AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 1
Rosie turned the corner, into the salt-laced wind, and pushed up the collar of her jacket. She’d forgotten quite how chilly the English coast could be in early spring. Despite the grey clouds piling up over the sea, tourists on the quayside, with mottled bare legs, were still licking ice creams, grimly determined to enjoy their holidays before the rain set in.
Yes, Devon was just as she remembered it: dreary, damp and depressing. If only she was still in Spain, and she’d never got that phone call.
Seagulls screeched mournfully overhead as Rosie imagined herself under the tree in her Andalusian garden: her skin hot on the sun lounger, glimpses of azure sky through the palm fronds and bright splashes of Moorish tiles on her apartment wall.
Colours in southern Spain were vivid and vibrant, not muted and soft like here in Heaven’s Cove. She stared at the moss-green waves breaking against the harbour wall and darkening the pale stone. Like the ebb and flow of the tides, nothing here ever seemed to change. It was thesame old, same oldyear after year. Narrow lanes clogged with tourists, barn dances in the village hall, cholesterol-boosting cream teas for sale. Though after this week’s shocking news, she didn’t suppose anything would be quite the same for her ever again.
‘Oi, watch out, Lily, or you’ll run that lady over.’
Rosie gathered her thoughts and side-stepped swiftly to avoid a girl on a pink bicycle with stabilisers. The dark-haired child wobbled past her on the pavement, scraping along the side of Rosie’s battered suitcase.
‘I’m so sorry. She got the bike for her birthday but hasn’t got the hang of steering yet.’ The short, curvy woman chasing after the youngster stopped suddenly and buried her hands deep into the pockets of her grey hoodie. ‘Um, aren’t you…?’
She trailed off as Rosie scoured her memory for the woman’s name. It began with a V, she was sure of it. Veronica? Violet? No, Vanessa, that was it. Though she was known as Nessa at school and nicknamed The Loch Nessa Monster – not because she was scary but because, like the fabled creature, she was rarely seen. Nessa was a serial truant. And now a mother, it seemed.
Rosie huddled further into her jacket as dark spots of rain began to splatter on the cobbled pavement. ‘I’m Rosie. We were at school together. I think you were in the year below me.’
‘Ah, that’s it.’ Nessa nodded, her tone suggesting she already knew exactly who Rosie was. ‘I haven’t seen you around here in a while.’
‘I’ve been living abroad for the last few years.’
‘Yeah, I can tell. You didn’t get that tan in Heaven’s Cove.’ Nessa shifted from foot to foot and ran a hand along her shiny, brown ponytail. ‘I was really sorry to hear what happened to your mum, by the way. It was such a shame. Hey, Lily, stay there and wait for Mummy, please.’
Such a shame.Rosie blinked behind her sunglasses, the knot in her chest tightening. ‘Thank you. It was a huge shock.’
‘It must have been. I guess that’s why you’re here.’
‘I needed to come back for a week or two. I’ve already been to the funeral home in Exeter. There’s a lot to be sorted out.’
‘I can imagine. Your mum’s death was a shock to all of us, coming out of the blue like that. And it doesn’t seem right that her home is empty now. It looks kind of sad.’
For the first time since arriving in the village, Rosie allowed herself to glance up at Driftwood House. Her family home, perched high on the cliffs above Heaven’s Cove, did look rather lonely with its blank windows reflecting the steely sky.
She looked away quickly. Crying in front of someone from school wouldn’t do. News of her distress would spread around the village like wildfire and then a stream of people would come to the house, offering condolences and veiled disapproval that she had, to all intents and purposes, abandoned her mother.
Why hadn’t she come back to Heaven’s Cove last month when she’d had a few days off work? Instead, she’d spent the time decorating her apartment and drinking sangria in the sunshine with friends.
Rosie pushed her fingernails into the palm of her hand, willing herself to stay in control for a while longer. ‘It’s really sad,’ she agreed, unsure if she was referring to her mother’s death, or the fact that the house now stood alone and empty.
Nessa nodded and ruffled Lily’s hair. The girl had given up waiting and wobbled back along the narrow pavement. ‘So will you be staying in Heaven’s Cove for long?’
‘I certainly hope not.’
The words were out before Rosie could stop them and Nessa’s face fell. ‘I dare say Devon is a bit boring after all your travels. Which amazing place are you living in at the moment, then?’
‘I’ve been in Andalusia for the last eighteen months, in southern Spain.’
‘Yes, I know where Andalusia is,’ replied Nessa, with an almost imperceptible eye-roll. ‘What do you do there, then, in exotic, far-away Andalusia?’
It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or was truly interested in her life.
‘This and that.’ Rosie shrugged, keen to bring the conversation to a close. ‘I’m working part-time in a B&B and the rest of the time for a property company, mostly flogging apartments with sea views.’
‘That sounds wonderful.’
Rosie nodded, though showing hot, sweaty people around tiny flats was less wonderful than Nessa seemed to imagine. Especially when the promised ‘sea view’ turned out to involve leaning over the side of a balcony on tiptoe, to catch a glimpse of the sparkling ocean. She’d grown used to potential buyers’ excitement turning to disappointment but it made her feel uncomfortable nonetheless.
