One
‘Onagoodday,’my best friend, Lucy said, sweeping her arms out wide as we stood in front of our cars in the tarmacked parking area on Midwinter Ridge, ‘you can see for miles. The fire hills, in particular, are breathtaking, although the Gorse blossom is dying back now, so they’re not as stunning as they were. But the rest of the view is incredible, even on a miserable day. On a sunny day, it’s glorious. And the sunrises and sunsets you’ll see from Far Cottage, will take your breath away. Believe me, Erin.’
I did believe her. I knew Lucy wouldn’t lie to me. We’d been best friends forever – well, not quitefor ever, but it felt as though we had – and we were more like sisters than best friends in any case. We even looked alike – from a distance. So much so that strangers often thought we were twins. But we weren’t, obviously.
We did look very similar, but my hair was, what I called, Arctic white and longer than Lucy’s which was more of a golden blonde. I was also an inch and a half taller and, possibly, one dress size larger. But I’d been going to the gym a lot more recently, so that was now due to muscle rather than fat. That’s what I liked to think, anyway. My eyes, which in my opinion had always been my best feature, being a striking, emerald green were quite different to Lucy’s lighter green with hints of hazel.
Sometimes, in the past, we had played upon our similarities by wearing identical outfits. Just for our own amusement really. Silly, I know, but we liked nothing more than a good, harmless giggle. We’d get up to all sorts of shenanigans, for a laugh.
Although not so much these days. Now that Lucy lived in Fairlight Bay and I still lived in Kingston upon Thames, we didn’t see one another as often as we had before she moved. We still chatted almost every day and we frequently Facetimed, but it wasn’t quite as good as being in the same room together.
‘I do believe you.’ I nodded and smiled at her. ‘And I’ve seen the hundreds of photos you’ve sent me, don’t forget, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of what to expect, once this sea mist has lifted. It is sea mist, isn’t it? I haven’t stepped into some horror movie or something have I?’
She nudged me with her elbow, and giggled. ‘Of course it is. It’ll clear before this afternoon, you wait and see.’
‘And then I can come back out here and admire the view.’
‘You can. But you can see it from the cottage, so there’s no need to come outside. The best views are from upstairs, obviously.’
‘Obviously,’ I repeated, grinning at her.
Since Lucy had moved, she’d changed somehow. She seemed … more grown up.
At least she did to me. A crazy thing to say, I know, bearing in mind we were both twenty-eight, so quite ‘grown up’ already.
Yet, over the last few months, Lucy had gone from the floundering, slightly insecure woman I loved and understood, into a confident, and somewhat overwhelming force to be reckoned with. All her doubts about her future had disappeared. Now, she knew exactly where she was headed, and precisely who she was headed there with.
And that was Sam Worth. The love of her life.
Sam was the only man Lucy had ever truly loved, despite having only spent one week with him in Fairlight Bay, and then not seeing him for ten years, until this February, when they’d bumped into one another again, and immediately picked up where they’d left off.
Lucy had come here on holiday, to the tiny hamlet of Midwinter that overlooked the seaside town of Fairlight Bay, to spend a week in the very cottage in which I was about to spend two weeks’ holiday, myself.
On her very first day, she’d gone out to lunch at a restaurant called, Freddie’s Fish and Chips, and who should be in the same place? Yep, Sam Worth.
Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up. Well, they say Fate works in mysterious ways.
Don’t get me wrong, this was a good thing. A very good thing. And yet … I was starting to feel as if Lucy was charging forward, achieving all her dreams, and I was getting left behind.
That makes me sound as though I envied her, and I didn’t. I was happy for her. And for Sam. If two people were ever meant to be together, it was Lucy and Sam.
I’ll admit, I hadn’t been sure about him at first, but as soon as I met him, when he came up to Kingston upon Thames for a weekend at the end of February, I knew they were made for each other.
And it wasn’t as if my own life wasn’t going well – it was. I’d already achieved some of my own dreams, the main one being when I joined the Metropolitan Police.
Ever since I was a kid, I’d wanted to be a police officer. I saw myself rising rapidly through the ranks until, one day, I’d be head honcho, so becoming a Detective Constable in one of the MITs (Major Investigation Teams) within the Met was a dream come true.
Now, thanks to the Fast Track Programme I’d been selected for two years ago, I’d skipped the rank of sergeant and gone from a D.C. to a D.I., and, in theory, I couldn’t have been happier. I was truly on my way.
In reality, I wasn’t quite so sure.
As the saying goes, we should be careful what we wish for.
Lucy had been over the moon for me when I’d told her, three weeks ago, and she’d come back and spent the weekend with me so that we could celebrate my promotion. Just me and her, like the old days. Which had brought home to me just how much I missed her.
It had also made me think about my own career and life choices.
I loved my job, and as corny as it sounds, I genuinely liked helping the public. Well, most of them. Not the ones who committed crimes. But I didn’t like all the bureaucracy, and the politics involved in modern day policing.
