She hurried ahead, but she hadn’t got far when something white flashed across her vision. She cried out and clutched her face.

‘Sam!’

Gabe shouted, but Sam felt sick. The pain in her face was sharp and brought tears to her eyes briefly. When she took her hand away, her fingers were scarlet with fresh blood. She saw the white laminated poster a few feet away with a telltale red smear on it. A gust had whipped the plastic sheet up, it had frisbeed through the air and the sharp corner had caught her face.

It wasn’t the only one that was loose. The tears cleared and she saw dozens of other posters tumbling around, flying over the cliff and out to sea. They’d been fastened with cable ties so someone must have deliberately cut or unclipped them from signs and lampposts and scattered them around.

Gabe caught up with her. ‘What’s happened? Jesus, there’s blood all over your top.’

‘It’s nothing. A poster caught my cheek.’ She bent down to pick up the bloodied poster.

‘Hey, wait. Let me look at you.’

Sam wished him gone. There were tears as well as blood on her face and she didn’t want him to see her like this. ‘I need to get rid of this mess. There are posters all over the place. They could hurt someone else.’

‘Let’s sort your face out first.’ He stepped closer, pulling a cotton hanky from his pocket. ‘It’s clean,’ he said. ‘Keep still.’

Sam bit back any further protest. Better let him get it over with and then she could leave. Besides, would it really hurt to let someone – even Gabe – show some concern, just for a few moments?

Sam closed her eyes and felt soft cotton against her cheek. The contact stung a little but she refused to flinch.

‘It probably looks worse than it is, but it could have been very nasty if it had been any closer to your eye. Hold the hanky on it while I collect the rest of the posters up.’

She opened her eyelids, and held the cotton against her face. He’d backed off but his eyes were full of concern. Tears sprung afresh and she fought them away. All the old feelings swept over her: he’d always looked out for her and the family. Always been ready to support her, which is why his betrayal of Ryan had knocked her sideways. It still did. There had to be a better reason than simply that he felt it was his duty to the town. Gabe had never been self-righteous.

Realising she couldn’t gather up posters while stemming the blood, Sam had to agree to let him do it. She managed a smile for him. ‘Thanks.’