Page 31 of Snow Going Back

‘Oh, your glittering personality rolling pointlessly around the house while the rest of civilisation actually work is alreadymorethan enough,’ Kate replied.

Sam laughed and shook his head. ‘Ahh, lawyer girl…’

He met her gaze, and she thought he was going to continue, but then he suddenly closed the door instead. A second later, he switched the light off, leaving her standing there in total darkness.

She nodded slowly, pressing her lips together in a wry line. ‘Yep. Should have seen that coming.’

EIGHTEEN

Kate smiled at the picture Lance had sent through of the two of them dancing and laughing at a party last New Year’s Eve. Amy had taken it, she recalled. It had been a brilliant night. But as she remembered how good it had been, her smile began to fade. Things had been fun then. They’d only been dating a couple of months and had still been enjoying the rose-tinted honeymoon period that new couples go through. She typed out a quick response to Lance.

Great pic. Hope you’re OK. It doesn’t look like I’ll get home this weekend, after all. Will see if I can make it work for next week and let you know. –K x

Her phone vibrated with his response just a few seconds later.

OK. Talk later. –L x

Kate slipped the phone back into her coat pocket, then got out of the car and trudged through the snow to the maindouble doors of the Coreaux Roots offices. As they closed behind her, she stamped her feet on the welcome mat and looked around. The reception area was small and simply decorated. A few sturdy practical chairs lined one wall facing a small, and currently vacant, reception desk. Kate leaned over to look down the hallway that led off behind, then peeped through the small window in the only other door in the room. She couldn’t see a soul.

Resigning herself to a wait, she pushed her hands down into the pockets of her big white coat and wandered over to the framed pictures hung beside the door. The first one was very old, a handful of people standing together in front of some trees. She recognised the young smiling faces of William and Cora. The second picture was a few years later, a larger group beside a cleared section of forest, William and Cora front and centre once more. The company snapshots continued every few years, right up to the most recent, where one space was noticeably empty beside Cora. Kate looked at her sadly, noticing she still smiled, but without the excitement and hope that had been there before. Kate tried to imagine how it would feel to lose someone you’d spent a lifetime with.

‘They’re all taken in the same spot,’ a voice said behind her.

Kate turned to see a woman who she guessed to be in her late twenties watching her from behind the desk. She was dressed in a vertically half-black, half-blue knee-length dress, her shiny dark hair loose around her shoulders.

‘The pictures,’ she clarified, pointing to the photos Kate had been looking at. ‘All taken in the same place, from the first to the last.’

‘Really?’ Kate looked back across them. The background evolved from trees to cleared ground to a wooden cabin that grew and was eventually replaced with the building she nowstood in. She smiled. ‘I like that. That’s almost as interesting to watch as the change in the people.’

‘They’re one and the same, this place and its people,’ the woman replied. ‘That’s what Cora used to say. The body and soul, both equally as important.’

Kate nodded. ‘Wise words.’

‘She was a wise woman.’

Kate walked to the desk and held out her hand. ‘I’m Kate. I’m?—’

‘I know who you are,’ the woman said, cutting her off. ‘Sam called to tell us you were coming.’

‘Ah.’ Kate let her hand drop. ‘I see.’

The woman grinned. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘We make up our own minds about people around here.’

‘Oh.’ Kate felt her hope lift, and she smiled back. ‘Good.’

‘I’m Jenna,’ the woman said. ‘I manage the office. Make sure the contracts are all in order and operations are running smoothly. Field incoming requests.’

This jogged something in Kate’s memory. ‘We’ve exchanged emails before, haven’t we?’

‘We have,’ Jenna confirmed.

Kate nodded. Things were run so smoothly here that her involvement had always been minimal, and this was the person responsible for such easy dealings. She noted Jenna down as the person to come to when she needed to delve deeper, which she inevitably would.

‘I was hoping to look around, get a general idea of how things work here,’ Kate said.

Jenna nodded. ‘I thought you would, so I arranged for one of the senior site managers to take you on a tour and answer any questions you have.’

‘Oh. Thank you,’ Kate said, impressed. ‘That’s actually perfect.’

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