“Adam and Eve spent over 30 years in this quaint little house.” Aziraphale narrates as they both walk up the path.
Avani finds herself admitting, “It feels like them.”, as the house comes into view.
“You’re right.” Aziraphale tells her. “I believe that’s why I was most excited to stay here, while I was still in town.”
“You must get told all the time you have their spirit from when they were children.”
Aziraphale pauses for a moment, thinking over, then answering honestly, “No, actually, I can’t say that I have.”, with a laugh.
“How rare it is, in today’s world, to find someone who still remembers what this world used to be.” Aziraphale looks at Avani as she says this, and watches as her eyes start to water, almost threatening to spill over, and Aziraphale knows he needs to help distract her.
“I’m so sorry, but I must know. Why have you chosen now to come here? Truly?”
But before where she would’ve blown him off, now she doesn’t even bother, “I read their letters. All of them. I was so horrible to them.”
Aziraphale lets a small smile slip, before asking not unkindly, “How do you mean?”
“I thought being their mother/mother-in-law meant I was entitled to always have things my way, to always put me first before they were even to think about what they wanted.” Avani explains, then looks away. “If I were them, I wouldn’t have opened my letters either.”
“But they didn’t throw them away.” Aziraphale reminds her gently. “They held onto them. That means they still cared, in their own way.”
Avani looks at Aziraphale like she wants to believe him, but still can’t quite fully.
Seeing this, Aziraphale gestures with one hand, “Would you like to come inside?”, then walks towards the house without waiting for an answer, before she joins him.
They walk through the front hallway slowly, as Avani stops to look at every picture hung there.
Aziraphale is focused on one in particular, “This was you, wasn’t it?”, prompting Avani to come for a closer look.
Recognizing it immediately, Avani exclaims, “That’s my garden! I’d spared no expense to make it the best. That was where I taught them everything I knew about garden maintenance.”
Aziraphale replies, “So that’s why they were pushing for it.”
But apparently he’s once again stepped out of line, because Avani looks at him, confused, “Sorry?”
Realizing his error, Aziraphale explains, “Adam and Eve stated in their will they wanted their entire garden moved to become a Greenfingers Garden for the local hospital, as a way of their garden to live on when they no longer can.”
A mix of emotions flit across Avani’s face at that, and as Aziraphale watches, he suddenly realizes,
“You never stopped loving them, did you?”
Avani shakes his head, “How could I? I was their mother.”
Aziraphale hates he can’t stop himself from asking, “Then please, my dear, I need to now what happened.”
Again, she looks like she might not answer, before she answers honestly, “I told them of my plans to retire from nursery work, relocate to the estate with my other garden, and hand over this one for them to take over. They agreed, but only if they could finally have a taste of the Black Diamond Apple that I had expressly forbidden them from tasting.”
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Tea For Two
RomanceAziraphale Fell is living his life in the big city when he's summoned to the sleepy town of Eden to settle the affairs of two beloved family friends.
