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‘Mum, be reasonable …’
Alice thought she was being very reasonable, agreeing to selling up in the first place. Jeffrey had persuaded her they should downsize, as he would be retiring soon too and it would help their finances. She could see the positives, at first – until she discovered there was nothing on the market she was interested in. She didn’t even know where they would live. They could downsize and stay in Cambridge, but from what she’d seen, that might mean buying a flat, and after years of living in a house, Alice wasn’t sure that was what she wanted. A change of location was looking more likely. But Alice loved Cambridge and didn’t know where else in the country she would enjoy spending her retirement.
Alice thought of their buyers. That was another issue. They were a lovely couple. How could she possibly pull out of the sale now and take the house off the market? She wished she’d not been there when they viewed. She could tell they were besotted with the place.
She looked from Jeffrey to Freya. ‘I don’t want to have this conversation right now,’ she said, walking to the door.
‘But Mum, you’ve got to have it at some point.’
Alice walked out of the kitchen and across the hall of their double-fronted home to the lounge, almost tripping over one of the boxes in the hall. ‘For goodness’ sake!’
Jeffrey appeared at the door. ‘Everything all right?’
She cast a black look in his direction. As soon as they’d put the house on the market, he had started packing, focusing on moving day even though they had nowhere to go.
Alice walked into the lounge. Wherever she looked and wherever she turned, she felt she was tripping over boxes. The prospect of moving into rented accommodation didn’t feel right either. Everyone else was getting what they wanted out of the sale, even her husband.
Jeffrey followed her into the lounge, but quickly retreated to his study next door when she didn’t answer his question. Of course everything wasn’t all right, but she had a pang of guilt for making this difficult for him. The situation with Freya and Theo all living under one roof wasn’t his fault.He’s just too quick to consider what’s good for them and not for us, thought Alice.
She knew he hadn’t had a good year, and that this was what he needed too. He’d never brought up moving just so that he could take early retirement – but Freya had given him a reason to make that decision. She knew he wanted to leave teaching, perhaps finish that novel he’d started decades earlier, but they needed the money from his job until he retired. Releasing money from the house would mean he could stop work straight away.
They’d had the conversation. Jeffrey was no longer enjoying his job. A hefty chunk of his time now involved working on a laptop from home, teaching online. To save money, streamline courses and make them more accessible, the college had branched out into distance learning. He was finding the whole experience stressful. Jeffrey didn’t like working on computers, although Alice reminded him that it was what he’d have to do if he wanted to write. Unless he was planning to crank out a novel on an old-fashioned typewriter.
In her heart, although she wouldn’t tell him and burst his retirement dream. He might like the idea of being an author – but the reality was that he just wasn’t the type to sit on his own for hours writing. Or doing anything, for that matter, that didn’t involve meeting people face to face.
Jeffrey was a people person through and through. He missed the face-to-face interaction with his students and the banter with his colleagues at work when his job had shifted online. He’d become withdrawn, agitated, unhappy. Mild depression, the doctor had said, brought on by stress. It wasn’t uncommon with big changes in life, and that included his work life. But she had pointed out that even online he could see his students, chat to them. In time, perhaps he’d master the new system. She worried that he’d regret his decision to leave teaching altogether.
Alice sighed. Despite her doubts, he knew there was no going back. For her husband’s health, and her daughter’s and Theo’s future, the house had to go.
Chapter 3
Alice felt the sudden urge to run away from it all. Just the other day, she and Jeffrey had ended up having their first full-on row for as long as she could remember. It had been over his zealous packing.
Alice looked around the room, which, apart from the furniture, was now devoid of their personal effects. He’d even packed away the lamps and pictures. It was ridiculous. Their lounge didn’t feel like their lounge any more without the personal mementos and the familiar framed photographs.
‘I don’t want to be here right now,’ Alice whispered to herself. And in that moment, an idea formulated in her mind. She rushed out of the room and into the study, taking Jeffrey by surprise when she tapped him on the shoulder. He was sitting at his desk, his back to her, headphones on, preparing another online course. He took his headphones off and turned around in his swivel chair.
Alice said, ‘I’ve got an idea.’
He smiled. ‘I’m all ears. Is this about moving?’
‘Well, sort of.’
‘Okay, fire away.’
‘How about we go away for a few days, maybe a week? We could book into a nice hotel, recharge our batteries.’Get away from all this, she thought. She frowned at her husband, who was already shaking his head.
‘I know you don’t break up for the February half-term until the day after tomorrow.’ Alice knew the college holiday dates. ‘You could take your work away with you. We could book something with Wi-Fi. That’s the advantage of working online.’
He was still shaking his head. ‘That’s not it, Alice.’
She frowned at him. ‘So, what’s the problem?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘There’s still a lot to do.’
She grimaced. ‘You’re not talking about packing up the house, are you?’
‘Well, of course. What else?’
