Page 4 of A Sky Full of Stars
‘And what doyouthink?’ Charlotte asked, figuring that she probably already knew the answer. Lorelai, after all, was a dyed-in-the-wool local. She would doubtless be opposed to anything encroaching on the sanctity of the village.
Lorelai paused, putting her mug down on the garden table before she replied. ‘Well, change comes to everywhere,’ she said eventually. ‘And if I’m honest, it’s about time something came along to wake this place up. Admittedly, a hundred houses backing up against the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is quite a way to do it, but I do feel, at my age, some upheaval is inevitable.’
‘So you’re in favour of Flowerdew Homes developing the land, then?’ Charlotte was surprised.
Lorelai’s expression clouded for a moment and then, like the sun breaking out again, she brightened. ‘Anything that means my darling granddaughter, Thea, can finally afford to move back to the village where she grew up is all right by me. She’s a school teacher, and when the houses are built she’ll be able to do one of those shared-ownership things. It’s her only chance of being able to return here.’
Charlotte nodded. ‘I can see why you’d want that. It’s difficult to get a foothold on the property ladder as it is, and I should imagine that’s an unattainable dream for a lot of people around here.’
‘Absolutely,’ Lorelai replied. ‘And what else could they do with the land? Leave it there, getting more and more overgrown, while young people are struggling to find somewhere to live?’
‘But the observatory’s a historic landmark,’ Charlotte said. ‘Isn’t it worth saving?’
Lorelai scoffed at the notion. ‘That place has lain unused for nearly twenty years,’ she countered. ‘I think it’s about time it was officially mothballed and then we can all get on with our lives.’
There was something about Lorelai’s tone, an undercurrent of sharpness that piqued Charlotte’s interest. It was unusual to find a woman of Lorelai’s years being so in favour of change, but Charlotte wondered if there was another reason she was so sanguine about the observatory being demolished.
‘Well, I’m sure the university is going to be pleased with the new additions to the archive,’ Charlotte said. ‘I’ve already been doing a bit of research, and apparently there have been quite a few cosmological discoveries made in Observatory Field over the time it’s been there. There was the sighting of a supernova in 1965, and it’s been a hotspot for meteor shower observations for almost as long. It amazes me that after all of that history, the building hasn’t been in working order for the best part of three decades.’
‘Well, these things fall out of fashion.’ Lorelai’s tone was a little clipped, but Charlotte wondered if she was just tired. She’d obviously been out in the garden all day, and as evening started drifting softly in around the cottage, the sun’s beams had also moved around the other side of the building, so it had grown a little cooler. Charlotte glanced around for Comet, who’d collapsed, panting, on the flagstones of the patio.
‘I’d better get my stuff sorted out for when I start work,’ Charlotte said, aware that the atmosphere between her and Lorelai had shifted somewhat. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but then it may just have been that, as new acquaintances, they were still operating within polite boundaries.
‘And I’d better get some dinner on.’ Lorelai’s tone sounded warmer again. ‘Can I interest you in a Chicken Kiev, dear? There are two in a packet, and I so hate to open something and have to have it two nights running.’
Charlotte smiled. ‘Thank you, but I tend to eat a little bit later.’ It was barely six o’clock, and she was a bit of a night owl. It went with the territory, she supposed. Her academic career had entailed staying awake into the early hours, observing the patterns in the sky and making sure she noted down every change and nuance. She often joked that she was more at home in the darkness than the light.
‘Well, I can keep it warm in the Aga for you if you’d like to eat it when you’re peckish,’ Lorelai said.
Something told Charlotte that the older woman was trying to bridge the slight distance that had sprung up between them when they’d been talking about the observatory. She smiled. ‘That would be lovely. So long as you don’t mind my being in the kitchen? I don’t tend to eat until about nine o’clock.’
‘That’s fine,’ Lorelai replied. ‘As I said, you’re free to use my kitchen when you’d like to.’ She looked mildly concerned for a minute as Comet came padding towards them. ‘You don’t make this chap wait so long for his dinner, I hope?’
Charlotte laughed. ‘No! He gets his dinner at six-thirty on the dot, and if it’s not ready, he reminds me with those eyes that no one in their right mind could ever resist!’ Right on cue, Comet looked up at her, and she stroked his ears affectionately. ‘Half an hour longer, old chap,’ she said, placing a kiss on the tip of his nose.
