With a furious scream, she slammed her laptop shut, yanked it from the desk and fled her room. Down the stairs she ran, through the foyer, out the front door and into the yard. Intent on taking her anger out on something,anything, she lifted the computer high above her head and brought it down onto the brick-paved garden path as hard as she could.
She stood there, chest heaving, as she stared down at the remains of her busted device. With the evidence of her mother’s betrayal no longer visible, her ire dissipated. She fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably, because all she could think about was that she had no one, not a single person to turn to who could possibly answer her questions, or even hazard a guess.
‘Beth?’
Somewhere in the chaos of her thoughts, she registered Ellie’s voice. Sensed her presence behind her. But she didn’t—couldn’trespond. Because her heart hurt. And the pain was crippling. It stole her capacity to think. Robbed her of the ability to speak.
But when Ellie kneeled down beside her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, Beth didn’t object or pull away. How long had it been since she’d been held? Since she’d felt another person’s touch? She couldn’t even recall and that realisation brought on a fresh wave of tears.
Eventually, though, they ran dry, and just as she started contemplating what on earth she was going to say that would explain what had just happened, Ellie spoke.
‘C’mon, let’s get you inside.’
She helped Beth to her feet, taking her away from the remnants of her laptop and the proof that she’d temporarily lost her mind.
They climbed the stairs and, at the door to Beth’s room, Ellie pulled her into her arms again and held her tight.
When Ellie finally released her, she cradled Beth’s face and looked her in the eye. ‘Tell me you’ll be okay.’
Beth closed her eyes, guilt weighing her down when she noticed that Ellie’s dimples had vanished as if they’d never existed. But she nodded. ‘I’ll be okay.’ Her voice was hoarse and her words grated against the raw skin of her throat.
‘Have a shower.’ Ellie tipped her head towards Beth’s ensuite bathroom. ‘I’ll be up again in thirty minutes with some soup.’
A surge of something unfamiliar flooded Beth’s body as Ellie disappeared downstairs. Perhaps it was gratitude for a kindness delivered, though that didn’t seem to encompass the enormity of what Beth was feeling. It was something stronger, more elemental and primitive.
And then the word came unbidden.
Love.
The love one felt for a friend. Atruefriend. The kind of friend who would ask no questions but would sit beside you and hold you as you cried. The kind who’d check on your mental state after a meltdown, making you promise in so many words that you weren’t going to take your own life in the shower. The kind of friend who would cook soup just to make you feel better.
Beth could count on Ellie, she knew that now. Knew she had her support for as long as she needed it. So, despite being completely spent, she stood under the stream of piercing hot water and washed away her tears.
Ironically, she felt stronger now. More determined. Like she might just have the capacity to achieve what she set out to do when she came here.
And no one, not even a lying, deceitful, dead mother, could take that away from her.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
‘Right, now you’re going to take the spatula and run it down the crack to open it up a little. But don’t forget, safety first.’
Beth paused the Bunnings DIY help video, squared her shoulders, donned her builder’s mask and safety glasses, and moved the ladder into position, directly underneath the crack in the dining room wall, which ran in a jagged line from the cornice down towards the floor.
With spatula in hand, she climbed to the third rung of the ladder, raised the pointy corner of the tool to the crack in the wall and began shaving plaster from its edges, copying the technique of the man in the video. A week had passed since Ellie had witnessed her at her lowest point and brought her back from the brink of darkness. She’d made soup, just as she’d promised, and had let Beth know that if she ever needed to talk, she would be there to listen.
Beth hadn’t taken the opportunity to unburden herself, but it was nice to know she had the option. One she’d never had before.
The following morning, she’d let herself out of the B&B before anyone else had risen and noticed that the pieces of her decimated laptop had already been cleared away. Proof again that Ellie was, quite possibly, the sweetest person on earth.
After gouging at the plaster a while longer, Beth sighed and dropped her arms, her muscles aching. She had a feeling that fixing cracks in walls would have nothing on gardening when it came to the impact on her body. She wasnotlooking forward to tomorrow.
Needing to quench her thirst, she stepped down off the ladder and grabbed her water bottle from the kitchen bench, but just as she put it to her lips, she heard an odd groaning sound. She stilled, certain the noise hadn’t come from her or her water bottle, and listened for it again.
And there it was, a groan, this time followed by a louder, harsher sound. Like wood cracking.
She stared up at the stained ceiling and when a crack appeared in the plasterboard, right above the ladder she’d been standing on a moment ago, she edged towards the front hallway, her spidey senses tingling. Another ear-splitting noise shattered any hope that she was imagining things, that nothing was wrong and, without wasting another second, she bolted for the front door as an almighty crash filled the air.
