Chapter 2
Hannah came to an abrupt halt just inside the garden gate… the gate that had opened smoothly and closed without a sound instead of the honking creak of rusty metal she remembered from her last visit. The thing had clearly been oiled. Regularly and recently.
That wasn’t the only surprise, though. The little front garden was looking lovely.
Leaving her suitcase just inside the gate, Hannah took a couple of tentative steps along the cobblestone path that led to the front door. It was weed-free and had clearly been well-brushed. It wasn’t just the cobbles that had received some serious TLC, though.
Taking a detour onto the grassy path that led between the flowerbeds, Hannah stared around in wonder.
Far from being a jungle of flowering summer grasses that had gone to seed, the winding green trail was as short and neat as a velvet ribbon.
It looked like it had been mowed and raked all the way through the summer, and there wasn’t a single blade out of place.
The flowerbeds held the remains of what had clearly been a gorgeous display, but even now that autumn was well underway, the show was far from over.
Structural seedheads had been left to support late-blooming cosmos.
Clumps of rich marigolds smiled up at her, and long tendrils of trailing nasturtiums with their jewel-bright red and yellow flowers wove between the other plants, softening everything with their rounded leaves.
These were what her Aunty Millie would have called old-fashioned flowers—plants that would always have a place in an English cottage garden. The question was… how had they got there?!
Hannah frowned in confusion. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she’d wandered into someone else’s garden by mistake. But her nose was being tickled by the scent of a blush-coloured rose that trailed along the hedgerow separating her front garden from Mr Eaves’s place next door.
A lump promptly lodged in Hannah’s throat.
She could still remember the afternoon she’d helped Aunty Millie choose that rose from the garden centre in Dunscombe Sands.
It had been a much smaller plant back then.
Now, it stretched for meters along the boundary, its fragrant blooms glowing like gems against the evergreens.
Just like the grass, the rose showed tell-tale signs of care and attention. Hannah could still see traces of careful summer pruning, and here and there, the rambling branches were tied back to prevent them from trailing too close to the ground.
Hannah shook her head. Someone had been very busy indeed. The question was… if the little front garden looked this good, what about the much larger garden at the back of the house?!
Abandoning her suitcase completely, Hannah hurried towards the narrow pathway that led around the side of the building. This, too, had been neatly swept and weeded. She pushed her way through the low wooden gate and came to a standstill once more.
‘Blimey!’
The back garden wasn’t just tidy… it was stunning! The estate agent would have a field day out there with their camera—and not just because of the glorious view down over the town and the sea beyond.
The flower beds at the back were just as full of colour as the ones at the front. In fact, if anything, there was even more to admire. Hannah recognised the tall, purple verbenas and the brilliant salvias, but there were plenty of varieties she’d never even seen before.
Well, one thing was for sure—the garden hadn’t miraculously done this all by itself.
Sure, she could believe that some of the plants might have self-seeded from years gone by, but that wouldn’t explain the fact that they’d been carefully weeded.
And what about the neat pathways, mowed lawns and well-edged borders? !
Hannah wandered deeper into the garden, navigating the path as it curved around the old maple tree with its deep red leaves.
She half-expected someone to jump out at her and demand to know what she was doing in their garden!
But no… she was just being daft. Everything was peaceful.
There was no one out there… at least, not right now.
Hannah cast a quick glance at the hedge that separated her garden from Mr Eaves’s place next door. At least she knew she was out. There was no way he’d be back from the beach yet. No doubt he was busy filling his pockets with all sorts of treasures from the shoreline right now.
Annoying man!
Hannah rolled her eyes at herself. She was just jealous because she’d tried her own hand at doing the same thing—stomping up and down the beaches with her eyes peeled.
She’d never found anything more interesting than a limpet shell, and she’d always blamed Mr Eaves and his greedy eyes for squirrelling away all the good stuff before anyone else got the chance.
Of course, now that she’d had several months free and clear from Gareth, she was feeling a lot more rational about such things.
Hannah knew her lack of beachcombing luck was probably down to the fact that she’d always been in such a bad mood, she’d been far too distracted to notice much beyond the end of her own nose.
Hannah let out a long sigh, turning her attention back to the question at hand—who on earth had been so busy with her gardens? She hadn’t told anyone she was on her way back to Seabury apart from the estate agent, who she’d primed for action the minute the requisite two weeks were up.
The idea that someone had spent months doing her such a massive favour simply didn’t make sense. The last time she’d been in town, she’d been in such a foul mood that she couldn’t imagine anyone would want to do something like this for her!
The thought made her shoulders sag. These next few weeks were going to be long and lonely. But she had to get through them, because then she’d be free to sell this place and get back to whatever life she had left back in London.
Hannah felt a massive wave of exhaustion wash over her. Maybe it was time to head inside and see how the house had fared while she’d been away. With any luck, she might even be able to rustle up a teabag so that she could grab a cuppa to revive herself a bit.
Dragging her feet, Hannah trudged through to the front garden again, grabbed her case and yanked it up the steps to the front door.
‘Oh!’
It looked like the surprises weren’t over yet. Right there in front of the door was a cardboard box.
Bending down, Hannah gingerly reached out and flipped open the flaps with her thumb and forefinger before whipping her hand away.
