Chapter 10: New Life

She did not miss her old wealth in her new life. She would just consider it and the trade offs of the old life with the freedom to do and be as she chose. She allowed herself to feel the loss, then let the thought pass.

She had a routine and duties that made her part of the community: bakery and Faye; new dress on payday; library before work on late workdays; pub for shepherd’s pie and karaoke after work for dinner on early workdays; and on her day off: cleaning her spartan room and doing her laundry after a full breakfast and catch up conversation with Beatrice.

90% of her life was good and that percentage was almost good enough. She liked the structure and the rhythm of it. Within a matter of months, she knew everyone, thanks to working at the bakery and hanging out at the pub and most of all getting the ok and vetting from her two “fairy godmothers” of Beatrice and Faye. And everyone knew her and almost everyone accepted her new presence in the village except maybe for one: Arthur.

By the time that her one month, her personal time table, of trying it out had tolled, she discovered that she did not want to leave. Work led to wellness for her and she would not trade the simple town and the mostly good people who lived in it except maybe for one: Arthur.

The only predictable thing about him was that he was always rude whenever he bumped into her. Deliberately or accidentally did not matter to Rachel since he never apologized for his ongoing general negativity and bad mood. Try as she might, she could not achieve a perfect score of acclimation. It was impossible, at all costs, to avoid Arthur, to whom she doubted she could ever become acclimated.

They were both in the same house. They were both connected to Beatrice socially. They both lived in the same small town. They both frequented the same spots in town and had a similar disciplined schedule and routine at home.

It seemed like Arthur was everywhere she was and inescapable. If it wasn’t at home, then it was at the library. If it wasn’t at the bakery, then it was at the pub. Plus, thanks to Beatrice, they became daily car pool comrades and once a week brunch mates at her table.

Faye was in cahoots with Beatrice and made sure that Rachel was the one who waited on him whenever he came to the bakery for coffee and donuts. The only way they would see each other any more would be if they were married, God forbid!

“Beatrice, I see what you are trying to do with Arthur and me and it just won’t work.” They had finished sharing a meal together and Rachel used the downtime before doing the dishes together as the opportune time to confront Beatrice about her intentions for her and her grandson.

“What’s that Dear, I’m not sure I understand what you mean? What do you think I’m doing?” playing a combination of senior citizen senility, hearing loss, and naïveté.

“You’re trying to throw us together and match us up. We’re just too different. Plus he can’t stand me. That’s the major barrier.”

“Well, if that’s true, and I’m not saying whether it is or whether it isn’t, how do you feel about him?”

“Ok. I think he is without a doubt the rudest person I’ve ever met. He takes pleasure, it seems, in being mean to me. And, if any bad fortune came to me, I truly believe that he would sing and dance and hope for even more rottenness to occur to me.”

“You still did not answer my question. You just said he was rude. How do you feel about him?”

“I have absolutely no opinion of him.”

“Tell the complete truth. Tell me how you felt when you first saw him on the plane or discovered him half naked sleeping in your bed.”

“Gorgeous,” Rachel spoke in a small, almost inaudible voice.

“Pardon me, Dear? I could not hear you.”

“Arthur is simply GORGEOUS!!!” Rachel stood up and said at the top of her voice. Then be it fate, luck, or coincidence, Arthur walked through the door at the very instant she was screaming his name.

“Well, if we ever had nothing to talk about in this house, using outside voices when inside should be forbidden,” he said directed to Rachel, “given that I am studying for the New York and California bar exams and need peace and quiet.”

After that he grabbed a muffin and a piece of bacon from the breakfast cart, then disappeared. The two ladies knew he was going to bury himself in the books for an hour in time for him to join the live stream bar review classes from America.

Beatrice and Rachel waited for him to depart and then burst out laughing.

“See, Beatrice, he’s oblivious.”

“He definitely has his eyes on the prize, Dear.”

Arthur did not have time for a relationship while studying for back to back bar exams, but once he was admitted to the practice of law in two states and in England, he would be a force to be reckoned with and probably looking for someone to settle down and share it all with.

Maybe they were too different after all. Rachel was well educated, but not seeking out a high powered career. She had money from both sides of her family. She was rich. Other than that she did not think about earning lots of money like many young professionals did, especially in America. She did not think of earning money as important either until she had to have a way to support herself without her father being able to trace her tapping into her trust fund and bring her back to America.

“Gorgeous and smart but rude,” Rachel amended her response to Beatrice in a neutral, more quiet tone. “The first two qualities do not outweigh the last, so I’ll have to pass on Arthur and focus on me.”