Page 57 of The Path to the Last House Before the Sea

‘It’s no bother.’ Alyssa frowned. ‘You look tired after such a busy day yesterday.’

‘I am very tired. That’s probably what brought on the migraine.’ Magda took a scalding gulp of coffee. ‘Anyway, I’d rather be on my own, if you don’t mind.’

When surprise registered on Alyssa’s face, Magda felt a flash of shame over her rudeness.

‘Of course, I’ll leave you to it.’ Alyssa walked to the back door but turned, her fingers gripping the handle. ‘Look, I don’t mean to intrude and I’ll leave you in peace, but are you sure you’re all right now? You don’t seem yourself today.’

Alyssa had hit the nail on the head, Magda realised. She felt like a different woman from the one who’d followed Stan out of the marquee onto the clifftop. That woman had been hopeful about the future, whereas this one didn’t dare look ahead.

‘I told Stan,’ she said dully, part of her wanting Alyssa to understand the consequences of what she’d encouraged her to do.

‘Oh.’ Alyssa’s eyes opened wide. ‘That was brave of you. I didn’t realise you’d changed your mind about telling him. How did it go?’

Magda clutched her coffee cup tightly in two hands, even though it was burning her palms.‘He doesn’t feel the same way and he seemed appalled that I’d say such a thing. He felt it was a slap in the face for Penny, the dead wife he still adores.’

Alyssa stepped forward and stretched out her arms, as if she could dispense a hug from across the room. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Are you?’ The anger building inside Magda was winning. It was making her feel hot and trapped in this small kitchen. In this tiny village.

‘Yes, of course I am. I didn’t think—’

‘No, you didn’t,’ said Magda, slamming the coffee cup onto the drainer. Drops of scalding liquid burned her skin. ‘You didn’t think before you urged me to tell Stan exactly how I felt.’

Alyssa frowned. ‘I didn’t urge you to tell him. I was honoured that you shared with me how you felt, and I suggested you do what was best for you and Stan.’

‘And then you said I should follow my gut feeling.’

‘You pushed me into giving my opinion, Magda,’ said Alyssa gently. ‘If I remember rightly, I said it would be a shame if fear stopped you from telling Stan if that was what you really wanted to do. I thought you might feel better if you weren’t keeping secrets any longer.’

‘Secrets?’ Magda gave a hollow laugh. ‘I had one secret, Alyssa. One secret that I should have kept. But what about you?’

‘What do you mean?’ Alyssa had gone pale.

‘What about the raft of secrets that you’re keeping? Why are you living in a caravan at the bottom of my garden and getting mysterious brown envelopes through the post?’ The words were spilling out of her now, as if she could rid herself of her pain by throwing it at this mysterious young woman who’d arrived out of the blue. ‘Why don’t you ever talk about your past life? What’s so awful that you have to keep it quiet?’

‘I don’t—’

‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’ Magda sank back onto the kitchen chair, her anger vanishing as swiftly as it had arrived. In its place was a bone-numbing weariness. ‘Keep your secrets, just as I should have kept mine.’

‘I’m so sorry, Magda.’

Alyssa’s eyes were shiny with tears but Magda hardened her battered heart.

‘It’s too late to be sorry, I’m afraid. The damage is done.’

‘Stan cares about you. That’s obvious whenever the two of you are together. And you’re an amazing woman.’

‘Not amazing enough,’ said Magda bitterly. ‘I’ve wasted my life in many ways, Alyssa, yearning for someone who would never choose to be mine. So let me give you some advice. Whatever you’re running from, run faster. I wish I’d run fast and far and had never come to live in Heaven’s Cove.’

‘You don’t mean that,’ said Alyssa in a shaky voice.

‘But I do,’ Magda replied, her shoulders suddenly relaxing as she realised the answer to her dilemma. ‘So, I’m going to move on. It’s time for me to leave the village.’

Alyssa’s jaw dropped. ‘Surely you don’t have to go? You’re a huge part of Heaven’s Cove and you’d be missed so much.’

Maybe she would be, but Magda’s certainty that leaving was the answer to her problems was growing. She loved this village by the sea, with its soaring cliffs and the wild moors so close, and the people here had become dear to her. But she couldn’t see Stan every day and pretend that nothing fundamental had changed.

She shook her head. ‘I’m leaving, as soon as I can.’

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