Just Rose

4

The next few days went by incredibly quickly, Rose was so busy getting into the swing of sorting out the rooms in the cottage in the last sweep of effort; She had made a huge dent. She could now easily use the rooms without tripping over boxes or stray pieces of furniture and even Muffin had his designated cosy corner full of toys and a snuggly bed. All of her personal things had found homes and most of the packaging was sitting in the hall ready to go away.

She had spent time on her laptop and phone sorting out her next illustration project and had the dates in hand. She was awaiting the manuscript for the story along with the author's notes on how she wanted the character's scenes to lay out. All was set, and her fee had been signed off on. Her first payment in the bank and it was making everything feel more final. She had celebrated the new commission by buying herself a dress online for the dance and then felt incredibly stupid when her first thought was what he would think of it. This really bad habit he had of creeping into her mind unexpectedly and then she would slap it away again, feeling irritation rise. She had pushed the thought down the back of the sofa with all the ooze and dust of previous years to fester.

Thanks to Tommy the gardens had been brought into order by a local man Malcolm, and his teen son Liam, with the taming of the gardens they had even added chicken wire to the back fence for her, making it Muffin safe. She knew Rob must have okayed them being here and felt slightly miffed at the fact she owed him some thanks. There was not a single escape route for that fiery little fur ball and he was now enjoying running around like a mad hound in the garden, rolling in the newly shorn lawn and exploring the now tame flower beds, which had surprisingly been full of gorgeous wild flowers.

She had worked out a regular deal with them to keep the place trim and fabulous. An inexpensive necessity that didn't infringe on their manor working hours. So, she didn't need to be any more thankful to that arrogant sod up in his mansion for anything more. The garden was looking beautiful. She had been overwhelmed with emotion when she had seen the neat long garden with its stepping stone path to the outhouse's blue door. Trim flower beds and a washing line leading down the side of the garden. A small metal patio set purchased locally was laid out on the now cleared paving stones to the right of the door and It brought back so many memories of back garden picnics on days like this. Summer tents made from bed sheets and rolling around playfully with her aunt, lost in some youthful game.

As the week progressed, Abby came by most mornings for a quick cup of tea as she headed to the bus stop a good ten minutes' walk out of town. That was the upside to both the cottage and manor entry roads being only a mile apart on the same road. Abby loved walking and just loved walking right in here for tea and Muffin cuddles. Rose could almost set her watch by her visits and really looked forward to the young girl's arrival every day. She had helped move the remainder of the furniture in place in each room, carted boxes to the garden and helped take a lot of packaging and trash to the local dump in the back of Rose's car. She had been a godsend in helping with the finishing touches and a dab hand at D.I.Y. Showing up one morning with a wheelbarrow full of power tools to hang up heavy mirrors and pictures and tighten some loose hinges. She had taught Rose what a rawl plug was and the joy of a power drill.

Rose had finally taken delivery of her new kitchen appliances, and the very helpful men even put them in place for her. Probably sensing she was pretty useless at any sort of manual labour that involved mov-

-ing appliances and had no idea how to plumb a washing machine or attach a gas cooker. They had even removed her old appliances free of charge. She guessed her coffee and cakes, delivered with a smile had swung that. The kitchen overall was not too bad. It was made from real wood units in need of a sand and varnish, but there was something so quaint and shabby chic about them that Rose intended to whitewash them instead of replacing them.