Birds of a Feather. Cressida McLaughlin

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СКАЧАТЬ course.’ He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and kissed her. This was the last time, she realized. A parting gift before he left to start a new chapter of his life.

      ‘I need to let you get on,’ she said, when they’d pulled apart.

      ‘I’ll write to you.’

      ‘You’d better. Goodbye, Jack.’

      ‘Goodbye, Abby Field.’

      She walked down the path, Raffle trotting close to her, his fur rubbing against her leg. As she turned away from Peacock Cottage, stepping onto the track that would lead her to the village and home, she glanced behind her. Jack was slumped against the doorframe, a hand covering his eyes, as if he couldn’t bear to watch.

      When Abby got home, she went straight up to her bedroom, pulled UK Flora and Fauna down from the shelf and took out Jack’s letters. She removed each one from its envelope in turn, reliving their relationship through his words from that first, haughty complaint to the warmer, tender notes they’d become. Raffle lay alongside her, his nose nudging her elbow, and she wrapped her arms around him and let her tears soak his fur.

      The rest of the day passed in a daze. She replied to Rosa’s messages as vaguely as she could, apologized to Tessa for not getting back in touch, and texted Octavia to thank her for looking after Raffle, saying the event was fun, but not elaborating. Nobody, she thought with relief, seemed to have seen the papers with her photo in. It hadn’t been splashed as widely as she’d feared, but still, appearing on the front of a national newspaper wasn’t something she’d ever expected to happen in her life. Her name had been mentioned, the implication that she was having – or had had – relationships with both Eddie and Jack, but somehow the reality of that wasn’t able to penetrate the fug in her brain.

      Jack was gone, and as much as she tried, she couldn’t get Tessa’s words out of her head. Her suggestion that Jack was no good for her, that he would use her and then return to London. It had played out as her sister had warned, but Abby couldn’t believe that Jack’s sadness at leaving her behind was false, that he was going back to his old life willingly and putting on a good show of pretending otherwise.

      As the evening slipped towards a cool, perfect night, a nightingale singing while the sunshine whispered at the edge of the horizon, and Abby was sitting listlessly in her cosy armchair, she got a text from Gavin.

       You dark horse! Working your way through literary celebs like a kid in a sweet shop. Whatever will Penelope think? ;)

      Penelope. Meadowsweet. She had to go back there tomorrow, to carry on with her job and act like everything was normal. With dread settling in her stomach, she cleaned her teeth and crawled into bed, Raffle refusing to leave her side.

      Abby woke on Monday morning and for a few blissful seconds had no recollection of the day before. Then it hit her. She stared at the ceiling as sunlight danced patterns across it through the gap in her curtains, then forced herself out of bed to take Raffle for his walk. She got ready for work with a dogged determination, everything on autopilot.

      She took the long way in, not wanting to be faced with Peacock Cottage and its emptiness, but walking past the gate of Swallowtail House was as strong a reminder of her time with Jack. The house looked beautiful in the sunshine, its crumbling stonework and cracked sills not visible at this distance, and it seemed to beckon her towards it. She lifted the hefty padlock Jack had bought, and a lump lodged in her throat.

      She felt winded, like she’d been hit by a car and her breathing was refusing to settle, everything bruised and tender. She was also angry with herself. Was this normal? Had some of Octavia’s air for the dramatic rubbed off on her? She hadn’t felt like this when she had broken it off with Darren. She had been sad, of course, but it had been a relief more than anything. Now she felt hollow, as if she would crack open at the lightest touch.

      ‘Get a grip, Abby,’ she said out loud, and a robin landed on a branch ahead of her, its delicate beak opening, its song firing something inside her, spurring her on.

      The visitor centre was quiet when she arrived, and as she hung up her coat, she heard Stephan whistling ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’ loudly and tunelessly. He placed a steaming mug of tea on the reception desk.

      ‘Thanks so much, Stephan.’

      ‘Good couple of days off?’ he asked, his eyes finding hers and then flitting away.

      Lead settled in her stomach. ‘You’ve seen?’

      ‘Joyce and Karen came to mine for a roast yesterday and, well, Karen’s a fan of those online news sites – Daily Mail bar of shame and all that. She reads some of the articles out to Joyce. They were quite excited – they had no idea you were involved with Jack.’

      ‘Shit,’ Abby whispered, resting her elbows on the desk. ‘It wasn’t – I’d never met Eddie before. He tricked me.’

      Stephan nodded sympathetically. ‘I thought it would be someone playing silly buggers. Your event with Jack, though, how did that go? Always best to focus on the positives.’

      ‘It was lovely,’ she said. ‘Really lovely. Anyway,’ she added, desperate to change the subject, ‘did you have a nice weekend? I didn’t know you were close to Karen and Joyce.’

      Stephan grinned. ‘We’re getting on, the three of us’ he said. ‘Though I’ve got my sights set on Joyce, as it happens. She’s a wonderful, strong woman, Abby. And so funny. I’m quietly confident that that she feels something for me, too.’

      ‘Stephan, that’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you.’

      ‘I haven’t asked her yet, planning on officially inviting her on a date tomorrow night, scintillating conversation over a large bowl of paella, and I – uh-oh.’ Stephan’s eyes widened, and Abby turned in time to see Penelope striding in, followed closely by Rosa, who levelled her with a meaningful stare.

      ‘The three of you,’ Penelope said without slowing down, ‘in my office in two minutes. No dawdling.’

      ‘Shit,’ Abby muttered again, once Penelope’s door was closed.

      ‘Abby!’ Rosa rushed over to her as she pulled off her coat. ‘What on earth is going on? I saw the paper. Are you OK? What happened?’

      ‘It’s a long story,’ Abby said. ‘But the thing with Eddie, it was false. He made it up as another way to get at Jack.’

      ‘Crap,’ Rosa whispered. ‘And you and Jack?’

      ‘We—’

      ‘Now, ladies,’ Penelope said.

      ‘I’ll tell you later.’ Abby followed Rosa towards the inner sanctum.

      The sun was streaming through the window, hitting the back of Penelope’s head so she looked like she had a halo. Stephan followed Abby and Rosa, carrying a tray of steaming drinks. Abby wasn’t sure that would be enough to mollify their boss who, in a high-necked, navy blouse, her hair scraped into its usual, tight bun, didn’t look like she was in the mood for a natter over tea and cake.

      ‘I was going to keep this discussion between myself and Abby,’ Penelope started once they’d all sat down.But I have decided it’s no use beating СКАЧАТЬ