Chapter 3
Three
Lara did a double take as she drove past the welcome sign informing her that she was entering Bluewater Bay and requesting visitors to drive carefully.
Did that sign really say what she thought it did?
Where strangers become friends and friends feel like family.
She glanced in the rear-view mirror. There were no others vehicles in sight so she put her car in reverse and sped back to the other side of the sign post.
Yep. That’s what it said, as clear as day.
Please drive carefully. You are about to enter Bluewater Bay, where strangers become friends and friends feel like family. We hope you enjoy your stay.
She couldn’t help but laugh. And she couldn’t wait to tell Jenny. Who on earth had thought of that?
Then again, it was quite sweet, really. They certainly wanted people to feel welcome. It must be new though, because it wasn’t there the last time she had been here. Mind you, that was fourteen years ago, so maybe not that new.
She checked the rear-view mirror again and seeing that the road was still clear, she put the handbrake on before searching her handbag for her phone. Having found it she snapped a photo and typed a text to Jenny.
‘It’s a sign. In more ways than one.’ She attached the photo and pressed send.
She didn’t have to wait long for a response.
‘Not sure if that’s cute, or creepy. We’ll go with cute. Does this mean you’ll be introducing yourself to your neighbour? And eating out tonight?’
Lara snorted a laugh and pinged off a reply. ‘Let’s not go mad.’
‘Too late,’ was Jenny’s riposte.
Lara grinned and tossed her phone back in her handbag. She’d call Jenny later.
Releasing the handbrake, after checking the mirror once more, she drove past the welcome sign again.
She had printed off a map which she had stuck to her dashboard with sticky tape, having thought better of trusting her car’s navigation system which had got her lost on a previous occasion. She wasn’t risking a repeat of that. Lara believed in the old saying of, ‘Once bitten, twice shy.’
Yet, as she drove along, and checked her bearings with the map from time to time, the road bore little resemblance to the one shown on the print-out.
She hoped she was heading in the right direction.
Woking sat to the west, so by rights, her cottage should be closer than the village.
She would need to keep her eyes peeled for the turn off to Old Oak Lane.
Before she knew it, the village itself came into view about a mile or so ahead. Great. She must’ve missed the turning.
Luckily, she spotted an elderly man shuffling along a narrow path on one of the grass verges that edged each side of the road. She pulled up beside him and pressed the button to open the window on the passenger side.
‘Excuse me!’ she called out, but the man walked on.
She edged forward and called out again. Louder this time. ‘Hello! Can you help me, please?’
Was he deaf? And blind? He might be hard of hearing but her car was right beside him so he must be able to see it. And yet he continued on his way as if she and her vehicle weren’t there.
She drove forward several feet ahead of him, put the handbrake on, pressed the start-stop button off, and got out of the car.
‘Hello.’ She gave him a friendly wave and her best smile as she stepped on to the verge, stopping a few feet in front of him. ‘Sorry to trouble you but do you know where Old Oak Lane is, please?’
He was hunched over slightly but now he straightened himself up a fraction, although judging by the expression on his ruddy face, the movement caused him some pain.
He wore a cap on his grey hair, and his coat was clearly old, and threadbare in places.
His red nose was hawk-like and he narrowed his rheumy eyes at her.
‘Where did you spring from?’ He pouted his lips in a grumpy expression, as he attempted to wave his walking stick in the air, but the action seemed to make him unsteady on his feet and he thumped it back on the ground as he wobbled slightly.
Lara stepped closer. ‘Are you okay? Do you need help?’
He raised heavy grey brows at that.
‘Less of that cheek you young whippersnapper. Now get out of my way. Can’t you see I’m in a hurry?’
A burst of laughter escaped her. Snails moved faster than he had been walking. But she silently reprimanded herself. This man was old. Really old. He deserved her respect.
‘I’m so sorry. But I’m lost, I’m afraid. I’m looking for Old Oak Lane. Do you know where it is, please?
‘Old Oak Lane? Of course I know where it is.’ A deep furrow formed between his brows. ‘Well you won’t find it here. It’s back that way.’ He tipped his head back a fraction and grimaced. ‘What do you want with Old Oak Lane?’
‘Erm. I’ve bought a cottage there.’
His brows shot up again, so fast they might’ve knocked off his cap but it appeared to be firmly fixed in place.
‘Have you indeed! Well then you must know where it is.’
