‘I don’t think the restroom is the best venue for a heart-to-heart,’ she said, shuffling to the door.
‘You’re right. But I need to give you this. I had hoped for some time to talk and for you to read through it.’ Felicity picked up the bag she’d placed on the bathroom floor and pulled out a letter. ‘Perhaps you should come by tomorrowto discuss it. I can give you some context, try to explain?’ She tailed off with a frown, before brightening up again. ‘Would you like to pop around for tea? There will be oodles of leftover scones. A moment on the lips and all that.’ Felicity patted her hips and Aria wondered if she’d bought the black chiffon dress especially for the funeral. ‘Bring a bag. You’ll need to pick up the keys, and a bunch of other stuff,’ she added.
At those words Aria let herself feel hopeful. A few weeks ago, she’d been fired from her job selling timeshares after becoming disillusioned with the high-pressure sales patter and manipulative techniques needed to secure deals. When she couldn’t find another, she moved out of her flat. Putting her stuff in the cheapest storage she could find, she couch-surfed with a former colleague for a couple of weeks, hoping for a break. And one came out of the blue, in a way she hadn’t expected or wanted. But she needed those keys to Dad’s house to restart her stalled life.
***
Saying goodbye to a handful of people, she escaped into the street and walked towards the B&B she’d spent her last few pounds on. Still clutching the envelope Felicity had given her, she took a deep breath and ripped the seal, eager to see the gift in black and white. She lifted out two documents. One was a letter in her dad’s handwriting. She read through his words until she reached the part she was most anxious about. The content stopped her in her tracks.
Beloved daughter, I leave you my two most prized possessions – the hut and the hound
The hut.
Not the house.
His dog was lovely but hadn’t previously crossed her mind. The other piece of paper contained a will, which confirmed the unwanted gifts.
4
Nic wondered what kind of idiot was enticed to buy a house after a tour of a show home? This one reminded him of a museum – beautifully curated, but essentially rather soulless. He sneezed three times and decided he needed a cleaner. Stretching his legs out, he attempted to correct his posture, wrecked by hours hunched over a laptop making phone calls, sending out emails and hosting Zoom meetings. It was only when he reached for a light switch that he realised he hadn’t even fully opened the shutters this morning. Calling up an app on his phone, he pressed a button. Late-afternoon rays flooded in as the panels lifted, and a pale grey lake appeared beyond the windows. Above it, the sky was gradually growing darker, as though someone had used a paint-by-numbers kit to colour it in. Stepping outside, he clutched the railings of the wraparound deck, like he expected the house to rock in the breeze. He heard a woodpecker pick-pocking a hole in a tree trunk somewhere and felt a kinship with it – he’d spent years knocking down barriers placed in front of him while banging heads with the pillars of this Lakeland community. Sighing, he realised his frustration might be heightened byhunger. Taking out his phone to order the most convenient meal he could, he drew a blank.Of coursethere were no delivery services around here. The thought of going out for dinner drained the last of his energy. He’d make do with toast and peanut butter using frozen bread and a jar he’d bought at the service station. Not for the first time, he wished he was back in London helping Theo establish a new normal.
5
The following day Aria stood in front of the family home, eyes sweeping over the property she believed was rightly hers. She fished her key out of her pocket and when it failed to open the door, panic tightened her throat. There was no manual for this homecoming – only that letter and the will laying out her uncertain future. Fearing her heart might beat out of her chest, she rang the bell, gripping the useless key in her palm. As she waited for her stepmother to come, she took a few steps back down the path and looked around. The garden was overgrown, while the rotten windows competed with the shoddy roof for the prize of most neglected. Putting her dad’s letter under her arm, she picked a dandelion clock and blew on the feathery globe, counting the weeks since her dad had died with every puff.
‘One, two, three…’
Fluffy umbrellas whirled and a gust of wind whipped the envelope into the air. As she scrabbled to retrieve it from the foot of a tree, the front door opened, and a barrel of sandy velvet shot out onto the path. Ears flapping, nose to the ground, the pug accelerated quickly before slamming on the brakes, beating her to the document.
‘Hello, Tiger,’ Aria said, as the little fawn fiend lolloped over with the letter. She wasn’t terribly familiar with her father’s pet. He’d bought him after she’d left, encouraged by the animal loving Felicity. However, knowing how fond of him her dad was, she gave him the benefit of the doubt along with a tickle under his chin. Poor thing. He must be wondering where Eddie had got to. She reached to retrieve the letter from his jaw, but he wouldn’t play ball.
‘Drop it, you annoying creature!’ she said, feeling mortified when Felicity grabbed Tiger’s collar and yanked him away.
‘Did you ring the bell? It’s been playing up for weeks.’
Aria stuttered out an excuse for being rude to the dog while opening her palm, revealing her key. ‘Did you change the lock?’
Her stepmother shook her head, confused. ‘It’s temperamental, like everything else around here at the moment. Sorry if you can smell horse on me. Haven’t had time to change. Do come in. It was so busy I—’
‘I’m running late,’ said Aria.
‘Late for what?’ Felicity’s question caught her off-guard, before she was further unbalanced by her stepmother linking their arms and guiding her through the porch. ‘As expected, I have a house full of sausage rolls and cakes, and not much appetite for eating on my own. You must join me and help me polish it off. Like your dad, I hate waste, and Tiger will drive me mad begging for scraps. He loves picnic food.’
‘I er…’
‘I won’t take no for an answer. Come on in,’ she instructed. ‘Don’t worry about muddy feet or standing on ceremony. Thehouse is exactly how you last saw it, if not worse. Your dad wasn’t himself in recent months and neither of us had the will or money to do much in the way of maintenance. I’m glad you brought a suitcase, but you may need binbags too. I’ve left some out.’
Aria prickled. ‘I didn’t know he was ill. His heart attack came out of the blue for me. Shouldn’t I have been informed of any symptoms?’
‘You know what he was like. Always carrying on, saying he was fine despite the breathlessness. He put the occasional chest pain down to age, even though I nagged him to see the doctor.’
Reluctantly following her stepmother, Aria had a sudden desire to run back to her stunted flat and beg for work from the company who had let her go. Meanwhile Felicity gestured to a huge pile of stuff at one end of the kitchen – topped off with a string-bag of toys. Aria pulled a face at a half-chewed duck with disproportionately long legs sitting on top of the pile.
Felicity’s high-pitched laugh rang around the stone walls. ‘Yep, it’s a monstrosity, but if you throw it for him to fetch, he will shower you with love. I’ll make us tea while you pack up. There’s a lot of it, isn’t there?’
Aria noticed afresh that Felicity’s eyes were the same colour as her own. Her dad used to joke he had a fancy for emeralds and her mother’s eyes had been the most vibrant colour of all.
‘I was trying to sort it out for you, but I got distracted with a crisis at work,’ her stepmother continued. ‘Now, would you like tea or coffee?’
