Page 7 of Whispers from the Past

An hour later, most of her bags lay scattered on the floor of the flat above the shop. But one area was finished. The white metal framed vintage double bed that Eleanor had left up there for her was fitted with fresh sheets and her mother’s eiderdown. It was the only thing of her mother’s that she’d kept, other than her copy of the Count of Monte Cristo. They always travelled light, and Rose had learnt not to be sentimental. But her mother always packed this, so this last piece of her came everywhere with Rose. That way, each night she was still with her. Comforting her and keeping her warm on the cold, lonely nights. No sooner had Rose sunk into the welcoming sheets, she was asleep.

Chapter 4

🎵 We’re Going to Be Friends by The White Stripes 🎵

Sunlight streaming in through the window woke Rose the next morning. She had been so exhausted the night before that she had forgotten to draw the curtains. This meant she was awake much earlier than necessary. Stretching under the warmth of the rosebud eiderdown, she struggled to remember what the plan had been for today. When she came for her trial visit the week previously, it had been decided that Rose would have a week to settle in before she started at the book shop. She argued that a couple of days would suffice, but Eleanor was adamant. So today was a day designated to sorting out her flat above the shop. Reaching over to her phone she saw it was 07:34am. At least the sunlight had woken her at a time when normal TV programming had started. It was always a bad start to the day when all there was to watch was Wildlife SOS; many a morning had been ruined by watching a badger wounded to the point of death or fox cubs fighting to survive after their mother was hit by a train. She needed to be in a much better headspace to be able to watch it anymore. Savouring the embrace of her bed for a few more moments, she opened up Spotify to search for an appropriate soundtrack for the job of unpacking. Once she found it, she turned up the volume on her phone and My Favourite Game by The Cardigans filled the room. Before the song was done, she was dressed and unpacking the first of the bags that she’d dragged up the narrow staircase the night before. This morning, she decided she needed to dress happy so she’d chosen her favourite stone washed jeans and a soft magenta jumper with embroidered daisy chains circling the sleeves.

An hour later, Eleanor called to her from the shop, ‘Morning Rose, are you ready for some breakfast?’

‘Oh yes. I’ve not got any food in yet.’ She put the last of her books onto the whitewashed bookcase - another gifted piece of furniture from Eleanor, and carefully made her way down the stairs. The delicious scent of a bacon sandwich greeted her as she rounded the last few steps.

‘That smells amazing,’ Rose called out as she stepped into the annex. ‘Oh. Morning Luke.’

‘Morning Rose.’ He shifted uncomfortably at Eleanor’s side. There was something different about him this morning, and she quickly realised it was because he wasn’t wearing his oil stained overalls. In a cream cable knit jumper and dark jeans he looked quite different to the mechanic who she’d met yesterday. His next words startled her out of her appraisal; ‘Look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was cold and wet and probably not as welcoming as I should have been.’ Luke looked over to Eleanor as he finished as if searching for her approval. She nodded.

Rose looked between them both. It was an awkward apology, but it was a start she guessed. She was anything if not gracious. ‘Well, thank you for bringing all my things down. I really appreciated it. And sorry for any trouble I caused,’ she groaned as she bit into the bacon sandwich. It was so good. Luke finished up his, thanked Eleanor and then got up to make his way out. As he got to the threshold he stopped himself and fished Rose’s watch out of his pocket. ‘Here,’ he said as he turned, holding it out in front of him. ‘Almost forgot to give you this. I found it in the footwell of your car.’

‘Thanks! I hadn’t even noticed it was missing,’ Rose admitted, with a hint of embarrassment.

Instead of turning back to leave, Luke cleared his throat. ‘I had a quick look under the valve cover this morning on the Capri. Thought there might have been a problem with the plugs. But they were surprisingly clean.’

‘Well, I pulled over at Malton and cleaned them all. Usually that sorts out the backfiring.’

‘Didn’t realise you knew anything about cars.’

‘I don’t really. I just know about the capri. Well I thought I did, but I messed up this time,’ Rose sighed.

‘Doing that will have helped. But it would have been better to have been towed the last thirty miles. Anyway, thanks again Eleanor,’ and this time he did leave.

‘Well that was weird,’ Rose breathed out after he’d gone.

‘Sorry, I should have warned you he’d be here. I’d promised him breakfast for helping out yesterday. My bacon sandwiches are kind of legendary.’ She smiled as Rose continued to tuck into her sandwich.

‘So what are your plans for today?’ Eleanor asked as Rose finished the last of her breakfast.

‘I’ve unpacked my books. So that’s all the important things done,’ she joked. ‘In all seriousness, I haven’t got much more to sort out. So I think I’ll spend the day doing a bit of exploring.’

‘Excellent plan. And I know just the person to take with you.’

Before long, Holly Loxley came bounding up the worn stairs that led up to Rose’s flat. ‘Rose, are you ready?’ she called as she walked into the lounge area.

‘Nearly!’ Rose called as she rummaged in her bin bag of clothes for her jacket. She emerged from the bag to find Holly investigating her bookshelf with interest.

‘I’ve not heard of half of these books! What’s your favourite?’ she asked as her fingers trailed over the spines.

‘I always find that question so hard.’ She winced a little as she remembered how this conversation had gone with Sam back at the library. ‘I really can’t pick a favourite - it wouldn’t be fair to the others,’ she winced.

‘Ok, top five?’ Holly countered.

Rose joined her at the bookshelf and carefully picked out five books; Brave New World, The Comfort of Strangers, Mansfield Park, The Book Thief, and The Count of Monte Cristo. An eclectic mix which, for today, were her top five. Ask her tomorrow, and she’d probably switch a few out.

‘Ok, I’ve not read any of these!’ Holly lamented.

‘But that’s ok. It’d be boring if we all read the same things all the time. What’s the last thing you read?’

Holly took a moment and then stated, ‘Everybody Poos.’ Which sent both women into fits of giggles.

‘Well you clearly win the prize for best recent read!’ Rose giggled again, only to fully laugh when Holly started singing Everybody Hurts by REM but switching out the word hurts for poos.