Page 9 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

Bob gave Katy a smile and a wave before the two older men wandered away towards the railway workshop.

Ryan sighed heavily, dragging a hand through his hair before looking at Katy. What on earth had just happened? He was grateful for her kindness towards his dad, but the whole thing was ridiculous.

He tried to take control of the situation. ‘Look, between you and me, you don’t really want this, do you?’ he said, once they were alone. ‘As you can see, we’re not in hospitality. We’re certainly not a hotel. And, in all honesty, there’s no job on offer. My brother just posted it as a sort-of joke.’

But he realised that Katy didn’t appear to be listening to him. Instead she was staring down the platform at the retreating backs of his dad and grandad.

Finally, she turned to face Ryan, her pretty face a mask so he was unable to read any emotions she was feeling. ‘Like I told your dad, I’ll take the position,’ she said in a level tone.

Ryan was flabbergasted. ‘But I’ve just told you that there is no job! I mean, I appreciate your offer to help, but there’s no money to pay you either.’

‘I believe free bed and board was mentioned?’ she asked, seemingly not listening to him.

‘I, er…’ Ryan was lost for words. ‘Yes. I suppose there will be a spare bedroom in the upstairs apartment after tomorrow.’

He guessed that she could use the room that Ethan would be vacating when he left the following day. But the whole thing was just crazy, wasn’t it?

‘Excellent,’ she said, with a firm nod. ‘So I shall stay here for one week from Monday and get the station tidied as per the job advertised. Do we have a deal?’

She held out her hand and, feeling like he had no choice in the matter, Ryan reluctantly shook it.

He stared at Katy, registering the utterly determined look upon her face.

For a second, he wondered whether it might just work. That Katy Smith could perhaps make everything better once more. But then reality hit. It was utterly nonsensical, of course.

After all, what difference would one week make?

5

Katy was quickly learning that as soon as things began to spiral out of her control, her problems seemed to multiply by the hour.

On first arriving at Cranfield station, she had been determined to turn down any job offer and run back to London as quickly as possible to nurse her hangover.

However, meeting Bob had touched something deep inside of her. She had only ever seen one other person look as shattered as him. It had instantly reminded her of her mum when the bankruptcy had ruined everything all those years ago. She recognised that look of complete and utter despair and hopelessness. The look of a person who had been irredeemably shattered by a loved one’s betrayal.

And so she had found herself agreeing to take on a position that she didn’t want. Nor did Bob’s son want her to take either. But this wasn’t about Ryan, she had decided. This was about his dad and how she could help him in some small way.

On the long train journey back to her apartment, though, she had begun to question her decision to take on the job. It was unpaid and the upstairs living quarters didn’t fill her with much hope as to their own cleanliness, given the state of the main part of the station.

Worst of all, it would be a week in the countryside, which she tried to avoid wherever necessary. Then there was the prospect of being in close proximity to what appeared to be a close-knit family, something she actively avoided as well.

Still mulling over her reckless decision, and with her hangover lingering late into the afternoon, Katy was shocked to find scaffolding going up around the block of apartments when she arrived home.

A note on the front door confirmed that work had been scheduled to commence the following week and that all apartments needed to be vacated as it was for the removal of asbestos.

Horrified, Katy rang up the management company to berate the short notice given.

‘Didn’t you receive the email about the scheduled works two weeks ago?’ was the response.

With a huff, Katy checked through the long list of junk emails and eventually found the notification informing her that the apartment would need to be vacated for three weeks.

Three weeks! Katy groaned. As if things couldn’t get any worse, she now temporarily had no home on top of no job.

It seemed as if the job in Cranfield might just be perfect timing, despite her reservations about being in the countryside, as well as her uncertainty about the exact job required.

The thought of all that mess was already making her hands twitch with the need to tidy everything up. The state of the place was unbelievable and she hoped that the satisfaction of getting it straight would override her displeasure at where the job was located.

But, above all, she was a woman of her word and she had promised Bob that she would help him, so what more could she do? She promised herself that she could always stay in a lovely clean hotel after the job was complete.