“Partly, but mostly because I keep meeting people I know—”
“Evie!”
“You see what I mean?” Evie grinned at Abby and then stepped forward to hug the woman who had called her name. “Gayle. How are you doing? I tried calling you yesterday.”
“I know. I got your message. I was at the hospital having a follow-up. All good, touch wood. The chicken was delicious. How you had time to make that when you’re working fulltime I have no idea.”
“It’s one of my signature dishes. I could make it with my eyes shut, except then I’d probably burn myself. Dad used to make it for me when I was sick and it was so comforting it was one of the first things I learned to cook for myself. I lived on it when I was at college. It was how I made friends.”
Abby didn’t believe that for a moment. Evie seemed the type that would pick up friends the way sticky tape picked up dust.
“You might have saved my life.” Gayle glanced curiously at Abby. “Hi there. I’m Gayle. I work in the dental surgery at the top of the hill.”
“This is Abby,” Evie introduced her. “She’s helping me out at the hotel.”
“Oh fun. Enjoy. Well, I should go, and thank you again, Evie. See you soon.”
Evie watched her go. “She’s had such a rough time. Life can be like that, can’t it? Sometimes things are steady and then othertimes life pummels you. Right. Let’s go. We’ll walk through the harbour because we don’t have much choice about that with this number of people, but the moment we hit that hill—” she pointed to the road rising up in the distance “—we’ll pick up the pace. The coast path heads off to the right. It will only take us a couple of minutes to get there and then the crowds disappear. Most people stay within a few steps of the harbour. Have you seen Tristan? I forgot to ask you earlier.”
“I bumped into him a few minutes ago, but he had to take a call from his dad.”
“Poor thing. His father is finding it difficult relinquishing control. Understandable I suppose, when you’ve built a business from the ground up. The pub was in a state when he took it over. Dark and dingy. Not exactly welcoming. Tristan’s dad transformed it. Now it’s the place everyone likes to hang out in the winter. They hold the book group there, and quiz night, and singing night, although they pay me not to go to that because I have a voice like a strangled seagull.”
It took more than a couple of minutes to reach the other side of the harbour because Evie stopped to pet dogs, hug children and laugh with their parents. She knew every third person she passed and seemed up-to-date on all their lives.
Did you try that book?
What happened about your car? Did they find the person who did it? When are you going to Majorca?
Did Lissy pass her driving test? She did? Yay! I’ll be sure to look an extra time before I cross the road.
It was pretty clear to Abby that Evie wasn’t just wellknown in the community, she was central to it. And she could also see that being part of a close-knit community must bring added pressures. Everything you did came under scrutiny. If you failed at something, everyone knew. That had to be hard.
She tried, and failed, to picture her mother here, living aspart of this small community, exchanging small talk about small details.
What had she been like back then? Her childhood had been tough, Abby knew that. Her father, Abby’s grandfather, had walked out when she was eleven, leaving his only child to care for her ailing mother who had died when Alexandra was eighteen. At eighteen she’d fallen in love with a man only to lose him before Abby was even born.
Whenever Abby thought of it her chest ached. Her mother had suffered so much tragedy by an age where most people were simply focusing on where to go to college.
Had she had the support of this community? What had happened exactly?
Abby assumed she’d never let herself love again, although it wasn’t something her mother would ever discuss. Her one attempt to ask her mother about her love life had been greeted with a frown.
Even when she asked about her father, her mother would say little.
You have to understand it was a painful and difficult time for me.But I had my business, and I had you.
Abby dodged a child on a scooter, wondering why she was thinking about her mother’s childhood now. It was so far in the past it had no relevance. Even if she did locate the house where her mother had lived, it wouldn’t answer any of her questions.
Eventually they made it down to the quaint harbour. They ran past boats, lobster pots stacked haphazardly against a wall, fishing nets drying in the sun. Evie yelled a cheerful greeting to a man tinkering with a boat and then they headed up the hill. Although it was late the sun was still hot, and Abby was sweating by the time they turned onto the coast path.
Ahead of them the sea sparkled, a vast ocean of turquoise and aquamarine against a perfect blue sky.
“Brilliant, isn’t it?” Evie paused to take a gulp of water and admire the view. “This is my favourite route. No matter how crowded it is in the harbour, it’s never crowded up here. By the way, do you see that gorgeous sandy beach down below? Don’t get too close to the edge!” She grabbed Abby’s arm as she stepped forward to get a better look.
“It is gorgeous, you’re right.”
“You can access it at low tide from the harbour. Otherwise the only way onto it is a steep path from the top.”
