Page 5 of Whispers from the Past

Her defence fell on deaf ears as the mechanic was shoulder deep in the bowels of her car.

‘Well you’ve shot her carburettor and the radiator is blown. Do you want me to fix her?’

‘Yes of course. She is very important-’ Rose was cut off by the mechanic’s mumblings. ‘Sorry, what was that?’

‘I said,’ pulling himself out from the engine to continue, ‘not so important that you can’t take proper care of her.’

Rose huffed, but there wasn’t anything else for it. She couldn’t get the car anywhere else now, so this surly mechanic was her lifeline. She swallowed the indignation brewing inside her.

‘Ok. I get it. I’ve abused her. But she does mean everything to me. I’ve just been preoccupied with the move here and I’ve not looked after her as well as I should have. Will you please fix her for me, Mr…?’

‘Loxley, Luke Loxley.’

‘Loxley? As in Robin of? Oh god the references just keep on coming don’t they…?’ she muttered more to herself than the man in front of her.

Luke let out an exasperated sigh, not even registering that she was still rambling on. ‘And you must be Rose. Eleanor mentioned that someone was arriving to work with her today. I would say nice to meet you, but…’ he nodded over to her still smoking car and shrugged.

‘So, Luke, can you fix her?’

‘I can. But it’ll take a while. These parts are hard to come by at reasonable prices.’

‘Fine.’

With that Luke turned around and stalked back into the garage.

‘I guess I’ll make my own way to the book store then,’ Rose muttered to herself.

With her irritation level at DEFCON 3, Rose grabbed her handbag from the passenger footwell and trudged off towards a damaged footpath sign in the vague direction of the high street, cursing Luke Loxley under her breath. And when it started raining, she cursed him out loud. At first, the rain was a welcome relief to the frustration that had been brewing after her encounter with Luke. However, after ten minutes the rain was now coming down hard. The droplets pelted her face like tiny bullets. Never known for her good sense of direction, it took Rose half an hour to walk the five minute distance to the bookstore. She cursed again when she realised that her phone was still sitting in the passenger footwell, meaning she couldn’t call upon Google to navigate her way. She kept slipping on the wet ground underfoot and taking wrong turns that sent her back on herself. When she eventually made it she was greeted with quite the scene.

Luke was in the middle of an animated discussion with a pretty blonde woman who was clearly angry with him. And poor Eleanor was pacing up and down the street, wearing down the already worn cobbles. It was Luke who spotted her first.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ he practically shouted as he swept his damp dark hair from his face, revealing deep emerald green eyes. Eyes she hadn’t noticed back at the garage. Eyes that were pretty pissed off, she noted. ‘I went into the garage to get my keys to drive you down, and you disappeared.’

‘I didn’t know that’s what you were doing. You told me off, said it wasn’t nice to meet me, and then walked off. What was I supposed to think?’ Rose realised she was on the verge of shouting now.

‘Ah ha! I knew you had caused this. You grumpy git’. The blonde woman shoved past him to get to Rose. ‘Ignore my git of a brother. He’s terrible with people. Great with cars; terrible with people.’ She turned to glare at him for the last remark.

And seemingly so as not to disappoint, he stalked off to his car and drove off up the hill.

‘Holly Loxley. Nothing like my idiot brother. Pleased to meet you.’ She extended a hand which Rose happily shook.

‘Rose Brayling,’ she said as she smiled at the warm face of Holly. Her blonde hair fell in soft waves around her face. Realising she was looking a little too intently, Rose explained, ‘Sorry. It’s just that I was looking for some family resemblance.’

‘Oh you’ll find none. We’re chalk and cheese, but very much related. He’s fine really, just grumpy most of the time.’

Holly was right, with her blonde hair and blue eyes she looked nothing like Luke. His thick brown hair was tousled around his forehead, probably because of the amount of times he drove his hand through it, and his eyes were a deep green. Rose gave herself a quick shake of the head to bring her back into the moment. She had no desire for grumpy mechanics, no matter how enchanting their eyes might be.

‘I work at the Smugglers Ale House over the way. Come and see me once you’re settled in. Natalie has been dying to meet the newcomer!’ Holly called as she waved and headed over the cobbled square to a bricked based pub, with a thick canopy of ivy over banks of inviting windows that teased at the warmth within.

With the rain giving off a slight reprieve, Rose turned to see Eleanor easing herself onto a small enclosed bench by the war bookshop.

‘Sorry to have caused such a stir’.

‘Oh no bother. That’s the best bit of excitement we’ve had for a while,’ Eleanor laughed and patted on the space beside her. Rose obliged. ‘I’m just glad you’re finally here. Luke was that worried about you.’

‘He didn’t seem all that worried,’ Rose mumbled.

‘Oh, don’t you mind him. He spends far too long with machines. He forgets about feelings. Today will have done him some good.’ She winked and carefully pulled herself up off the bench. Rose followed her back into the book store. As she crossed the threshold, it felt momentous. It seemed as though she’d been working towards this day forever. And through all the places she’d been in her life, this small little shop felt like home. The feeling caught in her throat and she had to swallow it down. She breathed in ready to start this next chapter.