C2 Chapter 2

At breakfast the following day Ava finally met Lauren, who she suspected to be the only other employee besides George. She seemed to be somewhat younger than George, but not too much judging by the long grey hair wrapped up in a tight bun.

"Here's a map of the estate, try to memorize it so that you won't have to keep it on you all the time. I've marked all storage rooms here and the rooms are color-coded based on which ones should be cleaned more often. If you have any questions you can always find me on the ground floor," was the last thing she said to her before taking off, leaving the dishes to be done by Ava.

Since there were only the three of them, it wasn't a lot. After a few short minutes, everything was cleaned and put away, allowing Ava to start on her rounds. She inspected the map and determined it to be easy enough. The hallways were pretty straightforward and she was sure she'd remember it all in no time.

It was easy to fall back into her familiar rhythm. Vacuum the floor, dust the shelves, clean the bathroom, repeat. She was used to doing it and before she realized her day was over. She made her way back to the servant's quarters to be pleasantly surprised to see that Lauren had already served dinner.

"So," George started as she sat down while Lauren handed her a plate, "how did your first day go?"

"It went well, I think I know a good bit of the map by heart by now," Ava replied. "But, if I may ask, where is the master of this estate?" It was a question that occupied an increasingly large portion of her mind as the day went on.

"Mr. Chastain only occupies this home when he is on holiday or on special occasions. When he plans to return here I will give notice so that you may prepare the rooms in a manner that is appropriate for his return."

Ava didn't quite understand what he meant by preparing for his return, but she didn't really care. No master of the house meant no problems. No men yelling at her for being in their sight or hands trying to grope her.

"Does he have many homes?" Ava couldn't help but ask. Not only out of curiosity, but also in an attempt to make small talk.

Lauren was already nodding even before George could answer. "Mr. Chastain has as many homes as he needs to have, his work requires him to travel all over," George replied.

"He's in the energy business," Lauren added, "so depending on what he's working at the moment he'll spend time at his home closest to his current project."

Ava nodded. She could only imagine how rich he must be to have so many homes with staff working even when he's not present. But a man like that probably is too busy to have any days off, so that would ideally mean she'd never see him ever. Or so she hoped.

She liked the way things were going now, there was no one to rush her into working inhumanely fast, and George and Lauren were nice enough. It was the most peaceful job she'd had so far.

The following days went by in a blur, she'd meet with George and Lauren for breakfast and dinner and slowly learned about their lives. She learned that while George didn't sleep in the servant's quarters, he did reside on the estate's grounds. His little home was on the edge of the property and was gifted to him by the current owner's late parents.

George even had a son named Stanley, though he lived in Europe and George would fly over during his vacation days to visit him. Apparently, George really liked talking about his son and it became apparent that he dearly missed him.

Lucky for him, he had another vacation coming up, allowing him to visit again. Unfortunately, Stanley couldn't visit his dad much due to the nature of his job but George couldn't be prouder.

Lauren, however, didn't stay on the estate at all and would ride her bicycle to work every day. She claimed it kept her 'fit'. And while George was a widower, Lauren had never married at all and Ava briefly felt bad for her. What if she'd suffer the same fate? What if she never met someone who'd love her?

These were the thoughts she took to bed with her and plagued her all through the night. In all of her 24 years of living, she'd never even considered the possibility of a relationship. But how could she? She was always working. And being a maid didn't create a lot of opportunities to meet new people, let alone single men her age.

But if that's the life she was meant to live she'd accept it. She already felt extremely lucky to have this job and a roof above her head. The transition from one job to the next wasn't always that smooth and there have been times she simply couldn't afford a motel anymore.

Those long nights in the cold empty stairwells of apartment complexes weren't something she would soon miss.

Her previous employers weren't bad people either. The estate wasn't nearly as large as this one and their cook was a little mean but the work went generally well. Until they decided to sell their home and move to Australia, leaving her jobless again after just less than a year of working for them.

