Hide & Seek - Alyssa Brugman [9]
'Well, it looks fabulous,' said Shelby's father, kissing her on the cheek.
'Maybe we should get ours done while we're here. What do you think, Shel?' her mother said.
'Yes, we can go and see my friend tomorrow,' Aunt Jenny added.
'Yeah, maybe,' Shelby replied. She hugged her aunt warmly. 'It's great to see you, Aunty Jenny. Your hair looks ace.'
Inside the house her aunt made coffee for the grown-ups and served hot cross buns fresh from the oven with melted butter. The two boys tucked into them with gusto and Shelby was embarrassed to see Blake wiping his buttery fingers on the edge of the cushion he was sitting on. She expected Aunty Jenny to rouse on him but she didn't seem to notice.
Shelby stood at the window and looked out into Aunt Jenny's front garden, which was mostly native reeds and grasses. Shelby could see that Aunty Jenny had laid patterns of pebbles in different colours along the paths and the beds were deep with mulch.
Beyond the garden the wide bay stretched out in an arc. A wharf jutted into the water and Shelby could make out fishermen casting lines, with their buckets and eskies behind them. Shelby could imagine the scene being a picture in one of those gardening magazines that her father subscribed to.
'I'm going on a tour,' Aunty Jenny announced, once they were all fed and settled.
'Where are you going?' Dad asked.
'I'm starting in South Africa and then heading up to Kenya, Morocco, then Spain. I have to see Prague, of course, then Paris and London. I'll pop over to New York, San Francisco, down to Mexico City, then . . . Let me see, Rio, I think, then Buenos Aires, across to Auckland and then home.'
'That's all?' Shelby's dad asked. 'No Russia? You do realise you're skipping Asia altogether?'
'Next time,' Aunt Jenny smiled.
'Well, that sounds like quite a trip!' said Shelby's mum, helping herself to another hot cross bun.
'I've put it off for so long.' Aunty Jenny shook her head. 'I don't know what I've been waiting for.' She smiled briefly. 'It seems silly now, so I thought I'd do it all at once. I'll be gone for some time.'
'Sounds like it!' Dad said. He was smiling, but Shelby could tell that underneath it he was worried. When Shelby was younger they had really only seen Aunty Jenny at Christmas time when she came to stay with them, but Shelby had noticed recently that her father was arranging to see her more often, and phoning Aunty Jenny 'just to say hi'. He joked and laughed, but underneath that was the same concerned expression that he was wearing now. Aunty Jenny was the only one left on Shelby's father's side of the family, and she was becoming more frail. Shelby's dad worried about Aunty Jenny living by herself.
'Anyway,' her aunt continued, 'I've been doing some thinking. I'll be in London in December and I was hoping that you could all come and join me there. Just for a few weeks. We could have a white Christmas.'
Shelby's parents exchanged a glance. 'Oh, we'd love to, but –'
'This is where the thinking part comes in,' Aunty Jenny interrupted. 'I'm going to be gone for eighteen months. That's a long time for a house to be empty. At first I thought I could rent my house out, but then I had a better idea. If you moved in here then you could rent your house out, and with the money you could come and visit me – all of you.'
'Move here?' said Dad.
'For eighteen months?' asked Shelby.
Aunty Jenny nodded. 'Yes. This house is certainly big enough and there is plenty of room in the garage to store extra furniture.' She sighed. 'I could just rent out my house and give you the money, but I didn't think you would accept it.'
Shelby's dad shook his head. 'We try to make our own way in the world, Jenny.'
'I have to confess to another more selfish motive. You have such a magnificent green thumb. I've invested so much time in my garden, and it's exactly the way I want it now. I would hate to come back and find it in ruins.' She smiled. 'What do you think?'
7 A Surprise Meeting
Shelby's parents beamed at each other.