Chapter 12
TWELVE
ALICE
‘There’s nothing quite like laughter to bring people together. Children really are a joy, aren’t they?’ Alice laughed as she stood and began to clear the table.
‘They are. Maisie is always coming out with things like that.’ Jess wiped her eyes. ‘Here, let me do that,’ she said, taking some glasses from Alice.
‘We’ll do it together,’ said Declan, getting to his feet and piling the dessert bowls on top of one another on a tray.
‘If you insist, then thank you. I’m afraid I don’t have a dishwasher but leave them on the side. I will leave them in to soak until the morning,’ advised Alice.
‘You will do no such thing,’ said Jess. ‘I’m quite happy to wash the dishes; it’s the least I can do to thank you for a delicious meal.’
‘I’ll dry,’ said Declan.
Alice caught Jess colouring slightly at the idea of being in the small kitchen with him. She smiled to herself.
Alice was still getting used to just how different Wisteria House now was to how it used to be. The close quarters of the flats contrasted so much to how large the rooms used to be. The original kitchen of Wisteria House had sprawled across much of the downstairs.
Her father had employed a cook and a cleaner, but never a nanny at the insistence of her mother.
She and her sister went on long walks with their mother, an author, to local parks and museums, sparking her love of outside spaces and culture.
Her father’s role as a diplomat would often take him off around the world, especially during the war years, which she realised, when she was older, must have been difficult as well as dangerous.
‘Shall I make some coffee while I’m in the kitchen?’ asked Declan, but Alice declined, as did Mark.
She offered them a nightcap that only Mark accepted. ‘But help yourself to coffee.’
Jess thought coffee would keep her awake half the night so poured herself a glass of water from a large bottle of Evian in the fridge.
‘Anything I can do?’ Mark asked Alice.
‘There is. You can go to that cupboard and get the bottle of single malt and two glasses,’ Alice instructed him, indicating a nearby cupboard.
Mark returned with the whisky and two glasses, and Alice poured them both a generous measure.
‘I might regret this in the morning,’ said Mark as he swirled the whisky in his glass, chuckling.
‘Don’t feel obliged to drink it all,’ said Alice, but Mark tasted the whisky and smiled. It seemed the quality of the single malt might mean he would make short work of it.
When Jess and Declan came back in to collect some plates, Alice saw the possibility of something more than neighbours between them. As she finished dealing out some cards for herself and Mark, she was struck again with memories of living here before.
‘I can’t remember the last time this house was filled with so many people,’ she found herself saying.
‘This house?’ asked Declan, confused.
‘Yes indeed. It was once a grand house that has been converted into apartments, as I am sure you know.’
She hadn’t really intended to mention it, as she rather hoped it would be a discussion for another day.
‘So you came here when it was a house?’
‘Yes.’ Alice smiled. ‘I spent my childhood here. It’s one of the reasons I rented this flat.’
‘Are you saying you lived here once before?’ asked Jess, open-mouthed.
‘I did indeed. But I think that is a story for another time.’