Lara shook her head. ‘I haven’t seen it yet. I bought it online.’
His snort of laughter was as loud as a horse’s neigh and he shook his head like a horse as his shoulders shook.
‘What kind of fool buys a cottage without seeing it?’
Lara didn’t take offence. Despite his words and his demeanour there was a gentleness about him.
Lara had never met either of her grandfathers; her paternal grandfather sadly died the year she was born, and her maternal grandfather had left his wife, apparently stating that he never wanted to see hide nor hair of any of the family again.
No one knew where he was or even if he was still alive.
When Lara was young and had asked about him, her mum had told her that unfortunately he had not been a nice man and that some sleeping dogs were best left sleeping.
Lara had done precisely that. But this man had something about him that made Lara think he would be a good grandfather. Assuming he’d had children.
Lara smiled at him again. ‘The kind of fool who clearly can’t read a map. I could really use your help. In return, I could give you a lift to wherever it is you’re going.’
The pout was back. ‘I don’t need a lift. I’ve got two legs.’
‘You said you were in a hurry. You’ll get there faster in my car. I promise I’m not an axe murderer or anything.’
He frowned at her. ‘You mean axe-wielding murderer. The way you said it sounds as if you’d murder an axe, and you can’t do that. Axes aren’t alive.’ He took off his cap and scratched the top of his head. ‘The youngsters today. Nothing between their ears but empty space.’
Hmm. Lara may have been wrong about him. She stuck out her chin and looked him in the eye.
‘My granny always said that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything.’
‘Then ask her where Old Oak Lane is. Now clear the path and let me pass.’
‘She’s dead. And so are my parents.’
Why on earth had she told him that? She never told anyone personal stuff unless she knew them really well. Even then, she kept most things to herself. Although she had told Jenny almost everything over the years of their friendship.
The man studied her in silence so she quickly turned away. He had no intention of helping her. So much for Bluewater Bay being a friendly, welcoming place.
‘That’s a rum deal,’ he grumbled.
‘It is what it is,’ she replied without looking back.
‘Where are you going?’
She stopped, let out a sigh and spun around to face him. She wasn’t in the mood for this.
‘To find Old Oak Lane.’
‘Humph! Can’t let you go driving about the countryside all day. Well don’t just stand there. Open the passenger door for me. I’ll show you where Old Oak Lane is and then you’ll take me to my destination, as you said.’
‘Oh! Yes. Of course.’ She dashed to the door and held it open, reaching out to help him step off the grass verge on to the road.
‘I’m not decrepit,’ he snapped, pulling his arm away. But it took him several seconds to ease his way down and several more to get into the passenger seat.
‘Do you need help with the…?’ Lara let her voice trail off. His expression answered her question about the seatbelt.
Sighing softly, she made her way to the driver’s side and got in, clipped up her seatbelt, and pushed the start button.
Her passenger was still fiddling with his seatbelt and the warning alarm on the dashboard began to ping.
It would increase in volume and intensity with each passing second if she moved the car an inch, so she sat and waited.
‘It’s an awkward one,’ she finally said, leaning across him, taking the seatbelt from his hands, and clicking the latch plate into the buckle. ‘There. All done. Which way?’
‘I could’ve done it.’
‘Yes. But you’re in a hurry, remember. So…?’
‘Humph! That way.’ He used his thumb to point behind him over his shoulder. ‘You need to turn the car around. Look out for traffic. And don’t go speeding. I might be in a hurry, but I’d like to get there alive.’
Lara was in the middle of a three-point-turn but that last comment made her stomp her foot on the brake and she clenched the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.
‘What’s the problem now?’ he moaned.
Lara sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes tight for a second before slowly turning her head to look at him.
‘My parents died in a road traffic accident on my sixteenth birthday, so if you don’t mind, I’d rather you didn’t make comments like that.’
His jaw dropped ever so slightly but he quickly snapped it shut and then he studied her face for a second or two until she looked away.
‘How was I supposed to know?’ he mumbled.
‘But I’m sorry for your loss. When you said they were dead, I didn’t realise…
’ He coughed loudly. ‘Well. Not much I can say, is there? No fool like an old fool. They say time heals, but it doesn’t, does it?
I lost my darling wife, Bonnie ten years ago, and it still cuts like a knife.
Anniversaries and birthdays are the worst. And Christmas.
Used to love it. Now I hate it. What about you? ’