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Once again, Alice berated herself for letting that slip. ‘Oh, it was years and years ago. Decades, in fact. Your parents have done a wonderful job doing it up since they took the place over.’
Emily put the room key on the dressing table under the bay window with views down to the cove. ‘Perhaps Mum will remember you.’
Alice whirled around. She wasn’t so sure that was what she wanted to hear. Would she also remember what had gone on there all those years ago?
‘Well, I’ll leave you to settle in,’ said Emily, walking over to the door.
Alice frowned at Emily’s back, a feeling settled over her once more that going there had been a bad idea.
Hester followed her new friend.
Emily noticed. She knelt down. ‘Oh, aren’t you a sweetie? But you can’t come with me. I’ve got work to do.’
Alice caught her frowning. She imagined that Emily would much rather be working in her chosen profession as a vet than on reception in a guest house. Even if it was a lovely guest house.
‘That reminds me,’ said Emily, standing up. ‘I must call the vet. I’ll let you know when the next appointment is.’
Alice nodded and glanced at Marley. She wasn’t going to let him out of his carrier just yet, in case she had the good fortune to get an appointment. Alice didn’t fancy another game of cat and mouse to get him in the cat carrier. Once was enough for one day.
Emily closed the door behind her, and Hester stood looking at the door.
‘Hester – come here!’
She turned around at the sound of Alice’s voice and ran over. ‘Good girl! Who’s a good girl?’ Alice smiled. Before she had got Hester, she had always wondered at the people she heard speaking to their dogs in babyish tones, even having whole conversations with them. She’d hear them say things like, ‘No, don’t go in there, you’ll get all muddy,’ as if the dogs understood every word. Alice had never thought she would turn into one of those people until she got Hester as a puppy and had immediately started to baby her terribly. That hadn’t changed.
Hester ran over, got a fuss, and then stood up on her hind legs, front paws on the bed, and poked her nose into Marley’s cage.
Marley hissed at her.
‘How many times have I told you not to do that?’ Alice rolled her eyes as she picked up the cat carrier and popped it on top of the chest of drawers on the other side of the room, where Hester couldn’t reach it or the tetchy cat inside. The last thing Alice needed was two vet bills, one of which would be avoidable if Hester just stayed out of Marley’s way.
Chapter 11
When Alice had first got Marley, she imagined that with Hester being the big softie that she was, her new kitten would snuggle up to Hester and they’d be best pals. It wasn’t her dog’s fault, for try as she might, the kitten was aloof, independent, and not interested in making friends. Any thought of cute photos of her two beloved pets together was consigned to what Alice referred to asWarehouse 13.
Alice smiled at the euphemism. There had been a television programme calledWarehouse 13that she had enjoyed watching with Freya when she was a child. It was all about a huge warehouse full of unusual artefacts. They weren’t ancient artefacts, but things with unusual, even otherworldly, powers. They were kept a secret, never to see the light of day. It was how Alice sometimes felt about her life; all the things she’d imagined she would do left in a warehouse of dreams, never to be seen again.
Alice walked over to the window and looked out at the view of the cove, the water glistening as the sun set out of sight behind the hotel. She was thinking of the last time she had been there – the night she had disappeared. What if she had never come back? What if she had taken another path? She’d had that opportunity. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity brought on by circumstance. Instead, she had gone back to her husband, and Freya had come along. And their life had finally seemed to come together, but for one thing – something that had haunted her all these years.
Alice tried to brush that thought aside, and along with it the young man she’d met that night right there at the guest house.
She closed her eyes and willed herself to think about something else.
A knock at the door saved Alice from going down that rabbit hole and thinking about the consequences of that night; about the fallout that would occur if ever the truth came out.What am I doing here?a little voice in her head said, and not for the first time.This could prove to be the biggest mistake of your life.But something was compelling her to stay.
Someone knocked at the door again. This time Hester barked. Alice rushed forward, glaring at her dog. ‘Shush, for goodness’ sake!’ she hissed. As much as she was wondering if this trip was a mistake, she would rather not get booted out of the guest house tonight because of her barky dog. Hester wasn’t normally vocal. But her dog was in a strange house. In fact, she was doing very well, considering she’d never stayed anywhere but at home. They had a lovely neighbour who always popped in and house-sat when they went away to a place where they couldn’t take Hester. They couldn’t take Percy or Marley with them anywhere, so their neighbour always looked after the two of them.
As Alice approached the door, she felt a lump in her throat at the thought of moving out of their house in Cambridge for good and losing those good neighbours she had known for years. Although over time the number of original owners had dwindled; they had died or become ill or downsized so that in her street there was just them and their one next-door neighbour left out of all those who had been there when they moved in. The others were young couples or growing families, who were lovely, but a bit more of the sense of community had been lost with every old neighbour who went. Alice longed for that sense of community once more. But where would she find it?
She opened the door to find Emily with a young man she hadn’t seen before. ‘Hi. The local vet’s office managed to get you fitted into their last appointment in half an hour.’
‘That’s fantastic.’
‘Yes, but the thing is my dad can’t take you, and I’ve got another guest who is turning up soon, so …’
‘That’s okay, Emily.’ Alice smiled. ‘I don’t mind getting there by taxi if you know a local taxi firm.’
‘That won’t be necessary. Joss, here, has offered to take you. He’s staying at the guest house too.’
