Page 7 of A Second Chance in Seabury
Pausing for a second at the collapsed deckchair, Hannah cocked her head. Part of her was tempted to set it up again and resume her nap.
No. Maybe not.
The time for lounging around in the garden had definitely passed. He might have been friendly enough, but knowing that Mr Eaves was just over the hedge had rather put her off the whole idea of snoozing in the sunshine.
CHAPTER 4
Hannah frowned, rummaging in her jeans pocket for the list she’d managed to cobble together in the garden before she’d conked out.
‘Don’t tell me I lost it chasing that idiot sheep?!’
She patted her pockets one by one and finally located the crinkled scrap of paper she’d torn from the pad. Hannah laid it on the worktop and did her best to smooth out the creases.
‘Electricity on? Check—thanks to Mr Eaves! Water on? Check. Cleaning materials? Hmm...’
Hannah hurried over to the kitchen sink and glanced into the cupboards underneath. Other than an ancient washing-up bowl and a tin of desiccated black shoe polish, there wasn’t anything useful. Maybe she’d left the cleaning stuff elsewhere? She started to hunt through the other cupboards, flinging open doors and then pulling out drawers.
Pots and pans.
Tea towels and candles.
Tins and jars.
‘EEW!’ She was staring at an open and slightly green-tinged pack of Rich Tea biscuits.
Okay, so perhaps she hadn’t been quite as thorough as she’d thought when it came to emptying the place of food at the end of that last visit. She shouldn’t really be surprised, though, should she? She’d not exactly been in the best frame of mind.
Reaching up, Hannah gingerly started to empty the contents of the cupboard onto the counter. The tins of tomato soup were a bit grimy but would probably still be okay. There were baked beans and peach slices too. She’d have to check the dates, but they’d probably all be edible. The half-bag of pasta with a clothes peg on top could go straight into the bin, though.
‘IfI had any bin bags!’ she harrumphed, dumping the pasta onto the counter instead and quickly following it up with several half-used jars of jam, marmite and mixed herbs. There was a box of chamomile teabags that might still be okay, though…
Hannah flipped it open and wrinkled her nose. ‘Or not!’ she laughed, eyeballing the little spider that had taken up residence on top of the bags. Heading to the back door, she gently popped the open box outside to give her little squatter the chance to move out.
Hannah continued to work through the kitchen, dumping the contents of all the drawers and cupboards unceremoniously onto the work surfaces. After all, she had to start somewhere! Unfortunately, her kitchen adventure didn’t turn up any cleaning products or bin bags.
Maybe she’d taken it all with her? Well, it didn’t matter now. She’d just have to go shopping.
Taking her pencil out from behind her ear, Hannah flipped her to-do list over and started to scribble a shopping list on the back.
Bin bags. Cloths. Bleach. Spray. Washing-up liquid. Hoover bags.
‘What else?’
Hannah flipped the paper again, looking for inspiration and placing a giant tick next to the words “sort out garden.” She pulled herself up short when she started to doodle little hearts and bees.
What was she doing?
Scribbling out the drawings with deep, dark lines, she glanced at the next thing on the list.
Landline?
Hannah raised an eyebrow. She’d cancelled her own landline several years ago, but she hadn’t even given the one at the Seabury house a second thought. There had definitely been one in Millie’s little study…
Hurrying along the hallway, Hannah let herself into the study. The room was piled high with boxes—mostly paperwork that needed to be shredded. On the far wall, there was an ancient, slightly yellowed telephone hanging above the desk.
That didn’t mean it was still live, though…
Hannah sidled between the boxes and perched on the edge of the desk. Grabbing the handset, she pulled gently at the tangled, curly wire so that she could hold it against her ear. Sure enough, there was a dial tone.
