Chapter 3 #2
I didn’t know why I was still feeling so reluctant to meet people.
It had been a big part of my former job, and I’d never struggled with it before.
Perhaps it was the proximity of everything that was throwing me off.
Whatever it was, I hoped it would soon pass, and I’d feel more like my sociable self again.
‘Skylar this is Kate. Kate, meet Skylar,’ Rafe told the woman who came into the kitchen with him. ‘Kate is one of the owners of Prosperous Place,’ he added for my benefit. ‘She lives there with her partner, Luke.’
I knew that Prosperous Place – which was located just opposite the square – was a large Victorian property with extensive grounds and that the popular community garden was located there.
‘And our two girls,’ Kate added. ‘I’ve just taken them to school and thought I’d drop in on my way home and introduce myself.’
‘Would you like a coffee?’ Rafe offered.
‘No, no,’ she said. ‘But thank you. I’m not going to linger, because you’ve probably still got tonnes to do.’ I was warming to her already. ‘Moving house is such a trial, isn’t it?’
‘It’s lovely to meet you,’ I smiled. ‘And yes, it does have its moments. Though Rafe has been the one bearing the brunt of most of them.’
‘Oh?’ she said, looking between us.
She was probably wondering why I hadn’t called him Dad. People generally tended to be curious about that.
‘I’ve bought the house,’ Rafe explained, though he didn’t need to. ‘But Skylar and I are going to share it.’
‘I see,’ Kate nodded. ‘I own one of the houses a few doors along. It’s where I lived when I first moved here following my divorce.
’ Clearly, she had no qualms about sharing either.
‘And Luke and I co-own another place almost opposite here, too. That’s where our head gardener, Freya lives.
It was the garden that I wanted to talk to you about actually. ’
‘I know we haven’t made it over to the Grow-Well yet—’ Rafe started to say but she put up a hand to stop him.
‘Of course you haven’t made it over there yet,’ she laughed.
‘You’ve only just arrived! No, I wanted to let you know that you’re more than welcome to explore the whole of the garden if you’d like to.
It’s looking rather beautiful, even though the summer is coming to an end, and the walks around it are lovely. Very peaceful.’
Given that I’d moved from such a remote spot, it would be a genuine blessing to have somewhere peaceful to visit practically on my new and, to me at least, crowded doorstep.
‘Well, that’s very generous of you,’ Rafe smiled. ‘Isn’t it Skylar?’
‘It is,’ I agreed. ‘And much appreciated.’
‘Here’s the code to the gate,’ she said and handed Rafe a slip of paper.
‘Lisa said she’d forgotten to give it to you and was going to come over, but I said I’d call in.
I know I shouldn’t have written it down.
We have a friend staying with us and he’s always saying we should change it regularly, but I struggle to remember anything more than my bank card PIN and there’d be so many people to tell! ’
I felt a pang of sympathy for their friend. It was an issue I had always tried to address at Highfell, but Madeline and Tobias had insisted the security codes shouldn’t be changed either.
‘We’ll commit it to memory and shred the note,’ I promised Kate.
‘A new shredder!’ Rafe said loudly and Kate and I jumped. ‘Something else for the list.’
‘And just when you thought you’d remembered everything,’ I smiled.
‘And on that note,’ Kate said, with a nod to the paper, ‘I’ll leave you both to it. Come and look around anytime, won’t you? You’ll find the community garden if you follow the path to the right once you’re through the gate and the rest of the garden to the left and around the house.’
‘Thank you,’ I said as she made for the door.
Rafe followed her and I checked I had eyes on both cats.
‘If you want to meet everyone en masse, then I suggest you come to the Grow-Well at the weekend,’ Kate said and I made a mental note to avoid weekends for now. ‘That’s when you’re likely to find most people popping in and out.’
‘Lisa said there’s a rota?’ Rafe questioned.
‘There is. But we’ll get you added when you’re settled. No rush.’
I closed the kitchen door and let out a breath, grateful that we had a bit of respite before we had to do that.
‘There,’ Rafe said, when he came back to the kitchen. ‘How fantastic was that?’
‘This is exactly what you were hoping life in Nightingale Square was going to be like, isn’t it?’ I smiled.
‘To a T,’ he grinned. ‘And I hope you’re going to love it, too.’
‘I’m very much looking forward to visiting the garden,’ I told him. ‘In fact, I think I’ll go tomorrow as the forecast is still set to be sunny and you’ve made plans for us to see Grandad George on Saturday. Will you join me?’
‘I think I’ll head over on Sunday when everyone’s most likely to be there.’ That didn’t surprise me. ‘And in the meantime, I have an idea I really need to go and get down…’
He hurried off and I hoped his muse had come calling. I was tempted to ask if the idea related to the book he was supposed to be writing or the tempting new idea he’d mentioned but as I didn’t want to distract him, I let him go, hoping it was the former.