Page 7 of The Secret Christmas Bookshop
‘I’ve got my phone.’ Sophie squared her shoulders. She didn’t like the insinuation that she couldn’t look after herself.
‘That’s no good,’ Harry said. ‘Have my torch.’
‘No thanks. How will you get back to your country house?’
‘A damn sight more easily than you will along that path. How could you let this happen?’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Sophie said, ‘maybe because somebody engaged me in conversation? I would have been home by now if it wasn’t for you.’
‘Then take my torch.’ He waggled it at her. ‘Takeit.’
Sophie shouldtake it. She had decided to leave Mistingham, but she was aiming for Cornwall, not plunging to her death off the north Norfolk cliffs. She put Clifton down, and was about to take his torch when Harry pulled his arm back.
‘Fine,’ he said.
‘What? I was going to take it!’
‘You’ve missed your chance, and I’m not confident a torch is good enough anyway.’
‘Ohyou’renot confident.So I have to do what you say?’
‘Do you and Clifton want to make it home safely, or not?’ He held his free hand out.
‘What’s that? Your other, invisible torch?’
‘Take my hand, and I’ll help you over the fence.’
‘Why?’
‘Because then I can drive you home. In a car. With headlights.’
‘This is just …’ Sophie shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Got a better plan?’ Harry’s frustration was thinly veiled.
Sophie turned away from him, towards the sea, and suddenly felt dizzy. It wasn’t quite dark yet, the sky the colour of a smudged bruise, but all the sharp edges hadgone. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and put the torch on. The light it cast was brighter than she’d expected, and she felt a sudden surge of confidence, of relief, that she wouldn’t have to rely on this abrasive man for help.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she told him.
‘You’re being ridiculous,’ he said sternly. ‘You can’t possibly—’
‘Stop telling me what to do!’ She took a deep breath. ‘My life, my safety, has nothing to do with you. You’ve held me up for long enough, so now I need to hurry so I can get home before it’s completely dark.’
He put his hand on her arm, wrapping his fingers round her wrist. ‘It’s not safe.’
‘I’ll befine,’ Sophie said. ‘Let me go.’
She watched Harry’s brows lower, could just make out the clench of his jaw in the light from her torch. ‘It will take five minutes to get back to the manor,’ he said. ‘We can do it in silence if you’d prefer.’
‘I walked out here by myself, and I’m perfectly capable of getting home again.’
He was quiet for a long moment, then he let go of her arm. ‘Be careful.’
Sophie barked a laugh. ‘Believe me, I have no intention of ending up in the sea. I’m leaving now.’
Harry took a step back, and Sophie waited for him to say something else – a parting shot – but instead he nodded once, then turned around and strode away. He whistled once, loudly, and then there was Felix, a ghostly goat in a paisley jumper, trotting at his side.
‘Right,’ Sophie said. ‘That’s that, then. Come on, Clifton.’
