Page 2 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

NESSA

‘How did it go?’ Rosie nodded towards the kitchen. ‘Cup of tea? Or maybe you’d like something stronger?’

‘At ten thirty in the morning?’ Nessa grimaced and pushed her dark hair over her shoulder. ‘That would make me the kind of mother Valerie is convinced I am.’

She thought for a moment of her ex mother-in-law, Lily’s grandmother – the woman who was convinced that Nessa was a rubbish mother.

‘Valerie would never know,’ said Rosie with a grin.

‘She’d find out somehow. That woman has ESP when it comes to my mothering skills. So I’ll pass on the alcohol, but tea would be an absolute life-saver.’

She followed Rosie into a large, bright kitchen and sat at the table while the kettle boiled.

Nessa loved this room with its worn quarry tiles and salt-streaked windows that looked out across the clifftop. It felt like the heart of the house that was currently a refuge for her and Lily.

‘Did Lily go into school all right?’ asked Rosie, placing a steaming mug in front of her. She slid into the seat opposite.

Nessa nodded. ‘She was fine once we got there but she was a bit clingy on the walk down the cliff path. It’s not surprising, with everything that’s been going on lately.’ She reached across the table and put her hand on Rosie’s arm. ‘I know I’ve said it already but I do appreciate you putting a roof over our heads. I promise we won’t stay long.’

Rosie shrugged. ‘I couldn’t bear to think of you and Lily moving into some grotty bedsit miles away. Honestly, I don’t know what’s wrong with that Mr Aston bloke. He must have known that you and Lily were living with your gran, so selling the house straightaway is just mean.’

‘It’s business,’ said Nessa resignedly. ‘To be fair, we never got proper permission to move in with Gran. I don’t think he cared as long as the rent was paid. And he’s going to make a mint selling the place to some outsider who’ll turn it into a holiday let.’

‘Probably. But I still think that turfing you and Lily out so quickly was out of order.’

‘He doesn’t know that I’m skint and could only afford to move into a hovel.’

‘Hmm.’ Rosie narrowed her eyes. ‘You wouldn’t be so skint if Jake stopped being such a useless dad and started paying regular maintenance for Lily. Free spirit, my arse.’

Nessa nodded and sipped her tea. She appreciated Rosie’s annoyance on her behalf but she’d gone past the stage of feeling angry at her ex. She’d had four years to get used to his excuses and no-shows, ever since he’d walked out on her and Lily, claiming he was a free spirit who couldn’t be ‘tied down’. He’d moved two hundred and fifty miles away and now seemed to spend his time flitting from job to job and volunteering with various protest groups.

‘Anyway,’ said Rosie, giving Nessa a bright smile, ‘I love having you and Lily here so you can stay as long as you like.’

And Nessa smiled back, even though she knew that their stay here, high above Heaven’s Cove, was temporary.

It had to be. Rosie was running a guesthouse and, with summer getting into full swing, she’d soon need every bedroom for paying guests. She couldn’t afford to give up one room to Nessa and Lily for much longer. They’d have to move on to some soulless bedsit in God knows where, and Nessa would have to get her life back on track.

Nessa felt her bottom lip wobble but fortunately Rosie was distracted by the front doorbell ringing. And when she got up to answer it, she didn’t see the tears that plopped onto the varnished wood.

Nessa scrubbed at her eyes but the tears kept falling. Not only was she homeless and mourning the loss of her gran, but she was also without a job. With appalling timing, Desmond Scaglin, who ran Shelley’s, the hardware store where Nessa worked, had decided to shut the shop and retire.

Nessa wasn’t normally one for self-pity. She’d always worked hard at being upbeat, even in those raw first weeks after Jake had moved out.

But life was starting to take the mick, she decided, dabbing at her wet cheeks with a tissue. There was only so much one thirty-year-old could take, but giving up wasn’t an option, because of Lily.

Picturing her daughter’s trusting face stemmed Nessa’s tears. Crying wouldn’t help and she couldn’t let her daughter down.

With a sigh, Nessa got to her feet. She’d go to her bedroom and do something useful, like apply for jobs – though the long summer holiday from school was starting in six weeks’ time and childcare would be an issue.

It was one problem after another, Nessa decided, shoving her soggy tissue into her pocket and opening the kitchen door.

She stopped. Rosie was standing in the sunny hallway talking to a tall man in a grey suit.

‘Well, if that’s the case, can you suggest anywhere else in the village?’ he asked, pushing his horn-rimmed glasses further up his nose.

‘Have you tried the B&B opposite the pub?’

‘I have. I’ve tried every B&B in Heaven’s Cove and they’re all full. I was told you might have a room free, which is why I took a walk up here. But it seems I’ve wasted my time.’ He groaned with frustration.

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