And with that, Simon lifted up the wheelbarrow and walked past them both.
What a rude guy,thought Amanda. If he was the person she had to work with, then she doubted Diana’s dream would come true.
‘Never mind him,’ said Diana after he left. ‘He’s sad and angry, but he will warm up. He runs a bit hot and cold, but hurt people always do.’
Amanda shook her head and rolled her eyes. ‘Interesting guy,’ she said.
‘I think he is,’ said Diana.
‘Why is he so grumpy?’
‘Life has been a little tricky for him lately.’
‘Join the club. Doesn’t mean he gets to be rude.’
Diana laughed. ‘You two will have to work something out, otherwise Moongate Manor garden will get even worse. It’s the start of summer and it grows wild without some sort of regime.’
Amanda looked around at the plants, not knowing which ones were weeds and which were flowers, and at the dried branches and old gravel, and she wondered where she would even start.
Lainie was wrong, this was much more than pulling a few weeds. It was starting again from scratch.
8
Amanda
Diana opened the door to the house and stepped inside. Every house had its own particular smell and Moongate Manor was no different.
It smelled of beeswax polish, wood and was maybe a little musty.
But it was the interior that Amanda found fascinating. It was as though time had stopped. Everything was working but old, older than anything Amanda had ever owned.
Amanda wondered how long Diana had been out of the house, since there was nothing there that was remotely modern and she seemed very settled in the gatehouse.
The foyer was oval-shaped, which Amanda wasn’t expecting, with a series of doors leading into different rooms and one coat cupboard.
‘You will learn what is what eventually,’ said Diana, turning a circle in the space. There was a round wooden table in the centre of the foyer with a blue and white vase on top of it that was begging for flowers.
‘My mother always had white hydrangeas in that vase but I never put anything in it after she died. You can fill it with whatever you like now that you’re the lady of Moongate.’
Amanda smiled. ‘The lady of Moongate – that just seems so crazy to me. I don’t know anything about England. My mom was born in the UK but she left at twenty and never came back to visit. Not even to see her parents.’ Amanda looked around at all the doors. ‘I would have liked to have known my grandparents but she wouldn’t even talk about them, let alone have me meet them. She did get me a UK passport though, which was helpful.’
‘Oh why was that?’ asked Diana.
‘Why was what?’ Amanda asked.
‘Why did she dislike her parents?’
‘She didn’t dislike them,’ Amanda corrected. ‘She hated them. When she talked about them, her face changed, like a cloud had come over her – you know what I mean?’
Diana nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘I used to ask Mom about them when I was little. I would read books and there would sometimes be grandparents in them, with warm cocoa and nice cosy moments and I wanted that so badly. But Mom would get cross with me for asking, so I stopped. She didn’t like to talk about the past, but she did admit that her parents were pretty abusive.’
Diana’s stick slipped and Amanda rushed to her side and held her elbow.
‘Are you okay? Which door leads to somewhere you can sit down?’ She looked around.
Diana stood up straight. ‘It’s fine, just a little bit of arthritis; too much gardening back in the day,’ she said. She straightened herself and walked to the first door and opened it. ‘This leads to the morning room. It gets beautiful light and has doors out onto the stone terrace, which is not in great shape, I’m afraid.’
