Page 60 of The Holiday Cottage

She needed to hold it together for her mother’s sake if not her own. She wouldnotfall apart. She would not let Tina do this to her, or her mother, again.

When her mother had told her she’d offered Imogen the cottage, she’d been horrified and more than a little angry, but even in her most pessimistic moments she wouldn’t have predicted an outcome quite as brutal as the one she’d just witnessed.

Sara took a slow deep breath, and then another. To calm herself, she thought about Patrick and the girls. She thought about Christmas and how much fun they were going to have.

“Mum—”

“Are you angry with me? You must be so angry with me.”

“Of course not.” Her anger evaporated in a moment. How could she be angry with her mother for being warm and generous? For always wanting to reach out and help anyone in trouble? It was one of the many things she loved about her, and the fact that this time it had backfired so badly wasn’t her fault. “You were trying to help. It’s not your fault. Just as it wasn’t your fault last time.”

“It was. Some of it was. I said terrible things on that dreadful day.”

All justified in Sara’s opinion, but she knew better than to say that.

“We all have moments when we say things we regret. That’s part of being human. It’s impossible to go through life always saying the right thing. It doesn’t change the fact that people make their own choices, and Tina made hers. To think that your actions could have influenced those choices is fanciful. You can’t control everything, Mum. People aren’t puppets. You need to forgive yourself and move on. Instead of blaming yourself, you should try acceptance. It happened. It was messy. But in the end Tina made her own choices.”

“Yes. You’re right. But those choices have impacted on poor Imogen. Right now she is our priority. I have to go after her.” Her mother stumbled to her feet, the suddenness of the movement knocking the chair over.

Sara shot out her hand and caught it before it could hit the floor. “Mum, just take a moment. Let’s talk about this. Think about the best approach.”

The sight of her mother’s face scared her. She was taken back to that awful night. The memory of it all blurred together. Tina shouting. Little Imogen screaming her lungs out and clutching her stuffed bunny, her father collapsing. The shriek of an ambulance siren, the flash of blue lights and then bleak hospital corridors and her mother’s white face as she tried to hold all of it together.

Seeing her mother so upset scared her. It couldn’t happen again. She wasn’t going to let it happen again.

“Breathe, Mum. Please stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” She was saying that for her own benefit as much as her mother’s. “We’re going to fix this.”

“How? Those things she said—” Her mother clutched her arm. “I’m going to find her and explain. She doesn’t understand any of it. I need to make her understand.”

Sara didn’t voice her own fears—that Imogen would never understand because the only family member she could remember having in her life was Tina. Unlike her mother, Sara harbored no illusions about her sister.

But she knew better than to raise that now.

“We will talk to her, but for now you need to calm down if you possibly can.” It wasn’t going to be easy to talk to Imogen, because she’d walked right out of the door without giving them a chance to explain.

But that was shock, Sara reminded herself. They were all in shock.

There were things she needed to process herself, but right now her priority was her mother.

“I can’t calm down until I’ve seen her. Spoken to her. She left her coat. We need to take her coat or she’ll freeze. And she left her bag, with her phone.” Her mother looked around her, panicked and distracted. “Where did I put my car keys?”

Sara’s heart sank because she knew she was the one who was going to have to do this, even though all she wanted to do was hide.

“You’re not driving anywhere.”

“I have to. I have to go after her.”

“I’ll go.” She had to force the words out. The last thing she wanted to do was have another encounter with Imogen that involved raking up the past. She didn’t even want to think about Tina, let alone talk about her, but if the alternative was letting her mother do it, then she was just going to have to face her fears.

Her mother didn’t argue. “Yes. You’ll be faster than me. Go after her, Sara. Tell her how worried we are about her. Apologize from me. And I should be apologizing to you, too. You said this was a mistake and you were right. I should never have offered her the cottage. But when she said she wouldn’t be spending it with family—” Her mother’s hands were shaking, and she was breathing much too rapidly for Sara’s peace of mind.

“It was a difficult situation. And I know you still feel a sense of responsibility.”

“I do, particularly as she seems so alone. Why isn’t she spending Christmas with family? Where is Tina? Are they not close?”

“I don’t know, Mum. I don’t have any answers.” And she didn’t really want answers. She didn’t want to think about it at all, but she had no choice now.

“I assumed she was doing fine. That she’d built a life.” Tears fell, and her mother pressed her hand to her mouth, trying to stop the sobs.

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