‘Such as?’
‘Why don’t we try to have a bit of time for ourselves? I haven’t had a holiday in ages, I know you haven’t, and we don’t get much time together, just the two of us.’
‘I miss it.’
‘Me too. So what do you think?’
Addie beamed. ‘Actually, I think it’s the best idea I’ve heard in ages.’
And when they let themselves into the cottage it was the first time that Addie had really felt like most of the weight they’d been burdened down with for years had been lifted.
20
GAYLE
When Gayle stepped through the front door to her cottage she was devastated to see a suitcase in the hallway.
They were going? They really didn’t want to stay, even after they’d come into the café?
Perhaps that had been their goodbye.
It was only when Addie came out of the kitchen and put her arms around her that she realised she’d stumbled. Had she been about to faint?
‘Come and sit down,’ Addie urged. ‘Susanna! Susanna!’
Footsteps descended the stairs, and her eldest niece came into the kitchen, her face etched with concern. In that moment Gayle realised she meant something to her eldest niece and she felt her heart soar. Except then her spirits depleted. Even if she meant something to Susanna and to Addie, they were still leaving.
‘I’m fine,’ said Gayle. ‘Stop fussing.’
‘Drink this.’ Susanna handed her a glass of water. ‘And I’ll put the kettle on, make you a sweet tea.’
‘I don’t want tea. I just want to go to bed.’ She couldn’t hear about them leaving, she couldn’t watch it happen. Not again.
The day Susanna had packed her things and they’d all gone to the harbour to see her off for a new life with university on the mainland had felt like it was underlining her failure. She’d lost one of them. And then the day Addie left after all those months of happiness before Gayle remembered her promise and never let Addie follow her baking dreams, at least not alongside her, had almost broken her. Nancy had had to look after the café for an entire week. Gayle had spent most of it with flu-like symptoms, Nancy had called a doctor, and he’d concluded it was most likely stress.
‘We’re having salmon for dinner, I was about to start making it,’ said Addie. ‘Why don’t you rest for a bit then you’ll be able to eat some.’
Gayle didn’t say a word. She barely glanced at the suitcase in the hallway as she made her way past, climbed into bed and pulled the duvet so high she was buried beneath it.
She hadn’t fallen asleep – she’d barely dozed – when a knock came at her door.
‘Dinner’s ready.’ Addie poked her head around the frame.
‘Give me a couple of minutes.’
‘Are you feeling better?’
‘I am, thank you.’
She got out of bed after Addie left the room. It was time to face it. The girls were leaving. They’d never really wanted to be here in the first place.
‘Susanna and I have news,’ said Addie the moment Gayle went into the kitchen.
She sat at the table, a plate of salmon, vegetables and scalloped potatoes in front of her. She wasn’t sure how she was going to stomach any of it.
She braced herself.
‘We’re going to Guernsey tomorrow, then on to Sark,’ said Susanna, sprinkling a little bit of salt across her own dinner. ‘Addie and I decided that as we’re almost done with Dad’s boxes and the weather is still so nice, and we don’t get much time together these days, that we would make it into a bit of a holiday.’
