‘Lila! It’s fine. Don’t worry now.’ Roxie met Ethan’s eyes. ‘It was good to see you again, Ethan, and I expect we’ll see you around.’
‘I expect you will.’ Ethan nodded, hoping that she was right and that he would see Lila again. Although, if she was married, as the wedding dress would suggest, then nothing would come of their meeting again. Not that he wanted anything to come of it, because he was mourning for Tilly and in no place emotionally to have a relationship or anything similar with anyone, probably ever again.
But as they said their goodbyes and he walked back to the grocery shop, he found himself wanting to see Lila again, to find out why his comment about her wedding day had upset her and why she seemed so sad. Such a lovely woman should never be sad or low. There should be someone doing everything in his or her power to make her happy. That was, in his opinion, part of being married; you should strive to make your partner’s life as happy as possible because life was short and could be so difficult.
He wondered if his mother knew Lila, and determined to ask her as soon as he got home.
4
Lila walked into her bedroom and stood in front of the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her: petite, blonde, blue eyed, pale (almost grey) skin. It was like looking at a stranger, even though she saw her reflection every day. Surrendering the wedding dress yesterday had been challenging and she couldn’t deny that she’d had nightmares about it, but waking up this morning knowing it was gone, had left her feeling freer than she had in sometime. When Lila had returned home with Roxie, they hadn’t got much cleaning done but they had talked and laughed and Roxie had made Lila feel better, at least for a few hours.
Now, in her baggy grey jogging bottoms and faded blue T-shirt, Lila wasn’t exactly dressed up, but even so, she could see how she’d let herself go. She had always made an effort with her appearance. Even after seven years with Ben, she’d wanted him to find her attractive and never wanted him to think she was becoming complacent. But it had been more than that, Lila had looked after herself for her too. She felt better if she exercised, cleansed and moisturised her skin, had her hair cut and coloured, ate well and drank lots of water. Her reflection was telling her that she hadn’t done those things in a while, not consistently at least, and that made her chest ache. A broken heart could lead to self-neglect and Lila was guilty of that, but she understood why.
However, seeing the evidence in front of her like this would hopefully help motivate her to look after herself better.
Roxie appeared behind her then rested her chin on Lila’s shoulder.
‘Hey honey, what’s up?’
Lila met Roxie’s eyes in the mirror.
‘The state of me.’
‘You’re beautiful, Lila. You always have been.’
‘I’ve let myself go.’
‘You haven’t looked after yourself very well, but things will improve now. You’ll see.’
Lila turned and hugged Roxie.
‘You’re such a good friend.’
‘I love you, Lila. Besides which, you’re my friend but also a kind of surrogate daughter.’
‘You’re not old enough to be my mum.’
Roxie laughed. ‘I am just about, but I’d have been a teen mum. Okay then… surrogate sister.’
‘You’re like family.’ Lila leant back and looked at Roxie who was wearing what seemed to be a navy boiler suit, white plimsolls and had a white and navy spotted scarf tied around her long hair. ‘Better than family, in fact.’
‘Lila, we are family. Haven’t you heard that saying?’
‘What saying?’
‘Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.’
‘That’s beautiful.’
‘I know. And it’s true.’
‘Shall we make a start in here?’ Roxie asked as she released Lila and opened a black plastic bag.’
‘I guess so.’
‘Okay! So… What’s going?’
‘Oh…’ Lila rested her hands on her hips and chewed at her bottom lip. ‘Uhhhh…’
‘Anything that’s clutter can go. Some of it might be suitable for the charity shop, some of it can be recycled or upcycled. Some of it…’ Roxie went over to the bedside cabinet that had been on Ben’s side of the bed, seemed to notice something, crouched down then pulled something out from the narrow space underneath it. ‘What the hell?’
She stood up holding something between thumb and forefinger, her face contorted by a grimace. Lila took the object from her then squealed and flung it across the room. It splatted against the wall then slowly slid down to the floor.
‘Ugh!’ Lila wiped her hand on her jogging bottoms.
‘What was it?’
‘Another of Willy’s gifts I think.’
Roxie shuddered dramatically. ‘Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! We need to wash our hands immediately.’ She peered at the wall where a red-brown stain left by the small rodent resembled some kind of Rorschach test. ‘And I need a coffee to calm down.’
‘Good plan.’ Lila nodded, glad of the excuse to delay decluttering her bedroom. At this rate, especially if they kept finding gifts from Willy, it would take weeks to sort out her cottage.
After purchasing more eggs, Ethan had gone home the previous day to shower and enjoy one of his mother’s omelettes. They had eaten, drunk some coffee then his mother had gone to meet a friend, leaving Ethan to unpack some more of his belongings and to have some time to think.
He’d ended up hanging all of his clothes in the wardrobe and putting the rest into the chest of drawers then he’d realised that the windows were a bit grimy, so he’d gone out to the shed to get the ladder and a bucket, then cleaned all of them. When his mother had returned home later that afternoon, she’d been delighted to find shiny windows and that the bathroom floor no longer creaked – Ethan had lifted the lino and tightened the floorboards. There were a few more jobs around the house that he intended on getting done while he was home, and he’d found that he’d quite enjoyed the manual labour. It was nice to be occupied and to feel useful.
When he’d told his mother this over dinner last night, she’d made a suggestion that had set him thinking. It had been a very good suggestion and he was keen to consider it in more detail.
He’d been so caught up with eating and discussing his mother’s idea that asking about Lila Edwards had completely slipped his mind, and it was only this morning when he woke that he realised he’d forgotten to ask about Lila. Still, it would keep and he had all the time in the world now to find out about the residents of Sunflower Street.
This morning his mother had gone off to yoga at the village hall. She’d tried to encourage him to join her but he wasn’t quite ready for that, so he’d told her that he wanted to map out some ideas and fix the leaky tap in the downstairs cloakroom. The jobs he’d had in Tonbridge both before and after losing Tilly had equipped him with plenty of skills so he could pretty much turn his hand to anything around the home.
Sitting at the kitchen table, his laptop in front of him, he was researching his ideas and setting out some numbers. He certainly didn’t need to worry about money, because Tilly’s life insurance had left him well provided for, financially at least, but he also didn’t want to let the next year drift by without feeling useful. He’d lost his direction when he’d lost Tilly and it was time to try to find it again. This might not be the right path for him, but he wouldn’t know if he didn’t try it and something about being back on Sunflower Street, spending time with his mother and bumping into Lila yesterday had lit a spark inside him that hadn’t been there for a long time. He had been someone before he’d become a husband and then a widower, a person in his own right and while he’d loved being a husband then been devastated at being a widower, he wondered if he could find the Ethan he’d been before life had been turned upside down.