How Soon Is Now

Part One - Chapter One: Welcome to Hallows Town

Fernando Torres smiled as they passed the sign that read 'Welcome to Hallows Town'; he had recently taken a job as trainer at the town's local gym after the abrupt end to his football career.

His wife sat next to him in the front of the car, she hadn't really spoken to him since he had taken the job that required them leaving Liverpool behind permanently.

Olalla had been happy living in the city working as a nurse, Fernando had been a professional footballer but it had all come to an end when the torn cartilage in his right knee had been badly damaged during surgery to repair it.

Nora Torres sat quietly in the back of the car watching the trees pass them by as they drove; she didn't truly understand why they had to move only that it was because her father could never play football again.

"See it doesn't look that bad," Fernando said making Olalla glare at him, she would never forgive him for making them leave Liverpool for this small Cheshire town.

Fernando knew that this wasn't what his wife had wanted but he needed to get away from big cities and being in Liverpool didn't help him.

"This is us," Fernando said pulling to a stop outside their house, Olalla pursed her lips as she stared at the house; it wasn't like their old home back in Liverpool which had been so grand.

Nora smiled at the house as they all looked at, the moving van wasn't too far behind him so Fernando climbed out to start preparing; he get Nora out of her car seat while Olalla sulked round the back of the car not wanting to see their new home.

"Is this our new home, Papa?" Nora asked making Fernando smile down at her; he nodded as he picked the two year old up, he looked at their new home.

"Sure is," he said as he fished the keys for the house out of his pocket and moved to open the door; Nora looked around the entrance to her new home, Fernando set her down he smiled at her.

"Why don't you go find your bedroom?" Fernando said glancing back at Olalla who was still sulking by the car; Nora nodded before she disappeared into the house, Fernando sighed and headed back to his wife.

"What do you think?" Fernando asked reaching for Olalla, she sighed and shook her head; she didn't think she could be happy here and she knew it was going to be trouble.

"It's not Liverpool, we could have stayed there, we would have worked things out," Olalla said, she missed the flinch that Fernando gave before he sighed and looked at his wife sadly.

Fernando knew that she was upset but they couldn't have stayed in Liverpool, he couldn't bring himself to sit around and do nothing with his life.

"We'll adjust, just like we did when we left Spain," Fernando said making her look at him; Olalla knew that he hadn't wanted to leave but that didn't mean she was happy about them being here.

Olalla huffed looking away from Fernando, she loved her husband but she had a feeling that their marriage wasn't going to survive this move.

***

Fernando grinned munched on one of the cookies that one of their new neighbours had dropped off looking around the kitchen; he had to admit that there were a lot of desserts.

"What? We can't just throw them out..." Fernando said looking at his wife, she wasn't look happy and it wasn't just down to the fact that they had moved homes; she didn't like their new neighbours.

Nora started to eat the jelly that was in one of the bowls, they had just finished unpacking some of their stuff and had decided to have a snack.

Olalla groaned as the doorbell rang, she looked at Fernando who shrugged before he stood and moved to answer the door.

"Hello, I'm Laura Morris, I live next door," the woman greeted as Fernando opened the door, he smiled at her and allowed her to come in knowing that he couldn't turn anyone away.

"It's nice to meet you," Fernando said before he introduced her to Olalla and Nora; Laura smiled at them, they were a lot nicer than the last family that had lived in this house.

"I see the others have kept with the tradition of baked goods," Laura said making Olalla roll her eyes, she didn't really have a sweet-tooth and she didn't want people bringing her family food like they were charity cases.

"I've brought you a house plant," Laura said as she pulled something out of the bag that she was carrying; she handed it to Fernando who placed it in the centre of the kitchen table.

"I moved here about three years ago with my husband, honestly I think we still have some of their baked goods," Laura joked smiling at the family, the husband and daughter were lovely and would fit in well with the local community.

Olalla offered her a seat before going to put the kettle on, she didn't know why people insisted on coming around especially when they had only just moved in.

"Really, so what does your husband do?" Olalla asked preparing to make some tea and coffee for their company; Fernando sat down as Nora started to draw, he had a feeling that Olalla wasn't going to ever warm to living here.

"Alex is a Police Inspector, I'm a nurse at the local hospital," Laura said making Fernando nod, Olalla smiled at her and nodded; it was nice to know that she would know someone before she started work.

"I start work there on Monday," Olalla said making Laura smile, she glanced at the clock knowing that she couldn't truly stay long; her son was next door with the babysitter.

Fernando brushed his fingers through Nora's hair, she would be going to play-school soon and he was sure that she would make good friends here.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Olalla asked setting down a drink in front of the other making Laura look at her, she frowned a little surprised at how rude Olalla was being.

Laura guessed that Olalla wasn't too pleased about the move and if it was down to work then it wasn't Fernando's fault; he had taken a job where he could.

"Not at all, I have a babysitter watching Tommy," Laura said smiling politely at Olalla, she wasn't going to meddle in someone else's business; she had just popped around to be nice.

Fernando looked at his wife, she was truly trying to make the worst of all of this, and he didn't know why she agreed to come if she was going to sulk worse than Nora did about the move.

"Is the babysitter expensive?" Olalla asked knowing they'd need to find one for Nora for when Fernando and she were at work; she loved her daughter and she was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"No, Nicola's a lovely girl," Laura said pulling a business card out of her pocket and handed it to Olalla, who read it carefully; she nodded her head taking in what she saw.

Laura smiled, she loved Nicola and she was so helpful even with all of gossip about her and her friends; she didn't know why people judged Nicola on stupid rumours.

"She works at the local café as well, always very helpful," Laura said but Fernando and Olalla could sense that she was holding something back.

Fernando turned back to Nora, he knew that everything would fall into place and he had a good feeling about Hallows Town.