Chapter 1 #2
While studying hospitality at university, she’d also mastered Spanish and Italian, and her language abilities had opened up many exciting career opportunities over the years.
Spain and Italy were amongst her favourite countries to work and she spent several months each year there.
Over the past five years, she’d also worked contracts in hotels and resorts in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, as well as Sweden, Croatia and Greece.
She was grateful for the career she loved and which gave her the opportunity to travel the world.
The downside was that time with friends and family wasn’t easy to find and she was rarely back in England for more than a few weeks at a time.
When she did return, she prioritised catching up with those she loved.
Aunt Jill was always eager to travel to London when Gaby was passing through in order to spend time together, and she appreciated her generosity in travelling from Hamblehurst, which saved Gaby the time commitment required for the journey west to the Hampshire South Downs.
Gaby’s parents had divorced many years ago—it was their imploding marriage and the dreadful arguments that accompanied it that had caused Gaby to escape to her Aunt Jill’s house in Hamblehurst that summer when she was seventeen—and the traumatic breakdown had left a scar on her relationship with her parents that had never truly healed.
She loved them, naturally, but she wasn’t especially close to either her mother or her father, and the time she spent with them during her visits back to England was done out of duty rather than desire.
With no siblings and a strained relationship with her parents, Gaby treasured the comfortable affection she shared with her Aunt Jill, who had no children of her own.
Jill was her mother’s cousin, so not a full aunt in the strict sense of the word, but she was the most important member of Gaby’s family when it came to matters of the heart.
“And did you enjoy your time in Madrid?” Jill asked, her genuine interest obvious. “Tell me about the work you were doing there. Was it fulfilling?”
“Madrid was wonderful. I’ve worked there before and it was great to go back.
It’s an exciting city with fantastic museums. I spent a lot of my free time, what I had of it, prowling around the art museums and galleries.
The Prado is astonishing, Aunt Jill. So much amazing art to see there.
And the hotel I was working at was huge, with conferences and corporate events happening almost every day.
I was in charge of managing all the large events, organising the staff and working the timetables and catering and room bookings to make sure we fulfilled the contract requirements. The time flew by.”
Jill smiled fondly. “It sounds wonderful. I’m proud of you and how hard you work.”
“It doesn’t feel like hard work when you enjoy it.”
“Never a truer word spoken. And tell me about…” Jill suddenly frowned, a look of dismay clouding her expression. “Listen to me blabbering on and launching into chitchat when you’ve only just walked through the door and must be exhausted from your travels.”
“I’m fine, Aunt Jill.”
“But you flew all the way from Madrid and then had to catch the train here from London. Travelling is tiring, even when someone does as much of it as you do. You haven’t even had time to take off your coat and I haven’t even offered you a cup of tea.”
Jill reached for her crutches but Gaby rose to her feet first.
“I won’t have you fussing over me, Aunt Jill,” Gaby said, shrugging out of her coat and tossing it over the back of the sofa. “And while I’m here, I’ll be the one to offer you tea and make it for you, too. Don’t you dare get up.”
“It’s important for me to move around.”
“I don’t doubt it. But you only just sat back down after opening the door to let me in, so you can stay there for the time being while I make our tea. Deal?”
Jill let out a resigned laugh. “Deal. My goodness, Gaby, it is so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, Aunt Jill. I’ve missed you.”
Because their greeting at the door had been half-hashed as she hadn’t wanted to jolt her aunt’s healing knee, Gaby now leaned over the armchair and planted a kiss on Jill’s cheek and squeezed her hand.
“I’ve missed you too,” Jill said. “I love seeing you in London, and I love my occasional jaunts to the continent for a flying visit at whatever amazing hotel you happen to be working at when we can both spare the time. But knowing you’ll be here for a few weeks is a gift, even if I did have to undergo this horrible surgery in order to enjoy it. ”
Gaby smiled. “We’ll get you on the mend before you know it.”
“I certainly hope so, my dear.”
“Okay then, tea for two coming right up.”
She walked to the kitchen at the back of the house and soon found her way around it, filling the kettle and locating the tea bags and mugs.
