Chapter One
Melissa slowed and pulled into the lay-by. The welcome sign for Heritage Cove loomed up ahead and for five long years – unless you counted the time she tried to come back here, lost her nerve and did a one-eighty in her car before driving off again – she’d turned her back on the picturesque village on the east coast of England.
Until now.
She looked at the long, straight stretch of road in front of her, which after the sign would bend and curve around to the left. She shut her eyes and wiped the tear that dared to snake down her cheek. She didn’t have to look hard to know that the sign with the village name in loopy writing had at last been replaced. A terrible accident one winter had left the seemingly unbendable metal poles doubled over like trees in the wind, the white steel placard so misshapen that the writing was no longer readable unless you already knew what it should say.
She stared ahead. The sign might have been mended but her personal scars would never fully heal. One split second and her life had changed for good.
Head on the steering wheel, she took deep breaths. She could do this. This was Barney, a man as close to a father figure as she would ever have, and she’d come this far. She had to see him, she had to be here for him, although it had been so long she really wouldn’t blame him if he told her to go away.
Fury rose in her that Harvey hadn’t elaborated on Barney’s condition in his email. Harvey had been a constant in Melissa’s life ever since they were kids, they’d fallen in love somewhere along the line, but then it had all gone to pieces. His email had come right out of the blue and its sketchy details had only sent her into a panic. Ever since she’d read it, all kinds of scenarios had been whirling around in her head, everything from Barney having heart failure after an operation following a fall to getting an infection – anything that could take him away from her for good and make her realise she’d left it too late to come. But protecting herself from hurt before it could happen was the only way Melissa knew how to deal with life. She couldn’t explain it to anyone else, she didn’t always understand it herself.
A knock on the car window made her jump but she didn’t recognise the woman on the other side. Thank goodness, she wasn’t ready to tackle the inevitable conflict she would surely face from the people she’d left behind in Heritage Cove and completely lost touch with.
‘Are you all right?’ the woman asked when Melissa opened her window. She had to raise her voice over the din of a combine harvester as it passed, taking up more than its fair share of the road.
‘I’m fine, just needed a minute.’ In her wing mirror Melissa spotted the jeep the woman was driving.Practical for some of the surrounding farmland, that was for sure.
‘It’s warmer today than usual, I have some water in my car if you need a drink.’ Dead-straight hair the colour of spun gold reached down to her waist and looked at odds with her dungarees, covered in black dirt and dust.
‘Thanks, but I have some.’ She patted the bottle poking out of her bag. ‘And perhaps you’re right, the weather may have caught me out. I really should know better.’
‘Are you looking for somewhere in particular? Or just visiting?’
‘I’m visiting, and I know exactly where I am.’
‘You know the village?’
‘I do.’ At one point she would never have thought she’d leave Heritage Cove, population approximately seven hundred. The village hadn’t suffered the curse of being surrounded by new housing estates, it maintained its beautiful fabric of grassland and farmland, country roads weaving in and out of the village, lanes sprouting off at intervals taking you to hidden parts. Heritage Cove had always had a feel of seclusion even though it wasn’t all that far from major road links – although a journey could take five times as long as expected if you were unfortunate enough to be stuck behind a farm vehicle. ‘Do you live here?’ Melissa asked the woman.
‘I work in Heritage Cove,’ she smiled, ‘but I live in Southwold. You know it?’
‘Southwold is a lovely place. I spent many summers there as a kid.’ Beautiful beach huts, each one unique, were iconic to the area, its pier and tea rooms a childhood memory Melissa had always cherished. Majestic houses looking out across the sea had set her imagination running riot over who lived there, who got to walk on the sands every day. She could remember her mum calling after her as she tore down the planks of the pier to catch the half-hourly pee-show whereby water was pumped from a well to the top of the clock before a pair of iron sculptured boy figures dropped their trousers and peed into the depths below. The fountains had made Melissa and older brother, Billy, laugh every single time and the novelty had never worn off.
‘What brings you here?’ The woman’s voice interrupted her special memories rising to the surface.
‘I lived here once upon a time.’
‘Ah, then you’ll know Fred Gilbertson.’
‘The blacksmith, of course. He’s still around?’ From what she remembered he was well into retirement age when she lived here.
‘He’s been unwell so I’ve been helping out with his business while he takes time out.’
‘I hope he’s better soon.’
‘I’m sure he will be. I can pass on my regards if you like. Who should I say they’re from?’
‘Melissa,’ she smiled. ‘And please do.’
‘Nice to meet you, Melissa, I’m Lucy. Where are you staying?’
‘At the Heritage Inn.’ Relieved it was no longer owned by the Parsons, she could at least retain some anonymity there. She could hide out, commute from here to the hospital, and when Barney was home she’d be on hand to see him properly. She owed him that much after being absent for so long. And who knows, perhaps she’d get by without too many people taking much of an interest in her. After all, her hair had toned down to auburn rather than fiery red now she was in her early thirties and she no longer had the harsh fringe and high ponytail she’d once favoured either. At work she wound it up and out of the way but at home she wore it the same way as now – long, loose and wavy, cascading around her shoulders. Her boyfriend, Jay, often commented on how soft her hair was; she always laughed and told him it was the salon shampoo she spent a small fortune on. She certainly hadn’t used that in Heritage Cove. A lot of things, big and small, had changed since then.
‘Enjoy your visit to the Cove. I’ll see you around, I hope.’ Lucy smiled and went back to her jeep.
The Cove…Melissa hadn’t heard anyone say that in a long while. It was a local nickname for the village and she’d put it out of her mind along with everything else until her sudden return, which had come out of the blue just as she’d always suspected it would.
