Page 14 of An Ill Wind in Seabury
George nodded. ‘You’ll warn the boys they might get an unwanted visitor?’
‘I’ll let them know,’ said Connie. ‘But I’ll tell them to be nice and offer her a cuppa. It sounds like the poor lamb’s having a bad day.’
CHAPTER 6
CLAUDIA
Claudia pushed herself up from the mound of pillows and scrubbed at her eyes. Damn, she’d left a great big mascara smear across the pristine white bedding, and her pillow was all damp from her tears. She’d just about managed to keep a lid on things until she’d reached her hotel room… but it had been a close-run thing.
‘What a nightmare!’ she muttered.Whydid she have to channel her mother’s worst kind of behaviour when she was about to have an emotional meltdown?
Claudia sighed and rubbed her face again, irritated to find that her tears were still falling.
‘Pull it together, idiot!’ she muttered, her voice thick and wet.
She was just so cross with herself for taking out all her anger and frustration on a bunch of poor, unsuspecting strangers! Lionel downstairs had been perfectly lovely, and more than welcoming considering she’d rocked up without a booking. But in her shaky state, she’d proceeded to be as rude as humanly possible about his beautiful hotel. It was either that or cry all over the poor man… though in hindsight, that would probably have been the better course of action!
Instead, she’d behaved like a bad-mannered toddler on a sugar crash. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Lionel who’d caught the worst end of her behaviour. That poor, smiley woman in the café had faced her wrath too—and all because she didn’t have pumpkin spiced lattes!
‘You don’t even know if youlikethe blasted things!’ she snivelled, wiping tears, snot and mascara onto the sleeve of her jumper.
That wasn’t the point, though. After listening to the message her mother had left on her phone while she’d been driving in ever more frustrated circles, Claudia had needed something sweet to take the sting out of the bitter words. She’d always wanted to try a pumpkin-spiced latte… and the fact that the little café had sold out had been the last straw. She’d lost it completely… and in the process, had morphed into her mother’s horrific mini-me!
Swallowing hard, Claudia grabbed her phone and flopped back onto the pillows again. Then she hit play once again on the voicemail. She knew it was a bad idea… a bit like picking at a scab. But still…
“Claudia, what on earth is taking so long? I knew I should have gone down there myself. I expect you to pick up when I call, and I expect regular updates. You’d think that after everything you’ve put us through and everything we’ve done for you, you might be a little more considerate.
By the way, don’t even think about coming home until you’ve found out what these Pepper people are all about. And don’t expect me to foot the bill either. I’ve already paid for the car, which is more than you deserve. For once in your life, try not to be a disappointment. Call me back at once.”
Claudia clicked the phone off and tossed it towards the foot of the bed as if it might buy her a bit of space from her mother’s displeasure. It promptly bounced and fell onto the floor.
With a tired sigh, Claudia dutifully forced herself out of the pillows to retrieve it. She didn’t know why the stroppy message had hurt so much, because the words simply echoed the kind of thing her mother and stepfather threw at her every day. For some reason, though, this message had managed to worm its way under her usual barriers and had stuck into the remaining soft parts of her soul like a spear tip.
‘I willnotturn into that woman!’ she growled, grabbing her phone from the floor and then wandering over to inspect the damage to her perfectly made-up face in the mirror.
Okay… maybe she wasn’t channelling her motherquiteas much as she feared. Right now, her tightly controlled hair was decidedly off-kilter. One long strand had somehow managed to escape and was busy defying gravity—the hairspray refusing point-blank to let go completely.
Claudia winced. Her eyes were red and panda-rimmed, and her nose was damp and sore from blowing it so many times.
It was official, her mum would have a fit if she saw her right now. She was the epitome of an embarrassing disappointment. The problem was that no matter what she did, Claudia was never able to make her mother see her as anything else. Not when she still held her responsible for the fact that her dad had left all those years ago.
In her mother’s warped take on things, the fact that Claudia had defied her wishes and set off on her solo adventure to Paris had been the last nudge her dad had needed to make a break for it, too.
‘Ridiculous woman!’ sniffled Claudia. There was no way it could be true… but if it was… even slightly… it meant that she was also responsible for his death. After all, if he hadn’t left her mum, he’d have never gone to the Alps in the first place.
Claudia swallowed and shook her head. These were the thoughts that had plagued her for the last ten years. Thoughtsthat she was never allowed to move on from, thanks to her mother.
The one time she’d confided in Freya about the whole thing, her sister had had a very different take on matters. According to her, there was no way the adventures of a teenager could ever prompt a grown man to end his marriage. Not if he was happy. When Claudia had thrown a whole bunch of“yes, but what ifs”at her, Freya had simply shrugged and said thatifshe’d been responsible inanyway, then she should be proud. Yes, their father had died, but he’d finally been free and happy and living his best life.
Claudia never broached the subject with Freya again. She preferred to protect her little sister from as much of her mother’s vitriol as humanly possible… but she’d held onto those words like a lifeline.
Responsible or not, as far as Claudia was concerned, everything good and adventurous about her life had died along with her beloved dad.
‘He’d be ashamed of you right now,’ she sighed, peeling herself away from the mirror and turning to rummage in her little pink suitcase for a pack of makeup wipes.
Moping around here wasn’t going to fix anything, though, was it? She needed to find Seabury House. She needed to speak to the Peppers. And then she needed to apologise to most of the rest of Seabury.
‘First things first, though!’
