Jess sighs, and takes a bite of Kendal Mint Cake herself. “What’s wrong?”
“Luke will never love me again,” I sob.
“I doubt that.”
“It’s true!” My nose is running and I wipe it with my hand. “Ever since we got back from our trip, it’s been a disaster. And it’s all my fault, I’ve ruined everything—”
“It’s not all your fault,” interrupts Jess.
“What?” I gape at her.
“I wouldn’t say it was all your fault,” she says calmly. “It takes two.” She folds up the Kendal Mint Cake wrapper, then unzips her backpack and slips it in. “I mean, talk about obsessed. Luke’s totally obsessed by work!”
“I know he is. But I thought he’d changed. On our honeymoon he was totally laid-back. Everything was perfect. I was so happy.”
Into my mind slips a memory of Luke and me, all brown and carefree. Holding hands. Doing yoga together. Sitting on the terrace in Sri Lanka, planning our surprise return. I had such high hopes. And nothing worked out the way I thought it would.
“You can’t be on honeymoon forever,” points out Jess. “It was bound to be a bit of a crash.”
“But I was so looking forward to being married,” I say with a gulp. “I had this image: we were all going to be sitting round the big wooden table in candlelight. Me, Luke, Suze… Tarquin… everyone happy and laughing… ”
“And what happened?” Jess gives me a shrewd look. “What happened to Suze? Your mum told me she was your best friend.”
“She was. But while I was away she… found someone else.” I focus on the flapping blue canvas, feeling a lump in my throat. “Everyone’s got new friends and new jobs and they’re not interested anymore. I… haven’t got any friends.”
Jess zips up her backpack and pulls the drawstring tight. Then she looks up.
“You’ve got me.”
“You don’t even like me,” I say dolefully.
“Well, I’m your sister,” says Jess. “I’ve got to put up with you, haven’t I?”
I raise my head, and there’s a glimmer of humor in her eyes. And warmth. A warmth I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
After a pause, I say, “You know, Luke wants me to be just like you.”
“Yep. Right.”
“It’s true! He wants me to be thrifty and frugal.” I put the rest of my Kendal Mint Cake down behind a rock, hoping Jess won’t notice. “Will you teach me?”
“Teach you. To be frugal.”
“Yes! Please.”
Jess rolls her eyes.
“For a start, if you’re going to be frugal, you won’t throw away a perfectly good piece of Kendal Mint Cake.”
“Oh. Right.” A bit shamefaced, I pick it up and take a bite. “Er… yummy!”
The wind is whistling with even more force, and the tent is flapping faster and faster. I pull Jess’s tinfoil blanket around me tighter, wishing for the millionth time I’d brought a cardigan. Or even a cagoule. Then all of a sudden I remember something. I reach into the pocket of my skirt — and I don’t believe it. The little lump is still there.
“Jess… this is for you,” I say, pulling it out. “I came to your house to give it to you.”
I hand Jess the little blue bag. Slowly she unties it and tips the silver Tiffany bean with its thin chain out onto her hand.
“It’s a necklace,” I explain. “I’ve got the same one — look.”
“Becky.” Jess looks stunned. “It’s… it’s really…”
For an awful moment I think she’s going to say unsuitable or inappropriate.
“Fab,” she says at last. “It’s fab. I love it. Thank you.”
She fastens the chain around her neck and I survey her with delight. It really suits her! What’s a bit weird, though, is that something about her face seems different. It’s kind of changed shape. Almost as if…
“Oh my God!” I exclaim in astonishment. “You’re smiling!”
“No, I’m not,” says Jess at once, and I can see her trying to stop — but she can’t. Her smile broadens, and she lifts a hand to finger the bean.
“Yes, you are!” I can’t help laughing. “You so are! I’ve found your weak point. You are a Tiffany girl at heart.”
“No, I’m not!”
“You are! I knew it! You know, Jess—”
But whatever I was about to say is drowned out by the howling wind, as, with no warning, the gale whips up one entire side of the tent.
“Oh my God!” I shriek, as drenching rain lands in my face. “Oh my God! The tent! Get it!”
