Lottie had a good look in both directions as if seeing it for the first time, even though it was a road she had walked along and driven up and down countless times. ‘I did not know that. And that means what?’
‘Doesn’tmeananything,’ said Rhys, with a one-shouldered shrug. ‘But thousands of people would have travelled this road over the centuries, and when they stopped for the night it’s likely they would just camp down at the roadside.’
‘Oh, okay. That makes sense.’
‘We could turn up the odd button, or even a coin.’ He was the most animated she’d seen him all Christmas.
‘That would be … exciting.’ She gave him a pat on the shoulder and then thrust her gloved hands deep into her pockets, secretly hoping the detector would find something quickly and they’d be able to get back inside and warm up. The temperature had taken a definite plunge.
Rhys put on the headphones, checked a few things on the machine and then began methodically sweeping it over the grass. Lottie followed. They slowly made their way along the hedge line, Rhys pausing occasionally to give an area an extra sweep. Lottie was losing feeling in her toes when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She was surprised to see Emily.
‘You’ve been missed. I was sent to find you.’
‘By whom?’ asked Lottie.
‘Your mother.’ Lottie raised one doubtful eyebrow. ‘Well, she was asking when dinner was.’
‘Yeah, that’s not quite the same thing as being missed.’
‘What are you doing?’
‘Hunting for buried treasure,’ said Lottie, while Rhys continued to look serious.
‘Not avoiding people then?’ said Emily, doing up her coat right to the top as the wind whipped around them.
‘Whatever gave you that idea?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a certain American who seems to have clicked her manicured fingers and made Joe come running.’ It was an accurate description.
Perhaps Emily would be a good person to talk to. She had no preconceived ideas about her or Joe or what had happened in the past. Lottie checked Rhys wasn’t paying any attention to them. ‘Joe and I … Before I went off to see Bernard … We kissed.’
Emily stopped walking and gave Lottie a wide-eyed look. ‘After all the …stuffthat’s happened?’
‘That was before I knew he had a partner. And yes. Despite all the stuff that happened nine years ago it felt …’ she tailed off as she thought back to the moment.
‘How did it feel?’ asked Emily, tentatively.
‘Familiar. It felt right. It was like all the years and all the hurt were dissolved by that kiss.’ Emily wasn’t looking convinced. ‘Okay, I know that’s a bit much. But it did feel like nothing was insurmountable. Like we could move forward together.’
‘But now there’s Megan.’
‘It would seem that Megan was always there. Joe just omitted to mention that he had a very attractive American girlfriend hidden away somewhere.’ The thought of Joe with Megan was like a corkscrew twisting into her heart.
‘He’s a bit of a shit then.’
Lottie blinked at her turn of phrase. She didn’t likehearing someone talk about Joe like that but the hardest thing of all was that Emily was spot on.
They paused their walk as Rhys stopped to have an extra sweep of the metal detector over the currently dormant vegetable patch, where Nana used to grow her runner beans. There wouldn’t be any next year, and Lottie couldn’t help but wonder what might be in their place. If Shirley was right and it was a film star, perhaps this would be an extension, or a garage for luxury cars, or maybe even a swimming pool. Or, as her mother had mused, the whole manor house could be bulldozed, in which case this might be the front room of one of many houses with postage-stamp-sized gardens they would squeeze onto the plot. The wind whistled around the side of the house, and Lottie shivered.
Rhys pulled up one side of the headphones and grinned at them. ‘We’ve got something.’
Lottie tried to muster some enthusiasm for the metal detecting. She strode over to Rhys and watched as he pulled a trowel from his pocket and scraped at the soil.
‘What is it?’ asked Emily, trying to restrain her hair behind her ears.
‘Not sure. It was a strong signal though.’ Rhys continued to scrape away the earth. Lottie couldn’t help thinking that maybe he should dig it over a bit. It wasn’t like he was uncovering something precious like the Blackfriars Mosaic. Emily was watching intently. Rhys’s trowel pinged as it hit something metal and they all peered a little closer in the dark. He dug into the soil with the tip of the trowel. ‘It’s a nail,’ he said. ‘Quite a big one, though.’ He pulled out the rusty metal and showed Lottie.
‘I think it’s a horseshoe nail,’ said Lottie, pointing at the square end. ‘That’s quite interesting.’
