Page 117 of The Secret Life of Beatrice Alright

‘An hour,’ Shayne says, with an urgency that panics me.

We both know every moment counts.

FORTY-SEVEN

‘Cora!’ Ellie shrieks.

She’s overjoyed to see Cora. And I realise that, while I’ve been missing my best friend, Ellie has been missing the only other adult who has been a constant in her life since birth. I scold myself for a moment for not talking to my little girl about it.

‘Hey there, gorgeous,’ Cora says, stretching her arms wide and swallowing Ellie up in a giant bear hug. ‘You ready to go fly a kite?’

Ellie has no idea what’s happening but that doesn’t stop her from agreeing to it all and being so full of excitement her eyes bulge.

‘Will she be in tomorrow?’ Alannah asks, clip-clopping in new, chunky heels around reception.

‘No idea.’ I shrug.

‘Okay, no worries. Just if you could let us know…’

I stare at her blankly.

‘Or you can just pop it in the app. Do you have the app?’

‘I have the damn app.’

Alannah jerks her head back until she has three chins. ‘You can pay late fees on the app now too, by the way, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep it updated and active.’

‘I have it,’ I snap.

‘Byeee, Ellie,’ Alannah says.

Ellie turns her head over her shoulder and blows Alannah a kiss.

‘I loved the manager’s shoes,’ Cora says.

‘Meh, I prefer wellies in this weather,’ I say with a shrug.

Ellie talks the entire way across town. Cora laps it up like rays of joy she’s been missing. They giggle together and Ellie throws her arms round Cora sporadically and without warning and sometimes it looks as if Cora never wants to let go. I hadn’t realised how much they’d missed each other. With everything that was going on, I hadn’t taken the time to really think about much I missed Cora too. It’s been less than three weeks since the three of us were together like this, but so much has happened it feels like months. Or even years. It’s so good to be together again.

The park is busier than I was expecting. People are wrapped up warmly for the weather and scrolling carefree, as if the icy wind and thick cloud overhead is a pleasant as a summer’s day. Teenagers whizz by on bicycles, laughing the way that age group do. A toddler wails in a buggy, and a flustered young father tries to calm her. An elderly couple shuffle by, hand in hand, their backs curved like commas.

‘The paths are salted down this way,’ Cora tells them, pointing towards a windy tarmac pathway that leads towards the main car park.

‘Thank you, but we’re off to feed the deer,’ the elderly man tells us as he steps off the footpath and onto long grass.

‘They love the scraps,’ the woman says, pointing towards the plastic bag she carries. Then they shuffle away slowly.

‘Was that a giant bag of lettuce?’ Cora says, struggling to hold in a laugh.

‘I think so.’

‘Is that allowed?’ Shayne asks. ‘I mean, are you supposed to feed the wild animals?’

I shrug. ‘No idea. But I don’t see what harm it could do?’

‘It’s not as if they’re stuck for food,’ Malcolm says, stretching his arms out to highlight the wide-open grassy space.

‘No. But if it makes them feel good.’

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