In the fifteen years since she’d been here, Jill had redecorated the kitchen with new wall tiles and flooring and a smart new countertop, but the layout remained the same.
It was strangely comforting to know exactly where to find everything she needed, even after so much time away.
While the tea brewed in the pot, Gaby checked out the fridge and cupboards, noting the food supplies on hand and thinking about what she could prepare for their evening meal. Cooking plenty of comforting and nurturing meals for her aunt could only help her recovery.
Carrying the tea tray through to the living room, Gaby noticed the various changes around the house that had passed her by when she’d first arrived and her only interest was greeting her aunt.
Like the kitchen with its new tiles and countertops, the hallway too had undergone some updating.
The walls were now a pale yellow when they’d been blue last time around, and Gaby was sure the hardwood flooring was new, too.
“Did you change the hallway flooring since I was last here?” she asked as she set the tea tray on the coffee table and handed a mug to her aunt.
“I did,” Jill said, accepting the mug with a grateful smile. “The old laminate flooring was scuffed and well past its best, so I invested in solid oak flooring and a professional fitter who knew what he was doing. It was money very well spent.”
“I agree. It looks fantastic, especially with the soft yellow walls and your framed prints adding colour and warmth.”
“Exactly what I think, too. I replaced the staircase carpet too, which warms things up even more.”
“I hadn’t even noticed that.”
“You’ll see it when you take your luggage upstairs. I prepared the guest room for you before I went into hospital.”
“Thank you, but I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble.”
“I went to as much trouble as I wanted. You’re my niece and it was important to me to make sure the guest room was nice and comfortable for your arrival.
Fresh sheets, fresh towels, fresh flowers on the chest of drawers.
And you’ll have the upstairs bathroom to yourself while you’re staying here, because I’m sleeping on the sofa bed in the dining room and using the downstairs shower room until I feel confident about tackling the stairs. ”
Gaby was pleased to know Jill had made the temporary shift to living on the ground floor while she endured the initial period of healing post-surgery. Considering Jill’s laboured movements since Gaby arrived, she doubted her aunt would manage to climb up and down the stairs right now.
“Were you okay here on your own last night?” Gaby asked. “I really wish I could’ve been here for your first night back home from the hospital.”
“I was fine. I organised the sofa bed in the dining room before I went into the hospital and made sure everything I’d need was down here.
My neighbour, Diana, brought me home when I was discharged and made sure I was all set for the night.
She’s a godsend and was good enough to bring fresh milk and bread to keep me going, too.
She looked in this morning before she went to work and insisted I let her know if I needed any help this evening.
Which reminds me, she asked me to confirm that you’d arrived, to put her mind at ease that I’m not here by myself, and said if she didn’t hear from me by the time she got home from her shift, she’d come round to check up on me.
I’ll just send her a message to save her the trouble. ”
While Jill texted her neighbour, Gaby sipped her tea and looked around the living room.
This space was also different from what she remembered from that long ago summer when she’d stayed here.
The carpet had been changed, the painted walls had given way to an elegant wallpaper, and the sofa and armchairs were new, each piece plush and comfortable and upholstered in a complementary mix of rich jewel tones.
The room was cosy and welcoming, the heavy velvet curtains closed against the dark evening and the sleek electric fire adding warmth and dancing light from the simulated flames.
Gaby liked that her aunt invested in her home, creating a place of sanctuary and comfort. It was the perfect environment for Jill’s post-surgery rehabilitation.
Jill finished typing her text message and almost immediately received a ping in response.
“Diana says we’ve to let her know if we need any help,” Jill said, squinting at the screen.
“She sounds like a lovely neighbour.”
“She’s brilliant. I’m blessed with many lovely neighbours here.
Foxglove Street is that sort of place.” Jill set her phone aside and picked up her mug of tea from the table beside her armchair.
“Now, while I’m thrilled to have you rushing to my aid Gaby, I want to ask again about how it is exactly that you can afford to give up almost two weeks of work to stay here.
It doesn’t sit right with me that you’re losing wages or salary on my account. ”