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Back The Cottage Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. FIFTY-SIX
  59. FIFTY-SEVEN
  60. FIFTY-EIGHT
  61. FIFTY-NINE
  62. SIXTY
  63. SIXTY-ONE
  64. SIXTY-TWO
  65. SIXTY-THREE
  66. SIXTY-FOUR
  67. SIXTY-FIVE
  68. SIXTY-SIX
  69. SIXTY-SEVEN
  70. SIXTY-EIGHT
  71. SIXTY-NINE
  72. SEVENTY
  73. SEVENTY-ONE
  74. SEVENTY-TWO
  75. SEVENTY-THREE
  76. SEVENTY-FOUR
  77. Suggested topics for reading-group discussion
  78. Keep Reading …
  79. Lisa Stone also writes under the name of Cathy Glass.Don’t miss her latest book …
  80. About the Author
  81. Books by Lisa Stone
  82. About the Publisher

Or perhaps she was getting this all out of perspective, Jan thought with a sigh. Children or primates living in the wood! Whatever next! Yet she’d definitely seen something go over the gate. She snuggled further under her duvet and turned on the television. She couldn’t go to bed until Tinder had returned safely from the woods and she needed to try to think about something else.

Fifteen minutes later she’d finished the hot toddy and made herself another one. The whisky had taken effect and she was feeling warmer and braver. As she waited for the kettle to boil, she unlocked the back door. Holding it open just wide enough to allow her voice to carry outside, she called, ‘Tinder! Tinder! Come on, good boy!’

She listened, called him again, and then closed and bolted the door. She’d try again later.

Taking the hot toddy to the sofa, Jan gazed absently at the television, the sound down, while listening for any noise outside. Every so often she checked the time on her phone. Nine-thirty, ten, ten-thirty, eleven o’clock. Tinder had been missing for over three hours, longer than he’d ever been gone before. Had that yelp of pain come from him? She couldn’t be sure. Was he lying injured, unable to return?

Jan went to the back door and called him again and again, but there was still no sight or sound of him. She didn’t have the courage to go out into the woods to search at night. If he didn’t return, she’d go as soon as it was light in the morning. One last call and she returned to sit on the sofa and continued staring unseeing at the television. More time passed. Eleven-thirty, then it was midnight. Outside it began to rain. Tinder hated rain. Surely he would come back now if he could?

‘Tinder!’ she cried at the back door.

But all she could hear was the steady patter of rain.

‘Tinder!’

She closed the door. Something must have happened for him to be missing this long in the rain. That yelp of pain must have been him. Tinder must be lying injured in the woods at this very moment, dying or even dead. A lump rose to her throat. She’d never forgive herself if something had happened to him. Camile had entrusted her to look after her beloved pet and Jan had cared for him as if he’d been her own. Yet now she was too much of a coward to go into the woods and look for him.