Page 82 of Plot Twist

‘I hope you’re not avoiding Bellinder Cottage because of Jackie. Riley wouldn’t want that, Becca. You were his guest. She’s the one that turned up out of the blue.’

I shrugged.

I thought back to our messages before agreeing to stay at Bellinder Cottage. Riley was my friend long before I arrived and saw him in person. He took my breath away from the moment I laid eyes on him, of course. All women were the same, Jackie said. I was hardly different or special.

We should have stayed strictly as friends in the first place, just a summer romance. We should take the memories, say thank you very much, and move along. Forget about each other. That was probably for the best. For them, anyway. Riley had a child to think about, after all. A family.

Anyway, it had all been decided now. Agreed. He was moving on. Or moving back, if that was the same thing.

‘I need to book my boat back home. Just haven’t quite got around to it yet. But I know it can all be last minute, I mean, look at last time.’

‘You definitely won’t stay?’ she asked, hopefully.

‘No. I can’t stay. I think I’m just waiting for a sign from the gods or something before I leave.’

I wasn’t sure what was holding me back. I had nowhere to go but home.

‘I’m going to hoover the bedrooms,’ I announced, changing the subject. ‘That’s next on my list.’

‘You are an angel, Becca,’ Bridget said. ‘How do you always seem to know what to do next?’

‘Actually, it’s hardly a coincidence. Ellie gave me a list, too,’ I said. ‘I’m working my way through it.’

Bridget rolled her eyes.

‘Who’s going to take time off with the twins when they arrive?’ I asked. ‘Have you agreed?’

‘We’ve still got to look into it all but we’re hoping to have shared parental leave. I’ll take the majority of the time off to settle them in, with Ellie looking after the business side of things. But we’re going to need to advertise for some help. We’ll not be able to run all the cottages, do all the cleaning and admin and look after the twins. And we both want to bond with them; it’s so important.’

I grabbed the hoover and made my way to the first cottage, zipping around to make sure it was spotless. There was something satisfying about cleaning: you could see the mess at the start and walk out at the end, confident you’ve achieved the job you set out to do.

It wasn’t like teaching, which was a slow process and a series of wins so small sometimes you barely noticed them. But when you took a step back and reflected on a child’s progress at the end of a term, whether they’d developed in confidence, skills or from an academic perspective, or all three, it was more rewarding than anything else I could imagine. I always missed the children over the summer holidays, but this time it felt so much worse. I didn’t know if I even had a teaching career to go back to.

Trying to block out my feelings, I concentrated on weaving the hoover around the rooms, with Ellie popping in every so often to pretend she wasn’t freaking out about everything.

‘It’s looking great, Becca! Keep up the good work!’

I carried the hoover across the courtyard to the next cottage as my phone vibrated in my pocket again.

‘Dad, how are you?’ I answered.

‘All good, Becca Bear. How are things? Is your man friend looking after you?’

I’d eventually opened up to Dad that Riley was, in fact, a male. But I hadn’t gone into any further details. No high-speed chases to police stations with missing-child reports or return-of-the-ex stories. No point in worrying him.

‘Look, I was in Glasgow for the day and I came past your flat to check up on things. You’ve got a few letters here. There are two from the NHS. They say they’re not circulars so I guess you should open them?’

‘OK, can you open it and send me it? A picture of it, anyway,’ I suggested.

I couldn’t think for a minute why they would be contacting me.

‘OK, if you’re sure,’ he said.

‘Go for it.’ I shrugged.

He wrestled to open the letters on the other end of the phone. I listened closely as he paused.

‘Are you reading? What does it say?’