The Cottage at Hope Cove

by Hannah Ellis

  “I’m in a few online writing groups and author communities. People are always asking for recommendations for editors.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Of course. I can post in the groups and give people your email if they’re interested. If you want me to?”

  “That would be amazing.”

  “I’m going to be so popular,” Emily said. “Free editing! You’ll be inundated with requests.”

  “I hope so,” Elizabeth said. It made everything seem real. She’d have to look in to training courses.

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Emily said.

  “Me neither. It’s going to be weird, not being here. Maybe you should leave too. Focus on your writing. Write another book!”

  “You’re in a funny mood,” Emily said, chuckling.

  “I know. Now that I know I’m definitely leaving, I’ve completely lost my motivation. I wish I could leave today. I’ve got two weeks left but I think it’s going to be the longest two weeks ever.”

  “I’m sure it’ll fly by,” Emily said, standing. “Now I’d better get back to work.”

  “Yes, you should.” Elizabeth tried to be stern. “Back to work, Emily!”

  Chapter 37

  The week went surprisingly fast – probably because she had so much going on in her head. When she called Phil he was aloof, acting as though everything was fine, and pretending his drunken phone call had never happened. He politely asked her not to come to the house without calling first. Apparently he didn’t like the idea of her walking in at any moment, and he’d rather not be there when she collected her stuff.

  It was tempting to tell him it was still her house too and she’d do what she liked, but it seemed petty – and he was obviously very hurt and dealing with it the best he could. Besides, she had no desire to pop back for a visit and was in no hurry to collect her things.

  When she woke on Saturday, Josie was snoring beside her, and when she went to the living room she found Emily fast asleep on the couch. They’d invited her to go out with them the previous evening, but she’d declined, opting instead to scour the internet researching website designers. She suspected she could set up a website herself but she needed something professional, and she thought it would probably end up being stressful. She’d emailed a couple of designers and was waiting to hear back from them.

  The other thing she’d done was apply to become a member of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, the professional organisation for editors in the UK. It was exciting to browse their website and she’d already signed up for a couple of online courses. All she had to do was survive one more week of work.

  Josie stuck her head into the room, grunted at her, mumbled something about coffee and disappeared again. So far, living with Josie was going surprisingly well. It was hard to believe that only a couple of months earlier they couldn’t be in the same room together without arguing.

  She’d have to find her own place, but with so much going on she didn’t feel ready to start looking yet. Plus, at a time when so many aspects of her life felt uncertain, living with Josie made her feel secure. When she’d had an attack of ‘what on earth am I doing?’ earlier in the week, Josie had been there to calm her and tell her everything was going to work out brilliantly.

  “Did you have a good night?” Elizabeth asked when Josie reappeared.

  “Yeah, it was great,” Josie said, her tone not quite matching her words. Elizabeth was thankful she hadn’t gone with them. A hangover was the last thing she needed.

  “How was your evening?” Josie asked.

  “Productive,” Elizabeth said. “I emailed a few website designers. Hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon.”

  On the couch, Emily hadn’t stirred. Josie shuffled to get comfy by her feet. “Can’t you do it yourself?”

  “Maybe, but I think it’s probably better to let a professional do it.”

  “I could do it for you.”

  Elizabeth frowned. “I want it to be professional.”

  “It would be,” Josie said with a laugh. She winced and held her head. “Ouch, too loud.” She lowered her voice a little. “I can set up a website, no problem.”

  “I don’t know.”

  Josie shook Emily’s leg. “Em! We can set up a website for Liz, can’t we?”

  Emily stretched, then grunted. “What?”

  “Liz needs a website for her freelance work. She was gonna pay someone to set it up.”

  “We can do it,” Emily said. “It’s easy.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes,” Emily and Josie said together.

  “But we’ll need bacon sandwiches,” Josie said.

  “And coffee,” Emily added.

  Josie sat up straighter. “You could pay us. Since you were going to pay a stranger…”

  “I’m not paying you,” Elizabeth said. “You can do it out of sisterly love.”

  “I can’t,” Emily said, grinning.

  “Come on,” Josie said. “I’m skint, and there’s a gig we wanted to go to tonight…”

  “Okay,” Elizabeth agreed. “I’ll pay for your night out. But the website needs to be good.”

  “Just get the bacon on,” Josie said. “And give me your laptop!”

  For two people with a hangover, they were very productive. Emily worked on Josie’s laptop, searching for similar websites to get some ideas about how Elizabeth’s could look, and Josie set up a WordPress account and browsed the website templates. They sat side by side discussing layout and fonts, tabs and graphics. They were surprisingly professional. Elizabeth hovered over them, asking questions and giving her input. It was a lot of fun.

  The day flew by, and by late afternoon they had created a professional-looking website that Elizabeth would have been very happy to pay for. Treating Josie and Emily to a night out was the least she could do, she decided. She ordered pizzas to celebrate.

  When the doorbell rang they were all in the kitchen, discussing possible tweaks to the website. Josie buzzed the pizza deliverer in. She’d not bothered with the intercom, and they were all surprised when Phil trudged up the stairs, not the pizza person.

