The House Sitter

A whirlwind week

"So obviously this is the main living room and kitchen area which leads onto the garden. And through those doors is the snug/library it's my favourite place to get stuck into a good book, do you like to read?" Tom asks Alice and she can tell he's genuinely interested to know. "I've constantly got a book on the go and often more then one. I know I'm one of those people, but it's because I listen to audio books, I have books on my kindle app on my phone but I still love holding an actual book the most. I just find the convenience of audio and e-books mean I can always have a book with me without actually carrying one around" Alice says looking towards the library, excited to see what Tom has in his collection. "Well please help yourself to anything you like, not just books but I have films and records you can play as well. Now as we go upstairs there's only one bathroom at the end of the hallway, my bedroom is to the left and yours is to the right" he says as he opens the door to what will be your room. A massive window greets you looking straight over the gardens, there is a generous sized double bed and the room is well decorated. "As I said earlier feel free to make it your own I want you to feel happy staying here so anything I can do to help you feel more comfortable please let me know" Tom adds as you take in the room. "It's perfect and a million times better then my shared flat in Croydon that's for sure" Alice is taken aback by the kindness of Tom, he's put a lot of thought into keeping her happy and it fills her with warmth.

The next week flies by, Alice spends 3 days at the Hiddleston house getting stuck into the cleaning and organising and Tom is happy with her work. She picks up his food shopping and collects parcels and scripts from his agent. By the time she gets home she's exhausted, Amy is calming down but nearly exploded when Alice told her who she's working for. Tom agreed to let Alice tell one person about him and Amy was written into the contract as an extension of the NDA. "As much as I'm excited for you, don't you feel this job is a real step down from teaching" Amy asks one night. "What do you mean?" Alice asks. "Well you've gone from teaching the next generation to cleaning and picking up food shopping for someone else" Alice can't deny this hadn't crossed her mind. " I know where you're coming from Amy, but even though teaching is a more important job for society it took over my life. I could never switch off and it cost me too much of my happiness. I would have done anything for those kids but after my relationship failed I took a good look at myself and what actually made me happy and it wasn't teaching anymore" Alice feels sad thinking about the pupils she's had over the years and where they could be today. "Plus this pays a whole lot better!" Alice laughs as Amy nods her head and shouts "Amen to that!"

On her last day of her first week Alice is cleaning the kitchen. Tom has been in online meetings all day and it's nearly 3pm she hasn't seen him make any food so she checks the schedule he emailed to her. He's got a break coming up in half an hour but only for 15 minutes how is he going to be able to cook and eat in that time. Despite it not being part of her job she finds some sausages, bacon and eggs in the fridge and makes a breakfast sandwich just in time for his break. She feels nervous as she carries it to his office overthinking every possible scenario. She checks the time and listens to the door to see if he's still in a meeting before she lightly knocks on the door. "Come in" he says as she enters the room. "Hi Mr Hiddleston, I noticed you haven't eaten yet today and you've only got a short break so I thought you might like something to eat" Alice looks nervously at the plate of food waiting for his reply "did you cook something for me?" Alice can't quite read his tone of voice "erm yes I hope that's okay if you don't want it that's okay too, oh I shouldn't have intervened I'm sorry" she starts to leave the room "no wait! He almost shouts. I'm sorry but that's the nicest thing anyones done for me in a while. Please come in I am starving" Alice smiles and takes the plate over to him, she puts it down and turns to go. "Will you sit with me I've had a lot of boring meetings and I want to hear more about you" Tom smiles and gestures to a chair across from him before taking a huge bite out of his sandwich. "Oh really Mr Hiddleston there's not that much to tell" Alice says blushing a little. "Firstly, please call me Tom there's no need for formality here. Secondly, I feel in a position like this you know a lot about me but I know next to nothing about you. And thirdly, this is an amazing sandwich" he gives her a big smile and she can't help but laugh "I'm glad you like it! Well I was born in London but my parents moved us when I was 6 to a small town in the midlands so we could have more freedom. When I was 18 I moved to Liverpool and did my teaching degree for 4 years and then spent 4 years teaching in a special needs primary school. I loved my job but my circumstances in Liverpool changed and I needed a fresh start so here I am" Alice looks up at Tom to see he is listening to every word she says. "So why didn't you go back to teaching down here?" He asks. "Well once I stepped out of my life it was like everything had been put into slow motion. I had spent so long working non stop and moving at 100 miles an hour I became used to it. Taking a break made me realise that even though I love my job I couldn't lose who I am for it. Everyone needs a job to have a good life but my job became my life which wasn't healthy, it destroyed so many things for me and enough was enough" Alice suddenly realised she had been rambling on "Anyway I must get back to work and I'm sure you have to get back to your meetings" She stands up and starts to leave but is stopped in her tracks when she feels a hand reach out and grab hers "I can see there's much more to you then meets the eye and I can't wait to see more. Thank you for the sandwich I really appreciate it" They hold eye contact for what feels like hours but it's broken by a sound coming from his computer. Alice takes the plate and walks out of the office closing the door behind her. She lets out a huge breath she hadn't even realised she was holding in and sinks against the wall.