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He seemed to see almost everything. Which was obviously a good thing when it came to his patients, but Cass reckoned it could get annoying for everyone else.
‘She was my teacher for twenty years. Still is, in some ways. I have dyslexia, and she took me on. I used to go to hers to do my homework after school every day and she used to help me.’
‘And she let you struggle a bit with things?’
A grudging laugh of assent escaped her lips. ‘She let me struggle all the time. She was always there to catch me, though.’
He nodded. ‘Then perhaps that’s your answer.’ He picked up the earbud, which dangled on its lead against the front of her jacket, and gently put it back into her ear. Cass pretended not to notice the intimacy of it, but shivered just the same.
It appeared that even though the crisis was over, the bonding part wasn’t. And wanting him, wanting Jack’s strength and his warmth, would only end badly. She and Paul had tried for two years to have children, and by the end of it she’d been a wreck. Sex had become a chore instead of a pleasure and Cass had felt herself dying inside, unable to respond to a touch.
Worst of all, she’d become fearful. Afraid of a future that seemed to depend on her being able to have a child, and hardly daring to get out of bed on the mornings when her period was due. Fearful of the heartbreak that had come anyway, when Paul had left her.
That fear had paralysed her whenever she’d even thought about starting a new relationship, because any man would be sure to react in the same way as Paul had. So Cass had turned to the parts of her life where she’d already proved she could succeed. Her job. Taking care of her family and friends. Overcoming her dyslexia. If wanting Jack brought her loneliness into sharp focus then he would be gone soon, and the feeling would pass.
* * *
Cass had withdrawn into silence as they’d trudged back to the church hall. The weather was getting worse, rain drumming against the windows, and when Cass didn’t show up for lunch Jack wondered if there was something wrong. It seemed almost as if the violence of the storm might be some response to the unspoken emotions of a goddess.
Nonsense. She might look like an ethereal being but she was all woman. Tough and proud on the outside but with a kernel of soft warmth that showed itself just briefly, from time to time. Each time he saw it, the urge to see it again became greater.
And that was nonsense too. His own childhood had been marred by loss and he wanted no more of it, not for himself or for Ellie. The uncertain reward didn’t justify the risk, even if he did crave the sunshine of Cass’s smile.
Cups and saucers were filled and the lines of diners started to break up into small groups, talking over their coffee. At the other end of the hall, Martin was on his feet, talking intently to a man who had hurried in, a small group forming around them. Someone walked out of the hall and Jack heard Cass’s name being called.
Ripples of concern were spreading through the community, people looking up from their conversations and falling quiet. Jack stood up, walking across to Martin.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Ah, Jack.’ Martin’s face was creased with anxiety. ‘We’ve got a lost child...’
Activity from outside the hall caught Jack’s attention. The shine of red hair through the obscure glass of the doors and then Cass was there, the man who had gone to fetch her still talking quickly to her, obviously apprising her of the situation.
‘What do you want me to do?’ Without noticing it, Jack seemed to have gravitated automatically to her side.
She looked up at him. The defeated droop of her shoulders that he’d seen earlier was gone; now Cass was back from whatever crisis she’d been facing. Full of energy and with a vengeance.
‘We have a ten-year-old who’s gone missing. We’ll split up and search for him in teams. You’re with me?’
Jack nodded. Of course he was with her.
CHAPTER FIVE
JACK FOUND HIS jacket amongst the others, hung up on the rack in the lobby, and pulled his boots on. People were spilling out of the church hall, finding coats and forming into groups. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing and Cass was at the centre of it all.
Suddenly, she broke away from the people around her, walking over to a young woman in a wet jacket.
‘We’re going to find Ben now, Laura.’ Cass put an arm around the woman’s shoulders. ‘Can you think of anywhere he might have gone?’
‘He might be looking for Scruffy. He ran off and we couldn’t find him. Pete went out this morning, but there was no sign of him back at the house.’
Cass nodded. ‘Okay. And where might Ben be looking?’
‘I don’t know...’ Laura shook her head and Cass took her gently by the shoulders.
‘It’s okay. Take your time.’ She was calm and quite unmistakably in charge of the situation. Just what Laura needed at the moment.
Laura took a deep breath. ‘Maybe... Oh, Cass. Maybe he’s gone down to the river. We take Scruffy for walks along there.’
