Chapter 41
Aria trudged up the path to Nic’s house.
There was no point in sugar-coating it – the phone call she’d overheard told her the last few weeks had all been smoke and mirrors.
Playing house with him had set her back on her quest to find a suitable place to live and a proper job.
She picked up the key to the hut and dressed quickly.
Then she plodded back towards the lake to assess the cabin she had abandoned a few weeks ago.
As she emptied buckets of water onto the beach from the leaks, and wrinkled her nose at how damp the cabin had become since she vacated it, she felt a twinge of guilt that she’d left it in such disarray.
Her limited funds meant she couldn’t afford to get someone in, but there was work she could be doing herself.
While she hadn’t asked for or wanted it, the shack was one of the few ways she was still connected to Eddie, and she wasn’t ready to let it go.
Resolving to buy some putty and paint and have a go at patching up the windows and door, she wandered onto the veranda and cast an eye over the garden.
She’d concentrate on it for a couple of hours to get over her hangover before going to work.
Shoving on some wellies, she grabbed an assortment of sticks and string and started to carve the sloping land into sections.
As she toiled, she congratulated herself for finding her way back to Cumbria.
Of course, she still resented her stepmother for snatching the house, but how good it was to grieve and recover from her father’s death in a place that was so close to his heart.
Weeding a new section, she decided to plant wildflower seeds and make it that haven for bees and butterflies that she’d planned when she first arrived.
After an hour or so, she grabbed a cold drink and sat down beside the lake.
A fish jumped as a dragonfly darted around, reminding her to go online later and see if there were any more developments about the state of the water.
She loved this hut, she realised, despite its flaws and decay.
It was filled with memories of the small things her dad used to do –boiling them an egg on the stove, for example, or asking her to join him on the veranda to watch the sunset.
And she recalled her mother sewing curtains and making picnics.
Each memory caused a small shock to her system as it came and went.
Feeling as unmoored as the cloud that was being pushed around the sky above her, she longed to have Dad back.
She allowed herself to shed a tear for the girl without a father as Tiger sat down at her feet, tongue hanging out.
As she accepted the no-strings canine comfort, she thought back to the play-acting and how she’d started to believe it was real.
After the sudden split with Justin, Aria had put all thoughts of a partner to one side.
She wasn’t destined to be a loved one, a cherished part of someone’s family.
She didn’t believe she was meant to be a homemaker or deserved to be married and mortgaged and all the things that came with successful adulting.
When Nic had rolled into town with a twinkle in his eye and glitter in the zip of his pants, she’d suspended that belief and enjoyed being the lady of the manor, the princess in his castle, the woman who made a business deal.
But, of course, he was a real businessman.
It had all gone his way from the start, and he’d turned out to be exactly what she’d thought he was.
In failing to follow her intuition, she had made herself feel even more expendable while helping him to rise further.
And she couldn’t even blame him. She was the one who’d announced an engagement when he’d only proposed moving in.
They’d delighted in using the phrase ‘fake’ on many occasions and tricking Donna.
While he may have invited her to fall for him, she’d taken the leap.
Aria stood up and dusted herself down. ‘Enough.’ She wasn’t going to dwell on it.
The fakery had brought her a few laughs and some good food.
She’d been able to save a little money, and Nic had helped her renegotiate her fee for the gardening job.
Now it was time to focus on herself and her own happiness.
She’d work hard today and tomorrow and finish the job while pressing the agent for more viewings.
In the coming days she would apply for vacant positions and set herself up with a place that was more than a box of rotten wood with sentimental value.
The hut was a nod to her past and not a life goal.
Aria needed to move on, from Nic and Justin and from this version of herself.