.’

‘I’m sure. Just make sure you don’t drop it on the way in.’

I pretend to let it slip, but truthfully, I am holding onto it for dear life.

Together, we walk inside, and Abe opens the champagne while I search for a suitable glass. Unfortunately, I don’t have any champagne flutes, and I quickly realise that I shouldn’t have sold all the crystal glasses I had back home. We will have to make do with the tumblers.

Just as Abe is talking about the history of the champagne and where it comes from, someone knocks on the door. It makes me jump and I am relieved that I no longer have the bottle in my hand.

‘You expecting anyone?’ says Abe.

‘No. Not at all. That’s strange.’

I open the door to find Beatrix standing on the doorstep.

‘Hi, can I come in? I have something urgent to tell you.’

‘Yeah, of course.’

‘Ah, Abe. You’re here too. That’s good.’

‘Is everything okay?’ I ask.

‘It’s more than okay. I have the most amazing news. The stall is yours. I had a call from my contact there. It’s yours, but you will have to arrange your market pass and street market licence first, or they’ll have to give it to the next person on the waiting list.’

‘Seriously? Does he not need to meet me or see my stock? I haven’t been to see him yet.’

‘I told him how talented you were, and I showed him a photo of that jumper you made and the miniature Ted. He’d not seen felt animals before and he loved them. So, he said for me to come and tell you that it’s yours if you want it.’

I look at both Abe and Beatrix, who have the biggest smiles on their faces.

‘What a day this is turning out to be. We were just celebrating New Beginnings being finished, and now this. Beatrix, you’re going to have to join us for some of Abe’s special champagne.’

I pour her a glass and we all squeeze together on my sofa. As I sip the champagne, I realise that it doesn’t matter what kind of glass I am drinking out of. It is who is sitting beside me that is important.