Chapter 11
11
Ethan woke up and, for a moment, wondered where on earth he was.
The unfamiliar surroundings soon took hold when he remembered that he was in the old schoolhouse.
Of course, it didn’t exactly feel like a home yet, despite having had a few pieces of furniture delivered the previous day, such as a proper bed and a couple of sofas. Apart from that, he had quite a few boxes that he had finally brought out of storage a year after selling his apartment in Hong Kong.
In a way, it was nice to finally have a place of his own again, he realised. He had been living out of a suitcase for so long that it was good to put down some roots. Not that Cranfield would be a forever place as far as he was concerned. There were just too many bad memories hovering around every corner.
The apartment above the station where Ryan and Katy now lived was warm and welcoming, but it had been the family home when he was growing up and would forever be tainted with the past. His mum nagging his father over and over, all the time whilst young Ethan knew that she was seeing another man. Or men, plural, as it turned out.
He swiftly spun his legs out of bed, wanting to dismiss all thoughts of his mum and the past. They spoke occasionally and he was pleased that she was happy at last. But he would always put up invisible defences whenever he spoke to her, nervous of getting too close or hearing any more of her lies.
He sighed, shaking his head to wake himself up, and looked around. The school had always been small as it had only served a couple of the local villages. But it at least held happy memories for him.
There had originally been two classrooms when it was built in the Victorian era – one for boys and girls. Of course, by the time he had attended the school all that had changed. He smiled to himself as he remembered his early years, messing about with Ryan, who had been a couple of years older, as well as Libby and Flora. They were happy innocent days, that he could look back on fondly.
The classroom he had chosen for his bedroom was large and even with his order for a couple of wardrobes and other pieces of furniture, it would still be plenty big enough. Thankfully, the renovations completed by the previous owner had got as far as the en suite bathroom, with a huge bath and walk-in shower.
Ethan gave a shiver in the cool morning air. Getting the chimneys swept was high on his priority list, along with a new front door and, most importantly, a new electric circuit board. He was hoping there wouldn’t be too much else to do. His spur-of-the moment decision to buy the old school would quickly turn into a money pit if he wasn’t careful.
He quickly got dressed into jeans and a sweatshirt before making the bed and heading into the other half of the school, which was the living quarters. He crossed the floor, which was new oak boards, already sanded and waxed. The lounge area had a large fireplace, as did the small room on the other side. It was the old headmaster’s study, which overlooked the railway line. It was a reasonable size and he was hoping to use it as his own workplace when he had finally unpacked.
The only other room was the oversized kitchen. He supposed at one time it had been used to feed all the school children, but it was excessive for his own needs. He could rustle up cheese on toast, but beyond that, Ryan was the brother blessed with all the culinary skills. Ethan possessed pretty much none.
The kitchen had also been renovated by the previous owner. It still needed a proper deep clean after all the time lying empty over the summer, but now that he had had a large modern fridge-freezer delivered, at least he had somewhere to keep the milk. The only thing that he needed to replace was the old stove, which the previous owner appeared to have wanted to keep for character. Whereas Ethan just thought it ugly and would be buying something far more modern as soon as he could.
He wandered over to his expensive but much-needed coffee machine and flicked it on, staring out of the back window. The view beyond the back railings was of the railway line and then onto the fields beyond.
But it was the railway line that caught his attention. He was still reeling from the idea that the steam engine and carriages would be up and running for passengers by Halloween. Then there was his grandad’s dream of a Christmas-themed train. Ethan would be long gone by then and for a moment he wondered who would be helping out his dad and grandad with the train. Christmas was a super busy time and Ryan would be flat out in the restaurant. Besides, his brother didn’t have the engineering skills required.
Ethan knew that the answer was staring him in the face. He should be the one to help them out, but that meant staying in Cranfield and he couldn’t face that. His plan, as always, was to head off as soon as he could, despite now having a home in the village.
On the plus side, at least while he was around, he could enjoy a few more poker nights with Ryan, Joe and Nico. He had enjoyed the boys’ night the previous evening, despite only winning one hand of cards and it had reminded him of the pleasure of having real friends who knew him so well. Mostly working on the road for a living and staying overnight in hotels, he hadn’t developed any close relationships outside of the village.
He was about to make himself a coffee when there was a knock on the front door.
Running a hand through his messy blonde hair, he headed to the hallway and wrenched open the front door that still needed replacing.
There, to his surprise, he found Libby on the other side.
‘Good morning,’ he said, raising his eyebrows at her. ‘I’m surprised you knocked on the door. Last time you just barged into the place and cracked me over the head.’
‘Good job there’s no brain in there to speak of then,’ she told him. ‘Come on. Let me in. It’s freezing out here.’
The temperature had dropped overnight and the northerly wind was whistling down Railway Lane and into the hallway.
Ethan stepped aside and gestured for her to step over the threshold. He wondered what on earth had been so important that Libby had needed to visit him.
Intrigued, he closed the front door behind her.