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‘I was a Girl Guide,’ said Alyssa, feeling slightly sick from the rush of adrenaline that had carried her through the last five minutes. She patted Stan’s arm. ‘You’ll be back on your feet in no time.’
Alyssa shielded her eyes from the sun and watched the ambulance drive off, tourists moving out of its way like a wave. A group of local residents stood on the corner, murmuring to each other as the vehicle went past.
Alyssa hoped Stan would be all right. He didn’t appear to have broken anything in his fall, but she feared there was more going on than a simple stumble and loss of balance. It was only eighteen months since his wife had died and grief could hollow you out. She knew that. But her nursing training and intuition told her he was not a well man.
‘What’s happened to Stan?’ demanded Magda, rushing up to Alyssa. Strands of grey hair were sticking to her shiny face. She looked as if she’d run from home without stopping.
‘He’s had a fall, Magda.’ Alyssa put her hand on her landlady’s arm. She was breathing heavily and looked about to collapse herself. ‘I don’t think the fall has done a lot of damage, but they’ll give him a check-over at the hospital, to make sure.’
‘So he’s all right?’
‘I think so.’
Magda put her hands on her thighs and leaned over. ‘Thank goodness.’ She straightened up. ‘I know I’m in a state, but Claude said an ambulance had stopped outside the shop and they were putting Stan in it. I was so worried. He means such a lot to me, you see.’She bit her lip, her eyes glistening with tears.
‘Sit down for a minute,’ Alyssa commanded, steering Magda to the chair that Stan had placed near the front door of his shop for his more elderly customers. ‘Can I get you some water?’
Magda shook her head. ‘No, thank you. I’m fine, honestly. Stan’s not on his own, is he?’
‘No, he’s got Jack with him.’
‘Is Jack coping all right?’
‘Yes,’ Alyssa assured her, though he’d seemed lost and panicky before the ambulance arrived, completely knocked off kilter by his father’s collapse. Almost as if his logical brain had been thrown by something it could not compute.
Magda breathed out slowly. ‘I’m glad to hear that. Poor Stan. I’m so relieved that you and Jack were here when he fell.’
‘Me, too. It was all a bit of a shock.’
Alyssa leaned against the shop window, with its eclectic display of baked beans, nappies and buckets and spades. Her legs suddenly felt wobbly.
Magda frowned and got to her feet. ‘Look, why don’t I give you a hand with the store? The girls can manage without me at work for a while.’
‘There’s no need. I can cope on my own.’ Alyssa smiled at her landlady, but her legs wouldn’t stop trembling.
‘I’m sure you can but you look done in with the stress of it all. Why don’t you take a break and I’ll mind the shop?’
Alyssa hesitated, filled with emotion. She should stay really, but Magda’s breathing had steadied and the unshed tears had vanished.
‘Go on,’ Magda urged. ‘I can manage the hordes who’ll no doubt descend to find out what’s going on. Talking of which…’She nodded towards Belinda, who had just turned the corner and was hurrying in their direction.
Alyssa winced. The last thing she needed was inquisitive Belinda asking lots of questions. ‘If you’re sure that’s all right, Magda, I won’t be long.’
‘There’s no rush. I’m always happy to help Stan out, and I’ll only be pacing at home otherwise, waiting to hear from the hospital.’
Alyssa slipped out of the shop and headed in the opposite direction from Belinda, grateful to be on her own for a while in the fresh air. She did need a breather, but not for the reasons that Magda imagined.
Alyssa walked briskly along the street until she reached the sea wall, following it along until she got to the lifeboat station. Corey, one of the volunteer lifeboat crew, waved and she waved back.
She’d made a new life for herself in Heaven’s Cove. She liked the people here and they seemed to like her. Mostly they didn’t pry, and they accepted her for who she was – apart from Jack, who obviously had issues of his own. Her carefully constructed new existence was holding up.
Except when something out of the ordinary happened and the past came flooding back.
It had been a shock to find Stan on the floor, but she’d coped with far worse when working as a nurse. She’d switched straight back into medical mode the moment she’d seen him lying there, and she was glad that her old job had given her the skills and confidence to help.
But switching back had brought up bad memories. Memories of a man she’d cared about. A man who was now dead. Images swam into her mind, along with emotions she’d tried so hard to bury – sorrow, anger, guilt.
Alyssa leaned against the wall and looked out to sea. A stiff breeze was blowing and huge rolling waves were crashing against the shore. Her mind must be playing tricks because the sea airseemed laced with the sharp tang of hospital antiseptic.
