‘Yesterday morning, I dropped your post off early but realised later on in my round there were still a couple of letters belonging to you, mainly junk. So I popped back. I was texting on the way in, slipped my phone into my bag, and then somehow thought yours was mine when I saw it on the counter. I picked it up and… Anyway, sorry.’
‘You took Cam’s phone?’ said Molly, wanting to hear exactly what Ash had just said again.
‘Yes, picked it up by mistake, thinking it was mine. I left you a message on your landline and gave it back to Bree this morning, to give to you. You’ve got it, haven’t you?’
Molly gulped down a breath to stay quiet. Cam had suddenly gone puce and though Molly gave him a sideward glance there was clearly no way he was going to look in her direction.
‘You took my phone?’
‘Yes, sorry, mate.’
They both watched in silence as Ash left the bakery, his snow boots trudging through the fresh onslaught. Before Cam could say a word, Molly hot-footed it towards the landline, dialled in to the answerphone and there it was, Ash’s voicemail. She held the receiver up in the air even though Cam couldn’t hear the message. ‘Ash is telling the truth,’ she said, stating the obvious.
‘How was I supposed to know? It was you who said that no one had been into the shop. You didn’t even hear Ash come in. Anything could have been taken,’ Cam said defensively.
Molly knew the best form of defence was attack and Cam’s accusing tone was causing her annoyance to grow tenfold.
She threw her arms up into the air. ‘So it’s all my fault now, is it?’
‘If you had heard Ash come into the shop then none of this would have happened.’
‘You didn’t even give the poor girl a chance to explain. If you did, we would have known it was Ash who took your phone.’ Molly flashed him a dark look, annoyed. More than annoyed, actually. She picked up the phone and began to dial another number.
‘Who are you phoning now?’
‘Sam. There’s a young girl out there in the freezing cold, no doubt upset about being accused of something she didn’t do.’ Molly was shaking her head in despair. ‘I’m just hoping she’s somehow made it to the shelter.’
After three rings Sam picked up the phone. Molly was straight to the point. ‘Sam, it’s Molly. Has Bree by any chance made it in yet?’ She closed her eyes briefly, hoping the next word she was going to hear was ‘yes’.
‘No, I’m sorry, she hasn’t,’ replied Sam.
‘She didn’t take the phone, Sam. It was a misunderstanding. Ash – the new postman – had picked it up by mistake thinking it was his.’
Disheartened, Molly hung up the phone and walked over to the window. The last time she’d seen a snowstorm like this was more than a few years ago. No one in their right mind would brave these conditions. She turned back around to Cam. ‘What have you done?’
‘What do you mean, what have I done?’ As soon as the question left his mouth, Cam knew he was about to get it from both barrels.
Molly’s voice rose and she could feel her pulse thumping in the side of her head. She’d had every intention of returning from Dixie’s and talking to Cam about everything in a calm manner but now all she could see was red mist. ‘You didn’t give her a chance to explain. You were adamant she took that phone and if you’d given her a chance to speak, she would have explained everything and we could have got her over to the new shelter.’
‘There was no way we would have got her to the new shelter. You would have come up with another reason why she should stay the night.’
Still staring at Cam, Molly exhaled. ‘You haven’t even said sorry.’
‘This is getting us nowhere. Ever since you’ve come across this girl, we’ve done nothing but argue.’
‘Is that all you can say?’
‘Okay, I’m sorry. It just didn’t feel right to me, suddenly this girl turns up—’
‘She has a name,’ interrupted Molly.
‘Suddenly Bree turns up and my phone goes missing. That phone is my life, it has all my contacts and appointments.’
‘And it will all be backed up to the cloud,’ Molly pointed out. ‘It’s not a huge deal, but what is a huge deal is there’s a vulnerable girl out there in need of warmth and food.’
‘Okay, I’m sorry, I should have listened, there’s no point standing here screaming at each other, so what do you want me to do?’
‘Go and find her, and tell her you are sorry,’ blurted Molly.