She'd gone to the local library to look for a new job on one of their computers and to her surprise, there was a job opening for a maid at an estate. She'd never heard of the town before but since she had no home and no friends it wasn't much trouble to work somewhere far away.

Ava wondered if the small town had any library at all. She could find out tomorrow when it was her day off, she decided. Even if it didn't have one she'd still enjoy her walk around town.

She told her plan to George and Lauren at breakfast the next day and they confirmed that the town indeed did have a small library.

She'd replaced the black work clothes for her trusty jeans and washed-out t-shirt. Just when she was about to walk out the door a voice stopped her.

"Ava," George called out. "I just thought of the fact I didn't give you a house key, my apologies. Here," he said as he handed me a bunch of keys. "This one unlocks the front gate and this one is for the front door. This one is for the side door just around the corner and this is for the back door," he explained.

"Thank you," she replied as she held up the keys. "Should I return these when I come back?"

But George just shook his head. "No, these are yours for as long as you work here. Be careful now."

"I will, thanks," Ava replied as she turned to walk down the long driveway of the estate.

The walk over to town was pleasant enough, it wasn't raining but the sun didn't quite manage to break through the clouds. The forest along the road looked dark yet beautiful, as if it was ripped straight from a fairy tale.

Occasionally, a car would fly by but Ava made sure that they saw her, or she'd step off the pavement if she wasn't sure enough. Better to be safe than sorry, she thought.

Instead of asking someone for directions again, she chose to walk around town. She wanted to explore for a bit but quickly found there was nothing to explore. Along the main road were a few shops, a dentist, and a small burger joint that also seemed to act as the hangout area for local kids. A few of them stood in a circle out front but all of them were playing on their phone, only looking up when one of them pointed out a sleek-looking luxury car that was passing by.

When she looked around the corner she found a few more shops, a record store, and a bakery. She almost missed the library if it hadn't been for the small sign out front. She quickly made her way over to the librarian to get a library card before setting off in search of some books to borrow. The selection was very limited but it held all her favorite titles, so she picked those to read again plus a few new ones.

While checking out the books she noticed the time on the clock above the counter and she realized she'd be late for dinner if she didn't hurry back now. She didn't know if they'd save dinner for her or assume that she'd eat in town and she didn't want to risk going without dinner.

Her fast pace back to the estate made her legs burn but she ignored it and pressed on. Her haste paid off as she reached the gate with a few minutes to spare. After fumbling with the keys for a bit she found the right one for the gate and quickly passed through.

In all of her hurry, she almost missed the black sports car from before parked in front of the house and wondered who this visitor could be. It couldn't be the owner, Mr. Chastain, since George had told her he'd tell her in advance so she could 'prepare'. But maybe it was some family member who decided to drop by and spend a few days at the estate.

She wouldn't blame them, this house had more facilities than most resorts she'd heard of. According to the map it held a swimming pool, a sauna, a movie theatre, a shooting range, a ballroom, and much more. Ava hadn't seen any of that yet because those fell under Lauren's care.

Just to be safe she took the side door since she wasn't quite sure what was expected of her when guests stayed over. She walked back to her room as quietly as she could but just as she reached the door to the servant's quarters she spotted a glimpse of the visiting stranger.

He was focused enough on talking to George that Ava felt safe staring at him for a moment. But only because he was so breathtakingly beautiful that her eyes refused to leave his tall form. His brown hair was styled neatly atop of his head and combined with his brown eyes gave him an overall dark appearance.

The hands in the pockets of his slacks gave off relaxed vibes but the well-tailored business suit he wore contradicted that. He seemed to be a little older than Ava, maybe a little younger than thirty.

When George laughed at something the man said Ava snapped out of her trance. She shouldn't stare, it's rude. She quickly resumed her walk down the hallway until she reached the servant's dining area, only to find Lauren still busy cooking dinner.

"Ava," she called out as she spotted her, "I hope you don't mind eating a little later. You see, Mr. Chastain has returned home suddenly so we've been all kinds of busy."

Mr. Chastain.

The owner.