“Shit!” Jess is hauling the flapping canvas down again and desperately trying to anchor it, but with another huge gust it blows right out of her grasp. It billows like a sailing ship, then disappears down the mountainside.
“What are we going to do now?” I have to shout just to be heard above the noise.
“Jesus Christ.” She rubs rain off her face. “OK. We have to find shelter. Can you get up?”
She helps me to my feet, and I can’t help crying out. My ankle is total agony.
“We’ll have to make for those rocks,” Jess says, gesturing through the rain. “Lean on me.”
The pair of us start half limping, half shuffling up the muddy slope, gradually getting into an odd kind of rhythm. I’m gritting my teeth against the pain, willing myself not to make a fuss.
“Will anyone come to rescue us?” I manage between steps.
“Unlikely. We haven’t been out long enough.” Jess pauses. “OK. You need to get up this steep bit. Hold on to me.”
Somehow I make it up the rocky incline, aware of Jess’s strong grip holding me up. God, she’s in good condition. She could easily have climbed down out of the rain, it occurs to me. She could be safe and warm at home now.
“Thanks for helping me,” I say gruffly, as we start on our shuffle again. “Thanks for staying with me.”
“ ’S OK,” she says, without missing a beat.
The rain is billowing into my face, almost choking me. My head is starting to whirl again, and my ankle is excruciating. But I have to keep going. I can’t let Jess down.
Suddenly I hear a noise through the rain. But I must be imagining it. Or it’s the wind. It can’t be real…
“Hang on.” Jess stiffens. “What’s that?”
We both listen. It is. It’s real.
The real chopper-chopper sound of a helicopter.
I look up — and lights are dimly approaching through the sleeting rain.
“Help!” I scream, and wave my arms frantically. “Here!”
“Here!” Jess yells, and thrusts her torch beam up, moving it about in the gloom. “We’re here! Help!”
The helicopter hovers above us for a few moments, then, to my dismay, it moves on.
“Didn’t… they see us?” I gasp.
“I don’t know.” Jess looks taut and anxious. “Hard to tell. They wouldn’t land here anyway. They’d land on the ridge at the top and come down by foot.”
We both stand motionless for a moment, but the helicopter doesn’t return.
“OK,” says Jess at last. “Let’s keep going. At least the rocks will shelter us from the wind.”
We start moving again, as before. But this time all my drive seems to have gone. I just feel exhausted. I’m drenched, and cold, and I have absolutely no reserves of energy left. We’re inching up the slope with a painful slowness, heads together, arms locked around each other, both panting and gasping as rain hits us in the face.
“Wait.” I stop still. “I can hear something.” I clutch Jess, craning my neck.
“What?”
“I heard something—”
I break off as a dim light flashes through the rain. It’s a distant torch beam. And I can hear the sound of movement down the mountain.
Oh my God. It’s people. At last.
“It’s the mountain rescue! They’ve come!” I yell. “Here! We need help!”
“Here!” Jess calls, and flashe
s her torch in the air. “We’re here!”
The other torchlight disappears briefly, then reappears.
“Help!” shouts Jess. “We’re here!”
There’s no reply. Where have they gone? Have they missed us?
“Heeelp!” I scream desperately. “Please help! Over here! Can you hear us?”
“Bex?”
A familiar high-pitched voice comes thinly over the sound of the storm. I freeze.
What?
Am I… hallucinating? That sounded just like—
“Bex?” comes the voice again. “Bex, where are you?”
“Suze?”
As I stare upward, a figure appears at the edge of the ridge, wearing an ancient Barbour. Her hair is plastered down on her head with the rain, and she’s flashing a torch about, shielding her eyes and looking around, her brow creased in anxiety.
“Bex?” she screams. “Bex! Where are you?”
I have to be hallucinating. It’s like a mirage. I’m looking at a tree waving in the wind, and thinking it’s Suze.
“Bex?” Her eyes have lighted on us. “Oh my God! Bex!” She shouts over her shoulder, “I’ve found her! Over here!” She starts scrambling down the ridge toward us, sending rocks flying. “Bex!”
