A Perfect Cornish Escape by Phillipa Ashley Page 0,91

to her. It would be a huge pity if he went back into his shell again, for him and for her.

Shaking her head, the coastguard assessor glanced at her watch. ‘I’m afraid I can’t hang on much longer, Marina. I’ve another assessment to do in St Ives, so if Mr McKinnon doesn’t arrive in the next five minutes, I’ll have to cancel.’

Marina tried not to panic. She’d been at the station for over an hour already, and had agreed to meet Lachlan for his assessment. She’d spoken to him only the afternoon before, when he’d been about to head off to Plymouth for a meeting. He’d warned her he’d be late back that evening, but never mentioned anything that might make him miss the test.

‘I’m sure he’ll be here any second,’ she said, though she was clutching at straws by now. ‘I’ll try to get hold of him again.’ She called his mobile but, once again, it went straight to his answerphone. A text and WhatsApp had also failed to get a response. What if something had happened to him? An accident? Or perhaps he’d had a last minute panic attack at the idea of being tested, and couldn’t face telling her.

‘I’m sorry but I can’t reach him. It’s not like him to miss something this important,’ she said.

The assessor’s lips twisted. ‘Well, we’ll have to rearrange it for another time. I do have to go, Marina,’ she added in a softer tone.

‘It’s OK. I understand, and I can only apologise for wasting your time.’

‘Let me know when he’s ready. We’ll work something out.’

With a sinking heart, Marina saw the assessor out and sat down in the control room, feeling completely deflated. It was hard not to feel let down by Lachlan, but anxiety over where he was and what he might be going through eclipsed her disappointment.

She thought about calling Aaron and asking him if he knew anything, but she didn’t want Lachlan to think she’d been checking up on him and, if he had got cold feet, he might be embarrassed by other people knowing.

She picked up the binoculars and tried to focus on her job but she felt she was scanning the sea for Lachlan and wondering where he was … It must be something serious; he’d known the assessment was today, so it couldn’t be a misunderstanding. Her stomach clenched hard. What if he never answered her calls? What if she never saw him again?

The terrible feeling of helplessness and loss that had overwhelmed her all those years ago flooded back. She scrabbled for perspective, but the fear of losing Lachlan the way she’d lost Nate overwhelmed her. She dropped the binoculars on the counter and covered her face in her hands in despair.

‘Marina?’

Lachlan stood in the doorway to the control room.

Marina let out all her fears and anger. ‘Where the hell have you been?’ she cried. ‘I had the assessor here for ages. They had to go and I had no idea what had happened to you! Why didn’t you reply to my messages? Answer my calls! If you’d bottled it, all you had to do was tell me.’

He took the onslaught without a word and it was then she saw his face: drawn, the eyes dark with lack of sleep.

‘Lachlan? What’s wrong?’

He didn’t answer, but she saw him swallow hard. His lack of reply had done nothing to allay her fears. In fact, she felt even more anxious.

‘Will you sit down, please?’ he said, so softly she could barely hear.

Her body turned cold with dread. ‘Sit down? Why? What’s the matter?’

‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and there’s no easy way of saying it that will ease the shock. It’s not about me, it’s Nate. He’s alive.’

Chapter Thirty-One

Marina stared at him, wondering if he’d had a meltdown. ‘Is this some kind of sick joke?’

‘No. It’s not a joke. You know I’d never joke about something like this. Nate’s alive. He’s living in South Africa.’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what’s made you think he’s alive, or who’s convinced you he is, but they’re wrong and they need to understand that.’ Her voice rose as the shock of his statement turned to anger. Who could think such a cruel thing, and convince Lachlan enough to force him into telling her? It was ridiculous and she wanted to know who they were.

‘I’m certain it’s him,’ he said.

‘Well, it’s not.’ She clung onto her composure by the thinnest thread, convinced he’d been