Chapter 18
BONNIE
Bonnie tried to coax Faye up from the ground. ‘It’s all right; he’s gone.’ Faye wouldn’t stop trying to look around her, moving her head even more. ‘Come on, up you get. A car could come over the hill at any moment.’
Faye got to her feet but Bonnie took her over to the kerb rather than letting her get her bike.
Once Faye was safely sitting, she went back and quickly got the bicycle out of harm’s way. She wheeled it inside the back gate where she left it before going back to Faye’s side.
‘Come into the house. I need to make sure you’re all right.’ Blood was coming from one side of her forehead. Bonnie suspected it was only a surface wound but with head trauma you could never be too careful. ‘Faye, do you know who I am?’
‘Of course. You’re Bonnie.’
At first glance she didn’t appear to be concussed but of course concussion symptoms didn’t always occur immediately.
Bonnie pulled a tissue from her pocket. Luckily she had one. ‘Hold this against your head to stem the bleeding.’ She held Faye’s arm as she led her through the back gate.
Inside, Faye went to sit on the stool but Bonnie ushered her over to Howard’s chair – there was less danger of her falling out of that if she suddenly felt dizzy.
Bonnie looked beneath the tissue to check that the bleeding was indeed subsiding as she’d suspected it would, and then went to get her first-aid kit from the kitchen cupboard.
She’d been in the back garden getting in the washing when she’d moved closer to the stone wall at the side of the garden because she recognised Faye.
She watched her cycle uphill but something was off because there was a man chasing after her on foot.
Bonnie had dropped the basket of washing and dashed out of the gate, yelling whatever she could think of to get rid of the man, but unfortunately by the time Faye came into view she was on the ground.
She held a small bowl beneath the tap at the sink and filled it with water, which she took to the back room. She soaked a piece of cotton wool in the water then gently dabbed it against the wound on Faye’s forehead. ‘Can you tell me your name?’
‘I remembered yours so I definitely remember my own.’ She winced as Bonnie finished cleaning up the cut on her forehead for her. ‘I’m Faye.’
‘And where are you?’
‘Driftwick Bay.’
‘Who was Howard?’
Faye smiled. ‘He was one of the kindest men I’ve ever met… well, online-met.’
Bonnie’s emotions stirred but for once it didn’t make her want to run and hide. ‘You’re going to be fine. The bleeding has stopped; it’s only a surface wound.’ She noticed the tear in Faye’s hoodie. ‘How’s your elbow?’
Faye looked at her clothing and tutted. ‘I really like this hoodie.’
Bonnie helped her ease her hoodie off so that she could check her elbow.
‘Only a slight graze.’ Bonnie gave it a gentle clean.
‘You’re lucky you didn’t hit your head harder, you know.
Where’s your helmet?’ She surprised even herself with her question.
She’d been hiding from the world, only going out to get the essentials, and now she’d been outside, yelled at a man, and here she was delivering a lecture on cycling safety.
‘I apologise,’ she said. ‘I was a nurse once. I saw my fair share of injuries.’
‘It’s fine. And I do have a helmet. I dropped it when that guy was harassing me. I just wanted to get away.’
‘Dropped it where?’
‘By the bike rack near the road to the bakery.’
She couldn’t very well send Faye out to get the helmet but equally she didn’t want to walk down to get it. ‘Where’s your friend?’
‘Margot?’
‘Yes, Margot, that was it. Has she gone already?’
‘Back to her accommodation about half an hour ago,’ said Faye.
Bonnie had hoped she was still around so she could step in and take over. But she wasn’t. And this young woman needed her help.
She gestured for Faye to pass her the hoodie. ‘I can mend that quickly.’
‘Oh no, I couldn’t ask—’
‘You’re not asking, I’m offering.’
‘I’ll go and get my helmet. Although…’
‘He might be hanging around,’ Bonnie finished for her as she found her little sewing box. ‘We should call the police.’
‘No, I don’t want that. It’s… well, it’s complicated.’
Bonnie sighed. ‘Why don’t I make you a cup of tea. That’ll make you feel better.’
After she took the tea to Faye, Bonnie found the appropriate colour of cotton from her sewing box, took a seat at Howard’s desk and got started on the repair to the hoodie.
Faye sipped her tea, surveying the room with a smile. ‘So this is where Howard sat when he came to the Midnight Book Club. It feels kind of special to be here.’
Bonnie murmured an agreement.
Faye’s smile disappeared. ‘I hope I don’t sound like a stalker.’ She looked so panicked Bonnie almost laughed.
‘You don’t, dear.’
