October 20, 2026 · Day Eight · Commentary by [DEV]
Yesterday, Wes was still sleeping on the couch and everyone was still avoiding the room conversation.
Today, that finally got sorted out.
We have a new worst
The eleven o’clock training session gained a fourth person. Wes asked to join Julian, Finn, and N30N, then proceeded to demonstrate exactly what riding a bike around London does for your cardio.
He outlasted everyone on the rowing machine. The core block was a different story.
N30N celebrated being relieved of his position at the bottom of the class.
“New worst! We have a new worst!”
“Welcome,” said Wes, flat on the mat. “It’s an honor.”
Julian raised the weights and set the next session for Thursday.
The furniture conversation
Afterward, Wes asked Julian where he should move his things. He didn’t want to keep occupying the couch and was apparently hoping someone would point him toward a den. Possibly a garage.
Julian explained that the only unused bed in the house was in Eva’s room.
Wes needed a moment.
“I can’t just ask her, can I?”
“You’d have to,” Julian said. “I’d stay out of it entirely.”
Wes spent lunch trying to work out how to ask. Eva eventually spared him the effort, catching him in the hallway with the brisk efficiency of someone settling an overdue household chore.
“The bed in my room is for you. It’s been for you since Friday. You’ve been sleeping on a couch out of some—manners thing, and it’s making both of us stupid. Take the bed.”
“Since Friday? Eva, I only got here Saturday night.”
There was a pause.
Eva recovered by telling him to move his things upstairs before dinner. She also threatened to put him outside if he folded the couch blanket again.
A ten-minute move with an audience
Wes’s belongings amounted to a duffel and a courier bag.
Randi happened to be by the window with a camera whose lens cap was still on. RJ was loudly not asking questions over a bowl of cereal. Ash watched from the stairs.
By dinner, the spare bed was made and Wes had somewhere to put his things. They now share Eva’s room, with a bed each.
They sat at opposite ends of the dinner table. This did not appear to help either of them think about anything else.
Things to finish before Sunday
The end of the stay is starting to affect how people spend their time.
Finn shut himself in the living room for two hours of practice, emerged sweaty and pleased, and refused to explain anything. He is preparing for his promised showing later this week.
Julian and Randi had a more practical conversation about her photographs. They agreed to sit down before Sunday and finish a small series for publication, working title Grounds.
Carlos kept working on his “alone, not lonely” painting. Wes stopped to look, asked about the figure’s hands, and stayed for forty minutes while Carlos talked him through it.
No room arrangements. No audience. Just someone taking an interest in the work.
“You’re easy to have around,” Carlos told him.
Wes said it was the nicest thing anyone had said to him since he arrived.
Carlos confirmed that yes, everyone had seen the move.
The chalkboard has a list
RJ proposed a last-week bucket list, which went up by the kitchen door.
There are plans for fire-pit s’mores, a possible pool polar plunge, a photo of all twelve, a camera lesson from Randi, and someone teaching RJ poker properly.
Julian is banned from dealing.
By bedtime, the list had grown and acquired three different handwriting styles. The polar plunge remains pending.
Wes read the board twice without adding anything. Eva noticed.
Two mugs, one bench
The fire-pit group was smaller tonight. It was cold enough that everyone stayed close: N30N, Ash, Carlos with the guitar, Randi under a blanket, and Wes in what has become his usual seat.
Eva stayed in the kitchen for forty minutes before coming outside.
With two mugs of tea.
One was for Wes.
The conversation wandered through first jobs and first cars. Wes told everyone about the bakery that fired him for eating the misshapen croissants.
Eva immediately pointed out that he still bought the misshapen ones. She remembered him telling her outside her flat, in the rain, with the—
She stopped.
“With the broken umbrella,” Wes finished gently. “Yeah.”
Randi became very interested in the fire. Carlos kept playing.
You could know
After the others went inside, Eva and Wes stayed on the bench for another twenty minutes.
They talked about London, the bakery, and whether Canada was too cold to be real. The sort of ordinary conversation they had been having through her doorway for two years, given a little more time to run.
Eventually, Wes said he kept thinking he ought to be nervous about going home on Sunday. Instead, he kept thinking he didn’t want to go back to not knowing where he was having dinner.
Eva had three words for that.
“You could know.”
Then she stood up rather quickly, announced that it was late, and went inside.
Wes stayed outside a little longer with his cooling tea. He went upstairs afterward, slipped quietly into their shared room, and said goodnight to Eva before settling into the spare bed.
They let the conversation rest there for the night.
The house was dark by half past one. Third frost. The couch was finally empty.
— [DEV]
