Eight
Thenighthadbeenpretty full on, with Lucy giving me her opinions and advice on what I should do, which was basically to leave the Met and move down to Fairlight Bay as soon as possible.
I declared that it was easy for her to say, and that it wasn’t anywhere near as frightening to uproot and move, when you had a talent, a paying job, and a boyfriend to encourage and support you.
Sam did his best to be the voice of reason.
‘You might not have a boyfriend if you do decide to move down here, Erin, but between myself and Lucy, and all our friends, we can find you a paying job, even if it’s only temporary until you decide what you want to do. There’s always plenty of seasonal work in seaside towns during the summer months. And won’t you get some money from the sale of your house? Or from rental income if you would rather not sell it? You say you don’t have a talent, but we all have something to offer that is unique to each one of us. I don’t have a specific talent either, but I realised I loved motorbikes, and I started a business selling and repairing them. Before that, I was a sailing instructor. I dislike this saying, but it’s appropriate here: perhaps you need to think outside of the box.’
‘Sam is right,’ Lucy enthused. ‘We simply need to put our heads together and figure out what you’d like to do. Plus, there’s the added bonus of having your best friend close by if you do move to Fairlight Bay. That must count for something, mustn’t it?’
‘And you’ll have our encouragement and support,’ Sam said. ‘We’ll help in any way we can. Even if you decide that your future isn’t here in Fairlight Bay.’
‘Which it is,’ Lucy said, nudging both his arm and mine as she was sitting between the pair of us on the sofa in the seating area of the kitchen.
By the time we finally went to our bedrooms; Lucy and Sam in the guest room at their insistence, and me in the main bedroom, it was gone two a.m. and we were all too tired to talk any more.
I had intended to have a long and leisurely lie-in but shortly after seven-thirty a.m., Lucy knocked on my door.
‘Are you awake?’
‘I am now. What’s wrong?’
She shook her head and frowned. ‘Honestly, I have no idea. All I know is that Marcus has just texted Sam, asking if he can come here. And if you would mind if Noelle and Alec joined him. If you’d rather he didn’t, Sam can suggest we meet up at Noelle’s instead. I don’t know what’s going on, but Sam said it’s unlike Marcus to behave like this.’
‘No. Of course he can come here. They all can. I’m sure Marcus wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Do you think I’ve done something wrong and he wants you all here as witnesses or something?’
‘Don’t be silly. What could you possibly have done that would warrant that?’
‘Nothing that I can think of. This is weird, isn’t it?’
She nodded in agreement, and I noticed that she was dressed.
I tossed the duvet back and clambered out of bed. ‘Fortunately, thanks to all that water, I don’t have a hangover.’
I pulled on the sundress I had worn yesterday. Lucy was in her dress from yesterday, and Sam would be in the clothes he’d worn, so I might as well do the same. I’d have a shower later once we knew what was going on.
‘Sam’s making coffee. I’ll tell him to text Marcus a reply. See you downstairs.’
‘I’ll be there once I’ve thrown some water on my face and brushed my teeth.’
Minutes later, when I got downstairs, Sam was opening the front door to three people, one of whom I recognised as Marcus, from the photos Lucy had shown me. He was followed in by Noelle and her boyfriend, Alec. I also recognised them from Lucy’s photos. But there was no sign of Adele.
I nipped into the kitchen before they all saw me. I needed coffee before I faced this lot.
As if Lucy had read my mind, she handed me a mug of heavenly smelling coffee. but as I took my first sip, an awful pain sprung up in my chest.
Had something dreadful happened to Adele?