  “Hi,” he said awkwardly. “I wondered if we could talk quickly?”

  “We can go in the bedroom,” Josie said, looking questioningly at Elizabeth.

  “Thanks,” Elizabeth said, and Emily and Josie hurried out of the way. Elizabeth gestured for Phil to come in, briefly wondering why she wasn’t supposed to go home without calling first but it was fine for him to show up at Josie’s unannounced. She decided it wasn’t worth commenting on.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” he said, without making eye contact. “How are you?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “Good.” There was a brief pause. “I’ve accepted the job in Paris. I wanted to let you know. They want me out there ASAP so I’d like us to decide what we’re going to do about the house.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes were wide. “You’re moving to Paris?” She shouldn’t really have been surprised. It made sense when she thought about it. It was just so fast.

  “Yes. I think it’ll be good for me. Fresh start, and all that.”

  He was being so matter-of-fact about it that it made Elizabeth uncomfortable. They’d been together for so long, but now it felt like talking to a stranger.

  “I wondered if you wanted the house?” he said. “You could buy me out. That might be the easiest… And I suppose you don’t want to stay here indefinitely.” His lip twitched as he glanced around at the messy room.

  “I don’t want the house,” she said.

  “Okay. Well, if you’re sure… You don’t need time to think about it?”

  “No. I don’t want it.”

  “In that case, I’ll speak with the estate agent on Monday and get it on the market. You’ll obviously need to clear out the rest of your stuff, and if you want any of the furniture let me know.”

  “I don’t think I will,” she said. S
he couldn’t think of anything that she was very attached to. She just wanted a fresh start.

  “Okay,” he said. “In that case I’ll organise selling the furniture too and we can split the money.”

  “Do you want me to take care of anything?”

  “I’d rather deal with it myself, if you don’t mind. I’ve got some contacts and I think I can get things moving quickly. I’ll keep you updated, of course, and call if there are any decisions we need to make together.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. “Thanks. When will you go to France?”

  “As soon as I can get everything in order with the house and tie up a few loose ends at work. Soon, I hope.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be good for you.” She sighed. “I really am sorry.”

  He shrugged, his features fixed in a frown.

  “I’ll call when I know anything about the house,” he said. “But if you could come and pick up your things soon, that would be great. Tomorrow, maybe?”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll come in the morning.”

  “You’ve still got your key, haven’t you? I’ll probably make myself scarce.”

  She began to cry. Everything was too cut and dried. “Will you keep in touch? Let me know how you get on when you’re in France?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said sadly. “Not at first, anyway. It’s too hard for me at the moment. You understand?”

  She nodded and bit her lip. Then he was gone.

  The floodgates opened. Elizabeth sank onto the couch and sobbed. Josie came in a few minutes later and enveloped her in a big hug.

  “He looked so sad,” Elizabeth spluttered. “I can’t believe I did that to him.”

  “He’ll be okay,” Josie said. “And you will too. You’ll both be better in the long run.”

  When Elizabeth had calmed down, she told Josie about Phil’s move and selling the house.

  “I need to clear out my stuff tomorrow,” she said. “It seems so final.”

  “I’ll help you,” Josie said.

  “You’ll be too hungover after your gig tonight!”

  “We won’t go out tonight,” Josie said. “We’ll stay in with you.”

  “No. You should go. I’m fine. I need some time alone to process everything.”

  “Okay. I can still help tomorrow.”

  At the doorway, Emily cleared her throat discreetly. “We’re quite productive when we’re hungover.” She flashed Elizabeth a sympathetic smile. “We’ll both help.”

  More tears came. It was a relief to have help. Elizabeth wasn’t sure how she’d handle it alone. “Thank you,” she said, smiling through her tears.

  Chapter 38

  With help from Josie and Emily, moving the rest of her stuff was fairly painless. She put several boxes into her parents’ spare room and stacked several more in Josie’s apartment. That evening she sat with Josie, staring at some reality show that Josie was addicted to. She was exhausted.

  The framed picture of the beach at Hope Cove had finally been removed from the car and was propped against the wall in the living room. Josie went to get a drink in the ad break, and Elizabeth moved slowly over to the picture. Carefully, she removed the bubble wrap. Occasionally, she’d had a quick peek at the picture in the car but hadn’t lingered on it.

  Now, she was transported back to Hope Cove. Seagulls shrieked as they sailed on the salty breeze, and the smell of the sea filled her nostrils. She was sitting outside the café with the warm sun on her face and could hear Verity in the background, nattering with customers.

  It was all so familiar. In her mind, Max appeared, sitting beside her and grinning widely. They were laughing about something.

  “Are you okay?” Josie asked, snapping Elizabeth from her daydream.

  “Would it be okay if I hang the painting somewhere?”

  “Of course.” Josie set her drink down. “I’ll find my tools!”

  The picture looked great up on the living room wall. Josie had hung her string of sea glass in the kitchen window and Elizabeth had been astonished the first time she’d seen it reflecting the morning sun. The glass seemed to glow and the colours beamed gloriously around the kitchen. When Elizabeth had remarked on it, Josie had shrugged, as though that was the way she’d seen it all along.

