Her shoulders started to convulse and Hero hovered no more but decisively moved in and wrapped his arms around her whilst looking across to Matt.
‘I think you’d better go, buddy.’
‘This makes no se—’
‘Go! Just go, Matt!’ Rosy was now outright sobbing. Shaking and sobbing.
Silently he turned – what choice did he have? – and headed back to the car, passing the guests in the garden who managed to pretend they hadn’t been listening whilst shooting him sympathetic looks – those that didn’t look at him as if he was a serial killer.
He had no idea what had just happened, what had provoked such irrational distress, but his heart was breaking for Rosy.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rosy sank into Chase’s arms, inhaling the deep lemon scent of him and trying to calm her breathing, rapid-fire gulps slowly morphing into something less frenzied. She watched Matt as he walked away, heavy-footed and with his head down. She wasn’t sure what had possessed her as she saw him standing in front of her, but it had sure felt like a least a decade full of rage and fear, and a refusal to be played with again.
‘I did it,’ she murmured into Chase. ‘This time, I did it.’
‘You certainly did something.’ His hands were stroking her head, as one would to calm a feral cat and this, combined with the sudden feeling of strength she had, was enough to get her to step back and smile at him.
It was as if some tremendous storm had passed, one that had caught her up and whirled her about until she had no sense of where she was. She looked around her and saw, as she re-grounded herself, that she was in his garden, surrounded by a multitude of people, many of whom were staring at her before hurriedly looking away.
Her knees suddenly felt trembly, and without being aware of speaking she realized there was a sound coming from her lips.
‘Ooooh… oooooh… ooooh.’ A long sound, a succession of them, as it dawned upon her that she may have thrown off her shackles of fear but had done so in front of many witnesses, and that the story of Rosy Winter, held-together headmistress extraordinaire, melting down so very publicly would be around the village quicker than a dose of smallpox.
‘Oooh… oooh…’ Her sounds were quicker now, higher pitched and she felt herself leaning back into her protector.
‘Rosy, Rosy, it’s OK. Here, come with me.’
He took her by the hand and led her away from the eyes all around her. She followed him across the garden and down a hilly, stony scrabbly path until she could breathe the salt tang in the air and feel the sand filling the top of her shoes.
‘Now breathe deep,’ he instructed, his American lilt sounding at odds with the patter of the waves rippling on the shore. And as he spoke he held her hand firmly, but put distance between their bodies until they were both standing upright and square, facing the sea with her copying his breathing patterns, in and out, in and out, until she began to feel the shaking diminish and her breath come back to normal. Rosy wasn’t to be fooled twice though and looked around, all around, to ensure that no one was here witnessing this other than Chase. She could hear the murmur of the party a little way up the hill, but here on the beach it was just her and this most unusual man she had met but a few hours ago.
‘There. Better?’
‘Yes, thank you.’
‘Well then, let’s sit.’ He did so, smoothing the sand next to him, ridding it of the scrunched-up bits of seaweed that were littered all over the beach. ‘Now, I’m no professional, but it looks to me like something just happened there that you probably need to talk about. I know I don’t know you well, but sometimes a stranger is better than a friend…’
Rosy looked him up and down and the words came tumbling out.
‘It was just the final straw, him showing up here and on Valentine’s Day. I didn’t know you knew him.’
‘I don’t.’
‘You mean he came here uninvited?’ Even she could hear the heightened pitch of her voice.
‘Woah, woah.’ Chase rubbed her shoulders. ‘I’m about seven steps behind you right now, but if that is Matt, the man you were talking about earlier, I should say that when you described him to me you left out the bit about thinking he’s a psychopath…’
‘I didn’t say he was a psychopath, but you have to admit, it does look a bit like it, him turning up here uninvited.’
‘You know him better than me, but didn’t Marion text Angelina and invite her here, when we were all in the garden? And he is her brother, so she—’
‘Oh my God! Angelina brought him.’
‘That would be my guess.’
‘But still, he’s displaying all the signs, Chase… he’s moved in next to me, then got involved in the school and then turned up here, where I didn’t even know I’d be, and heads straight for me.’