Faye set her cup down. ‘Think about it, this man joins a book club hosted by a woman who lives thousands of miles away, and then she turns up on his doorstep?’ She held out her hands as if to ask what did that tell you?
‘You know that sounds an awful lot like a plot in one of Howard’s books.’
‘A book Howard would’ve enjoyed,’ Faye added conspiratorially. ‘I could imagine it as the plot of a psychological thriller. Not my favourite genre – a bit too scary for me, you know.’
‘The world can be a bad place,’ Bonnie agreed, ‘why be reminded?’
‘Exactly,’ said Faye.
As Bonnie darned the hoodie she asked Faye, ‘Where are you staying? Are you local?’
‘I’m in a caravan in West Lulworth.’
Which meant she would need someone to take her home just in case a concussion was lurking.
She didn’t think it was, but Bonnie would never be able to forgive herself if she sent Faye on her way and something happened to her.
She clocked her wine glass on the desk and knew she couldn’t get behind the wheel.
She wondered whether Faye had seen the glass too.
She probably thought Bonnie was drowning her sorrows, but she wasn’t.
She’d opened it on a whim that afternoon.
It was the first time she’d had a drink since she lost Howard, and she’d drawn comfort remembering their first night here in the cottage when they’d opened a lovely Cabernet Sauvignon, which Howard had been given on retirement and was saving for a special occasion.
‘Can someone come to meet you?’ Bonnie asked. ‘It’s wise not to be alone after a possible concussion. Just in case.’
‘I could get my dad,’ said Faye, ‘but then…’
‘Then you’d have to explain what happened.’
‘I’ll tell him about it. But I would rather he didn’t have to worry just yet.’
‘What about your friend? Would she come back to escort you?’
‘Margot?’ Faye shrugged. ‘Maybe. She doesn’t have a car, but we aren’t far from each other really.’
Bonnie handed the hoodie back to Faye. ‘It’s a fix, but I’m not sure you’ll approve.’
‘Are you kidding?’ She turned the garment to all angles. ‘You can barely make out the tear. The coloured cotton is a perfect match.’
Bonnie was happy she’d done a good job, but she felt uneasy with the company all of a sudden. ‘So, your friend?’ she prompted.
‘I can call a taxi, then I’ll be safe.’
‘No, you need someone with you.’
‘But I feel fine. Honestly.’
‘I know you do. But if you won’t call your dad then it’ll have to be someone else.’ Bonnie was firm on that and it reminded her of when she’d had to set the ground rules at work. She quite missed the responsibility.
‘I suppose I could call Margot. She might come here and get a taxi with me to make sure I get back all right.’
‘That sounds like a plan.’
Faye pulled the bag from behind her, the bag which she’d had on over her hoodie.
It was one of those small backpacks that almost sat flush against the body so she couldn’t have much inside.
She took out a bottle of water, some tissues, a book.
‘Why does whatever you need fall to the bottom?’ But she soon added a gleeful smile when she retrieved her phone from the bag’s depths.
She tapped away on the phone screen for a few seconds. ‘I’ve messaged her.’
A bleep came almost as soon as Faye put her phone on the arm of the chair.
She picked it up again. ‘Margot is on her way. I told her that I’ve fallen off my bike and need a hand getting home, and that my helmet is somewhere near the bike rack down the hill.
’ She smiled. ‘We’ve not known each other that long, at least not in person, so it’s really nice that she’s coming. ’
‘Howard told me you were a closeknit bunch in the book club.’
‘We are. And we miss him so much already.’
But Bonnie wasn’t listening because she’d noticed the paperback on Faye’s lap, the book that had been pulled from her bag in search of her phone. Wild by Cheryl Strayed. And it had the same little tear in the bottom right-hand corner of the cover that she recognised.
‘Bonnie?’ Faye’s voice came into her psyche softly. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I should be asking you that,’ Bonnie replied.
‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘It’s just… that book…’
‘This?’ Faye held it up. ‘I grabbed it from the telephone box library and left one in its place.’
Bonnie put a hand against her chest. ‘Does it have an inscription inside?’
Confused, Faye opened it up. ‘It does.’ She read it out: ‘“From Miriam, safe travels”. Wait, how did you…’
‘It was Howard’s.’
Faye looked at the book, placed her palm on the front cover. ‘Then I feel honoured to have it. But… if you want it back, I will totally understand.’
‘Oh no. Howard loved leaving books in the telephone box library – you keep it.’
‘I will treasure it.’ Faye looked once again at the cover. ‘What was the story behind the inscription?’