  “Are you going to try to find him?” Josie asked, gazing at the picture on the wall.

  “I don’t know.”

  “If I were you I’d be stalking him by now.”

  “I know you would,” Elizabeth said, amused. “I don’t know what to do. He’s got a girlfriend.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t swap numbers. How did you leave things?”

  Her mind took her back once again, and she was on the beach telling him it could never work, that it was just a holiday romance. With a deep breath she forced herself not to dwell.

  “He wanted to keep in touch,” she said, matter-of-factly. “He mentioned leaving his girlfriend. I said he was being ridiculous. I refused to take his number.”

  Josie stared at her.

  “You don’t need to tell me I’m an idiot,” Elizabeth said.

  “I’ll keep biting my tongue, then!” There was a short pause. “I think you should find him. It sounds like he might not even be with his girlfriend any more if he was talking about leaving her.”

  “I think part of me is just terrified of finding him, and losing him all over again.”

  “At least you’d know,” Josie said. “Do you think you’ll ever stop wondering about him if you don’t find out?”

  “Probably not,” Elizabeth admitted. “I’ll think about it. I just want to focus on getting through my last week at work, and then I’ll decide what to do about Max.”

  Josie was suitably placated by the plan. When her TV show finished she went to bed, leaving Elizabeth alone with her thoughts.

  She gazed at the picture of Hope Cove and let herself daydream about being back there with Max. After a while she reached for her laptop. A quick internet search brought up the sale listing for Seaside Cottage. The photos of the cottage were stunning and she lingered on every one of them.

  Another search brought her to the website for Oakbrook Farm: Boarding Home for Dogs. It was one of the most basic websites she’d ever seen. Maybe she should put Annette in touch with Josie to spruce it up. Strangely, there was an announcement on the home page that they were closed until further notice. The kennels had been busy when Elizabeth was there. She remembered the way Wendy had limped and Max talking about her ill-health. She hoped everything was all right. It was too late to call but she made a note of the phone number. She had no idea what she would say if she did call, but it was comforting to think that she could probably track Max down if she decided to.

  Her final week at work went by in a blur. The week running up to the production deadline was always hectic, and Elizabeth was glad: it meant the week went fast. There was a cake on her last day, and a card, and a bunch of flowers. People were busy; there wasn’t time for a lot of fanfare.

  Then, before she knew it, she had begun the new chapter of her life. It was the last week of September, less than six weeks since her week in Hope Cove, and her life had changed so much. It was hard to believe that one week could completely alter the course of her life. If she stopped to think about everything she’d be completely overwhelmed. Thankfully, she had a lot to keep her occupied.

  “I thought you might at least take a few days off,” Josie said, arriving home on Monday afternoon. Elizabeth had spent the morning working through an online training course on fiction editing – the first of many courses she would undertake in the upcoming months. In the afternoon, she’d finished working on Emily’s book. She’d also been emailing a few of Emily’s writer friends and had booked in some other projects to edit, to give her more experience and hopefully garner some testimonials for her website.

  “I need to keep busy,” Elizabeth said. “How was the library?”

  “Good. I found a couple of job possibiliti
es and sent off my CV.”

  “You’re sure you didn’t go to the library to get out of my way?” Elizabeth asked, closing her laptop and putting it aside. Josie flopped onto the couch. “It is your place. I can always work in the library if you need space.” Living together was working out well, but Elizabeth was concerned that now she wasn’t working, they might get under each other’s feet. Becoming so close to Josie was one of the positive changes in her life, and she didn’t want to ruin it.

  “No. It’s fine. I often go to the library. It’s a change of scene.”

  “I’m going to look for a new place soon. I promise.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Josie said. “I like having you here. It’s surprising how it’s worked out, isn’t it? You living here, I mean.”

  “Very surprising!” Elizabeth agreed. Her voice turned serious. “It was my fault we didn’t get on, wasn’t it?”

  “I’d say so,” Josie said, kicking off her shoes and putting her feet up on the coffee table. “You definitely weren’t my biggest fan!”

  “Sorry.”

  “I’m just glad we’re friends now. And I’m glad you’re so happy.”

  “Am I?” she asked, surprised by the comment.

  “You’re so relaxed now. Surely you can see that?”

  “I suppose so.” Elizabeth did feel more peaceful, and she was definitely hopeful. She just wasn’t sure she was really happy yet.

  “Anyway,” Josie said, “I’ve got an interview tomorrow. Something really interesting. This could be a big break for me.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ll tell you when I get the job. I don’t want to jinx it. It would be nice to start paying my own rent again. I don’t mind taking handouts from Mum and Dad for a while, but guilt is setting in now.”

  Elizabeth still couldn’t understand Josie’s choices. She could never imagine being financially dependent on anyone.

  “Don’t get all judgemental,” Josie said, as though she could read Elizabeth’s mind. “It was Mum’s idea for me to quit my job at the cinema and find something I enjoy.”

  “Is it so hard to find something else?”