BooksBarbecue
Back One Year Later
Chapters (49)
  1. PROLOGUE
  2. PART I
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. PART II
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. PART III
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. PART IV
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. EPILOGUEAMY
  48. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  49. BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS

Bee shakes her head. ‘I know how awful this last year has been for you. And you must both have hated me for asking Dad to look after Ruby-May. You probably still do.’ She looks down at her white plate. ‘There isn’t a day I don’t regret—’ She presses her napkin against her eyes and turns to Amy, grasping her hand in both of hers. ‘I can’t lose you, Ames. I’ve missed you.’

Amy opens her arms and Bethany almost falls into them. Her sister hugs her so tightly she feels her bones creak.

‘I’m sorry. I can never make it up to you. And I miss her. I miss Ruby-May.’ Bethany’s tears are hot and slide down Amy’s neck. She can’t remember the last time she saw her sister cry. She was always the strong one.

Matt gets to his feet and puts an arm round Bethany, pats her on the back. She can see the effort it takes, but he manages finally, gruffly, to say, ‘Not your fault.’

Bethany pulls away from them, smiling, her eyes wet and glittering, and gives the children and Chloe a hug and a kiss too, before she sits back down. Lotte and Theo are absorbed in their pizza and are arguing about what they’re going to watch on the iPad when they get back to the villa, but Chloe is watching the three of them, nervously twisting her napkin, as if she wishes she was somewhere else. Teenagers, Amy thinks. Can’t bear any emotion on display. Or does Chloe simply wish she was at home with her real mother?

‘I’m famished,’ Bee says, sliding a piece of fish onto her plate and raising a glass to toast Matt and Amy. She sniffs, then winks at Chloe and taps her glass against her step-niece’s lemonade bottle.

‘Yeah,’ says Matt, stealing a piece of pizza from Lotte and leaning back in his chair, ‘I could just about manage to live here. A nice little villa on the coast.’

Amy takes another sip of her wine, a perfect bone-dry rosé with a hint of strawberries, and smiles at her sister, who raises her eyebrows at her and grins indulgently at Matt. The air smells of ozone and oleander blossom, and it’s as if something missing has clicked back into place and she remembers how the two of them used to be when they were children – roaming through the Somerset countryside whilst their mother was painting, practically inseparable from one another.

It’s going to be okay.

11 AUGUST, ITALY

8

AMY

‘When’s Uncle Nick coming?’ Lotte asks for the fifth time.

‘He’s ten minutes closer than he was ten minutes ago,’ says Matt.

‘What? That doesn’t make any sense,’ Theo says.