Page 47 of Whispers from the Past

Rose was in her element driving through the Yorkshire countryside. She knew she had missed the car, but it was more than that. Being without it for the past six weeks had affected her far more than she could ever have anticipated. It was as if a piece of her was missing. And it was a piece too far. She had lost too many pieces of herself over the years. It felt so good to have a little bit of herself back.

Carefully, she pulled up the handbrake in the small car park by the lighthouse.

‘Please don’t tell me that your Mum’s ghost is in this lighthouse. Because as much as I like you Rose, I think that would be a deal breaker for me,’ Luke winced.

‘Don’t be stupid. Just come on.’ She got out of the car and made her way towards the bench that Susie had shown her a few weeks previously. Luke caught up with her and gently placed his hand in hers. She smiled at the small contact, held on tightly and led the way. Before long they were sitting together on the small wooden bench that looked out onto the sea below. It was a much calmer day compared to her last visit and the blue water was gently lapping up against the rocks far below.

‘Did Susie do this?’ Luke asked.

‘Yes. I’m so grateful that they were friends. That I’ve got her in my life. I should have moved closer to her years ago.’

‘I’m glad you finally did.’ He lent and kissed her.

‘Me too.’ She playfully kissed him back.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a slight flutter of red. Looking down, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A red admiral butterfly had landed on Luke’s leg. It rested there for a few seconds and then fluttered off into the wind.

* * *

When they got back to the Bay, Rose found Holly pacing outside the book shop.

‘Thank god you’re back. I need to speak to you, like two hours ago.’

Luke brushed a kiss to Rose’s temple and smiled at his sister.

‘Everything ok, sis?’

‘No everything is not ok you, git. You stole my friend for the morning and I needed her.’

‘Not sorry in the slightest. You need to learn to share.’

Holly grabbed Rose by the elbow and pulled her way from the square and the pub.

‘Where are we going?’

‘Somewhere quiet where I can have my meltdown in peace!’

With her hand still firmly gripped on Rose’s elbow, Holly dragged her away from her car and down towards the beach. Since living in the Bay, Rose had started to grow accustomed to the Yorkshire weather. Although it had warmed up considerably, she wasn’t properly dressed for April at the beach.

‘Holly, I know you’re in the midst of some kind of breakdown, but can we please not have this chat here. I’m freezing.’

‘You’ll just have to deal with it Rose. This can’t wait! I’m seriously freaking out here.’

Tugging herself in as close as possible to fend off the bitter chill from the sea, Rose rubbed her hands together to try and work up a little more body heat. ‘Ok, hit me with it.’

‘Ok, so this morning was my swimming lesson. And it…’

‘Went brilliantly. Great! Good chat.’ Rose went to stand up, but Holly tugged her back down to the ground.

‘It was fine. We didn’t get in the water yet thankfully. That’s not the issue. It’s Owen,’

‘What’s the issue with Owen? Because if he was inappropriate in any way, then not to put back the feminist movement in any way, but you’ve got a big, burly brother back up there who will probably do a much better job than me, at reminding him how to behave.’

Holly buried her face in her hands, which muffled whatever she said next so much that Rose couldn’t make out any of the words. Prying Holly’s hands away, she gently asked, ‘What happened?’

‘He asked me out,’ she squirrelled out, before covering her face with her hands almost immediately.

‘He asked you out? And that’s the DEFCON 1 emergency?’