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18

Middlemarch, George Eliot

When I get in, I find Nettie, like an apparition, at the kitchen table, peeling potatoes.

‘Nettie!’ I cry and instantly move to her for a hug.

‘Hello, pet.’ She greets me with a fierce squeeze. ‘I hear the lady’s been puttin’ you through your paces.’

‘Oh my God, only you can imagine! When did you get back?’

‘Just now. Calvin picked me up at the station. Ooh, it’s so good to be back. My sister is a pain in the arse.’

As if my grandmother wasn’t. We laugh at our new private joke.

‘Need a hand?’ I ask.

‘No, no. You just relax. Shall I get you a cup of tea?’

I jump up before she does, as it’s the only way to stop her. ‘I’ll make it. Fancy one?’

‘Please.’

I lean against the worktop as I wait for the kettle to boil, watching her from behind. She’s so thin – worked to the bone, poor woman. Grandmother should hire someone to help her. Someone to do all the harder work. How old is she, anyway? She doesn’t seem to have any children. And yet… she looks familiar, in a way. The eyes… where have I seen them before?

‘I saw you and… Jago,’ she begins, nodding through the window.

‘How well do you know him, Nettie?’

She baulks. ‘Me? Why do you ask?’

‘I just need to know who my business partner really is. I feel that there’s more to him than meets the eye,’ I explain with a groan as I put her cup of tea before her on the table.

She places her knife down and wipes her hands on a tea towel. ‘Thanks, love. Well, you’re right about that. He… used to be a lovely boy when he was young. There was never anything he wouldn’t do for you. But then all that changed.’

‘When?’

She turns to look at me, pity in her eyes.

‘I think you should ask him that, pet. Or, better yet, stay away from him. His life’s a right mess.’

‘I see that. But why does everybody gang up on him like that? And why does my grandmother seem to hate him so much?’

Nettie studies my face.

‘Oh dear! You haven’t already fallen for him, have you? Be careful, Emmie. Sooner or later, everyone does – at their own expense.’

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

She smiles and pats my hand.

‘You want a word of advice, pet?’

I look up into her eyes. ‘Please.’

‘You stay away from Jago Moon. He’s not right for you. He’ll break you if you let him.’ She gives me a knowing look. ‘And trust me, you’ll let him.’

It seems that no one is willing to reveal anything about Jago. Who is he, really? What’s in his past? What made him start drinking like that? Is it something he absolutely can’t get over? And if not, what makes him wake in the morning nowadays? And why is everyone trying to protect me from him? Or protect him from himself… I realise that Starry Cove, more than a close-knit village, is a den of secrets and that if I want to know anything at all about him, I’ll have to find out for myself.

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