Page 5 of Lost in Love
Chapter 2
Katherine felt the sun warming her legs. It was only early summer, but with little wind and a secluded patio, it was the perfect spot to catch the sun on a lounger.
Little chirps nearby pulled her attention from her book to the bird feeders in one corner of the patio. They had been one of her first purchases for Abbey House when she bought it a few months before.
The old Georgian house had been extensively renovated by the developers and decorated perfectly to her taste. A few colour coordinating throws and cushions were all that had been required to bring it into its own, and she loved any excuse to buy those.
The host of sparrows perched upon the bird table took off in fright; a small mewing behind her indicated the reason.
“Hello, Virginia.”
A small, black-and-white cat leapt onto her lap and pushed itself against her book until she stroked it. She had felt a pang of guilt when she first encouraged the birds into her garden but calculated there must be an endless number of other threats for small birds to deal with. One laid-back cat that spent most of its time asleep indoors would unlikely make for much of an added threat.
Bored of reading — but not of her book, Katherine never bored of reading early twentieth-century women’s literature — she snapped it shut and took a gulp of water from her glass. It was warm. This weather demanded something more refreshing than water, and she felt the need to stretch her legs. A walk into the village was in order.
Nunswick’s high street had made a big impression on her when she first came to look at the house. So many other villages had narrow, claustrophobic high streets with a poor blend of historical and modern styles. This village held an array of architectural styles, but the proximity of the abbey to the high street had likely saved the village from the senseless ideas of modern planners.
Her end of the village consisted of proud, Georgian houses until you reached the quaint, fifteenth-century pub in the middle of the high street. Beyond the pub, several small shops nestled in a row of what were once Victorian houses. They were joined by the library and surgery, both crammed into what was the old Victorian schoolhouse next door.
Opposite stood a long row of small, Edwardian terraces, which she had been informed were owned by the council. Although out of keeping with the historic nature of the village, they were a blessing compared to the more modern council houses that were so often shoehorned into other villages.
People were milling about, chatting over garden walls; they nodded in her direction as she passed. She’d received a huge amount of support from the villagers since arriving, and she had become very popular with patients at the surgery. Overwhelmingly so, with many asking to change doctors as the rumours went around as to her polite bedside manner and welcoming smile. Only working part-time meant she had limited space, and a waiting list had been started, though with the ever-ageing population of Nunswick, the wait wasn’t long.
She crossed over the road to the row of shops, all beautifully ordered with large windows beside a door, housed within their gable-fronted Victorian shells. The tearoom was the last shop on the right.
Katherine had been warned about the tearoom and its gossipy owner, Gloria, when she first came to the village. It was the perfect place to let slip a bit of news that you couldn’t be bothered to tell an entire village individually. One of Katherine’s colleagues calculated that news of her pregnancy had worked its way from the tearoom and around the village in under thirty minutes.
Katherine had avoided the place up till now. Not that she was ashamed of her “news”; she just wanted to give the village time to get to know her before it became common knowledge. People were always more judgemental of those they didn’t know.
She pushed into the tearoom and was greeted by a short woman with her hair pulled back into such a tight bun that it almost took her eyebrows with it. From the description she’d been given, she knew this was Gloria.
“What can I get you, love?” she asked with a smile.
Katherine was taken aback by the coarseness of her tone; it wasn’t particularly fitting for the type of establishment the tearoom presented itself as. Not one to judge, she looked at the chalkboard beside her and responded.
“One of your vitamin smoothies please.”
Gloria grinned. “They’re new. You’ll be my first customer to try one.” She scurried away into a small kitchen behind her.
Katherine examined her surroundings whilst she waited. A business card holder sat on the counter; she picked up one of the cards and examined it at arm’s length. It readGloria’s Lay and Leave Buffet. Katherine smirked and placed it back in the holder.
It was a relatively small tearoom, quaintly decorated in the post-war style, or possibly just not decorated since then; she wasn’t sure. The abbey, she noticed from reading a leaflet she had found in the library, had its own more modern-style cafe.
A gramophone sat in one corner of the small room, with a thin layer of dust on top. Katherine decided it was likely an ornament rather than an entertainment system. Beside it was a small table by a window, with two older-looking ladies sitting on either side, affording them a direct view on to the high street and of the door.
“Don’t you mind those two. They’re my regulars, the twins,” Gloria said, appearing back at the counter with a clear smoothie cup restraining a green liquid.
Katherine did a double take back at the twins, only to be met by the same face and enquiring expression facing her. She did a quick one-eighty back to Gloria.
“You’re the new doctor, aren’t you?” Gloria continued.
“Yes, how did you guess?” Katherine enquired, knowing full well the news would have spread as to her appearance.
Gloria’s head twitched. “Oh, er, lucky guess, I suppose.”
Katherine smiled at her and passed her some pound coins. She picked up the smoothie and, encouraged by Gloria’s gesturing head, took a sip. It was surprisingly good.
“You know, that’s not bad,” Katherine said taking another sip. To her, anything was a welcome change from tea, especially in this heat.
