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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

‘Seriously, Jay. I want to go.’ She sits up and reaches for her top and slips it back on. ‘I’ve got friends in London. We could sleep on a floor for a while. Get jobs. Then a flat—’

He gives a bitter snort. ‘Get jobs? Just like that?’

‘Yes. Jobs. London isn’t like down here. There are jobs. Lots of them. Waitressing, office work, building sites.’

‘And what would we do for money while we looked for work?’ he says. ‘You can’t just head up to London without cash.’

‘I’ve got money!’ She grabs his hand. ‘A savings account. There’s lots in it. Enough to get us settled.’

He doesn’t reply and he sees her look of disappointment.

‘I’m not saying we have to stay together,’ she says.

‘It’s not that.’

She lies down on his chest again. ‘What then?’

He pictures packing a bag. Shoving clothes, his lighter, his pouch of tobacco into it. Sees himself walking down the stairs. His mum asleep. Granfer too. Tamsyn on the top stair watching him abandon them.

‘I can’t leave my family.’

‘You can. It’s your life. You said there’s nothing here for you.’

‘I promised my dad I’d look after them. When we buried him. I promised.’

‘Your dad’s dead.’

He is silent.

She manoeuvres herself to look at him, hands on his chest, chin on her hands. ‘You can’t spend your whole life trying to keep a promise to your dead father. They’ll be okay. Your mum and grandad and Tamsyn. They will. You have to be okay too.’

He strokes her cheek with the tip of his finger.

‘I promised,’ he says quietly. ‘I can’t leave them.’

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Tamsyn

August 1986

I crept as close as I could. My breath stilled. Shapes and whispered voices in the darkness.

My blood solidified and I dug my fingers into my palms. Focused on the two people in the water. Voices I recognised. And sounds I didn’t.

Godawful sounds that made me feel sick.

I crept closer still. As I did I stepped on a twig and he turned his head towards the noise. I froze. There was no doubt who they were and my body felt as if it was dissolving. He stopped searching the shadows for me. I took another step towards the pool, gaping and black. I walked as if I were crossing a thin sheet of glass. Quietly and carefully, keeping myself concealed in the shadows. The damp air wrapped around me. My eyes were trained on the two in the pool until at last I could make them out and there was no doubt.