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Authors: Joanne Phillips
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surface. She tapped her fingers against the worn wooden banister, then glanced at her watch. Her appointment was in fifty minutes. She’d be pressed to make it to the bus stop in time if she hung around much longer.
‘Right, we’re all set,’ Marie said, emerging in a cloud of perfume, an umbrella shoved under her arm.
‘For what?’ Kate asked, eyeing the umbrella. It was at least twenty-five degrees outside, and humid as hell.
‘For our trip to the big smoke, of course.’ Marie linked arms with Kate and pulled her down the hall. ‘I thought I’d tag along, you don’t mind do you? I need to get my hair cut. It’s just totally out of control.’
Kate smiled, taking in Marie’s lacquered hair, styled today into something resembling a beehive. She pitied the hairdresser tasked with putting a comb to that.
On Bow Hill, the sun had turned everything hazy and the very pavement felt as though it was melting under their feet.
‘Marie,’ Kate said seriously, ‘I really don’t think you’ll need an umbrella. Unless there’s some freak weather system moving in that none of the rest of us can see.’
She tilted her head to look out across the horizon. The haze was even stronger there, and the sky stretched on over blues and greens, broken only by the random pattern of a fishing boat or one of the leisure cruisers that sometimes moored off Corrin Cove. Her shirt was already stuck to her back and they’d only been outdoors for a minute.
Marie giggled, then opened the umbrella – an enormous affair, with frilled edges and peacock blue circles and a bright pink handle. ‘Silly girl,’ she said, tipping the umbrella over her shoulder and nearly knocking Kate off the pavement in the process. ‘This is a parasol, not a brolly. I have to look after my complexion, you know. UV rays are hell for wrinkles.’ She peered at Kate’s pale face, then shook her head. ‘You don’t need to worry about that for a few years yet. But mark my words – no man wants a woman with skin like leather.’
They set off down the hill arm in arm, and Kate found that she could simply carry her crutch in her free hand, so solid was Marie’s support. And after a while she found that she wasn’t leaning on her friend much at all. The sun lit up the world as brightly as a hundred watt bulb, and Marie lit up her mind with her chatter and her gossip and her seemingly endless supply of warmth. Eschewing the bus – ‘Public transport is just so sticky, don’t you find?’ – Marie insisted on paying for a taxi into St Austell, citing Kate’s crutch as reason enough to make it worthwhile. Kate found herself deposited outside the medical centre fifteen minutes later, with a promise that Marie would swing by and pick her up in two hours’ time.
‘Bye,’ Kate called, waving to Marie’s cheerful face pressed up against the taxi’s rear window. She turned and regarded the medical centre warily, then glanced again at her watch. She was early, but that was okay. Without Marie’s buoyant presence, Kate could feel her mood slipping dangerously. On the wall just inside the entrance was a sign for the cafeteria. She would buy coffee and cake, she decided, and try not to think about anything at all. One step at a time, Joseph had said. One foot in front of the other. Look at me now, she thought, pushing open the door to the cafeteria, hardly leaning on her crutch at all. Maybe Joseph was right – maybe it was all in the mind. She wondered if that theory applied to every part of life. If she could apply the same force of will to getting Sam back as she had to learning to walk again, she might just be in with a chance.
***
Nico lacked Joseph’s steely-eyed determination, but within an hour Kate had been put through her paces and was declared to be doing ‘Very well indeed, considering.’ Kate thought this was fair praise, and asked about moving to a stick.
‘Maybe,’ Nico said, but this clearly meant yes because he produced a
‘Right, we’re all set,’ Marie said, emerging in a cloud of perfume, an umbrella shoved under her arm.
‘For what?’ Kate asked, eyeing the umbrella. It was at least twenty-five degrees outside, and humid as hell.
‘For our trip to the big smoke, of course.’ Marie linked arms with Kate and pulled her down the hall. ‘I thought I’d tag along, you don’t mind do you? I need to get my hair cut. It’s just totally out of control.’
Kate smiled, taking in Marie’s lacquered hair, styled today into something resembling a beehive. She pitied the hairdresser tasked with putting a comb to that.
On Bow Hill, the sun had turned everything hazy and the very pavement felt as though it was melting under their feet.
‘Marie,’ Kate said seriously, ‘I really don’t think you’ll need an umbrella. Unless there’s some freak weather system moving in that none of the rest of us can see.’
She tilted her head to look out across the horizon. The haze was even stronger there, and the sky stretched on over blues and greens, broken only by the random pattern of a fishing boat or one of the leisure cruisers that sometimes moored off Corrin Cove. Her shirt was already stuck to her back and they’d only been outdoors for a minute.
Marie giggled, then opened the umbrella – an enormous affair, with frilled edges and peacock blue circles and a bright pink handle. ‘Silly girl,’ she said, tipping the umbrella over her shoulder and nearly knocking Kate off the pavement in the process. ‘This is a parasol, not a brolly. I have to look after my complexion, you know. UV rays are hell for wrinkles.’ She peered at Kate’s pale face, then shook her head. ‘You don’t need to worry about that for a few years yet. But mark my words – no man wants a woman with skin like leather.’
They set off down the hill arm in arm, and Kate found that she could simply carry her crutch in her free hand, so solid was Marie’s support. And after a while she found that she wasn’t leaning on her friend much at all. The sun lit up the world as brightly as a hundred watt bulb, and Marie lit up her mind with her chatter and her gossip and her seemingly endless supply of warmth. Eschewing the bus – ‘Public transport is just so sticky, don’t you find?’ – Marie insisted on paying for a taxi into St Austell, citing Kate’s crutch as reason enough to make it worthwhile. Kate found herself deposited outside the medical centre fifteen minutes later, with a promise that Marie would swing by and pick her up in two hours’ time.
‘Bye,’ Kate called, waving to Marie’s cheerful face pressed up against the taxi’s rear window. She turned and regarded the medical centre warily, then glanced again at her watch. She was early, but that was okay. Without Marie’s buoyant presence, Kate could feel her mood slipping dangerously. On the wall just inside the entrance was a sign for the cafeteria. She would buy coffee and cake, she decided, and try not to think about anything at all. One step at a time, Joseph had said. One foot in front of the other. Look at me now, she thought, pushing open the door to the cafeteria, hardly leaning on her crutch at all. Maybe Joseph was right – maybe it was all in the mind. She wondered if that theory applied to every part of life. If she could apply the same force of will to getting Sam back as she had to learning to walk again, she might just be in with a chance.
***
Nico lacked Joseph’s steely-eyed determination, but within an hour Kate had been put through her paces and was declared to be doing ‘Very well indeed, considering.’ Kate thought this was fair praise, and asked about moving to a stick.
‘Maybe,’ Nico said, but this clearly meant yes because he produced a
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