The Secret Seaside Escape - Heidi Swain Page 0,111
the booth I always tried to nab because it had the best view of the sea. Now Dad was quiet and neither of us said anything as we stared out at the view while Sophie prepared our drinks. The sun shone, the sea sparkled and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. To all intents and purposes, it looked like the beginning of the perfect day, but I had the feeling that it was going to turn out to be anything but.
‘I have things to do in the kitchen,’ said Sophie, as she carried over our drinks, spilling a little of mine as she served it, ‘but call me if you need anything.’
‘I can’t be long,’ I told Dad as he slowly stirred milk into his cup. ‘I’m expecting a parcel and I have to be there to sign for it.’
‘Of course,’ he nodded, carefully putting down the spoon. ‘I don’t want to interfere in your plans.’
‘Then why are you here?’ I asked.
Surely, he must have realized that his unexpected arrival was going to interfere with my schedule, because he wasn’t a part of it. Had he been just a couple of hours later, I would have ticked the first thing off the plan for the day and been miles away.
‘The week you left,’ he finally began, ‘all I wanted was to track you down and make you come back.’
‘But Joan said I deserved a break,’ I cut in, trying to hurry him along. ‘You told me that when I called. You told me that she had said I was entitled to some time off.’
Dad nodded.
‘That’s correct,’ he agreed, ‘and having looked over your work records, I couldn’t deny that she was right.’
‘Crikey,’ I blurted out, sounding more sarcastic than I meant to.
‘In fact, Joan has told me quite a few home truths recently,’ Dad added, with a wry smile.
‘And you’ve listened?’ I asked, wondering how on earth she’d managed to pull that off.
Usually Dad would have given the impression that he was listening, he was the master of it, but then he would have carried on with whatever it was that he’d set his heart on anyway.
‘Believe it or not,’ he said, clearly in tune with the wave-length my thoughts were travelling along, ‘I have. As it turns out, she’s a very wise woman, my housekeeper. She makes a lot of sense.’
‘I could have told you that years ago,’ I said bluntly, ‘not that you would have listened. However,’ I charitably added, ‘I’m pleased that you’ve finally sussed it out for yourself.’
‘It’s quite something, coming from your old dad, who thinks he always knows best, isn’t it?’ Dad smiled.
I looked up at him, equally as surprised to see the amusement in his eyes as I was to hear him admit that he was even remotely aware of what he was like to live – and work – with.
‘It’s nothing short of a miracle,’ I told him. ‘However, it doesn’t alter the fact that you’re here now, does it? You clearly didn’t heed her words about leaving me alone for long.’
‘On the contrary,’ he swallowed. ‘She’s part of the reason that I’m here.’
‘Oh?’
‘When you called to say that you were staying away for even longer,’ he explained, ‘Joan told me she was surprised you’d done that and we both began to worry that you would never come back.’
‘I see.’
I don’t suppose I’d really thought about how my decision would impact on anyone else. I had simply done what felt right for me at the time.
‘I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my girl for good,’ Dad then said, his voice suddenly choked with emotion and, when I looked at him, I could see it in his eyes too, ‘and as there was no further word from you, I went . . .’ He stopped and bit his lip.
‘You went where?’ I asked, urging him on.
‘I went to your apartment,’ he said, letting out a long breath, ‘to see if I could find some clue that might help me track you down and,’ he added, shaking his head, ‘I found the trunk. Your mother’s trunk.’
He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and smoothed it out on the table. It was a page from Mum’s diary. A sheet I must have somehow missed in my haste to get away.
‘So, you know then,’ I said, looking from the paper and back to him. ‘You know what it was that finally tipped me over the edge and made me run away.’