Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 585(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 585(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
With everyone busy, I decide to take a stroll, explore the land a little. There are three other cottages, but I’ve had to walk for a good couple of minutes to pass the boundaries of my temporary neighbours, giving us all ample privacy. I follow the path of the stream, which I soon discover is home to a family of ducks. Well, I can’t possibly know if they’re family. Maybe they’re just friends, like Laurence and I. Whatever. They seem to like each other, the ducks. They swim in tandem, pecking at the water.
It's peaceful here. Quiet. The smells are calming. Earthy. Natural. Cut grass and musky water. It feels as if this small piece of the earth has been carved out and preserved for a place of solace and contemplation. Further up the stream, there’s a break in the trees that gives way to an expanse of golden fields. The large rock on my side of the water offering a perfect vantage point can’t be a happy accident. It must have been placed here, I decide, as I ignore its carpet of moss and take a seat.
“How the hell did I get here?” I ask the open countryside. For a second, I think I’ve been rumbled talking to myself, but soon realise the only company I’m in is that of a water vole who I almost mistake for a rat. He, or she, scurries through the reeds growing along the edge of the stream as if playing hide and seek. Cute little thing. I envy him. I bet he’s not having a midlife crisis.
Unsurprisingly, there are no answers here. I’m starting to think I won’t find the answer anywhere, and that I’m expected to come up with it by myself. Soon enough, I start making my way back before Becca wonders where I’ve gone. By the time I reach the cottage, I’ve spotted another water vole, two rabbits and a squirrel. It truly is magical here, like I’ve been tossed into a fairy-tale. I’m sceptical about receiving a happy ending, however.
“Will!” Becca’s waving and calling my name from the decking as soon as she sees me approach.
I wave back, narrowing my eyes in an effort to make out who she’s chatting with. There’s a man standing tall by the chiminea. Familiar looking, somehow, but I’m sure we don’t know each other.
“G’afternoon. Emmett Edmunds,” he says, holding out his hand. “My wife, Josie, and I manage the cottages, which is all I’ve said to your lovely wife ‘ere so far, so you ‘aven’t missed anythin’.”
I shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“So, you’re the Walkers then, eh? Friends of Laurie’s?”
Oh God. He’s a relation. That jaw, the hairline…he has to be. It makes sense now. Becca goes to answer, but I jump in first with a simple, “Yes. Lovely place you have here. Honestly, stunning scenery.”
“Ah, thank you very much. Labour of love, it is. Put our ‘ole lives into this place, we ‘ave. Josie and I in the cottages, and my brother Caleb up on the farm. We’re very proud of it.”
“You should be,” Becca says. “I can’t wait to explore.”
“Well, I know all the tourist attractions. Farmers markets. Best places to eat. Don’t be trustin’ all those best-reviewed places on the internet. Overpriced and over-booked if you ask me. You’ll find my number on the welcome pack in the kitchen. Josie runs the farm shop during the day, too. You can always nip in there and she’ll help you out with anything you need.”
I’m oddly fascinated by Emmett Edmunds. Minus the facial features, there are zero resemblances to Laurence. They sound nothing alike. Share no mannerisms. I highly doubt Laurence would be seen dead in a shit-brown gilet, either. I wonder if he’s one of the half-brothers Laurence mentioned, though I daren’t ask.
“You should come over to the house one evenin’. My Josie cooks up a lovely rabbit casserole.”
Rabbit? I can’t eat a bunny.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful.” Becca manages to answer before I can politely decline. I can’t take my wife and children to dinner with the family of a man whose tongue I’ve had in my mouth. God help me. “You really do look after your guests.”
“Keep your voice down,” Emmett says with a grin. “You’re friends of the family. We don’t dish out special treatment to everyone.”
Becca clamps her chest and laughs. It’s her fake laugh, the polite laugh she uses for people she’s trying to impress. Akin to her ‘phone voice’, which she’s also using. We all have one. I know her too well.
“Tomorrow at eight?” Emmett suggests. “Give you a day to settle in, have a look around, see the sights.”
“Sounds good to us. Doesn’t it, Will?”
I nod as enthusiastically as my poor acting skills allow, while inside I want to scream. Scream until my throat bleeds. Scream until there’s nothing left. Scream until I pass out. I’m not even sure if I want to wake up again afterwards.