Chapter 6
Having briefly touched on more of the practicalities, such as where I would find bed linen, towels and so forth, and in spite of the huge changes the day had delivered, I practically skipped back to Rose Cottage that afternoon. Or I would have done, had I not been driving.
As I started to repack my few things with more haste than care, I thought that rent wouldn’t be the only thing I would give Constance while I was staying in the apartment – she had informed me it had been used as extra guest accommodation in the past – but I would have to be discreet about it.
I might not really know her yet, but I had already deciphered that she was a proud woman, and she might not take kindly to me doing domestic things around her house because it would infer that I felt she wasn’t keeping on top of it all herself.
It was obvious she had no support in the house because no housekeeper would let the ironing pile grow to the extent of the teetering tower in the Fernside kitchen, so perhaps I could ask if I could iron my own clothes in the house because the apartment kitchen was too small to put a board up and then do Constance’s, too.
If she took offence, I’d apologise and say I’d got carried away.
And, as I would be using her washing machine, I could perhaps put some of her laundry in with mine on the pretence of making up a full load.
I’d soon find ways to do my bit without her realising it, because I really thought she could do with a helping hand.
I didn’t expect to sleep that night, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I went out like a light and didn’t wake until the sun streamed through the bedroom curtains the next morning.
‘One key to the cottage,’ I said, putting it down on the counter in the village store. ‘And I’ve stripped the bed and piled the sheets along with the towels I used and left them just inside the front door.’
‘You’re a star,’ said Kaya, who seemed to have found her manners along with a much-improved mood. ‘Thank you, Tilly.’
‘You’re keen to be off,’ Melody observed sadly.
‘Not quite off.’ I smiled.
She raised her eyebrows and I went to explain, but she stopped me.
‘Why don’t you go and see to the cottage now, before we get busy in here again?’ she said to her sister.
‘All right,’ Kaya willingly agreed, and I tried not to let my mouth fall open. She was completely tamed. ‘I’ll just grab the cleaning stuff. Bye, Tilly.’
‘Is she for real?’ I mouthed to Melody and she put a finger to her lips.
‘Don’t,’ she whispered. ‘You might jinx it.’
I swallowed down a giggle.
‘Won’t be long!’ Kaya called from the back door and headed across the courtyard weighed down with cleaning paraphernalia and an empty wash basket.
‘So,’ I laughed, once I was certain she was out of earshot. ‘What is going on?’
‘She’s turned over a new leaf.’ Melody beamed.
I was agog. ‘How did you manage that?’
‘I didn’t,’ Melody confided. ‘She was already getting there, unexpectedly throwing herself into and suddenly loving her domestic duties, but now my friend Rick is back from his holidays, looking even more tanned than usual and fitter, too, and she’s seeing the extra attraction of a summer spent in Willowell with her sister. ’
‘Tell me more,’ I laughed.
‘He’s a local Kaya hadn’t previously met and the only guy on the planet who comes back from a holiday with the lads looking healthier than when he went.’
‘And that’s impacted on Kaya, how exactly?’ I grinned, potentially guessing the reason, but enjoying her telling me anyway.
‘It can only be that she’s got the hots for him, can’t it? And even though she was settling down already, clearly the thought of spending a few weeks flirting with Rick, while she replenishes her travel fund, has put a very happy spring in her step.’
‘Ah, right,’ I laughed. ‘I see.’
‘It’s not going to happen, though.’
‘How come?’
‘Rick’s gay.’
‘And you haven’t told her?’
That was a twist I hadn’t seen coming.
‘You know I’m not one to gossip,’ Melody winked.
‘Melody!’ I laughed louder. ‘You do know this will come back to bite you, don’t you?’
‘I do,’ she nodded. ‘But for now I’m enjoying some sisterly harmony.
Anyway, what’s going on with you? I didn’t think you’d be in such a rush to vacate the cottage.
In fact, I had the feeling that I was going to have to full-on evict you.
I’m going to miss having you nearby to talk to and share the occasional bottle of wine with. ’
‘No,’ I said, barely able to keep a lid on my excitement and feeling surprised that she had forgotten my previous hint, ‘you’re not.’
‘I am,’ she insisted. ‘I know we haven’t known each other for five minutes, but—’
‘What I mean is,’ I cut in, ‘you won’t get the chance to miss having me nearby because I’m only moving up the road. Barely to the outskirts of the village!’
‘What?’ she gasped. ‘How come?’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘to cut a long story short, yesterday was pretty monumental…’
‘Go on,’ she nudged, because my words had trailed off as I started to think about it all again.