“Do you know her?” says Jess, looking bewildered.
“It’s Suze.” I swallow. “It’s… my best friend.”
Something hard is blocking my throat. Suze came to find me. She came all this way to find me.
“Bex! Thank God!” Suze arrives in a final flurry of stones and earth, her face all mud-stained, her blue eyes huge with concern. “Oh my God. You’re hurt. I knew it. I knew it—”
“I’m OK,” I manage. “Except my ankle.”
“She’s here, but she’s injured!” she says into her mobile, and listens for a moment. “Tarkie’s coming down with a stretcher.”
“Tarquin?” My head is too dazed to take this all in. “Tarquin’s here?”
“With his friend from the RAF. The stupid mountain rescue team said it was too early. But I knew you were in trouble. I knew we had to come. I was so worried.” Suze’s face suddenly crumples. “Oh God. I was so worried. No one knew where you were… You just disappeared. We all thought… We didn’t know what to think… We were trying to track your mobile signal, but there wasn’t one… then suddenly it appeared… And now here you are, all… all beaten up.” She looks on the verge of tears. “Bex, I’m so sorry I never called back. I’m so sorry.”
She flings her arms tightly round me. And for a few moments we just stand there, clinging to each other, the rain lashing down on us.
“I’m fine,” I say at last, gulping. “Really. I fell down the mountain. But I was with my sister. She took care of me.”
“Your sister.” Suze loosens her grip and slowly turns to Jess, who’s standing, watching awkwardly, her hands stuffed in her pockets.
“This is Jess,” I say. “Jess… this is Suze.”
The two look at each other through the driving rain. I can’t tell what each of them is thinking.
“Hi, Becky’s sister,” Suze says at last, and holds out her hand.
“Hi, Becky’s best friend,” Jess replies, and takes it.
There’s a crashing sound, and we all look up to see Tarquin making his way toward us down the slope, in some amazingly cool-looking army gear, including a hat with a headlamp on it.
“Tarquin,” I say. “Hi.”
“Jeremy’s coming down with the fold-up stretcher,” he says cheerfully. “Nasty fright you gave us all, Becky.” Into his mobile phone he says, “Luke? We’ve found her.”
The mountain seems to wobble. Suze quickly sticks out an arm for me to lean on.
Luke?
“How come…” My lips are suddenly trembling so much I can hardly form the words. “How come Luke…”
“He’s stuck in Cyprus because of bad weather,” says Suze, “but he’s been on the other end of the line the whole time. God, he’s been in a state.”
“Here you are, Becky,” Tarquin says, holding out the phone to me.
I almost can’t take it. I’m keyed up with nerves.
“Is he still… angry with me?” I falter.
Suze just looks at me for a moment, the rain pounding down on her hair and running down her face.
“Bex, take it from me. He’s not angry with you.”
I lift the phone up to my ear, wincing slightly as it presses on my bruised face.
“Luke?”
“Oh my God! Becky. Thank Christ.”
He’s all distant and crackly and I can hardly make him out. But as soon as I hear his familiar voice, it’s like the whole of the last few days comes to a head. Something is welling up inside me. My eyes are hot and my throat feels choked.
I want him. I want him, and I want to go home.
“Thank God you’re safe.” Luke sounds more overwrought than I’ve ever heard him. “I was out of my mind… ”
“I know,” I say with a gulp. “I’m sorry… ” Tears are spilling over onto my cheeks. I can barely speak. “Luke, I’m really sorry for everything—”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry. Jesus. I thought…” He stops, and I can hear him breathing hard. “Just… don’t ever go missing again, OK?”
“I won’t.” I wipe my eyes furiously with my hand. “God, I wish you were here.”
“I’ll be there. I’ll be out as soon as the storm passes. Nathan’s offered me his private jet. He’s been absolutely tremendous… ” To my dismay, his voice is descending into a hissing crackle.
“Luke?”
“… hotel…”
He’s breaking up. Nothing is making any sense.
“I love you,” I call hopelessly as the phone goes dead. I look up to see all the others watching with compassion. Tarquin pats my shoulder kindly with a dripping hand.
