Page 45 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

‘Probably too late, yes.’

‘I might try to walk a bit. We might even get down to the bottom before he starts to climb.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. The light’s fading and you’re still not well. We’d end up falling and in a worse state than we are now. Best to wait.’

‘See…cautious,’ Flo said, and Ottilie’s smile grew.

‘Boring.’

‘I suppose sometimes cautious is good. I suppose it’s very good in your line of work.’

‘I suppose it must be. Never really thought about it.’

‘Thank you for looking after me.’

‘I couldn’t very well leave you to freeze.’

‘No, I mean all the other times. You didn’t have to take me to the hospital. You didn’t have to go into Kendal with me and have tea. You didn’t have to stop the car for me to come up here. You’ve been lovely to me since you arrived, and I know I can be a daft, stubborn old sod at times.’

‘Maybe I like daft and stubborn.’

‘You must do.’

‘Maybe I like spending time with you.’

‘I don’t know why. Nobody else seems to.’

Ottilie raised her eyebrows. ‘Is that really true? Because it seems to me that most everyone in Thimblebury loves you.’

Flo laughed. ‘Where did you get that idea? Now I know you’re just trying to make me feel better! Everyone in Thimblebury thinks I’m a pain in the arse and even you must know that!’

‘Never,’ Ottilie said.

The conversation died, and the two women gazed out onto the valley below them, the hills beyond, the lake shining in the last of the sunlight, each lost in their own thoughts. At least, Ottilie knew she was and she supposed, from Flo’s silence, that she must be too. A quick glance reassured her that nothing more sinister had halted her chatter, and then her thoughts turned back to the swirling mist of problems that always seemed to plague her waking thoughts.

Uppermost, apart from her immediate difficulty, was the arrest of a suspect for Josh’s attack. Faith had kept her informed, and knowing that the perpetrator was most likely in custody ought to have eased Ottilie’s mind. But it didn’t, for so many reasons, but mostly because they couldn’t be sure that this was the right person, or that they’d been in it alone, and for those reasons she was still anxious in the dark, still nervous when she was alone. She’d told herself a million times that there was no need to feel that way because they didn’t know who she was, and they certainly didn’t have any reason to come after her, and yet she did. Perhaps, now that Josh was gone, she’d never feel safe again. He had always been her net, her comfort, her security, and now he was gone, leaving her alone, trying her best to navigate the world, and, as yet, she still didn’t seem to have figured out the direction of the wind let alone set any kind of course.

But perhaps she was being hard on herself. Perhaps coming to Thimblebury – though it had been a knee-jerk reaction of sorts – was already a course. Perhaps she’d set it without realising.

The sounds of falling scree shook her from her musings. A moment later, Heath was standing in front of them, his chestnut hair damp at the fringe from the exertion of the climb, dark eyes looking from one to the other with an expression somewhere at the centre of annoyance, humour, exasperation and distrust. Ottilie wasn’t sure which of those were being directed at her, and she wasn’t about to waste time asking. She supposed the situation wasn’t showing her in a very good light, but perhaps there’d be time later to inform him of the facts, and then he might not judge her so harshly. However he felt about her, all she required of him was that he helped her to get Flo down to safety. The rest could wait.

‘I’m not even going to ask,’ he said coolly.

‘I’m sorry,’ Flo said as he went over to offer his arm. ‘I feel like such an old fool.’

‘You’re nothing of the sort,’ Ottilie said, fuelled by a sudden need to defend her. From what, she wasn’t sure, but she supposed it must be from her grandson’s criticism.

Heath shook his head and clearly wanted to disagree. ‘God knows how you managed to get up here.’

‘We’ve been up here before,’ Flo said. ‘You and me, remember?’

‘Yes, but that was years ago.’

‘I’m not totally infirm yet.’

Heath looked as if he had a counterpoint to make there too but seemed to have at least the tact not to air it.

‘We were fine,’ Ottilie said. ‘But then Flo got a bit cold, that’s all. Anyone who got a bit cold would struggle, no matter how much younger.’

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