Ezz could only gaze at her big sister’s confused and apprehensive expression. The days of Valentina being kept in the dark about what happened that night in Suffolk were over.
Beside her, Mats caught his breath. ‘Oh, shit. Didn’t she know?’ Then, doing more damage as he blundered along, he whispered, ‘I thought that’s what she meant about you telling me all about it.’
‘Imeantabout Thea’s time as a TV star.’ Valentina stared at Ezz with enormous, wounded eyes. ‘But clearly there’s something else. Some big secret.’
The following silence was loud. Ezzie whispered, ‘Mats, perhaps you should take the children and go. I can’t hear the hail now.’
He didn’t immediately move. ‘If it would help if I stayed …’
Ezzie shook her head, her gaze fixed on Valentina. ‘No. But thanks.’
‘Right.’ He looked up the narrow stairs, where patches of new wood amongst the old made the house look as if it had vitiligo.
Silently, Valentina stepped aside to allow him past in the narrow space, then moved into the front room. Ezz waited in the hall, blood hammering in her ears, watching Mats tread up the bare wooden stairs, listening to him utilise his Dad voice. ‘Astrid and Alvin, we have to go now. Farmor and Farfar are at home and might want to join us for lunch. Aren’t you hungry?’ Judging by Astrid’s evasive answers, she’d rather run around Barnaby’s empty room than eat.
Finally, they trooped down, Mats asking Astrid to hold the handrail and carrying Alvin. His anxious gaze settled on Ezz’s face. ‘OK?’ he murmured uncertainly.
She nodded, forcing the corners of her mouth to lift. ‘Sure. Bye, Astrid. Bye, Alvin. See you soon.’ They shuffled awkwardly around each other in the tiny hall, apology and dismay still large in Mats’ eyes. Another moment, then the front door shut behind him and his children.
Slowly, she trailed into the front room to face Valentina, but Valentina was speaking into her phone in a tight, unnatural voice. ‘Please can you come back and take Barnaby to Broadford or somewhere for lunch? Yes, now. Yes, it’s important. I need to talk to Ezz.’ A silence, then her voice dropped. ‘Exactly.’ She stabbed the screen, then looked out of the window as a shadow fell across it. ‘Damn. The builder.’ She spun and headed for the doorway where Ezzie hovered.
Her expression had become so fierce that Ezzie jumped out of the way. ‘Valentina—’
‘If you could entertain Barnaby until Gary arrives to pick him up, that would be useful.’ Valentina jerked open the front door and greeted the builder, ‘Hello, Keith.’
Keith was a big man with a weather-beaten complexion under a black woolly hat. His work jacket was ripped at the shoulder, and his boots were speckled with plaster. ‘Hello there,’ he greeted her pleasantly.
Barnaby ran to the top of the stairs, obviously eager to see who’d arrived. With a feeling of unreality that Valentina apparently couldn’t even look at her, Ezz forced a smile. ‘Where’s your coat gone, Barns?’
He glanced back into the room he’d just vacated. ‘On the floor.’
Nice and dirty, then. ‘Pop it back on, please. Dad’s coming to take you for lunch while Mum talks to the builder, so you and me can wait on the beach.’ She made sure to make it sound like an enormous treat, rather than that Ezz was being lined up for such a major bollocking that Barnaby had to be shielded from it. Barnaby ran downstairs and then Valentina escorted Keith up.
Ezz convinced Barnaby that he really did need his coat,then cried, ‘Let’s see if the fish is still there,’ as if it were the most exciting event of her year.
‘Yeah!’ Barnaby took off through the front door, jumping off the side of the causeway onto the gritty sand, then racing around trying to find the right pool. ‘Where is it?’ he demanded, scowling at Ezz as if it were her fault. ‘My fish has gone.’
‘A huge wave must have come and washed him back into the sea,’ Ezz improvised, pointing dramatically at the frothing shallows withdrawing sullenly down the beach. The poor little fish must have become a seagull’s lunch, unprotected in such shallow water. ‘How about we look for shells?’
‘Got some.’ Barnaby patted his pockets and sighed, as if at the idiocy of adults. Perhaps he’d picked up on the tension between Ezz and Valentina and it leaked out of him in moody kicks at the sand and stringy seaweed. Ezz felt like doing the same. Why on earth had Mats opened his mouth? He should have made quite sure he’d understood Valentina before he spoke. It was like theGarden Gladiatorsthing all over again, saying exactly what came into his head without thought.
It seemed a long half hour before the blue SUV appeared in Harbour View, and Ezz didn’t think she’d ever been so glad to see Gary. ‘Here’s Dad,’ she said. But Barnaby was already running, and Ezz hared after him, grabbing his shoulders to keep him safe. ‘Just let the car stop.’
Gary, of course, had seen the human missile that was his son and halted the car in good time. He jumped out and opened the back door. ‘Jump in, Barns. We’ll go to a lovely café.’
‘Awesome.’ Barnaby scrambled into his seat without even glancing back at Ezz.
Gary checked he was buckled in, and then closed the door. He narrowed his eyes at Ezz. ‘What’s up with her this time?’ He must have left his coat in the car, and he shivered in his cardigan.
‘This time?’ Ezz queried, surprised.
Rather than answering, he sighed. ‘I’d better get off.’ In a minute he’d turned the car and driven away. At least Barnaby gave Ezz a wave as he sailed by.
Alone now, she looked back at the cottage. Keith’s pick-up was still outside. Her face felt frozen, and the rain was beginning again, a fine drizzle that stung her eyes. Should she go home? Hanging around out here felt as if she were a bad dog waiting to be forgiven. Letting herself back into icy Overlook Cottage with nowhere to sit didn’t seem much better. But, as she debated, the cottage door opened and Keith ambled out, listening to Valentina and clutching something that looked like one of her bathroom brochures. Heavily, Ezz began stumping back along the road towards the cottage, frozen despite her outdoor wear.
Soon, Keith’s pick-up truck was reversing up the Quays until it could swing round in the mouth of Portnalong Way. He gave Ezz a friendly nod as he drove past. Ezz responded, then trudged on, angry at being treated like a naughty child at her age. Mentally, she reviewed arguments she thought she was going to need when Valentina let her feelings be known.Panic of the moment … knew I’d go to prison … I’ve always regretted the trouble I caused Thea.The process stoked her resentment so that she shoved open the cottage door not feeling anywhere near as apologetic as when Mats had first spilled the beans.
But when she stepped inside, she found her sister sitting on the stairs, sobs shaking her shoulders, tears pouring between the fingers that covered her eyes. ‘Valentina,’ shegasped, dropping down beside her to pull her into her arms.
