Vivien K. Wilk

The conservatory was at the back of the house and ran the length of the kitchen, dining room and fireplace area. The sitting areas were framed by all kinds of plants. Hanging plants stood on shelves, their green leaves almost reaching the floor. Grace could feel a calm in her that she had missed for a long time. When was the last time she paused and consciously noticed something? Something in that conservatory made it impossible not to.

"Evellyn has always tried so hard with her garden."

She heard Brigitte sigh and followed her gaze down into the garden below. The bushes were visibly overgrown and the grass had apparently grown up to stomach height. It was hard to see from their perspective how high it really was.

"Since when couldn't Evellyn take care of it anymore?"

Grace followed Brigitte to the armchairs and the small side table that the older one had obviously chosen.

"I'm honestly not sure."

Grace saw Brigitte bow her head a little while lowering her eyes. Then she let out a deep sigh and straightened up again.

"I don't want to say anything bad about Evellyn, but if she had a flaw, it was that she was stubborn. If she had got something on her mind, then she did. And apparently she hadn't planed to tell anyone about her condition. "

"You didn't know she was sick?"

"Not until two weeks ago, no. I had the feeling that something was wrong with her, but not that she was so sick. When I found out ....."

Brigitte shook her head as if she didn't really understand any of this.

"I blamed her and she put up with everything. I don't know why she felt like she had to take this burden on her own, but she knew she would shock us with it."

There was a short pause while Brigitte poured them coffee and handed out the cheesecake.

"To be honest, I didn't expect it. I thought she just didn't tell us she was sick," said Grace.

"Believe me, I urged her to call your mom and tell her how it looked, but she refused. Stubborn to the end. But I felt like she was glad I was there. Mr. Steel kindly took over a lot of things so that I could fully concentrate on being there for Evellyn. "

"What ... what did she die of?"

Grace shifted back and forth in her chair before forcing herself to sit still again. Her throat slowly began to constrict.

"Apparently there was something with her heart. I think the doctors said it was beating weakly. And in the end it just stopped. I don't think she was in pain. She just fell asleep."

It was the first time Grace had felt her eyes start to moisten. A wave of sadness rolled through her body. But with it came nausea. She felt bad and even when she felt the sadness, her body did not respond to it. Her eyes dried again and she continued to sit there as before.

"It's good that she wasn't in pain."

Her voice trembled as she spoke and she took a deep breath. At the same moment she felt Brigitte's hand on hers. When she looked up, she noticed that tears were rolling down the older woman's face. And yet she smiled encouragingly.

"Don't worry, you are not alone. If you need anything, let me know."

Before Grace could react any further, Brigitte pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket.

"My goodness. I want to be here for you and now I burst into tears. I thought that was behind me. I took my time to say goodbye to her and thought that I made my peace with it. But I miss her. "

Grace nodded reflexively.

"You don't have to apologize for being sad. It happend ... not long ago."

She tried to work out in her head how many days it had been since the news, but it all felt like an eternity.

"Five days. Don't worry, I'm never sure either. It all seems to blur."

Brigitte wiped her eyes again with the handkerchief before she put it away. To hide the rising silence, Grace raised her mug to her mouth. The coffee hit her like a blow. It took her a moment to recover from the powerful taste and invigorating finish. Her body seemed to be humming for a moment before everything slowly began to calm down. At least that had completely dispelled the knotty feeling in her stomach. The cake then seemed three times as sweet as it probably was, but Grace had to smile when she noticed that it was even warm.

"Did I make the coffee too strong?"

"No, no ... just stronger than I'm used to."

Brigitte began to laugh out loud.

"Oh kid, you don't have to be too polite. Nobody rips your head off when you complain about coffee. Well, except maybe Kyle. He's a real coffee snob."

"Who is Kyle?"

"Right, you haven't met Evellyn's employee yet. Mr. Steel gave them the day off so you could have some peace and quiet. I think they'll be coming in the next few days to do an inventory or something."

"Employees? Did Evellyn have more than one?"

If Grace remembered correctly, Evellyn had always run her bookstore by herself. That's why she always had to work when they were visiting.

"One for the bookstore and one for the café."

She paused, puzzled, and almost spilled coffee on her clothes.

"Café?"

"Yes, the café downstairs in the left part of the bookstore."

Brigitte tilted her head a little.

"Havent you seen that?"

Grace tried to remember what she had even consciously noticed from the bookstore. At least she could remember the sales counter on the right. She had noticed immediately that not much had changed about that. But she wasn't sure about the other side of the bookstore anymore.

"You mean when you come in, on the left?"

She tried to buy some time to think with the question.

