‘Sure,’ said Amanda and she filled up an old kettle, put it on the hob and turned the gas on.
‘God, this is an old kitchen,’ he said, looking around.
‘Tell me about it.’ Amanda laughed. ‘But I don’t mind – it’s sort of cosy and cute.’
‘But even I have a microwave,’ said Simon, looking at the old fridge and sink.
‘You have a microwave? God, you’re living the life, aren’t you.’ Amanda laughed and Simon noticed how infectious her laugh was and he couldn’t help but smile.
‘So look at this,’ he said, opening the book.
Amanda leaned on the bench with her elbows.
He opened the pages to the middle of the book and carefully unfolded the first map.
‘This is summer at Moongate, and every bed is shown with the planting patterns.’
‘Oh that’s very cool,’ said Amanda, her finger running over the map.
‘But all of these beds have a symbol on them and…’ He opened a drawer of the box and took out an envelope. ‘Theses seeds are labelled with the corresponding symbol.’
‘What? That’s crazy,’ said Amanda, looking at the symbol on the envelope and then looking at the legend on the first map.
She went to the next map and opened it and then the next.
‘These are Canterbury bells. They are sown in June, it reads here,’ she said triumphantly. ‘God, this is amazing. What a find – well done,’ Amanda said to Simon who shook his head.
‘Diana gave me the book but I hadn’t looked at it yet. But you found the seeds and cleaned out the shed. I should have done that.’
Amanda laughed. ‘It doesn’t matter who did it; it’s found, and now we can start to plan. It’s so exciting. I found nasturtium seeds. They were my mom’s favourite flower. She just loved the way they fell from the community garden beds in our neighbourhood. I did a painting of them once for her. She loved it so much.’
Simon smiled. He had to admit he felt a small flicker of something resembling optimism, which was refreshing after so many months of gloom and going over what had happened every waking minute.
‘So why are you here?’ she asked him as she poured hot water into his mug.
‘Just to have a break from the world. I’ve been riding around Britain, working odd jobs and so on.’ He was deliberately vague in his answer. She didn’t need to know too much since he wasn’t going to be here in a few months.
‘Where did you live before?’
Simon had a choice to make. He could be like Anika and Charlie and lie to her, tell her all sorts of untruths to keep her from knowing him… or he could tell the truth.
Whatever he was, he refused to be like them.
‘I was in London,’ he said.
Amanda nodded. ‘I went there briefly to get the keys to this place and sign the papers but I didn’t stay. I’d love to go back and see all the sights.’
‘You should – it’s a great city.’
Amanda handed him his tea and some milk from the fridge. ‘I’ll leave you to make your own the way you like it. Except I’m not sure I have sugar. I haven’t really gone through the cupboards yet.’
Simon dipped the bag a few more times, then removed it and added a dash of milk.
‘And what about you? You’re from New York? That’s all I know.’
Amanda sighed. ‘Born and bred, but I sometimes wonder if New York was really in my blood, you know?’
‘How do you mean?’ he asked.
