Hannah watched as a small girl with the same wavy wayward dark hair as Sophie came running at full pelt around the side of the cottage, Alfie at her heels. Turning to Sophie, she widened her eyes. ‘Is this Florrie? I couldn’t have been away that long. How on earth has she grown so much?’
Florrie ran towards Sophie, clinging to her side as shyness suddenly overtook her excitement at coming across the small dog.
Running her hand down her daughter’s thick flyaway hair, Sophie grinned. ‘Yes, this is Florrie. Florrie, this is one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, Hannah.’
‘Hey, Florrie.’ Hannah waved at the small child as a lump formed in her throat. She’d missed so much of her friends’ lives. Florrie had only been a baby when she’d left. ‘I remember holding you when you were a teeny tiny baby. How old are you now?’
Florrie held four fingers up before glancing up at her mum, waiting for Sophie to nod before she spoke. ‘Four.’
‘Four, wow! You’ve grown so much.’ Hannah pointed to Alfie, who was now lying at Florrie’s feet. ‘I see you’ve found my dog, Alfie.’
Florrie beamed as she reached down and petted the dog. ‘I like him.’
‘I think he likes you too. He can be a bit of a pain with people he doesn’t know, but he seems to love you.’ Hannah grinned. Although she could never predict Alfie’s temperamentwhen he met new people, one thing he had in his favour was that he seemed to have so much patience for children. It was just unfortunate that a small number of adults seemed to be a different matter entirely.
‘What was I saying on the phone the other night? This visit is long overdue.’ Gemma chided her softly. They all knew why Hannah had been away.
Nodding, Hannah sighed as she looked towards the front door. However lovely it was to catch up with her friends, she still wasn’t sure she was ready for this next step.
Walking towards her, Gemma took Hannah’s hand in hers. ‘Ready?’
‘No.’ Biting down on her bottom lip, Hannah glanced across at little Florrie before taking a deep breath. She couldn’t break down and cry, which is what she felt like doing, not with Sophie’s young daughter here. No, she’d just have to get on with it, block out her emotions. After all she’d succeeded in doing so pretty well for the last four years, what would another hour or so do?
‘We can come back tomorrow if you’d rather? You can sleep in yourcaravan, or at mine, and we can go in another time?’ Gemma nodded towards the front door.
Shaking her head, Hannah pulled the key from the pocket of her jeans, yanking the key until the little stubby plastic seagull keychain freed itself from her pocket. The keychain her grandad had bought her on their last trip to the beach at Littlehamptontogether. ‘Nope. I’m here now. Let’s get this over and done with.’
‘Okay, let’s do this.’ Gemma squeezed her hand as she spoke with the enthusiasm and authority of the teacher she was.
DroppingGemma’shand, Hannah stepped forward before pausing on the doorstep.Reachingout, she ran her palm across the green paintworkandtraced thepadof her index fingeraroundthe brass doorknocker shaped in the form of abumblebee.Sheremembered the day she’d chosen it, keeping it safe to give to her grandad on his birthday. He’d put it up the very same day and waited by the door until the postman had knocked to deliver a parcel beforepulling open the front door and stating proudly that Hannah had bought it for him for his birthday. She smiled sadly. She could have given him a rock, and he’d still have been so grateful. He’d always been the first to praise her, to believe in her, to tell her she could do anything her heart desired.
‘Are sure you want to do this now? We can go and grab a coffee or something first? Let you get acclimatised back into village life?’ Sophie’s voice was quiet, soothing, as she rubbed her on the back.
‘No, I’ve got this.’ Hannah closed her eyes, an image of her grandad coming into her mind’s eye. What would he think of her now? Having left his home empty for four years to go off travelling? He’d probably still have been proud, told everyone and anyone who would listen how his granddaughter was off seeing the world. What he wouldn’t have known though, was that he was the reason she’d not been home. That he was the reason she’d beenkeeping away. That shehadn’twanted to step footinsidethe cottage againbecauseit was hers and that meant only one thing, he would no longer be sitting in his armchair beside the fireplace ready to call out to her and ask what word has four letters with the clue, ‘driving through a watery road’ for his daily crossword.
Alfie yapped behind her, pulling Hannah from her thoughts. He was getting impatient, and he didn’t even know why. Opening her eyes, she stuck the key in the lock and turned it,listeningforthefamiliarclick before the door swung open. It was darkinside, the blueblackoutcurtainsdoingtheir job. Reaching across to thelight switch,Hannahflickedit, the sittingroom suddenly bathed in light before the lightbulb flickered and plungedeverythinginto darkness again.
‘Oh,’ Hannah frowned. She’d been paying the electricity bills. Each and every month, the standing charges for both gas and electricity had been coming out of her bank account. She’d often been tempted to cancel them, to tell the energy company that the house was uninhabited for the time being, but because she’d kept telling herself that this would be the month she’d return home, she’d kept them going. Plus, she hadn’t wanted the pipes to freeze or anything during the winter. So it couldn’t be because of that.
Yapping again, Alfie ran in front of her and disappeared into the dark room.
‘Not to worry, maybe the lightbulb has gone.’ Walking past her, Lucy hurried to the windows and pulled the curtains wide open, bathing the small sitting room in sunlight.
Stepping tentatively inside, Hannah looked around. Everything was how it had been. Her grandad’s blanket draped over the back of his armchair, theBest Grandadmug she’d bought him decades ago still sitting on top of his newspaper, which she was sure if she looked at it would still be on the page of the crossword puzzle he so adored. She blinked against the dust disturbed by the swoosh of the curtains as Lucy had pulled them open. HerLittle Miss Chatterboxmug still sat on the coffee table next to an open book, the one she’d been reading before she’d raced outside to find her grandad keeled over in the driveway.
‘Are you okay?’ Sophie came up beside her. She was wearing her signature flowery perfume, another thing that hadn’t changed.
Hannah nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘Would you rather we waited outside so you can take a look around on your own?’ Gemma asked.
‘No, I...’ Hannah frowned as the sound of Alfie wincing reached them. Looking around, she searched the living room. Where was he? The door to the kitchen was shut still, and that was it downstairs. There wasn’t anywhere else he could have gone unless...
‘I think he’s gone upstairs.’ Gemma nodded towards the stairs in the corner of the room.
Hurrying across the floor, Hannah walked across the patterned cream and red rug before reaching the bottom of the stairs. ‘Alfie. Alfie, come.’
Nothing.
