Vivien K. Wilk

After a few minutes she decided to go downstairs. She got lemonade from the kitchen and took it to the common living room. Since no one was there, she could throw herself on the sofa and just turn on whatever she wanted. After briefly browsing through the channels, she switched to YouTube and picked out a video about a book review. So far, the videos had always been able to get her out of a hole, but she soon noticed that everything was passing by without being seen. Her head didn't seem able to take in any information. She just let it go while she leaned her head back against the armrest and closed her eyes.

She was tired. Though the word didn't really capture it perfectly. Actually she was completely exhausted. If only she had been tired, she would surely have fallen asleep as soon as she lay down. But no matter how hard she tried to relax, she just couldn't. Her eyes kept drifting to her cell phone, not sure what to do now.

It wasn't long before she heard the front door open and Thomas and Samantha voices. Their good mood could not be ignored, but before Grace could decide to avoid them, they had already reached the living room.

"Hey, didn't you want to write?" Samantha asked as she stepped into the room.

She came over and dropped next to her friend. Thomas followed shortly afterwards.

"That really doesn't look very productive," he agreed.

"I know."

Grace shrugged a little helplessly.

"What's going on? Is your work getting so difficult for you?"

Samantha raised an eyebrow and studied her intently.

"That ... not quite. I got a call from my mother today."

Before she could continue, Samantha groaned in annoyance and rolled her eyes.

"Let her talk. She has no plan anyway, how it is with studies today. Ms. Perfect, thinks it is still as lax as it was in her times."

"It's not about that. It's something else. She told me my great aunt died."

For a moment there was silence in the room.

"That's perfect. With that they will surely allow you a delay. And you obviously need too."

Grace looked at her friend in surprise. She really hadn't expected the reaction. Samantha seemed to notice that too.

"I mean, of course it's not perfect because of your aunt. I'm sorry. You've just been so stressed the last time and a break would probably do you good. She doesn't seem to have been that tight, you never did tell me something about her, or is it not? "

"No, I suppose not. She's my great-aunt too," Grace replied. "She lived in Ireland. If I want to go to the funeral, I'll have to apply for special leave."

"That shouldn't be a thing. I'm sorry about your great-aunt. But take the chance. You really need a little time for yourself."

Thomas had just sat next to it the whole time and kept nodding in confirmation. He was rather quiet when she and Samantha talked. Grace didn't know why. Maybe he just didn't want to interrupt her.

"Tomorrow I'll see that I go to the student advisory service that ..."

Grace was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. It was her mother again.

"I should answer," said Grace.

She got up before Samantha and Thomas could say anything and answered. On leaving she greeted her mother and made her way up to her room.

"She can't be serious."

Her mother's voice sounded noticeably excited and a bit stunned.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean? That Aunt Grace left you the bookstore and most of her property. Except I don't think that's going to be a lot. Shops like this just gobble up money, you don't make any. Really, I hope she has no debts. But leaving it to you! What are you supposed to do with it? You are in the middle of your studies, you have no idea about how it works and now have to worry about it. I tell you, Evellyn has never thought about it. Melody doesn't have much anyway to do, she would have had time to take care of it. "

Grace swallowed her reply concerning Melody and took a deep breath.

"So you phoned the lawyer?"

"You can say that. Seems like a very nice man, but let's see if he can really take care of everything. I really don't think so. It will probably take forever to sell the shop."

Her mother's words stopped her from saying anything. If she was being honest, she hadn't even thought about it. In fact, she was still grasping the whole situation and her mother was already working on the solution.

I'm really not the fastest.

"Well, it's the way it is. I'm afraid you'll have to fly there. It's hard to do things like that if you've not been there at least once. I'm sorry, darling, that it bothers you in your studies."

"You can't change it now."

Grace finally managed to get words through.

"No, you really can't. I didn't think Evellyn was senile enough to do that. She wasn't that old, after all."

"She was 78 years old," Grace confirmed, "and it didn't seem like ... no."

For a moment they were both silent. Every now and then she heard her mother snort softly before she let out a deep sigh.

"I hope you can manage it. I don't know if Melody could come with you, but unfortunately your father, Daniel and I are busy."

"That's okay mom. I can call you guys and I think Mr. Steel will be able to help me."

"As soon as it comes to contracts, send them to me or your father. We should definitely look over them. And send me the bill for the trip. I'll give you the money back."

"Thanks mom. I'll send you everything I don't know."

