Sommersgate House (Ghosts and Reincarnation #2)(10)
Julia shed the suit she had not found the time to change out of and took a quick shower. Veronika had made certain her shampoo and soap were exactly where they needed to be.
Even though she was exhausted, Julia knew she would not sleep, it was daytime in Indiana and, anyway, sleep had eluded her for months.
She located and then put on a pair of pale blue yoga pants and a white, ribbed tank top and inspected Veronika’s work. The fact that she hadn’t unpacked her own case made Julia uncomfortable, not that Veronika would be inappropriate, just that Julia was not used to someone else doing her chores. Nevertheless, Julia had to admit Veronika did very good work. Everything was put in place, properly (even obsessively) hung or folded and Julia noted, a bit stunned, ironed. Rows of shoes matched carefully and lined up perfectly. Her toiletries were nicely displayed at the dressing table and, when Julia went back to the bedroom, the framed photographs and scented candles she’d brought with her were arranged to their best advantage.
A photo of the kids, Gavin and Tamsin with Patricia and Julia sat on the bedside table, everyone with their arms around each other in front of Patricia’s Christmas tree from two years past. Julia stared at it, felt the familiar hot tears at the back of her eyes and shook her head. She couldn’t give in, she’d shed enough tears and now was the time of healing, of moving forward, of making the best of an impossible (and inconceivable) situation.
She sat down and opened the desk. Someone, most likely Mrs. K, had thought to put some writing tablets, pens and pencils and other office supplies in the shelves and drawers.
Just a few days ago, Julia was the head of a grant-making foundation attached to a small group of three non-profit hospitals. She had been responsible for disbursing the profits of the hospitals. With her small team, they called for and assessed grant projects for everything from equipment for basic research laboratories to doctor and nursing fellowships to scholarships for students studying any kind of medicine, be it nursing, physical therapy, midwifery, or the like.
She’d worked there for twelve years. She loved it there. She would miss her staff, her duties, even her damned desk.
Julia shook her head again to oust the melancholy that always seemed threateningly close to drowning her and started to do what she’d always done when a project loomed.
She wrote a list.
She’d need a mobile phone.
She’d need a computer and e-mail.
She’d need a driver’s license and a car.
She’d need a work permit and to have her visa extended.
And she carried on writing everything she needed and then prioritising it.
She took out another piece of paper and she wrote down what she knew to be in her bank account and her investment accounts. She’d made a tidy profit from her house and car. She had some savings. She wasn’t destitute.
She started to budget her money, what she’d need, what she could afford. She’d have to have a talk with Douglas about a lot of things, including what she would put into the house. Keeping a house like this had to cost an extraordinary amount, anything she contributed would be a drop in the bucket. But she had not been brought up not to pay her way.
As she looked at the figures she realised that without a job she’d be out of money way too quickly. She had a six month visa but did not have the right to work or to healthcare. She’d need insurance… and it went on and on.
Julia started adding to her list and wondered how much insurance would cost and bent her head to the task of diverting her brain in the hopes of exhausting it so she could fall asleep and not thinking of anything else.
She put her elbow on the desk and touched the middle three fingers of her hand to her forehead, closing her eyes and rubbing away the gentle ache that had begun to throb there.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep the thoughts at bay.
She hadn’t expected very much out of her life. She never had big dreams or ambitions. She didn’t want fancy cars, huge houses, jetting around from exotic place to place. Sean had given her a taste of that and it wasn’t worth the price you had to pay to get it.
She was not a risk-taker. She liked things steady, familiar and normal. She liked her family close, her friends next door and to know exactly what aisle the cake mixes were in at the grocery store. All her life she did her utmost to keep everything just that way.
She had been pleased with her lot (after she’d divorced Sean, of course). She had a house she loved. She’d lived there five years and just the summer before had managed to renovate the last room so every inch of carpet, every piece of furniture, every last wineglass was exactly what she wanted.
And she had friends she was going to miss. She was going to miss Josie’s Margarita Mayhem Night that was held every year on the longest day. And the Christmas Party where they all trooped out in posh outfits to see the Nutcracker Suite and then came back to Tom and Mary’s to eat the vast array of delicious nibbles Mary spent days making. And Kelly’s Annual Birthday Extravaganza which was always a blast.
And of course there was Mom. She was really going to miss Patricia.
The three of them, Patricia, Gavin and Julia, had always been close. They had to be once Dad left them high and dry with only a token look back every once in awhile at the family he created and then abandoned.
Patricia was never the “cool” Mom. She was the stern and loving Mom and she was very wise. Life hadn’t dealt her a good hand, divorced young with two kids and an ex who forgot to pay the child support far more often than he remembered. He also forgot he had another family, vastly preferring (and not too concerned to show it) his two daughters and son from his beautiful, wealthy and upper class second wife. “The Izod Family” Gavin used to call them as a joke but it was too real to be truly funny and it always made Mom’s mouth tighten at the corners to hear him say it.