Page 106 of From Now On

Tell her.

Call the police and let them take over. Find Bo and then what? He comes home and Charlie goes back to his old life?

He starts the car and begins the descent back to the B & B.

What is he going to say?

What is he going to do?

Chapter Fifty-One

Nina

Nina’s sleep is long and deep. She had briefly woken last night and contemplated finding Charlie after reading his note but then she’d slipped under once more and now it’s nine o’clock. Charlie is setting a tray upon the round table; it must have been the clink of china that roused her. Nina studies him as he arranges the tea and toast. He hasn’t shaved. Behind the lenses of his glasses his eyes are tinged with pink as though he has been crying or hasn’t slept well. Possibly both. He is a world away from the groomed man who had come to babysit six months ago.

‘Morning,’ she says tentatively.

‘Morning, Nina. Sleep well?’ He doesn’t look at her. Is he angry? It’s hard to tell.

‘Yes, thanks. I woke and saw your note but then I was flat out again. I didn’t even hear you come in. Did you have a nice walk?’

‘Nice?’ He sits down and lets out a noise, which isn’t quite a sigh but it isn’t a laugh either. ‘It was…’ Charlie turns his attention to the window. ‘I went to the pub and… I met a ghost.’

Nina pads across the room and sits opposite Charlie. ‘A ghost?’ Nina is worried. Has he even slept at all?

‘A ghost from the past.’

‘Charlie, you’re scaring me.’ She takes his hand. ‘Look at me, please.’

He turns his bloodshot eyes to hers. ‘Are you happy, Nina?’

‘Happy?’

‘I know you miss Mum and Dad and now there’s all this stuff with Maeve but living at home, with me, am I… am I enough?’

‘Charlie, you are everything.’ She watches as his eyes fill with tears. ‘You… you put up with my shit and you’re always there.’

‘I don’t always get it right. Sometimes it’s so hard to make the right decision. Sometimes—’ he squeezes her fingers, a desperate look on his face. ‘I always thought that somehow parents had all the answers but I don’t. Sometimes I don’t know what to do.’

‘But you show up,’ Nina says. ‘You came here, after me. You… you show up and, sometimes, Charlie, that’s enough. Knowing there’s someone who will always be there even if they’re a crap cook and can’t iron.’

He nods. Draws in a deep breath and lets his shoulders drop.

‘Now what’s all this about ghosts?’ Nina gently probes.

‘I was revisiting some childhood haunts and thinking about what’s most important to a kid.’

‘The person who is always there,’ Nina whispers and they sit, holding hands as the tea cools and the butter hardens. They don’t move until there’s a knock on the door telling them that checkout is at noon.

They have eaten cold toast slathered with sweet-strawberry jam and Nina has dressed, long sleeves covering her scars even though the sky outside is cloudless. It’s going to be a scorching day.

‘Are you ready to go home?’ Charlie asks.

Nina fiddles with the buttons on the cuff of her shirt until she pops it open.

‘I wish I could stay here.’

‘Because… because of the YouTube clip?’ Charlie asks quietly.

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