The Garden House by Marcia Willett

Author:Marcia Willett [Willett, Marcia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473555723
Publisher: Transworld

El watches from the window. She’s been waiting for him. Learning to live alone is not as straightforward as she imagined it might be. She’s always had school friends, family, or her friends at uni. It’s especially odd to be alone here, at the Pig Pen. Pa’s death is too sudden, too unexpected, to grasp. He should be here, sitting at the table calling out a clue to a crossword, making coffee, wandering out on to the little terrace outside the door where he has his favourite tubs and the bird-feeders. It’s all so silent, so empty, without him.

During these last few days, when the westerlies came rolling in, bringing soft grey curtains of rain that shrouded the moor in mist, she’d begun to wonder if she could actually make it alone, if she could endure long, dark winter evenings. The sight of Will’s big car, so totally unsuitable for a Devon farmyard, sliding gently to a halt below her fills her with relief and she has to prevent herself from running down the stairs and outside to greet him. He gets out, looking around him, and El steps back from the window lest he should see her watching. She tries to think of something casual she could be doing but nothing comes to mind. Quickly she opens her laptop so that when he bangs on the door, opens it and calls out, she can shout back and be sitting at the table when he appears at the top of the stairs.

‘Hi,’ she says, pleased to hear herself sounding cheerful. ‘You’ve made good time.’

She realizes that she doesn’t know how to greet him, whether she should get up and hug him, but he solves the problem by walking across to the window and looking out.

‘You’ve got good views here,’ he observes. ‘I couldn’t remember them clearly from last time.’

‘It’s the advantage of being upside down,’ she says, and suddenly she’s calmer. ‘It’s really great in the summer with all the sunshine pouring in. Would you like some tea?’

‘That sounds good. I didn’t stop on the way down.’ He turns back into the room. ‘I dropped my bag in the bedroom. Hope that was OK?’

‘Yes, of course.’ She’s glad to have something to do, to fill the kettle, find two mugs. Even though he was here to help clear out Pa’s things, for her to be here in the Pig Pen with him still feels slightly bizarre. ‘I’m glad you could get down again. To be honest I was totally thrown by finding Pa’s phone. And those messages.’

She has her back to him as she makes the tea but she hears him drag out a chair and sit down at the table.

‘Well, I totally get that,’ he replies. He hesitates and then goes on. ‘It was a bit like that after my mum died. I’d open a book and find in it a card she’d sent me or a letter from when I was at school. It really shredded me. Like I could hear her voice.

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