Page 51 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

She’d have loved nothing more than to have Stacey’s company for the walk, but she wasn’t about to let Stacey take her home and then have to walk back to her own house alone, no matter how safe Thimblebury might be at night.

‘OK.’ Stacey took the empty bottle to a recycling bin. ‘If you’re sure.’

‘Positive.’ Ottilie collected her things and followed Stacey to the front door.

‘Thank you for calling round,’ Stacey said with a broad smile. ‘And for the box of baby stuff. It’s been lovely chatting. Promise you won’t be a stranger – come round whenever you like.’

‘That’s an offer I don’t need making twice!’ Ottilie said. ‘Thanks for the wine.’

Head down, Ottilie hurried along the deserted lanes of the village. It was a calm, mild night, and yet the trees still seemed to creak in a way that felt threatening as she passed them, and in the distance a howl rang out across the hillsides. A fox perhaps, but it did nothing to settle Ottilie’s nerves. If only she could shake these ridiculous, nameless, baseless fears that seemed to attack her from nowhere and for no reason when she most needed to have a clear head. But even after weeks of living in Thimblebury, of getting to know the charming and welcoming village, she couldn’t. While other aspects of her life were going in the right direction, there were things that felt as if they would be a part of her forever – the loneliness, the fears, the doubts and anxieties that had come since Josh’s death.

Perhaps once a conviction had been secured and Josh’s murderer had been brought to justice, perhaps then things would change. For now, that situation still hung over her – not exactly a cloud above her own patch of sky, but a dark mass on the horizon, always threatening to blow her way. Perhaps if that was gone, things might brighten in her life again. As her steps quickened, she decided she’d call Faith in the morning for an update. There might not be any news, but at least it would feel good to be doing something about it.

She’d just passed Flo’s house and noted that the lights were still on when the creak of a gate made her spin round. A man was leaving. He looked at her at the same time as Ottilie turned.

‘All right?’ he asked.

It was Heath. Ottilie didn’t know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or be annoyed that the one person she’d met when she was so jittery was Flo’s sullen grandson.

‘Yes, thanks.’

Ottilie turned to hurry away, but then he called her back.

‘Hey…hang on a minute.’

She turned back to see him jog over.

‘Listen, I just…about the other day…I owe you an apology.’

‘Sure,’ Ottilie said, not entirely certain what he was apologising for. Maybe it was a general sort of apology for being an arse. ‘Whatever – it doesn’t matter.’

She glanced back at the road to her house. Was that it? Could she go now?

‘Are you OK?’ he asked, studying her.

‘Yes, why wouldn’t I be?’

‘I don’t know. You seem…Have you got far to go?’

‘Not really.’

‘You’re heading home?’

‘Yes.’

‘Maybe I could walk with you.’

Ottilie stared at him. ‘What for?’

‘I don’t know…’ he said lamely, seeming to be taken aback by her question. ‘Because…well, it seems like a good thing to do. It’s dark.’

‘And it’s also Thimblebury,’ Ottilie said, torn because she desperately wanted company for her walk home, but why did it have to be him? He was the one person she didn’t want to show weakness to. ‘Nothing’s going to happen to me here.’

‘I know,’ he said, looking at her like he didn’t believe she believed that at all. ‘Maybe I’m just a man whose gran taught him to be chivalrous. And maybe I’m trying to get brownie points, in case she’s watching from the window.’

Ottilie glanced at Flo’s cottage and immediately noticed the curtain fall back across the window. At this, despite everything, she had to smile. And as she looked back at Heath, he was smiling, and it was surprisingly warm.

‘Nothing gets past your gran, does it?’

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