AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maisie shook her head. The only mobile number, other than her own, that she could remember was her father’s, and it would be a fat lot of good letting him know where she was. ‘Thanks, but it’s OK.’
Beth nodded and got out of the car, her feet sinking into the thick snow. She was wearing tragic clothes – a boring navy coat, and a green woollen scarf that looked as if it had been knitted by her gran. But she was kind, Maisie decided. And she could hardly pass judgement anyway, in her old lady footwear.
Maisie sighed and stepped out of the truck into a Narnia landscape that was so beautiful it took her breath away. A curl of smoke drifted from the chimney of the whitewashed cottage, and the trees surrounding it were laden down with snow. A salt-laced breeze was moving through the branches and puffs of powder were floating down to earth. London, and her past life, seemed a very long way away.
‘Are you sure you don’t need to make a call?’ asked Beth behind her. ‘Do you need to let someone know where you are?’
Maisie shook her head without turning round, unable to drag her eyes from the fairy tale scene in front of her. ‘No, thanks. Everything’s fine, and if I’m not around for a while, no one will care.’
17
CAITLIN
Caitlin stared out of the window. Everything was white, which, she supposed, made a pleasant change from grey. Though it wasn’t just Heaven’s Cove that seemed drab these days. London, too, had lost its allure. And the longer she was away from the city, the less she looked forward to returning to it. The buzz and excitement she’d first felt on arriving in London as a naive twenty-year-old had waned over the years. And here, in the peace of Heaven’s Cove, it seemed to be fading even further.
Caitlin sighed and focused on the sight before her. The sun had just peeped out from behind a thick bank of cloud and the garden, blanketed in glinting snow, seemed scattered with diamonds. Beyond it, the sea shimmered winter-white. It was a breathtaking scene – but Caitlin had too much on her mind to appreciate it fully.
She glanced at her watch again and felt a crease appear between her eyebrows when she frowned. ‘She should be back by now. Maisie hates the cold.’
Isla stopped pacing, the phone glued to her ear. ‘She’s probably enjoying stomping through the snow. She’s fifteen years old, Cait, so I’m sure you don’t need to worry.’
Her words were clipped because she hadn’t yet forgiven Caitlin for abandoning her in the pub. Caitlin understood why. She fully appreciated why Isla might take a dim view of her sister disappearing and leaving her to cope alone…again. But Isla didn’t know what Stuart had told her in his phone call – that their home was definitely gone, collateral damage from his gambling. Isla didn’t know what Stuart was really like.
Caitlin rubbed her eyes. The problem was, Isla didn’t know what Maisie was like, either. Of course, she knew that Maisie could be grumpy and sullen, but she didn’t realise what bad choices the teenager sometimes made. In that respect, Maisie was very like her father. Caitlin’s mind drifted again to the phone call she’d taken from Stuart in the pub, and her panic attack when, humiliatingly, Sean had come to her aid.
‘Oh, hi, Rosie,’ said Isla into the phone, her face lighting up. ‘Is Ben there, please? Could I speak to him?’
She listened for a moment, gnawing at the inside of her cheek. ‘Oh, right. I thought he might not be too happy about it.’ She listened again. ‘Has he? OK. Do you have his mobile number? I’ve only got his email address… Oh, never mind. Could you ask him to give me a quick call, then, when he gets back?’ She listened again and smiled. ‘Absolutely. This snowfall seems to have taken a lot of people by surprise…Yes, I will. You stay warm, too.’
Isla ended the call and dropped her phone onto the coffee table.‘Well, that’s just great!’ she said, giving a dramatic sigh.
‘Are you still worrying about Ben?’ asked Caitlin, still staring out of the window in the hope that Maisie would appear, trudging up the lane. ‘He’s a grown-up and will manage in this weather.’
‘I’m sure he will but, like I said, I’m concerned that he’ll miss his flight.’
‘That’s a shame but I’m sure he can re-book, and it’s not your fault.’
‘It feels like it is because I encouraged him to stay in Heaven’s Cove an extra day. And who knows how long this snow will last? He could be trapped here for ages.’
‘I expect it’ll thaw soon.’ Caitlin paused. ‘Maybe you could do a sun dance though, just in case?’
As a small child, Isla had insisted on doing sun dances when the weather was pants. And her faith in their efficacy had lasted for some time, even when persisting torrential rain had indicated otherwise.
Caitlin wasn’t sure that her sister would remember but Isla’s mouth twisted up in one corner, as if she was trying not to grin. ‘I can’t believe that I ever thought my dancing would bring out the sun.’
‘You were a very imaginative child, and it did work, in a way.’
‘In what possible way did my sun dances work?’ exclaimed Isla, staring at Caitlin as if she’d gone barmy.
‘Your dancing made Mum smile, and that brought out the sun.’
Was that too cheesy? Caitlin swallowed, wishing she hadn’t said anything, even though it was true. Their mum was often unwell. Her life was hard for years. But Isla’s uninhibited gyrations to appeal to the sun god had always put a smile on her face.
Isla stared at the floor for a moment and then lifted her face towards Caitlin. ‘I can picture Mum so clearly in her beautiful blue dress, blowing me a kiss from across the room. I still really miss her, you know, even though it’s twenty years since she left us. Is that daft?’
‘No.’ Caitlin gave her sister a sad smile. ‘I miss her too, but Mum didn’t leave us. That makes it sound as if she had a choice when she didn’t have any choice at all. She fought her illness as much as she could because she wanted to stay with us. She really tried.’
‘I know.’ Isla gazed past Caitlin, at the view beyond the window. ‘I think that maybe losing Gran has brought it all back a bit. I’ve been thinking a lot about Mum over the last few days.’
