Just Rose

40

She had only been cooped up in the manor for a couple of days and already she felt like she was going stir crazy. A serious bout of cabin fever as Rob came and went. He had business to deal with and overseeing the work which had started on the grounds; there were contractors, vans and strange men milling around, trimming back foliage and trees in various areas around the gardens. From the windows, she could see an army of men erecting wrought iron fences; diggers and excavators in the far distance down the side of the house, before the forest tree line, and a van with security cameras and scrolling script printed on the side.

Men were trailing wire and boxes around in plastic wrap and placing them evenly along the fence line every twenty meters and workmen to start the renovations upstairs had also arrived, making lots of noise and mess and banging about over her head. The hum of power tools and sawing for hours on end was slowly sending her out of her mind. The never-ending trail of people, mess and chaos, as they carried things up and down. Half the house was covered in plastic to protect the walkway they had created, and every inch felt invaded by strangers and noise. Alice was having a breakdown with all of it.

Rose was tense and headachy. Unable to work surrounded by all this chaos and never-ending trundling of strangers in her personal space. Muffin had had to be confined to the cosy room indefinitely and was currently howling his little lungs out in protest but letting him loose would be disastrous with all these trampling feet and open doors.

Alice was fretting and moaning about it all and wandering about like a headless chicken, nagging her poor husband to death, sweeping up and hoovering aimlessly. Hamish was staying well clear of all the changes and had barely been seen since the party while Abby was completely AWOL.

It was okay for Rob, he got to leave and go to his office in the nearby city to escape it all. Even Abby had deserted her, unable to cope with the huge invasion and packed a bag. She had skipped out, completely unaware of the reasons behind the security with a kiss and a wave, before getting into Duncan's beat up jeep and disappearing in the midst of the machines.

There were three huge round men, all dressed in black, continuously trailing around like they belonged in a 'Men in black' or an 'MI5' movie. Checking in with her every time she looked even close to venturing near the door and it was driving her insane. It would have been amusing, their radios crackling and obvious mouthpieces, like cheesy commandos, or police wannabes, had it not been so damn frustrating for her.

The house had run out of rooms to explore and even starting lists for her own plans on decor had been abandoned quickly. She could not think straight with all the noise, could not find a single place that was not affected in some way by either tools, sheets, men, or all of them.

She called Rob for the fifth time, agitated and on the verge of a tantrum, complaining about the lock down he had her under and how much she needed to go get some quiet in her own cottage and work.

'I'm going out.' Rose didn't even give him a chance to say hello this time.

'Baby, you're not going anywhere today. We talked about this.' Rob was keeping his tone friendly, that hint of stubborn peeking out, but he knew better than to give her attitude today. Five previous calls had taught him to handle her with kid gloves while he wanted her to do as she was told.