Holiday with the Best Man

‘I never thought to look it up,’ she said, ‘but is there a museum of architecture?’

‘Actually, there’s something really amazing here in London,’ he said. ‘It’s the house of Sir John Soane—the architect who designed the Bank of England, and the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. He arranged for the house to become a museum for students and people who loved architecture, after his death. They do candlelit tours in the evening so you get the feel of what life was like there, nearly two hundred years ago.’ He smiled at her. ‘Actually, if there’s one next week, would you like to go?’

‘Yes, but haven’t you been there already?’

‘Several times,’ he said, ‘but I see something new every time I go. It’s a total maze of rooms with all these hidden compartments and corridors. The collection’s arranged by pattern and symmetry rather than by period, and it’s a total magpie’s nest—everything from Egyptian relics to old clocks and period furniture and incredible art.’ And it would be nice to share it with someone. Someone who understood what made him tick.

She smiled back. ‘Sold.’

‘Great.’

They visited the shop on the way out; Roland used the excuse that he wanted to pick up something for his five-year-old niece, but when Grace wasn’t looking he secretly bought one of the dinosaur heads on a stick she’d told him about. Later that evening, he wrote a note on the outside of the paper bag and sneaked it into her briefcase, hoping she’d enjoy it when she found it.

* * *

On Monday morning, Grace opened her briefcase at her desk and discovered an unfamiliar paper bag resting on the top of her things.

In Roland’s precise handwriting was a note.

Saw this and thought of you. Rrrr.

Intrigued, she opened the bag, and she burst out laughing when she saw the dinosaur head on a stick.

It was the last thing she would’ve expected from the man she’d met at Bella’s wedding. But the Roland she’d got to know over the last few days had a keen sense of humour—and he made her feel more light-hearted and carefree than anyone she’d ever met. Like the teenager she’d never really been, because she’d always been the serious type.

Roland made her feel different.

And she liked that feeling.

Smiling, she texted him.

Thanks for the T-Rex. Am sure it will scare the numbers into behaving.

On impulse, she added a kiss to the end of the message, and sent it before she could chicken out.

Pleasure, came the immediate response.

Checked and is candlelit evening at museum tomorrow. Entry limited to first two hundred so we need to be there by five p.m. latest. Can you make it? R x

The fact that he’d sent her a kiss at the end of his own text made her heart flutter. It would be so easy to lose her heart to him. But that wasn’t what he was looking for, and she needed to remember that. This was their last week together. They’d just enjoy it, and part as...well, hopefully, friends.

* * *

On Tuesday evening, Roland met Grace at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and they joined the queue—early enough to guarantee their admission, to his relief.

He took her to the catacombs in the crypt, so she could see the sarcophagus by candlelight; there was lots of dramatic up-lighting. ‘This is the spooky bit,’ he said. ‘It always feels like being in the middle of a gothic novel.’

‘Your architect liked drama, then,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe this is all a private collection. Imagine living here with this in your basement.’

‘And this is probably how he would’ve lit it,’ he said.

She shivered. ‘It’s a little bit too spooky for me.’

‘Come and see my favourite bit,’ he said, and took her to the model room.

‘Oh, I can see why you love this,’ she said with a smile.

‘My favourite one is the Pantheon. I loved the model, when I was a child—and then, when I visited the real thing in Rome, I was totally blown away by it. I think it’s my favourite building in the whole world.’

‘So what is it about it that grabs you most?’ she asked.

‘The dome. It still amazes me how they constructed that dome nearly two thousand years ago, without all the modern equipment we have now. It’s the most incredible feat of engineering.’

‘It’s impressive,’ she agreed.

‘I used to come here a lot when I was a student,’ he said. ‘Soane used to open these rooms up to his students before and after lectures, so they could get more of a feel for the subject. I could just imagine being taught architecture here with these models.’ He guided her round to see the miniature Parthenon. ‘These models are incredible. Even the acanthus leaves on the Corinthian capitals here are accurate copies of the real thing. It’s like being on a mini Grand Tour.’