‘Sorry.’ I blinked. ‘Okay, well, as you know, I went to Fernside with the groceries for Constance and as a result of a subsequent chat, she kindly gave me permission to visit the woods, which are stunning by the way, and then…’
‘Go on,’ Melody urged again, more impatiently that time.
‘When I went back to the house, I said… I said that I wanted to think about buying them.’ Melody’s eyes were on stalks.
‘And then,’ I carried on, ‘when I explained that I sadly had to leave Willowell today, Constance asked if I’d like to move into this little apartment that’s attached to Fernside, rather than go to Bali, so I could do my thinking there! ’
‘No way!’
‘And I said yes!’ I nodded enthusiastically. ‘And it’s going to be so much easier to make plans and sort things out if I’m here rather than on the other side of the world.’
‘Of course it is,’ Melody agreed.
‘So, what do you think?’
‘I think you’ve made my day and it’s not even lunchtime!’ she exclaimed, pulling me in for a hug. ‘And,’ she grinned, when she let me go, ‘it also explains the phone call I had from Constance yesterday when I guess you must have been walking around the woods.’
‘Oh? What did she want?’
‘Just to ask what I knew about you. Obviously, I couldn’t tell her your entire life history, and I didn’t share anything I didn’t think you wouldn’t want me to, but given what you’ve just told me, I reckon she must have been sizing you up as a lodger practically from the moment you turned up!’
‘She’s canny, isn’t she?’ I smiled, thinking how Constance had been a step ahead of me the whole time we were together the day before.
‘Oh yes,’ Melody agreed. ‘I might not know all that much about her private life, but I’ve gleaned enough to know that nothing gets past her.
She doesn’t miss a trick and my guess is she’s keeping you close to see if you come up to snuff before she lets you buy the woods.
Which,’ she added, ‘is something we absolutely have to talk about!’
‘Up to snuff!’ I guffawed. ‘Have you swallowed the Downton box set or something?’
‘It’s always on in the hairdressers!’ Melody giggled. ‘I must have picked it up in there. But you know what I mean.’
‘Yes,’ I grinned. ‘I do. And you’re completely right. Constance said that’s exactly what she had in mind when she offered me the apartment.’
I didn’t mention how she’d also keyed into the fact that I needed a bit of respite after all the changes that I’d recently made to my life.
‘And so… the woods?’ Melody mentioned again. ‘You just made out that you were interested in the trees when you headed to Fernside yesterday.’
‘I am interested in the trees,’ I said, sticking to the story I’d previously used.
‘And that you just wanted to walk around without trespassing,’ Melody probed further.
Clearly, she wasn’t going to be fobbed off, and I could hardly blame her. I would have been intrigued myself if she’d done something similar. Wanting to buy a patch of woodland wasn’t your usual, every day kind of purchase, was it?
‘I did want to walk around without trespassing!’ I laughed.
‘You never so much as hinted that you were really interested in buying them though.’ She tutted. ‘Even when Kaya asked you outright. What on earth would you do with them?’
‘Now I’m not leaving Willowell,’ I pointed out, ‘we’ve got plenty of time to discuss that. In fact, once I’m ready to share what I’ve got in mind, you’ll be one of the first to know and you’ll soon be sick of me rattling on about it.’
‘I very much doubt that,’ Melody contradicted me. ‘But if you do buy them, does that mean that you’ll also be thinking about permanently relocating here?’
‘I’m not sure relocation is an option when you haven’t already got somewhere to live.’
‘But you have, haven’t you?’ she nudged. ‘The apartment at Fernside. I didn’t even know the house had one.’
Again, I felt my pulse race at the mention of my dream home, my current home.
If you’d told me even just two days ago, that my next address would begin with the name Fernside, I never would have believed it.
That said, it wouldn’t do to get carried away.
If I did buy Willowell Woods, then I was going to be seriously stretched when it came to funding the purchase of my own home to eventually move into.
Constance was right, setting about this slowly and steadily was the right way to go.
‘I’ve got the apartment for now,’ I said thoughtfully. ‘And I can’t give you a better answer about the woods or where I’m going to live permanently if I do buy them, because I’m only just at the very beginning of considering my options and trying to work it all out.’
‘That’s fair enough,’ Melody accepted. ‘It’s exciting though, isn’t it?’
‘So exciting!’ I clapped. ‘And I’m setting off to move in right now. Not that it’ll take me long, because I’ve only got enough stuff to tide me over for a long holiday abroad.’