‘It was very sad actually, and he won’t mind me telling you as it is public knowledge, but I was helping him nurse his sister.’
‘Lizzie? I saw the grave.’
‘Yes, she had learning disabilities but then had a horrific accident. She fell down the cliff and her brain was injured. She died in her sleep a while after. A happy release, really.’
Tears started to roll down Sabrina’s cheeks. ‘Poor Isaac.’
‘Don’t cry. It was incredibly sad, but he’s good now. He put his life into making her happy and we wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for her, so we look at it as Lizzie’s final act of love. Putting us two together.’
‘Aw, that’s so lovely. And I’m selfishly crying for me, Belle.’ Sabrina started to ramble. ‘I know why my ex and your Isaac bonded about the cottage now, and it shows he cares and I kind of don’t want to know that he cares or cared for me as it makes it even harder to leave him.’
Sabrina burst into sobs.
‘Oh, darling. You mean that he cared about your brother and what he did for Headway?’
Sabrina nodded and whimpered. ‘Do you know everything?’
‘I do now.’ Belle put her arm gently on Sabrina’s. ‘Isaac pieced everything together and told me. And I don’t blame you wanting to change your look and identity. I can’t think of anything worse than being in a goldfish bowl in this mad world. How do you do it?’ She tore off a piece of kitchen roll and handed it to Sabrina.
‘I used to like the fame. But being here on my own, even for such a short time, has made me think, do I really?’
‘You’re going through a lot. Let things settle and hopefully you’ll see things more clearly.’
Even though they had just met, Sabrina felt the same comfort in Belle’s presence as in that of Dee’s. ‘It was something Isaac said the other day, and he’s right, that maybe it’s because I don’t love myself that I want everyone else to love me.’
Belle tutted. ‘He doesn’t mince his words, that man of mine.’
‘He didn’t direct it at me.’
Belle smiled. ‘He never does. So, are you going to talk to him? Dominic, I mean?’
‘I’ll have to at some stage. There’s some stuff of mine still in our… his flat. We had a joint account for bills and holidays and, well, it does seem so unfinished the way it ended. But I don’t think I can forgive him. What would you do?’
‘It doesn’t matter what I’d do, Sabrina. Because whatever anyone advises, you’ll follow your heart anyway and in my humble opinion, if you don’t do that, then you’re a fool.’
‘My mother used to say, “Follow your heart and you won’t get lost”.
‘Your mother sounds very wise.’
‘She was… sometimes.’
‘What would she say about the Dominic situation, do you think?’
‘She’d say, whatever you do, do it for you.’ Sabrina sniffed. ‘Life is tough, sometimes, isn’t it, Belle?’
‘Yes, it is. But think how boring it would be if the road we call life was just straight, if the weather never changed, there were no crossroads. If the lights were always green, people didn’t come and go and if we as travellers on it didn’t expand our knowledge or broaden our horizons.’
‘I can see why you and Isaac get on now.’ Sabrina smiled and put her hand on top of her new friend’s. ‘I’m sorry I lied to you, Belle.’
‘I trust actions, not words. Now, come on, let’s crack open the bottle of champagne that was in the welcome pack if you haven’t already, and toast this fresh look of yours, shall we?’
Chapter Eight
The next morning, showered, with hair scrunched into its new messy style and doused in her favouriteJo Malonefragrance, Sabrina made her way to the kitchen with a huge yawn. Noticing a piece of paper sticking through the letterbox, she read it and opened the front door. Belle’s note made her smile.Happy Friday, Sabrina Valentine. Enjoy market day. You’ll be one of the locals soon xx.On the stone step was pint of milk and loaf of fresh bread. Sabrina looked around for her phone to thank her new friend. But she couldn’t find it.
Still stuffed from the fish and chips Belle had brought up for her last night, Sabrina decided to opt for just a coffee for breakfast. As she was putting the milk away, a sense of relief rushed over her as she saw her handset on the top of the fridge. Relief and also realisation that this was the first night in around ten years that she had not taken it to the bedroom. Granted there was no signal in there, so it was pointless anyway, but in her eyes it was still an achievement. At home, her endless scrolling of Instagram had become a ridiculous habit before bed. So much so that she sometimes she felt her hand getting a weird pain in the side of it, purely from it being in an abnormal position whilst she got her fix of everybody else’s seemingly perfect lives. Hers included. Sabrina began to text.
Sabrina Valentine?
