Page 97 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

GABRIEL

She’s here.Gabriel felt his heartbeat quicken at the sight of Nessa.

He’d sent her a text yesterday: Work starts at Ghost Village tomorrow. Please be there at ten. G

It was brief but he’d spent five minutes composing it, all the same. Adding and subtracting words, wondering if he should tell her why he wanted her to be there.

Her phone call the other day had sounded like a line in the sand. I’ve apologised to ease my conscience and now I’m moving on.

She was through with men from London who arrived out of the blue to turn her life upside down. Men so out of touch with their emotions, they didn’t have a clue about what was truly important in life.

But he wanted her here. So he’d sent his text and she’d read it and sent back just five words: If I can make it.

She hadn’t railed against the work starting or asked why she should be there, and that made him sad. Nessa had been so worn down by disappointment and loss in her short life, she seemed resigned to more.

She was here to say a last goodbye to the Ghost Village that she loved. Or perhaps she hoped he’d found a way to save her great-grandmother’s mosaic from the wrecking ball.

Either way, she was here, and he was grateful to see her one last time.

She was sitting on the grass above Sorrel Cove, her knees pulled up under her chin. Her long dark hair was flying in the breeze blowing off the sea.

Nessa, staring out across the sparkling blue water, didn’t notice him approaching until he’d almost reached her.

‘Where did you come from?’ she demanded, scrambling to her feet. Her cheeks flushed adorably pink as she pushed hair from her eyes.

‘I parked in Heaven’s Cove and walked over the headland,’ he told her, noticing the gold snake bracelet bright against her suntanned skin.

It might help that Nessa was here when Amelia Fulden arrived. Amelia, the woman he’d rung from his Mediterranean beach, might just change everything.

He checked his watch and squinted into the distance. She should be here soon.

He hadn’t told Nessa anything about Amelia or about his plan, such as it was. He worried that she’d be disappointed in him all over again when it failed. If it failed, he told himself, trying to stay positive.

‘Well, you shouldn’t creep up on people like that. You frightened the life out of me,’ said Nessa.

‘Sorry.’ He gave her what he hoped was a wry grin. ‘So you came, then.’

‘I did. I was glad to get your text.’

‘Why?’ he asked, holding his breath. Had she been thinking about him? Missing him, perhaps?

‘I wanted to say goodbye to the Ghost Village and I wasn’t sure what was happening when.’

He breathed out slowly, disappointment blooming. She hadn’t thought about seeing him at all. She was only interested in the cottage and the ruined village that was about to be obliterated.

‘So what will happen?’ she asked. ‘Will diggers arrive and start demolishing everything?’

He nodded, hating the flash of sorrow in her eyes. ‘I think so. I’ve been out of the office for the last week so I haven’t been involved in the arrangements. I did wonder if you were going to come along with a placard or lie down in front of the diggers,’ he said, trying to lift her mood.

Nessa smiled. ‘I thought about it but when I mentioned placards to Rosie, she gave me a good talking to, about letting things go. Accepting life rather than railing against it. I think someone else told me that once.’ She gave him a sideways glance. ‘Anyway, here I am, placard-less. Just as well because I need to pick Lily up from school later and I can’t do that if I’m in a police cell for obstruction. Your dad seems the type to press charges.’

‘You’re probably right.’

Gabriel glanced at Sorrel Cove to make sure his father was here. He hadn’t seen him since their disagreement at the cottage, but he knew Billy liked to be on site on the first day of a project. The thrill of the chase was over, the deal was done, and work was about to begin.

There he was, kitted out in a high-vis jacket, talking to his site foreman amid the ruins of the Ghost Village.

Gabriel glanced at his watch again. The first diggers could arrive at any moment so he had to move fast. Where on earth was Amelia? She’d said she’d be here by now.

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