I looked around at the happy faces, flushed with excitement and caught sight of Beamish laughing with a group of friends right next to the platform where the magic switch-on was going to happen. He waved when he spotted me, a look of pure joy lighting up his bruised features. I couldn’t help but smile and wave back.

‘I’ll think about it,’ I told Rose, ‘but I’m not making any promises.’

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When I woke the next morning, with Tiddles thankfully settled further down the bed, I could feel the air was cooler than the morning before and there was no light peeping around the curtains. I could hear Dolly moving around in the kitchen and I gratefully wrapped myself in her warm dressing gown before heading down.

I had laid awake the night before, mulling over what Rose had said about Dolly’s explanation of why I had left Wynbridge as hurriedly as I’d arrived the last time I had been in town and was still convinced that it would be best not to ask her about it. It was well over a year ago now, and everything had turned out fine, so why go fishing for a catch I didn’t want? I was certain Dolly had had her reasons for not telling the truth; I just wasn’t sure I would benefit from knowing what they were.

‘Good morning,’ said Dolly, quickly taking something off the table when she heard me on the stairs. ‘Tea? I thought we might try this blend from the hamper.’

‘Yes, please.’ I said, with a little shiver. ‘It’ll warm me up.’

‘There’s a hard frost this morning,’ she said. ‘The path was quite slippery when I went out to dress the bird table.’

It was on the tip of my tongue to remind her to be careful when she went out, in case she fell, but I didn’t.

‘Is Tiddles up there by any chance?’ she asked, with a nod to the stairs.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘She is. Do you want me to turf her off the bed?’

‘No, there’s no point now she’s got the taste for it. I always knew it was only a matter of time before she negotiated the stairs and as they’re open plan she’d only go straight back up again if we carried her down.’

‘She isn’t doing any harm and she doesn’t take up much room.’

Dolly looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

‘In that case,’ she said, ‘we’ll definitely leave her. Now, come and sit down. I have a present for you.’

‘A present,’ I laughed. ‘It’s a bit early in the month, isn’t it? Even for you.’

I did as I was told, relieved that I hadn’t come down all guns blazing and demanding an explanation, but not because I was being given a gift. Dolly handed me an A4 envelope.