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‘Course I mean love. She’s obviously had some trouble at work which pushed her over the edge.’
Will almost said that if anything had pushed her over the edge, it was probably turning up at her own wedding that she knew nothing about, but it would have sounded rather snippy and his dad looked as contrite as he’d ever seen him, so he kept schtum.
‘She loves the sea.’
‘Does she?’ asked Chris.
‘Yes, Dad, she does.’ Will tried his best to keep the impatience out of his voice and be constructive. ‘Maybe when Polly comes home you should start to pay her more attention, or you’re going to lose her for good. You obviously don’t know her half as well as you think you do. If you did, you’d have been to the police weeks ago and she’d be home now.’
‘You’re right, son. This has been a massive wake-up call for me,’ said Chris adamantly. ‘Let’s go and get her.’
The three hours that followed, Teddy likened to waiting to be executed. He didn’t want Sabrina to go, but he understood why she had to. He didn’t want her to be lost any more, for her own sake, because a cycle of deep frustration and depression was waiting to pounce on her from around the corner if this continued; he’d read all about it. Whatever it took for her to heal quickly was what he wished for her. Even if it took her away from them. From him.
Marielle was standing by the window looking out for a large black Mercedes van. It would be here any minute.
‘Well,’ said Teddy, for the want of anything better. He was never usually stuck for words, but he was now.
‘Thank you for everything,’ said Sabrina.
‘You know that if you’re ever around here, call in and you can have a pizza on the house,’ Teddy said, berating himself because it sounded lame and it wasn’t what he wanted to sayat all, which was,Don’t go.
‘Thank you, I’d like that.’ Her smile was very watery and wavery.
Teddy opened his mouth then to say, ‘And if you don’t fit back into the space you left, come back here and we will make you belong with us,’ but his mum got in first.
‘I think they’re here, love.’
Teddy and Sabrina both jumped to their feet as Marielle went to the door. The blood inside Sabrina was galloping through her veins like a racehorse. This was it then, the new beginning, though it felt too much like an end.
In walked the young man Sabrina remembered. This was Will, someone she liked very much, and he bounced forward and embraced her hard.
‘Oh Polly, thank god, you’re all right, you’re safe,’ he said.
The man who followed him in hadn’t pushed his son out of the way to grab her first, as Teddy knew he would have done. Tall, slim, good-looking, stiff. He approached Sabrina more warily.
‘I don’t know what to say to you,’ he said. ‘Come here.’
He opened his arms and when Sabrina walked into them, Teddy thought they looked like two robots trying each other out for size. He forced himself to concede that this was not a normal situation; who knew how to react, who knew what to say or do?
‘I’ve missed you so much, Pol,’ said Chris. ‘It’ll be good to have you at home again. I’ve been wandering around in it talking to myself like a lost soul.’
‘Thank you so much,’ said Will to Marielle and Teddy in turn. He looked genuinely relieved to see her again.
‘We’re just glad we could help,’ said Marielle. She wouldn’t have put Chris and Sabrina together had she beenmatch-making. He should have embraced her like his son had, she thought.
‘Were the police looking for her?’ asked Teddy. He noticed then how father and son flashed a glance at each other.
‘Yes, we reported… it,’ replied Chris, which was a bit of a stretch seeing as all that had happened so far was Will had had a casual word with his mate on the force for some advice. But they were going to report it that very morning, so it was sort of true. ‘We’ve been worried sick waiting for news.’
He hadn’t imagined Mr Bontempi to look like that. He thought he’d be an old bloke, not someone quite so Italian-looking, with thicker hair than him, taller than he was even. He put his arm around Polly, a territorial gesture more than an affectionate one.
‘I think our Pol must have had a breakdown,’ Chris went on. ‘She lost her job and it must have been too much for her head. That job was her world. As she is mine.’ He turned to her and smiled and at that moment Chris meant his words because he really had missed Polly. She was a good, faithful girl and living out the rest of his life with her didn’t come with any negatives. He didn’t enjoy coming in to an empty house of an evening; she was a good cook, she never nagged him to turn the TV over from the footie and she kept the house clean. They’d have another stab at the wedding thing, but it would be Gretna Green next time, no guests or fancy stuff, and he’d arrange it himself.
‘Would you like something to drink?’ Marielle asked her visitors.
‘Marielle, I think it might be best if we get straight off,’ said Sabrina. She didn’t want a protracted goodbye. If she didn’t go now, her carefully formulated plan might crumble to dust.
Marielle squeezed the living daylights out of her.