Then she let out a laugh. There was nothing more ominous in the box than a whole bunch of delicious goodies.
Taking a closer look, she rooted through a lovely haul of fresh veggies, fruit, a pat of butter, tea, coffee, and even a jar of honey.
It was the local stuff from the buzzing blighters next door. Urgh.
Eyeballing two white paper bags at one end of the box, Hannah tweaked one open and was instantly assailed by the scent of fresh bread.
Her stomach promptly let out a growl. Crossing her fingers for more good news, she peeped inside the second bag only to find that it held one of the cake selection boxes from The Sardine.
‘Blimey,’ she gasped. ‘What a treat!
Talk about a mystery… but it was definitely a welcome one.
Hannah could only imagine that this had to be down to the guys at the estate agents.
They were the only ones who had any inkling Hannah was coming back to town.
Perhaps this box was their attempt to secure her business?
Surely, though, if it was them, they’d have left a card?
Hannah poked around inside the box again but couldn’t see any sign of a note or even a business card. Ah well… it was bound to come to light sooner or later. Right now, she fancied a cuppa and one of those delicious-looking cakes!
Straightening up, Hannah unlocked the door and pushed it open wide.
Then she hurried to shift the box inside before grabbing her suitcase.
Hauling it into the hallway, she quickly kicked the door closed behind her before anyone had the chance to spot the fact that she was there.
No doubt it wouldn’t be long before the news was all over town, but she didn’t much feel like helping it along any more than she already had.
Abandoning the case next to the box just inside the door, Hannah took a couple more steps along the hallway and then paused, listening intently.
Silence.
The kind of silence that told her that everything was still turned off at source… electricity, water, the works.
Well, from this vantage point at least, everything looked very much as she’d left it. There wasn’t the usual pile of post that a long-neglected house would normally boast because she’d set up a redirect so that she wouldn’t miss anything important.
A thick layer of dust coated everything, even though she was sure she’d cleaned the place from top to bottom before locking it up last time. The air smelled stale. Not mouldy, exactly, just old and a bit dusty. She could really do with opening up some windows and getting the place aired…
But if she did that, the bees would be straight in!
Would they still be around in October? Probably, considering Mr Eaves’s garden was usually heaving with hives.
The flowers on her side of the fence wouldn’t exactly help to deter them, would they?
! Whatever kind soul had been tending to her gardens probably didn’t realise that they’d just be encouraging the buzzy blighters over her side of the fence even more than usual.
Grabbing her case and leaving the box of goodies where it was for now, Hannah decided she’d better do a quick tour of inspection before anything else.
She needed to check there hadn’t been any disasters while she’d been away.
Then she’d turn the water and electricity back on and finally grab that cuppa.
Heading upstairs first, Hannah nipped into the master bedroom to drop her case off. She wrinkled her nose. If anything, the air up here smelled even worse than downstairs. That wasn’t the only reason for her reaction, though.
Hannah might be back in Aunty Millie’s house, but this room was the one that had fared worst of all from Gareth’s meddling.
It no longer held any trace of Millie, because it had been redecorated in the most boring neutrals the man could find.
The space was mostly taken up by a large king-sized bed, a couple of nondescript chests of drawers and an ugly wardrobe.
Hannah shrugged. It might have upset her at the time, but frankly, the fact that it was so neutral would make it easier to tart up ready for the sale!
Crossing the room, Hannah decided to risk a bee invasion after all and opened the windows wide. Then she grabbed an old magazine from the nightstand next to the bed, rolled it up and set it on the windowsill, ready for action.
Let the bees come… she was ready for them!
‘Right, next!’ she muttered, heading out of the bedroom as fast as her feet would carry her.
Next, she stuck her head around the bathroom door, figuring that if there had been any major disasters, such as a burst pipe or an overflowed toilet, it would be better to know about it sooner rather than later. Luckily, everything looked fine.
Hannah eyed the closed door to the smaller bedroom at the end of the hallway, but decided she’d leave that until after she’d fortified herself with a bit of cake. That was where most of Millie’s belongings had ended up, and she wasn’t quite ready to face them just yet.
Trotting back downstairs, Hannah grabbed the box of goodies from the hallway and headed straight through to the kitchen.
Popping them down on the counter next to the kettle, she headed for the cupboard under the sink.
She turned the water on before straightening up to open the little window that looked out over the back garden.
‘Next up… electric!’ she muttered, pottering over to the fuse box by the back door and flicking on the mains trip switch. Nothing happened… but then, there wasn’t anything turned on, so why would it!
Rolling her eyes at herself, Hannah reached for the light switch and clicked it on.
Nada.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ she huffed.
Maybe the bulb had gone?
Hannah went back out in the hallway and flipped that light on too, just to test the theory.
Zilch.
‘Well… damn,’ she sighed.
Well, there was nothing for it. Hannah didn’t have the energy to figure out what the problem was right now.
She was simply going to have to make do with a glass of water with her piece of cake.
In fact, maybe she’d escape the stuffy confines of the house and sit in the garden for a few minutes.
She was pretty sure there was an old deck chair in the little shed.
Good plan… and she’d get busy making a list while she was out there.
Pocketing a slightly yellowed notepad from the windowsill and a pencil from the pot that had been there since she was a child, Hannah popped it behind her ear for safekeeping before making a beeline for the box of cakes.