A gentle cough from Danny brought her back to the present and she set the box down on the counter in front of them.

‘It’s not big. But it’s got a half-decent selection. What it does boast, though, is the best in modern technology and terrific Wi-Fi. And a pretty good local history collection.’

Nicole walked around the shelves and computers. It was a pretty good set-up. No rival for her local back in Sydney, of course, but impressive for what it was.

A woman came out from the back office and stood behind the counter. ‘Hey, Danny. I see you’ve brought in more history books to donate.’

Danny lifted one of the boxes onto the counter.

Nicole recognised the lady. It was the older woman from the hardware store. Cheryl.

‘Hi, Nicole. Nice to see you again.’

‘Cheryl.’ Nicole gave a little wave. ‘I thought you worked at Trevor’s.’

‘Three days a week I do. I volunteer two days a week here. You need to fill this out,’ she said, pushing over some papers, ‘and I’ll set you up with a borrowing card.’

Even though she wasn’t going to be in Rosella Cove for very long, the thought of six whole months without a book was one Nicole couldn’t bear. She signed the application and Cheryl issued her with a card straightaway.

‘Tada. You’re now a fully fledged library member with access to all that we have.’

‘Did you want to get something now?’ Danny asked.

No. She wanted to come back when she was alone and could take all the time in the world to peruse the shelves. Not that it would take long, she thought, looking around the small space. But, still.

‘Okay, let’s get that ladder of yours home.’

Danny dropped the ladder just inside the front door of the cottage and left Nicole to her tasks for the day. Now that the walls were stripped, she had to clean them. All her research told her that if she didn’t prepare the walls properly before painting them, the paint wouldn’t stick right and in a few years it would be peeling off.

She did think about trying to get away with that. It wasn’t like she was going to be here when anyone discovered her shortcut. But there was still so much wallpaper glue on the walls, and she was pretty sure someone would notice if she just painted over the top of that, so she may as well do the job right.

After three hours of painstaking washing and scraping and scrubbing, Nicole was regretting her decision not to take a shortcut. Maybe she could’ve got away with it – she could have passed the lumps and bumps off as some sort of modern take on stucco. Still, having the ladder meant it was easier to reach the top of the walls. Why hadn’t she thought to get one earlier?