Page 3 of The Soulmate

Ithrow open the sliding doors. It’s bitterly cold, and the wind is wild. I jog across the grass in my ugg boots and let myself out through the gate. Gabe hasn’t moved from the edge, though his hands are now in his pockets.

‘Gabe,’ I say, when I’m close enough for him to hear. ‘Baby, it’s me.’

When he turns, his face is eerily pale. He’s almost certainly in shock. The air feels charged and fragile, like we should whisper.

‘She . . .’ He points over the edge as if he can’t believe it. He rakes his hands through his hair.

‘I know. Come away from there.’

He doesn’t move, so I take his forearm and guide him towards me. It calms me, taking control like this.Thisis why I’m a helper, not a hero. The world needs helpers for moments like these. And I’m already making a plan. I’ll get him back to the house, get a hot drink into him. Something sugary. I’ll wrap a warm blanket around his shoulders, like they do on TV. I’ll google all the other things you’re supposed to do in this situation.

We start towards the house, but we only make it a couple of steps before Gabe sinks to his knees and vomits on the grass.

I drop to my knees beside him. This is the exact situation I’d worried about. I’d worried, of course, for the poor soul who wanted to end their life, but even more than that I’d worried for Gabe, the poor soul who wanted to save it. The thing about Gabe is that he is a beautiful contradiction, as fragile as he is brave. What makes him a hero is also what compels him to run towards danger, and what threatens to break him.

For over a year, I’d watched with bated breath each time someone appeared on the cliff, wondering if this would be the one that ended badly. But person after person came, and person after person walked away. And as crisis after crisis was averted, Gabe started to change. His eyes became clearer. A new confidence radiated from him – not the false bravado he’d once sported, but a true happiness and comfort in his own skin. It was clear that he had found his calling. I got so caught up in it, I thought he could save everyone. I suspect Gabe had started to think that too, even if he’d never admit it. But now this.

A light mist of rain coats us. Through the window I see the police have arrived. Kat is in the kitchen talking to them and pointing outside at us. Heaven knows what the girls are thinking.

Gabe has stopped vomiting, at least temporarily. He looks up at me.

‘Are you okay?’ I ask.

But my question is lost in the crash of the ocean, and the sound of the sliding doors as the police and paramedics file outside. I recognise them all. Johnno and Aaron; Fiona and Amir. They’re not my friends, exactly, but definitely acquaintances. We’ve drunk countless cups of tea together at the end of evenings like this. I even purchased a packet of English Breakfast tea after Johnno turned up his nose up at my Lady Grey. But on those nights, there was never a body at the bottom of the cliff.

Johnno and Aaron walk directly to the cliff’s edge with torches. They know as well as we do that there is no point, but they go through the motions anyway. No person who’s jumped from The Drop has ever been retrieved alive (I’d read that in the news article, but having seen the cliff I would have known anyway). Still, I suppose they need to be sure.

‘Have you called out?’ Aaron asks.

Gabe and I shake our heads. Gabe is trembling visibly now.

‘Tide’s in. We’ll have to call Water Rescue,’ Johnno says.

‘Hey, Gabe,’ says Fiona, the paramedic, kneeling beside him and wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. ‘Why don’t we go inside and get you something warm to drink?’

Gabe allows her and Amir to help him to his feet.

As we step inside, I hear the bath running. There is no sign of Kat and the girls, and I thank my lucky stars for my sister. Knowing Asha, she’s likely to be dishing out some tricky questions and there’s no one I trust more to field them than Kat.

Fiona and Amir settle Gabe on the couch, still wrapped in the blanket, and I bring him a glass of water and wet facecloth to clean up. I flick on the kettle, then find a large plastic bowl in the kitchen and put it at his feet, just in case. Gabe nods his thanks, even smiles a bit, but he’s still worryingly pale.

After a few minutes, Johnno and Aaron come inside.

‘No signs of life,’ Johnno says. ‘Water Rescue is on their way. They’ll have to retrieve her via the beach.’

‘Anything we can do to help?’ I ask.

He shakes his head. ‘The crime scene team will be here soon. They’ll do as much as they can tonight: photographing and fingerprinting – if there is anything to fingerprint. They may have to come back in the morning when it’s light.’

We all nod soberly. I wonder what the girls will make of it, having the house swarming with police.

‘We’ll need to get a statement from you, Gabe,’ Johnno says after a moment. ‘Are you okay to do that now? It’s better to get it sooner rather than later.’

Gabe nods, and Johnno pulls out a chair from the dining table and sits. Aaron also drags out a dining chair. Gabe stays on the couch. I deliver cups of tea to everyone.

‘So, what happened?’ Johnno asks. ‘In your own words. Take your time.’

‘We saw a woman on the cliff. I don’t know what time it was, but Pip called you as I headed outside.’ Gabe is gazing straight ahead, at the coffee table, and his fingers are steepled together. ‘As I got near, I asked if I could help her with anything.’