and lining up the numbers in double time and with surprisingly nimble fingers. ‘There you go.’
The little door dropped down and there, as Kate had promised, was the key.
‘We’ll come over in a bit,’ he said, with a nod to the van, ‘and give you a hand to unload.’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ I told him, ‘but there’s really no need. I haven’t got all that much.’
‘It’s no bother,’ he insisted. ‘We’ll make short work of it, and save you the bad back.’
I went to let Nell out of the van and it was only then that I realised that he had said ‘we’. I wondered who the ‘we’ would be. If I wanted to settle in, in peace, then I had better be quick about it.
With my heart hammering in my chest, I turned the key in the lock and pushed open the door. The layout was exactly as I remembered it, with the stairs ahead and the sitting room to the right with the dining room and kitchen behind it, but there were a few gaps on the walls now and the shelves were mostly empty.
With the absence of some furniture, the rooms felt bigger too. Not empty though, just big. There were bunches of fresh flowers and foliage in vases in every room and a ‘welcome to your new home’ card from the Lonsdale family propped up against the kettle in the kitchen and another from Harold, with a note explaining about the noise the hot water pipes made. There was even a bowl of water already set out for Nell and, after flicking on the kettle, I discovered not only milk in the fridge, but eggs, bread, ham, a cold cooked chicken and some leafy salad – no doubt from the Grow-Well – too.
‘My goodness, Nell,’ I said happily. ‘I think we’ve fallen on our feet here, don’t you?’
She thumped her tail in response as she drank her fill before wandering back into the sitting room and curling up in front of the fire, even though it wasn’t turned on.
I took my tea upstairs and checked out the rest of the rooms. Everything was sparkling and fresh and there was a welcoming scent of lavender as I sat down on the bed. Clearly, Kate hadn’t been able to resist giving the place an autumn clean after Harold had moved out. Not that there had been anything amiss with his housekeeping skills, but she obviously wanted to make the house feel a little different and I was grateful that she had gone to so much trouble to make me feel welcome. There were just enough gaps and vacant spaces for me to add my own things and then the place really would feel like home.
I banished thoughts of the cottage I had left behind, and the cramped rooms I had more recently been holed up in and went back downstairs to think about where I was going to put everything. I had barely started when Nell began to bark and someone rang the doorbell.
‘Welcome to Nightingale Square,’ beamed Kate, holding out a bag for me to take once I had opened the door.
‘Come in,’ I smiled back, ‘and thank you. What’s all this?’
I led the way down to the kitchen and turned the kettle on again before peering into the bag.
‘Sweets,’ I said, looking at her again. ‘Thank you.’
‘They’re not for you,’ she laughed. ‘It’s Hallowe’en. They’re for the trick or treaters. Jasmine’s helping Luke to carve a pumpkin for you. They’ll bring it over in a bit.’
‘That’s great,’ I told her. ‘Thank you so much.’
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been actively involved in the spooky goings-on at Hallowe’en. Broad-Meadows was too isolated to attract door-to-door visitors.
‘And thank you for making the house so welcoming,’ I added. ‘I’ve just finished looking around and everything is wonderful.’
‘It’s my pleasure,’ Kate told me, ‘and I’m so excited that you’ve moved in today of all days.’
‘Why is that?’
‘Because I moved into the square on Hallowe’en too,’ she told me, ‘and Lisa from next door gave me exactly the same welcome gift,’ she added with a nod to the bags. ‘My life has been completely transformed since I came here, Freya, and I’ve got the feeling yours is going to be too. I’m not suggesting it’s going to be all plain sailing, but we’re a great community here and everyone looks out for each other.’
Right on cue, and as if to prove her point, the doorbell went again. I