"Right. Evellyn opened a café there about six years ago. Many of her customers sit there to read books, but many only come to have a coffee there."

Grace gave up and then shook her head.

"I seem to have completely missed that part. Even when I went out this morning. And Kyle works there?"

"Right. He works there as a barista and takes care of everything and Sidney works as a saleswoman in the bookstore. Mostly on the weekends or afternoons. I think she is studying."

The thought of getting to know the two employees made Grace swallow. How would they be? Had they been close to Evellyn? Her thoughts swirled through her head. Suddenly everything felt like a truckload of stones was about to pour over her. As if for a lifeline, she reached for her cup. Once again the strength of the coffee brought her back into the here and now.

"If Kyle gives you problems, just call Mr. Steel," said Brigitte with a waving hand, "And Sidney always seemed like a very nice young lady to me. Maybe a little lively, but she did a lot of work for Evellyn."

"I'll be fine," Grace replied.

"I'm sure."

 

Brigitte stayed a while longer. She had told various anecdotes from her time with Evellyn. If Grace was being honest, she had never heard so much about Evellyn's husband as she had from Brigitte. Her brother seemed to have been very important to her and you could tell by the way she talked about him that she missed him even after all this time. It was also the first time Grace learned that his body had never been recovered. She couldn't even imagine what it must have been like for Evellyn and the rest of the family. However, Brigitte made an effort to quickly leave the dark stories behind and rather move on to the lively ones. Grace found herself again and again in the situation where she had to laugh wildly. It felt strange considering the circumstances.

In the end she had brought Brigitte downstairs and they had arranged to meet for dinner the next day. Apparently she lived not far from here and Grace assured her that she would find the way on foot. Now she was standing here in front of the front door and turned her attention to the right. The area beyond the circular passage was dark, but even with the pale light from above, Grace could already see a bar and chairs. She walked slowly over. She remembered this area. Part of it was still a bookstore, but beyond that there was another room. It had been more of a closet than anything else. From there, however, you had come into the garden. Grace found the light switch on the side. Surprised, she let her gaze wander around the room. The light revealed a completely different sight than she had remembered. The separate room had disappeared and instead there was only a long room that ended in a small winter garden. Tables, chairs, and benches made of dark wood were scattered around, and red cushions lay on the seats. There was a high-quality coffee machine on the counter, one that could also be used to make espresso. There were also food displays. Plain white dishes stood on the shelf. It was easy for her to understand why people liked to come here. Together with the bookstore, it created a cozy atmosphere. She herself felt the urge to sit in the corner with a book.

She walked slowly down the room until she reached the winter garden. It was much smaller than the one upstairs. She remembered that he had been here before, but it could not be overlooked that Evellyn had renewed him in the meantime. There was only one table with four chairs here as there wasn't enough space for more. She went to the window and let her gaze wander over the garden. For a moment she thought about going out, but it was already getting dark again and heavy rain clouds hung over her. Her gaze fell on the door next to her that led out. A cold breeze made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She looked around searching, but could not find any source for it. The windows down here were all locked.

It's an old house. It can sometimes pull through the cracks.

Grace's wandert back to the back door. She raised her hand, put it on the doorknob and pushed it down. She let out a deep breath when she saw that the door was locked. What was that all about? Was she afraid that anyone would come in?

"Calm down! Yes, it's a big house. But that's no reason to get paranoid."

Somehow the sound of her own voice didn't calm her. The silence that followed makes it all the more evident to her. Grace turned and made her way back upstairs. She checked the front door before turning off all the lights below and climbing the stairs. Once at the top, she already felt better. A look at her cell phone showed her that it was slowly approaching dinner time. However, it also showed her that she had several messages from her family. She would have loved to kick herself in the ass that she had firmly agreed to get in touch today. She already knew what her mother would say if she pushed it back. So she gave up. With a drink of water, she sat on the couch and began working her way through the news.

In the end, it didn't take long to answer. She couldn't say much about the will yet. And what should she answer to how she was doing? Grace paused for a moment. How was she? Her first answer was: good. Simple and easy. Certainly she was tired and felt overwhelmed by all the new impressions, but on the whole she was fine. But that was nothing she wanted to explain further. Especially not that she was overwhelmed. She snorted softly when she thought of her brother's message. She didn't even had to read between the lines that he didn't think she was up to the whole thing. She swallowed the snappy answer, however. Instead, she ignored him entirely.

As soon as she had typed the last message, she tossed her cell phone on the coffee table and sank back on the sofa. A burning sensation surged back and forth in her stomach. Didn't the others have better things to do than ask how she was managing everything? Her eyes fell on the television and she reached for the remote control. She began to flip through the programs aimlessly. Surely she could find something to pass the time with.