This morning she hadn't gotten much further with her suitcases, because her thoughts had gotten stuck on her contact with Huib. After lunch she had wandered around the grounds, and now, mid-afternoon, she was standing in her room, staring at both of her suitcases.

She stretched herself and decided to make something of it in her room at least. She now also unzipped her second suitcase and opened the wardrobe wide. She saw a lot of shelves, and also a large hanging area with wooden clothes hangers. She didn't have many dresses, but at least the few she had could hang. She started to put her clothes in the closet and then put all the other stuff in a place as well. She couldn't get rid of her alarm clock, there was no bedside table or little closet beside the bed. She put the alarm clock on the floor next to the bed and then realized that she didn't like the place where the bed was standing. It was under the window, right in front of the heater. Actually, she would rather have a desk there, not right away, but if it turned out after the trial month that she could stay. Margreet looked around in the room. The room was large, but the roof was sloped on one side. Not all the way to the floor, really just the top part. It would be perfect to set the bed underneath there. She glanced at her watch. She could still do it before dinner. She didn't want to slide the bed, because that would probably damage the wooden floor, so she decided to turn the bed a quarter turn first and then… As she lifted the headboard and started to turn the bed, she was startled by a knock on her door. “I just come to ask if you need anything”, Huib asked, wondering why the bed was slanted in the room.

“I can store everything, but actually I want to give the bed a different place, there under the sloping roof, with the headboard in that corner. Is that okay?” she asked, suddenly shy, "it's not my house, I know…"

“No, the guest house doesn't belong to you, but this room is yours as long as you live and work here, so we'll just lug that bed to that side of the room together so you can arrange it however you want. You grab the foot end and I'll grab it here." Huib sprang into action immediately and in no time they got the bed in the right place. Margreet looked around the room. She could already see it: a desk there, an easy chair there, maybe even with a little table so that it becomes a nice sitting area…

Suddenly she became aware of the fact that Huib was still there, and that he was smiling at her. “Oh sorry, I was completely absorbed in the layout of the room, in plans that came to my mind. I completely forgot about you. Thanks for your help, I'm glad the bed is there now."

“That's fine, it’s okay, the bed is better there indeed. And I'm curious what you will do with this large open space. It looks like a dance hall, lady, can I have this dance from you?” He bowed slightly and stretched out his arms invitingly toward her.

Margreet took a step back, startled. "No! No, I can't dance at all, I'm a really stiff rake in such things.”

"Then I'm just unlucky!" laughed Huib, and pretended not to notice her shock. “But do you already have an idea of ​​what you want to do with it?”

“Yes, if I can stay after this trial month, I want to buy a desk and put it in front of the window. A desk where I can put my laptop, and on which I also have the space to maybe start sewing. I like needlework, and on a bit of a big desk I could pin and cut fabric.”

“Do you already have a sewing machine?”

“Yes, I have an old bitch at my parents' house, but I prefer to sew by hand.”

"Really? Can you do that?"

“Yes, I know I can do it very nicely, I did that as a child already. What I do find difficult is choosing a pattern that suits me. I don't really know what kind of clothes I like. Well, it doesn't matter, it will come. Maybe I'll start knitting first, it's getting colder, so a warm sweater is always welcome."

“So you can do that too, knit a sweater? Annerieke also loves to knit, has always made my sweaters, and my father's and her own. And cardigans, of that coarse wool, in natural tones. For my father and me she always used natural tones, we loved that, I still love it. And for herself she used bright colors.”

“Like that thin sweater she was wearing today, it really suits her. Her blonde hair comes out so beautifully.”

Huib looked at her happily: “I think that's cool that you noticed! She has beautiful hair, and those spontaneous curls of hers really stand out against those bright colors! You also have beautiful hair, by the way,” Huib played with his finger for a moment with a curl that lay on her shoulder, “just a little darker than Annerieke's, but it's not much different. Don't brighter colors suit you better?"

Margreet stood staring at him, mouth slightly open, unaccustomed to such a touch, and for a moment not knowing what to do with it. She closed her mouth for a moment, realizing that he expected an answer from her, and took a deep breath: “I… I… I really don't know,” she stammered, “maybe I should try something in a store. Then I might get an idea.”

Huib let go of her hair and nodded: “You could indeed do that. But let's go downstairs first, Annerieke will have already set the table. I just heard the guests talking downstairs too. When they serve up their food, they always comment on everything Annerieke has prepared. Positive commentary, always, always happy shouts of surprise. And once they sit down to eat, it sounds more like a buzz, they're almost just talking to whoever is sitting at the table with them, their partner or something. I like that, it's usually nice there.”

They had come down while talking. They paused in the hall to listen. "That does sound nice indeed, so friendly." Suddenly Margreet had a desire to be a part of this, to work here and enjoy the people around her. If only she weren't so shy! She found it so difficult to determine her attitude towards strangers, to know what to say. She was amazed how she had managed to get her words out reasonably well to Annerieke and Huib. She felt freer here than where she had grown up, and it surprised her that this was possible in such a short time. But she also felt that she couldn't be quite spontaneous even to these people here, not completely free, not quite herself. She sighed, life was not so easy, had never been easy for her…

To chapter 6. Dinner

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