Page 9 of Coming Home to Sturcombe Bay
Cassie frowned, dragging through the remote corners of her memory. “Pasty-faced girl, bad haircut? Always eating sweets, but she’d never share them.”
“That’s the one. The bad haircut’s long gone — she’s really glammed up these days, gone blonde.”
“Wasn’t she always a bit of a bully? I remember Dad had to take her prefect badge off her for shouting at the first years after she made one of them cry.”
“That’s right!” Lisa nodded. “I’d forgotten that. Anyway, she wouldn’t stand for just being his bit on the side. She made him divorce Debbie and marry her.”
“Sounds like she did Debbie a favour,” Cassie remarked dryly.
“She did. They got married a year ago, just a few months after the divorce came through, and there’s already a baby on the way.”
Cassie laughed. “Well, if old Octopus gets up to his tricks now, he’d better watch out. She’ll have his nuts for breakfast.”
“She will.” Lisa’s eyes danced. “Debbie should have done that years ago.”
Cassie sipped her cola, watching a seagull stalk arrogantly across the sand. The person she really wanted to ask about was Liam. She had avoided asking Lisa about him while she was away, hoping her sister would assume that she wasn’t interested.
Lisa had once sent her a photograph of their gang of friends here on the beach, and there had been Liam among them, his arm around the waist of a very pretty blonde girl, both looking ecstatically happy in the sunshine. And a few months later Lisa had mentioned that she was going to his wedding — she assumed to the same blonde.
“All these weddings.” Cassie took a moment to ensure that her voice held only casual interest. “Didn’t you tell me Liam Ellis was married too?”
“Oh, yes — to Natalie.” A shadow darkened Lisa’s eyes. “But she died. It was a horrible shock to everyone. It was so sudden. They were on holiday in Greece, and there was an accident. It was so sad. She was . . .”
“Really nice?”
“Yes, she was. She was Ollie’s receptionist for a while till she had their little girl. She was really good with his elderly patients — they all loved her. There were lots of tears at her funeral.”
Cassie felt her heart crease. Lisa had told her about it at the time, but being so far away it had felt like something from another life. But now, having seen Liam again, seen that hint of darkness in his eyes, she could feel the depth of his loss. It must have been awful.
“Robyn was only two when it happened. Liam’s done a great job bringing her up on his own. And he’s a great vet. Barney’s got a touch of arthritis, and he can be a bit grumpy at the vet’s, but Liam’s really good with him. But mostly he works with horses, of course.”
“I saw him this morning,” Cassie remarked, carefully casual. “He was riding along the beach on a beautiful roan.”
“That would have been The Bandit. He’s a racehorse. He had some kind of problem with his knee, but Liam fixed it and he’ll probably be able to race again in a few months. He has a real way with any animal.”
“Useful skill for a vet.”
Lisa slanted her a questioning glance. “I thought at one time you’d marry him.”
“Me?” Cassie shook her head, laughing. “Oh, that was just an adolescent thing. I couldn’t wait to be off on my travels.”
“Ten years.” Lisa’s smile had dimmed a little, a shadow of hurt darkening her eyes. “You didn’t even come home for my wedding.”
“No . . . I’m sorry — really. It wasn’t . . . I didn’t . . .”
Lisa leaned over and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I missed you — I wanted you to be my bridesmaid. But I understood.”
Cassie managed a smile. There was really nothing she could say. Her explanation at the time had been that she was due to start a new job on a dude ranch in Montana. The guy who owned it had already applied for the change to her visa, and if she had left the country, there had been a risk that it would be refused.
But though that had been true enough, it had also been a convenient excuse. What she hadn’t wanted to admit, even to herself, was that she hadn’t wanted to see Liam with his new girlfriend. Hadn’t wanted to look at her and think,that could have been me.
And now, though Natalie was gone, the memory of her lingered. It always would. In a way, that was even harder.
She put her cola down and rose to her feet, picking up her swim-goggles. “Well, I think I’ll go for a swim.” She hoped her voice was casual enough that Lisa wouldn’t suspect that she was escaping. “Won’t be long.”
She shrugged off her T-shirt and shorts, and strolled down the beach to the sea. The water was a pleasant few degrees warmer than it had been first thing this morning. She waded out until it was past her knees, then rolled forward beneath the surface and swam along the sandy bottom.
When she was a child she had always wanted to see real, wild coral reefs — not just the ones in the Aquarium at Newquay Zoo. And she had — in Florida, Tanzania, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. They had been even more beautiful, more spectacular than she had dreamed, all brilliant colours and crazy shapes, and teeming with the exotic fish which made them their home.
