AllFreeNovel
Share Us
In complete contrast, on the other side of the village green was the surprisingly trendy hairdressing salon – Marietta’s – showcasing portraits of celebrities’ hairstyles in the huge glass window, as well as the bakery and the tiny florist’s shop called Buds & Bows. There was also the very picturesque local garage – Andrews Autos – with a mixture of expensive cars and old bangers parked on its forecourt waiting for the mechanic’s attention amidst a selection of potted plants and pretty hanging baskets.
Rosie smiled at the pastoral scene… until Willowbrook Lodge came into view, and the smile of anticipation drained from her lips. She had expected to see the neat chocolate-box cottage crowned with a thatched roof, white, sweet-smelling roses arched like a moustache over its front porch, and with neatly manicured front lawns divided by a pressed-shingle footpath, its freshly starched nets floating at the windows. Instead, the lodge bore a careworn mantle of neglect and melancholy.
Rosie paid the silent taxi driver what she considered to be an exorbitant amount of money for the fare from Gloucester train station to the village of Somersby, and dragged her wheelie suitcase to the picket gate, where she paused. Under the goldenglow of the now-risen sun, the front garden was a riot of vivid colours and tangled ornamental grasses. The gravel path leading to the front door sprouted weeds like nasal hair and overgrown ferns fanned their frothy fingers across the sash windows.
She exhaled a long sigh and forced the reluctant wheels along the path to the formerly scarlet door, its smooth paintwork now blistered like sunburnt skin. Overgrown, dew-soaked carnations slashed at her naked shins, and the heels of her stilettos sunk deep into the path’s tiny pebbles making progress difficult. She crouched down to scrabble around under the geranium-filled terracotta pots where she knew she would find Bernice’s front door key and allowed herself a smile.
Did her aunt really think an intruder wouldn’t possess the brains to look there?
She looked around her, pondering the stark contrast between this pretty, albeit dilapidated, cottage and the inhabitants of the rural Gloucestershire village, with her own tiny Manhattan apartment and her community neighbours. She knew from her previous visit that every person living in Somersby had a working knowledge of their neighbour’s recent history and current daily life. Thus, the lucky resident would be imbibed with a feeling of belonging, rather than the lack of privacy such intrusions would be labelled in her apartment block where, over the last three years, she had met only one of her eight fellow tenants.
Yet, despite this communal kinship she’d experienced during her visit to Somersby, after a month’s complete immersion in all things rural, Rosie had been relieved to return to the high-octane and completely disinterested environment of New York, and she would be repeating the escape this time, too, as soon as formalities allowed.
It was Monday morning. The funeral was scheduled for Wednesday, and her appointment at Richmond Morton Solicitors was on Thursday for the reading of her aunt’s will and the signing of the paperwork, after which she intended to scoot straight back to Heathrow for her Friday morning flight.
As she inserted the ancient Yale key into the lock, she felt the slithers of regret worming their way into her conscience. Just because Edward had cheated on her in the worst way possible, did that mean she should consider resigning? Why should she suffer for his despicable actions? Maybe she was being too hasty in her reaction to his treachery.
Rosie shouldered the reticent front door, a mound of junk mail slowing her entry. When she stepped inside, her nostrils were assaulted by the smell of lingering dust and sadness, but the air held a familiar top note of dried lavender, a favourite of Bernice’s – almost her signature scent.
The memory brought tears to Rosie’s eyes.
On her last visit, the lodge had throbbed with a vibrant welcome, the warmth from the stove enveloping her misery at the loss of Carlos and eradicating it from her soul, replacing the pain of his betrayal with acceptance, and then peace. Today, it felt as though the building’s inherent lifeblood had drained away as the dark and gloomy hallway led to a dank kitchen, draping Rosie with a shroud of loneliness and reproach. The cream Aga stood silent and stern. She shivered, goosebumps prickling her body.
She dumped her handbag on the scarred pine table – the hand-stitched Italian leather shoulder bag such an incongruous accessory in Bernice’s farmhouse-style kitchen – and her cell phone tumbled onto the floor. As she bent to retrieve it, it burst into song. She checked the caller ID and a bolt of pain so strongit whipped her breath away shot from her heart and spiralled out to her fingertips.
It was Edward.
She checked her silver watch. New York was five hours behind Somersby so that would make it just after seven a.m. She knew he would be at Harlow Fenton, lounging behind his desk in his favourite designer suit, artfully cast open to reveal a tantalising glimpse of purple silk lining, his shirt cuffs turned back to display a pair of his many quirky cufflinks. Even from three and a half thousand miles away, she could sense the smirk on his face as he waited for her to answer his command to speak to him.
To her surprise, she experienced a sudden whoosh of confidence and decided it was time to take a stand. She gritted her teeth, inhaled a long, slow, deep breath and swiped her finger across the screen.
‘Edward, what a pleasant surprise.’ Even the most rhinoceros-skinned person couldn’t fail to recognise the heavy sarcasm that laced Rosie’s greeting.
An uneasy laugh spluttered down the phone line.
‘Hello, Rosie. We were just wanting to confirm that you are over in the UK to attend your aunt’s funeral and checking on your return date. Before you say anything, can I just advise you that I’m in the boardroom on speakerphone. I have CEO George Harlow with me, as well as Lauren, Toby, and Brad Carlington.’
‘Perfect!’ said Rosie.
She wasn’t stupid. Clearly Edward had taken the precaution of gathering a group of colleagues around him, believing that she would never take him to task for his abhorrent behaviour in front of them. He was right, of course. But that was before he’d cheated on her with her sister. In fact, she felt even more inclined to speak her mind in front of an audience to ensure shedid not retract what she was about to do. Lauren already knew what he had done of course, but only via a text, she didn’t know the details.
‘Rosie, I know how you must be feeling, how close you were to your aunt…’
‘Edward, I resign.’ Wow, how liberating it was to say those words. The concrete block that had taken up residence in her chest since the afternoon of the wedding shifted a little. ‘Yes, I resign.’
‘Ah, come on, Rosie. I know you may be a little put out about the…’ Edward cleared his throat. ‘Well, about the situation we find ourselves in, but you don’t have toresign! We value your involvement at Harlow Fenton…’
‘Actually, I do. I do have to resign. With immediate effect.’
‘Well, I’ll need to check your contractual obligations with the HR department. I may be wrong, but I believe you are required to give the firm six months’ notice of your wish to terminate your employment.’
Rosie could hear the officious tone that had crept into Edwards’s voice. Why hadn’t she noticed his tendency to petulance before?
‘Really, Edward? Is that so? I have a contractual obligation? Is that the same as an obligation owed by a boyfriend to his girlfriendnot to cheat on her with her sister?’ She realised too late that instead of taking the moral high ground as she had intended, her voice had escalated an octave to shriek mode in place of the dulcet, sarcastic tone she was aiming for.
‘Ha, ha, Rosie. I do love your sense of humour. Maybe what we have here is a case of mistaken identity…’
She could almost hear the beads of perspiration bulge from his salon-steamed pores and she experienced a renewed surge of courage to get everything out in the open once and for all.
