Fourteen
Hanna was fortunate to get a cab as quickly as she did. The crowds were still as bad as they had been earlier, although, oddly enough, the traffic from Folkestone to Betancourt Bay was light.
During the short journey she formulated a plan. It was dramatic, probably foolish, and possibly the wrong thing to do, but she couldn’t face Russell again for a while. The look on his face when she’d said she was in love, had been one of abject horror. Mingled with shock. Tinged with anger. And full of disappointment. So many emotions all rolled into one. And he’d got up and walked away. Albeit, she had assumed, temporarily.
She hadn’t actually told Russell she loved Griff, of course, but she had admitted to being in love, and Russell had jumped to the same conclusion as everyone else had. What she should’ve said was, ‘No. I’m not in love with Griff. But yes. I am in love.’ Or maybe just the first bit. But then how would she have explained what Barbra had heard her say? And she had said those words. But she hadn’t mentioned Griff. It was Russell she had been alluding to, not his older brother.
Obviously, she couldn’t admit that to Russell. Or to anyone. So she shouldn’t have admitted to being in love. She should’ve denied it all.
But she should’ve done that on Wednesday. It was too late for that now.
She would take a leaf out of Russell’s book. She would leave Betancourt Bay for a while.
Oak Street was empty when the cab pulled up and she leapt out and dashed into Catkin Cottage. It didn’t take her long to throw some clothes and toiletries into a couple of large holdalls.
The cab driver gasped in surprise when she threw them into the back of his cab, and chuckled as she climbed in after them. ‘I was just nodding off! That was fast. When you said you’d be five minutes, I thought you were working on the same time frame as my darling wife. Which basically means twenty.’
‘I’ve got a train to catch,’ Hanna said, ‘so if you can make this cab go faster, I’d appreciate it.’
‘Right you are,’ he said, and she fell back against the padded seat as he sped away. ‘Off to somewhere nice?’
‘London. Sorry. I need to make a call.’
She dialled the number and crossed her fingers. She didn’t have anywhere else she could go.
