Page 4 of A Second Chance in Seabury
Abandoning the case next to the box just inside the door, Hannah took a couple more steps along the hallway and then paused, listening intently.
Silence.
The kind of silence that told her that everything was still turned off at source… electricity, water, the works.
Well, from this vantage point at least, everything looked very much as she’d left it. There wasn’t the usual pile of post that a long-neglected house would normally boast because she’d set up a redirect so that she wouldn’t miss anything important.
A thick layer of dust coated everything, even though she was sure she’d cleaned the place from top to bottom before locking it up last time. The air smelled stale. Not mouldy, exactly, just old and a bit dusty. She could really do with opening up some windows and getting the place aired…
But if she did that, the bees would be straight in!
Would they still be around in October? Probably, considering Mr Eaves’s garden was usually heaving with hives. The flowers on her side of the fence wouldn’t exactly help to deter them, would they?! Whatever kind soul had been tending to her gardens probably didn’t realise that they’d just be encouraging the buzzy blighters over her side of the fence even more than usual.
Grabbing her case and leaving the box of goodies where it was for now, Hannah decided she’d better do a quick tour of inspection before anything else. She needed to check there hadn’t been any disasters while she’d been away. Then she’d turn the water and electricity back on and finally grab that cuppa.
Heading upstairs first, Hannah nipped into the master bedroom to drop her case off. She wrinkled her nose. If anything, the air up here smelled even worse than downstairs. That wasn’t the only reason for her reaction, though.
Hannah might be back in Aunty Millie’s house, but this room was the one that had fared worst of all from Gareth’s meddling. It no longer held any trace of Millie, because it had been redecorated in the most boring neutrals the man could find. The space was mostly taken up by a large king-sized bed, a couple of nondescript chests of drawers and an ugly wardrobe.
Hannah shrugged. It might have upset her at the time, but frankly, the fact that it was so neutral would make it easier to tart up ready for the sale!
Crossing the room, Hannah decided to risk a bee invasion after all and opened the windows wide. Then she grabbed an old magazine from the nightstand next to the bed, rolled it up and set it on the windowsill, ready for action.
Let the bees come… she was ready for them!
‘Right, next!’ she muttered, heading out of the bedroom as fast as her feet would carry her.
Next, she stuck her head around the bathroom door, figuring that if there had been any major disasters, such as a burst pipe or an overflowed toilet, it would be better to know about it sooner rather than later. Luckily, everything looked fine.
Hannah eyed the closed door to the smaller bedroom at the end of the hallway, but decided she’d leave that until after she’d fortified herself with a bit of cake. That was where most of Millie’s belongings had ended up, and she wasn’t quite ready to face them just yet.
Trotting back downstairs, Hannah grabbed the box of goodies from the hallway and headed straight through to the kitchen. Popping them down on the counter next to the kettle, she headed for the cupboard under the sink. She turned the water on before straightening up to open the little window that looked out over the back garden.
‘Next up… electric!’ she muttered, pottering over to the fuse box by the back door and flicking on the mains trip switch.Nothing happened… but then, there wasn’t anything turned on, so why would it!
Rolling her eyes at herself, Hannah reached for the light switch and clicked it on.
Nada.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ she huffed.
Maybe the bulb had gone?
Hannah went back out in the hallway and flipped that light on too, just to test the theory.
Zilch.
‘Well… damn,’ she sighed.
Well, there was nothing for it. Hannah didn’t have the energy to figure out what the problem was right now. She was simply going to have to make do with a glass of water with her piece of cake. In fact, maybe she’d escape the stuffy confines of the house and sit in the garden for a few minutes. She was pretty sure there was an old deck chair in the little shed.
Good plan… and she’d get busy making a list while she was out there.
Pocketing a slightly yellowed notepad from the windowsill and a pencil from the pot that had been there since she was a child, Hannah popped it behind her ear for safekeeping before making a beeline for the box of cakes.
CHAPTER 3
Hannah let out a little snuffling sigh and wriggled, stretching her arms in front of her without opening her eyes. She was warm, content, and… happy? She’d been having the most amazing dream full of beautiful flowers and gardens and sheep.