Charlotte rose from her chair and picked up her teacup, as well as Lorelai’s, to take through to the main kitchen. Something still niggled at her about the way Lorelai had responded to talk of the history of the observatory.Everyone has secrets, she thought, and she wondered exactly what Lorelai wasn’t telling her.
5
The next morning, Charlotte woke feeling refreshed. The bed was extremely comfortable, and the silence around Nightshade Cottage as darkness had finally drawn in made falling asleep easy. Comet had settled well in his bed, too, and the first thing she heard as dawn broke was the rather pleasing alarm clock of wild birds outside in the trees that surrounded Lorelai’s garden. Having been used to being awoken by the much less attractive sound of drunken students returning at dawn to their dorm rooms, this was a pleasant treat. She wondered how she’d feel in a week or two, though, at being up quite so early.
Comet lifted his head as Charlotte swung her feet out of bed and into her furry Ugg slippers. No matter what the time of year, she always had cold feet, and the slippers were a worthwhile luxury. Yawning and stretching, she padded over to the bedroom door, not bothering to open the curtains just yet. Comet followed her through to the kitchenette, hot on her heels.
Nightshade Cottage felt quiet. Charlotte remembered that Lorelai had said she was going out early, to babysit her granddaughter Thea’s children for the morning, and so she assumed that she had already left. Charlotte flipped on the kettle to make a cup of instant coffee, then let Comet out into the back garden where he did the necessary. While the kettle boiled, Charlotte ensured she kept her word and tidied up after the dog.
‘Well, old chap,’ she said as she settled onto the cosy sofa that occupied the living area. ‘What shall we do today? I think I’m in the mood for a bit of exploring. What do you say we take a wander and see what we can discover around here?’
Comet tipped his silky black head to one side and regarded her with his usual quizzical expression. Charlotte laughed. It never got boring, having a cocker spaniel as a companion. And she knew he’d be happy to take some exercise with her. Quickly, after grabbing a piece of toast and gulping down the rest of her coffee, she showered, dressed, and was soon locking the door to her rooms and heading out down the driveway.
It really was shaping up to be a stunning morning. The sun was already high in the sky, and the air smelt fresh, warm and inviting. Charlotte had packed a small rucksack with her phone, some water for herself and Comet and the notebook and pen she carried everywhere, and resolved to see if she could find the Lower Brambleton Observatory. Officially, she wasn’t due to start for another day or so, but she wanted to get her bearings. She knew it was within walking distance of Nightshade Cottage, through the woodland incline and at the top of the hill, but it wouldn’t hurt to test that distance before she actually had to be there.
As Charlotte walked along the path that seemed to double back around Nightshade Cottage, she noticed that Lorelai’s home really was the only house for quite a distance. Although she’d begun following the narrow road that led to the house’s driveway, she was soon directed by her phone’s GPS, which, to her relief, was working, albeit intermittently, to a footpath that took her up through a copse of pine trees and up the hill. She’d expected a bit of a climb: most observatories were at a higher point than the settlements around them, but the one at Lower Brambleton was still fairly close to the village itself, perhaps because there was relatively little light pollution this deep into the countryside. All that would change with the new houses, she thought. But that wasn’t really her dilemma to consider.
Making her way through the pine copse, which was heavy with the scent of warm sap and the mouldering remnants of wild garlic underfoot, Charlotte amused herself by watching Comet darting in and out of the trees, tail wagging, snout to the ground. She hoped he wouldn’t find anything to roll in. No matter how fond Lorelai seemed of him, that wouldn’t do him any favours with their new landlady. She loved the way he explored his surroundings, and it was wonderful to see him off-lead in a place where she didn’t have to worry about meeting other people, or their dogs. In Bristol she’d had to keep a sharp eye on him, in case his questing nose got him into trouble.
Eventually, the trees began to thin, and the top of the hill levelled off to a flat plain that extended across a generous sweep of land. Charlotte spotted a red-brick building with a central tower enclosed by a high chain-link fence in the near distance, about four hundred metres from her. That had to be the observatory. From this aspect, across a field of grass that looked as though it hadn’t seen a mower in months, it looked lonely and unloved. Suddenly, Charlotte felt a sense of sadness that its time would soon be over.
Not your problem, she told herself firmly. She had a job to do, and she was determined to do it. Sometimes, you just had to divorce yourself from your emotions and look at things in a scientific and factual way. Years of research had taught her that.
