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Back The Cliff House Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Booklist
  3. Title Page
  4. Praise
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  62. Epilogue
  63. Acknowledgements
  64. About the Publisher

Back in my box, I slipped Edie’s mix tape into the Walkman and lay back on my bed. I closed my eyes and, as her music played, I imagined myself walking along the footpath to The Cliff House. I pushed the gate open. Walked up the lawn. The plants swayed beside me in a gentle salty breeze, leaves a brilliant green, a kaleidoscope of flowers towering over me. The house seemed to pulse in time with the music and then as I watched it became fluid. The walls reached out to wrap around me until I was fully enclosed. It was only then, feeling warm and safe, that I finally fell asleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Angie

July 1986

‘Angie. Could I talk to you for a moment?’

Eleanor Davenport’s face was blotched with red. She wore sunglasses. Her hair was pulled back into a tightly twisted bun. She wore no make-up and her hands wrung anxiously around each other.

Angie nodded and set down her cloth and the bottle of Jif. Her stomach bubbled with nerves. She had a sinking feeling she was about to get the sack. As she wracked her brains trying to think of what she could have done wrong, a shot of fear passed through her as she realised it might not be her at all, but one of the children. God, she’d kill Jago if he’d mucked things up.

‘Is everything okay?’ she asked hesitantly.

Eleanor straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin, girding herself for whatever she was about to say. ‘I want to apologise for the way I spoke to you the other day. Max said that I might have come across badly when I mentioned…’ She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. ‘When I mentioned the bathroom floors.’

Angie picked up the cloth and squeezed some of the white cream onto it. ‘I can’t remember that, Mrs Davenport,’ she lied. ‘And anyway, you’re well within your rights to tell me if you don’t think something’s been done right. You pay me, after all. It’s important I get things as you want them.’

‘Yes. But,’ she hesitated, her mouth twitching, ‘the floors were fine. I was angry, but… well, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.’ Eleanor took a breath as if to say more, but instead she turned swiftly and walked out of the kitchen.

Angie watched her retreating up the stairs and listened to her footsteps cross the landing. There was a strangled sob and the sound of her door closing. For a moment Angie wondered if she should follow her up and make sure she was okay. But she decided not to. The woman was prickly at the best of times. If she’d wanted to talk, Angie reasoned, she’d just had her opportunity.