A Kiss in the Snow - Rosie Green Page 0,29

the café, then he talks about his life as a tree surgeon.

I’m longing to know what happened before he came to Snowdrop Cottage, but every time I broach the subject, he diverts the conversation neatly away from it. He mustn’t be ready to talk about it…

I’m feeling so relaxed and focused on our chat that when my phone pings, I almost forget to look at the text. But when I do, my heart sinks.

‘Something wrong?’ asks Ronan, sensing my mood change.

I plonk my phone face down on the table. ‘That’s Krystle, telling me she thinks she might fancy Adam after all. Apparently, they’re going out for a meal tonight.’

‘Ah. Doesn’t she know that you like Adam yourself?’

I shake my head. ‘She says she’ll talk to me in the morning. So guess who won’t be getting any sleep tonight?’ I give a bitter laugh.

Her text has spoiled the evening, and fairly soon after that, I call it a night. I offer to help clear up but Ronan grins and says he’s got a system for stacking the dishwasher and can’t tolerate it done any other way. I know he’s only saying this so I can disappear straight up to my room, and I’m grateful to him. Trying to remain cheerful knowing Krystle and Adam are out tonight is proving quite hard.

I crawl up to bed, feeling fed up with life, but glad I had my chat with Ronan. We talked about all sorts of things and it flashes across my mind that I never really have that kind of easy to-and-fro chat with Adam, talking about things that matter to me. I love hearing him talking about his job and he makes me laugh a lot, but thinking about it, he doesn’t really ask many questions about me…

I get into bed but I can’t sleep for ages. The curtains aren’t quite shut and the light from the moon is shining through the gap, so I nip out of bed to draw them properly. And as I do, a movement down below catches my eye.

The breath catches in my throat as I watch a burly figure with dark hair slip out of the front gate of Moon Cottage. The gate creaks and he stops for a second, looking around him as if worried he might be seen. He pulls up the hood of his dark coat, obscuring half of his face (not that I can see it from here) and he pauses and looks around. He glances up at the windows of Snowdrop Cottage and I dart back, behind the curtain.

So I was right.

There is someone staying in Moon Cottage!

Heart beating fast, I peer out cautiously, just in time to see the tall, bulky figure walking away across the green, head down, covering the distance purposefully, as if he has somewhere he needs to be.

At one in the morning?

Questions spin round inside my head.

Who is he? Where can he be going at this time of night? He can’t be up to any good, surely? And why do people keep saying Moon Cottage is empty when there’s quite obviously someone living there?

I watch his progress until he disappears over the bridge and vanishes from view.

Reenie must have a squatter living in her house. That would explain why he looked so furtive just then. And also why he doesn’t seem to venture out in daylight. He obviously doesn’t shop at the village store, otherwise Anita and the other villagers would know all about him. (I doubt you could go incognito for even five minutes in a small village like Silverbells.)

Then a thought occurs that makes my insides lurch.

What if the mystery stranger living next door is Reenie Lennox’s husband? What if he found out where Reenie had escaped to and came to take his revenge? Perhaps Maud really did see a grave-shaped plot of earth in the back garden?

A chill runs through me and I pull the curtain sharply.

What if something terrible really has happened to Reenie?

Standing there in the dark, a sudden noise beyond the bedroom door makes my heart nearly leap out of my chest. But a second later, I realise it’s just Ronan coming upstairs. I hold my breath, half-expecting him to knock on my door, but he walks on by and a second later, I hear the door of his room close.

I give myself a little shake. Of course he wouldn’t knock on my door – it’s the middle of the night! He probably thinks I’m asleep. And anyway, just