Page 81 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
Her phone pinged the arrival of a message and she looked to see it was Heath. Rather than reply by text, she dialled his number.
‘Hello, gorgeous,’ he said as he picked up. ‘How’s your day been?’
‘Oh, the usual. Are you planning on coming over tonight?’
‘I thought we’d agreed on tomorrow?’
‘Oh, yeah, sorry, distracted…’
‘What’s wrong?’
Ottilie let out a sigh. ‘It’s probably nothing, but Chloe just told me she’d seen someone, a woman, snooping around my house. Like trying to see in. And the other week there was an upturned plant pot in my garden. Not just knocked over – the plant had been lifted out and the pot turned upside down. I thought it was weird but…well, I couldn’t imagine what might have done that. Like who would do that? I’m trying not to freak out but I must admit I’m feeling a bit rattled.’
‘Anyone would be. Have you actually seen anything yourself?’
‘No. And apart from the pot, nothing else has been disturbed. I don’t know what to think. I just ordered one of those doorbells with a camera on it.’
‘Good plan.’
‘But that’s not going to be here for a week. Do you think it will be all right?’
‘You want me to come over?’
Ottilie wanted him to come over more than anything, but she didn’t want to bethatwoman. She wanted to be the woman who was confident and independent and didn’t need a man to protect her. Whoever might be doing this for whatever reason, the one satisfaction she didn’t want to give them was to look scared.
But then her thoughts went to Josh’s attacker. She’d spent so many of the months after Josh’s death terrified that his attacker might come for her next, plagued by irrational fears, that to realise now she hadn’t thought about that for months was a shock. But this couldn’t be connected, could it? Josh’s attacker had been arrested and was awaiting trial. He might be out on bail, she supposed – she’d never thought to ask when the trial had been put back. Even so, as far as she knew, nobody who might put her in harm’s way knew where she’d moved to – not even Faith, Josh’s colleague on the police force who’d beenkeeping Ottilie in the loop about the case. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to call Faith and mention it to her.
‘I’m coming over,’ Heath said into the gap.
‘It’s fine,’ Ottilie decided. ‘It’s late and a long drive.’
‘I can’t say I’m happy about it, but if you’re sure…’
‘I’m sure. It’s going to be something and nothing, isn’t it? I’ll put the burglar alarm on tonight before I go to bed so I’ll be safe enough.’
‘Look at you, Ms Oakcroft. All independent now.’
‘Is that sarcasm?’
‘No! I mean it. When I think back to first meeting you, you were full of nerves.’
‘Was I? I mean, my confidence had been knocked, but I had good reason. I suppose I know what you’re saying, and I’m guessing there’s a compliment in there somewhere.’
‘I’m sorry, I know that – it was a flippant comment and I shouldn’t have made it. I only meant I’m proud of you.’
‘Thanks. So I’ll see you at the weekend?’
‘Try stopping me.’
‘Good. Looking forward to it. Love you…’
There was a pause. Ottilie had said the words in the way she often did now to end a call with him, casually, trying not to attach meaning but hoping for it just the same, but she’d never heard them said back.
‘Look after yourself,’ he said. ‘Call me if there’s even a sniff of trouble and I’ll be there.’
‘I will,’ Ottilie said, ending the call, not reassured, as she’d hoped to be, but deflated. Even in the midst of all this, even though she might have bigger things to worry about, the one thing playing on her mind was that those three little words had still to be uttered by him. Why couldn’t she get past it? Surely he didn’t need to say them when he showed her he cared, and yet, it still mattered to her for reasons even she didn’t reallyunderstand. Still, that had to be better than being scared, didn’t it?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
