Page 89 of A Secret Escape

She heard someone sayingMum, Mum!

And then everything went black.

Chapter23Nicole

It was pain that woke her. The hammering in her head and sore, gritty eyes. The exhausted, emotional hangover that came from too much crying.

She groped for the water she always kept by the bed and then remembered that she wasn’t in her little room in Milly’s boathouse.

She opened her eyes and saw Joel dozing in a chair in the corner of the room.

She sat up, disorientated, and he opened his eyes and yawned.

“You’re awake. Shame. I hoped you might sleep a little longer.” His voice was gravelly from sleep, and he was obviously struggling to focus. “You look terrible, Wendy. I’d better call hair and makeup.”

It was astonishing that even in her current state, with everything that had happened, he could still coax a smile from her. Or maybe she was just relieved to wake up and find she wasn’t alone. Whenever there was a crisis in her life, she was almost always alone.

“My head is exploding. Have you been sleeping in the chair all night?”

He glanced at his watch. “We were still talking at two and it’s only five now, so I wouldn’t really call that a night. I generally need more than three hours’ sleep to be able to function. I’ll get you painkillers for your head, and maybe you’ll go back to sleep again.”

He levered himself out of the chair, and she noticed several dark smudges on his now crumpled shirt.

“What happened to your shirt?”

He glanced down at himself. “You cried on it. I think you were wearing mascara. Not that I’m an expert on such things, but I’m guessing it wasn’t waterproof.”

That’s right. She’d cried on him. For hours.

She probably should have felt embarrassed and awkward, but for some reason she didn’t. Maybe it was because he didn’t seem bothered about it.

“I owe you a shirt.”

“Forget it. I’ll fetch those painkillers.”

“No painkillers. But water would be great, thank you.”

He left the room and returned moments later with a cool cloth for her head and a glass filled with ice water.

She sipped it gratefully and closed her eyes as he pressed the cloth to her forehead.

“I’m grateful to you.”

“For what?”

“For answering your phone when I called. For letting me stay here. For listening.” Her eyes filled again. “After Milly walked out I felt so bad. I didn’t want to be on my own. It’s not her fault, by the way, so don’t blame her. It’s my fault. All of it.”

“Don’t think about that now. We’ll figure it all out, and you can stay here until we do.”

She sniffed. “I’ll book a flight later. I’ll go home to California.”

“Why would you do that?” He grabbed the box of tissues from the nightstand and put it on her lap. “You told me last night that you haven’t slept a single night in your house since the intruder incident. You said that California doesn’t feel like home. That you’ve been happier here than you’ve been anywhere.”

She’d told him all that?

“That’s true. But I can’t exactly hang around Forest Nest, can I? I let Milly down. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me.” She’d failed her friend, and that was the worst feeling because Milly had been there for her when no one else was.

He took the cloth from her. “Let’s see how that works out. No need to make any quick decisions.”

---