The usual stuff, you know.

Standard female necessities.

I slipped my feet into ballet flats and after a quick check in the mirror to ensure I really did look like I could go out in public, I headed back downstairs to say goodbye to Aunt Cat and Arthur. I hadn’t seen my father all morning, but since we had guests, including my cousin, I wasn’t surprised about that.

They’d probably been up half the night drinking and playing pool in the billiards room.

Men, right?

Giggling came from the kitchen right as I was about to round the doorway and say goodbye. I paused and peered in. The girlish giggling was coming from Aunt Cat as she taught Arthur how to navigate the coffee machine.

I frowned.

Was…

Was there something going on between those two?

Hmm.

I decided not to interrupt and quickly left, leaving them to… whatever that was.

I didn’t want to think too much into it. Between random strangers’ love lives and my own semi-complicated one, I wasn’t entirely sure I could cope with another one being added to the equation.

I got into my car and started it up. If I wasn’t sure about needing coffee before, I definitely was now. I was also going to need to talk that whole Aunt Cat-slash-Arthur thing through with Eva and Adelaide.

Just not today.

Today was for all the peace and quiet.

I drove into the village, parked up, paid for my ticket, and headed towards the coffee shop. It was blissfully quiet this morning, and that peace continued into the shop. I ordered my coffee along with a breakfast sandwich and took a seat at one of the tables in the back corner.

Now, I had to get to studying.

I set up at the table, and by the time my laptop was loaded, my coffee was brought over to me. I thanked Julia for bringing it and settled in to do my research. Now that I had the basic garden plan, I needed to bring it to life. My first stop was researching pergolas and searching for someone local who could potentially make one for me.

Ten minutes in, and it was painfully obvious that a custom one would blow half my budget. Unfortunately, it was a curriculum set budget, so there was nothing I could do about it.

It looked as though I’d have to order one and build it myself.

Hm.

That couldn’t possibly go wrong, could it?

Well, it was the only option.

My sandwich was brought over right before I could make a terrible decision and buy a pergola unsupervised, so I pushed the laptop to the side and tucked in, turning my browsing activities to picnic tables.

Picnic tables I could buy.

Surely even I couldn’t fuck that up.

I’d said it now, hadn’t I? Sod’s law dictated that I would.

Oy vey.

I needed a keeper.

I blew out a huffing breath and dropped my head onto the trackpad of my laptop. This was hard.