“Come on, Becky. We’d better get you into the helicopter.”
Twenty-three
THE HOSPITAL IS all a bit of a blur. There’s lots of light and noise and being asked questions and wheeled around on a trolley, and eventually it turns out I’ve broken my ankle in two places and they’ve got to set my leg — plus give me stitches where I cut my forehead and check I haven’t got tetanus or mad cow disease or anything. While they’re doing all that, they give me an injection of some stuff that makes me feel a bit dopey, and when everything’s done I flop back on my pillows, suddenly exhausted. God, it’s nice to be somewhere clean and warm and white.
In the distance I can hear someone reassuring Jess that she didn’t do any damage by moving me, and then telling Suze several times that a full body scan won’t be needed in this case, and no, they’re not being cavalier with my health. And as it happens, he is the top man in the county.
“Becky?” I look up in a daze, to see Tarquin advancing toward my bed, holding out a mobile phone. “Luke again.”
“Luke?” I say into the receiver. “Hi! Guess what? I’ve got a broken leg!” I look admiringly at my plaster cast, which is propped up on a support. I have always wanted a plaster cast.
“I heard. My poor darling. Are they looking after you OK? Do you have everything you need?”
“Er… I think so. You know…” With no warning I give a huge yawn. “Actually… I’m pretty tired. I might go to sleep.”
“I wish I was there.” Luke’s voice is gentle and loving. “Becky… just tell me one thing. Why did you go running off to the North without telling anyone?”
I blink at the phone. He doesn’t know why?
“Because I needed help, of course,” I say matter-of-factly. By now, I’ve almost come to terms with the situation. “Our marriage was in tatters. Jess was the only person I could turn to.”
Luke seems to be struck dumb.
“Our marriage was in what?” he says at last.
“Tatters!” My voice wobbles. “You know it was! It was awful! You didn’t even kiss me goodbye!”
“Darling, I was pissed off. We had a ro
w! That doesn’t mean our marriage is in tatters.”
“Oh. Well, I thought it was. I thought it was all over. I thought you wouldn’t care where I was.”
“Oh, Becky.” Luke’s voice has gone all strange, like he’s trying not to laugh. Or possibly cry. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through?”
“No.” I bite my lip, hot with shame. “Luke, I’m really sorry. I… I didn’t think… I never realized—”
He cuts me off. “Anyway, you’re safe. That’s all that matters now. You’re safe.”
I’m feeling totally guilty. He’s being so nice about it. But what kind of hell have I put him through? And there he is, stuck on Cyprus… In a rush of emotion I clutch the phone more tightly to my ear.
“Luke… come home. I know you’re hating it out there. I know you’re miserable. And it’s all my fault. Just leave stupid Nathan Temple and his horrible hotel. Find some excuse. You can blame me.”
There’s a bit of a pause.
“Yesss,” says Luke. “There’s something I need to say about that. I think that quite possibly—” He breaks off again. “You were right. And I was… wrong.”
What? Did I hear that properly?
“I was prejudiced,” Luke says. “Now that I’ve gotten to know Nathan, he’s a very bright guy. Great commercial mind. We’re getting on well.”
“You’re getting on well? But… what about him having a conviction?”
“Ah,” says Luke, sounding sheepish. “Nathan explained about that. He was defending one of his motel staff from a drunken guest when it happened. He ‘went a little far,’ as he put it. He says it was a mistake. And I believe him.”
My head is throbbing. I can’t quite take all this in.
“In a lot of ways he’s a guy after my own heart,” Luke continues. “He told me the other night why he set up his motel chain. It was after he was refused entry to a smart hotel because he wasn’t wearing a tie. He went straight to a pub and sketched out a business plan for Value Motels. Had twenty up and running in a year. You have to admire that drive.”
“I don’t believe it,” I say, rubbing my forehead in a daze. “You like him.”
“I do like him.” Luke pauses. “And… he’s been tremendous over this whole affair. Couldn’t have been kinder. He stayed up all night with me, listening for news.”