Chapter 55
Nick stopped pacing and made a decision. Yes, he had annoyed Kitty, but she wasn’t the sort of woman to hold a grudge, and she would never miss a rehearsal out of spite.
They’d waited an hour for her the previous evening before giving up and promising to reschedule. Every call they’d made, every message had gone unanswered, and now Nick was wondering if something was seriously wrong.
It couldn’t be James. According to Rita, he’d checked out of The Ship and as far as Nick was aware, the piece of work had returned to London with his tail between his legs. Maybe Kitty was ill?
Nick grabbed his coat. ‘Emily, we need to pop into the village. Come on.’
Nick walked as quickly as Emily’s short legs would allow.
As usual, she was full of questions, and as usual, he didn’t have the answers to most of them.
He was distracted, picturing all the terrible scenarios he might find Kitty in.
It was a relief when they arrived at the Bayside Café and stepped inside.
‘Margot, do you mind watching Emily for half an hour?’
‘Not at all,’ said Margot. ‘I’d be delighted. In fact, I’m in the middle of whipping up a new selection of chocolate chip and banana muffins. Do you think you could help me with some baking, Emily?’
Emily jumped up and down on the spot. ‘Can I be your taste tester?’
‘Of course you can. And the chef gets to lick the bowl.’
Emily ran into the kitchen.
‘Thank you,’ said Nick. ‘I won’t be long. I need to check Kitty’s alright.’
‘Oh,’ said Margot, ‘you as well?’
‘What do you mean?’ Unease crept up Nick’s spine.
‘Alice was in here looking for her earlier. Apparently, Kitty messaged her last night asking her to pop round, but when Alice went over there, no one answered the door.’
‘I need to go,’ said Nick. ‘Are you sure you’re OK to keep Emily here for a bit? I’m not sure how long I’ll be.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Margot. ‘We’re never that busy on Sundays. You can leave Emily here as long as you need.’
‘Thanks, Margot. You’re a star.’
‘I am,’ said Margot, grinning and shooing him away.
As Nick reached the gate of Kitty’s cottage, his phone rang, Carla’s name flashing up on the screen.
He was torn – Kitty or Carla? He ended the call, deciding Kitty was his priority, but his phone immediately rang again.
Carla wouldn’t be ringing unless it were important. With a frustrated sigh, he answered.
‘Hi. Is everything all right?’
‘No, no, it’s not,’ said Carla, choking out words between sobs.
‘Is it your dad?’ Nick asked, leaning against Kitty’s garden wall.
‘Yeah, he passed away this morning.’
‘Oh, Carla, I’m so sorry.’
She gave a sad laugh. ‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for, and it’s what we expected. I knew this moment was coming. It’s why I was here. Still… it’s… it’s a shock. I guess that sounds silly, but…’
‘No, Carla, it doesn’t sound silly at all.’ Nick’s genuine sympathy pushed aside a little of his worry for Kitty, for now. ‘It’s completely natural. You watched one of your parents die. That’s enough to shock the most hardened of souls.’
Carla laughed again.
‘What is it?’ said Nick. ‘What can be funny at a time like this?’
‘You,’ she said, her voice muffled by both laughter and tears. ‘You’re the last person I thought I’d ring in a crisis, and you’re definitely the last person I thought would cheer me up at a time like this.’
‘Perhaps I’m not the man you thought I was.’ Nick tried not to let the prick of hurt show in his tone.
‘Or perhaps you’ve changed,’ said Carla.
‘Yes,’ said Nick. ‘That’s more likely.’
‘So anyway,’ said Carla, ‘obviously there are things I need to sort out here. I’m going to meet with a funeral director tomorrow, and then I’ll be coming home.’
‘Oh,’ said Nick. ‘You don’t need to rush back. Emily can stay with me as long as you need.’
‘I need to be around her,’ said Carla. ‘And it’s not like there’s much to sort out in the flat. It was only a rental, and my dad had sold anything he owned of value a long time ago.’
‘OK. If you’re sure.’
‘So I’ll fetch Emily the day after tomorrow, if that’s alright with you?’
‘Really? That’s soon.’ Nick’s heart sank.
‘Is there a problem?’ Carla’s tone hardened, and Nick reminded himself he was still on probation as far as she was concerned.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Of course there isn’t. Emily will be delighted to see you.’
‘Great. I’ll call you tomorrow to make arrangements.’
‘Speak then.’
Nick slipped his phone into his pocket and walked up Kitty’s garden path to her front door. He needed time to process the fact that Emily would soon be leaving. Not now. Right now he had to worry about Kitty.
Nick knocked on the front door and waited.
Nothing. He climbed over a lavender bush and tried to peer in the front window.
The curtains were closed. He frowned. Why would Kitty have her curtains closed in the middle of the day?
He returned to the front door and opened the letterbox.
Thinking he caught the murmur of voices, he pressed his face closer to the opening.
Only silence. The shadowed hallway was light enough for Nick to see two pairs of shoes at the bottom of the stairs.
One pair he recognised as Kitty’s. The other was a large pair of brogues.
Nick’s stomach twisted as he realised who they belonged to.
Nick trudged through the village, despair threatening to overwhelm him. As he passed the general store, the door opened and Alice walked out, a bag of shopping in each hand and a frown on her face.
‘Oh, Nick, thank goodness I’ve bumped into you.’
‘Is everything alright?’ Nick shoved his hands into his pockets.
‘I don’t know,’ said Alice. ‘I had a message from Kitty late yesterday evening asking if I could come by today to check everything is alright.’ She set the bags on the narrow footpath. ‘When I went round earlier, there was no answer.’
‘I’ve just come from her place,’ said Nick. ‘The curtains were closed, and when I looked through the letterbox, I saw her ex’s shoes in the hall.’ He worked hard not to sound bitter. ‘Seems like they’re having something of a reunion.’
‘You really think that?’ Alice tilted her head to the side, sceptical. ‘After all he put her through?’
Nick shrugged. ‘They were together for years, so she must have seen something in him.’
‘Or she couldn’t leave,’ said Alice.
Nick frowned. ‘Was James ever violent?’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Alice. ‘But there are more ways to hurt someone than physical violence.’
Yesterday’s worry rushed back. ‘What do you think we should do?’ asked Nick. ‘The last time I spoke to Kitty, she made it clear she didn’t want me interfering.’
‘I’ve already left messages for her asking her to text me, and if she doesn’t, I’ll go around again later,’ said Alice. ‘If by tomorrow we still can’t get hold of her, we should call the police.’
‘Call the police?’ scoffed Nick. ‘You’ll have to do that.
Won’t look good coming from me, given she told me to get lost. Yeah, I can see that going down well.
’ He stepped aside to let a woman with a toddler pass, and said, ‘Listen, I need to get home to Emily. Carla’s coming to collect her the day after tomorrow.
I want to make the most of the time I have left with my daughter. ’
‘Fair enough.’ Alice smiled. ‘You’ll miss her.’ She grabbed the handles of her shopping bag, asking, ‘Shall I call you later with any news of Kitty?’
Nick considered the question. He had problems of his own to worry about, and Kitty had made it clear that anything between them was over, but he couldn’t switch off his feelings towards her.
‘Yeah,’ he said eventually. ‘Call me.’ The problem with love, Nick realised, was it was only one side of a coin, the other side being hurt. He had a nasty feeling he was about to be hurt on multiple fronts.