"Very good. I know it's extra work, but could you handle the funeral with Mr. Steel? Evellyn had already given him full powers in case something happened to her, but he's not family. I would feel better when you keep an eye on it. "

"I can do it. Will you be able to come to the funeral?"

"I'll definitely come, as far as I understand Melody too. It's still up in the air with your father and Daniel. Grandma won't come with us. The staff at the nursing home has said that her condition has deteriorated significantly after the news She's definitely too weak for a flight. I don't know about Grand Uncle Erwin's side. "

"At least I won't be alone," Grace replied, relieved.

"We'll see you there and call you as soon as you arrive."

"I will do it. We hear each other mom."

After hanging up, Grace sat down at her desk. She stared at her open document for a moment before closing the file and opening the web browser instead. Although it was short-term, she quickly found a flight from Dortmund to Knock. From there she would take the train. She didn't find a hotel right near the store, but a little further on the edge. Thinking about renting a car, she called Mr. Steel's number to let him know when she would be arriving. Mr. Steel was visibly pleased that she would come so quickly and pointed out that she could also stay in her aunt's apartment. And he insisted on picking her up from the train. Grace didn’t immediately accept to stay in her aunt’s apartment, but was glad that she didn’t have to find her accommodation from the train alone. After that was all settled, Grace sat at her desk for a moment.

Her thoughts seemed to have calmed down a bit. At least she now had a clear goal in mind and knew what to do for the next few days. There was still the student counseling, the application for the special leave and then ... yes, then she would actually fly to Ireland. It had been a long time since she was there. In fact, it had been a long time since she'd even flown by plane. Was it after graduating from high school? It really had to be. They had flown to Florida as a family. Even Daniel's girlfriend, now his wife, had come along. It was warm, sometimes very humid, but it was also a special experience. She heard her cell phone ring again and looked at it. She looked surprised at the message Melody had sent her. Apparently her sister had dug in old boxes and actually found photos from her vacation with Evellyn. She noticed a smile appear on her face as she looked at the pictures taken. Many had been taken in the garden. Evellyn had a large apple tree with a swing attached for her. There were pictures of Melody and herself playing around the tree, but also a photo of her in Evellyn's lap. There was no mistaking how much fun they'd had. One picture showed the fireplace in the apartment. She probably took the picture herself. It was a little shaky and showed her great-aunt sitting in front of the fireplace with Melody, reading from a book to her. If Grace remembered correctly, it was a storybook. Melody had always wanted to hear the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The next picture showed Grace in an armchair, presumably in the bookstore, reading a book.

Why don't I have such pictures?

Grace couldn't remember why Melody of all people had the pictures. They seemed to be from a photo album, at least as far as she could tell from the cell phone pictures. She thought about it for a moment, but really couldn't remember whether she had such pictures as well. So she wrote to her sister asking if she could scan a few for her. Melody answered after a few seconds and promised to send her more pictures.

Grace put the phone down with a smile. With the pictures in front of her eyes, the memories seemed to come back partially. She had been fifteen when she had last been with Evellyn. Melody had already graduated from high school and Daniel was at university. So she went alone. The whole summer she had the house and the garden to herself. And she was allowed to choose any book in the store. Not that Evellyn hadn't had enough books of her own in her apartment above the shop. But she'd been immersed in so many stories that summer that she couldn't even remember them all. And Evellyn seemed to have read them all. They had talked about the books for hours.

Tears welled up in her eyes. There weren't really any in the end, but she had the feeling that she was about to start crying. Grace tried to calm down. She took a deep breath. It wasn't easy, something seemed to be pressing on her chest. It was heavy and at the same time she felt a strange emptiness inside. And the feeling didn't want to go away. The longer it took, the more she wished she could just burst into tears. To release this tension. But no matter what she tried, she didn't cry. In the end she gave up. She got up and wanted to go downstairs to watch TV again. Maybe she just needed a distraction. As she picked up her smartphone, she took another look at the pictures. Maybe living there wasn't a bad idea after all. At least then she didn't have to mess around with other people and drive back and forth. As she understood Mr. Steel, his office was not far away from her aunt's shop. That would probably also make the appointments there easier.

After another brief hesitation, she canceled the hotel room and emailed Mr. Steel informing him that she would be staying at her aunt's apartment. Then she put the cell phone in her pocket and went downstairs.

She didn't want to know anything more about it. She really needed a break now