Part Three
BELLA OSBORNE
Published by Avon an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street,
London, SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2018
Copyright © Bella Osborne 2018
Cover illustration © Kim Leo
Cover design © Head Design 2018
Bella Osborne asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008258153
Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780008258139
Version 2018-02-19
For my mum – thank you.
Table of Contents
It could have been the wave dousing her already sodden state, but something made Daisy look up from her perilous position. She was clinging to an ice-cold rock now almost submerged in the sea. She had no idea how long she’d been stranded there. Salt water stung her eyes making it difficult to focus. She blinked rapidly. Daisy wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see, but the sight of Max manoeuvring the inshore lifeboat close to the mouth of the cave was a surprise, and a huge relief. She was safe.
‘Daisy! Stay where you are. Are you hurt?’ His voice was soothing and reassuring. Daisy couldn’t speak for the chattering of her teeth, so she shook her head and cold wet strands of hair lashed at her chilled face stinging her cheeks.
Max handed control of the boat to Jason whilst another man radioed an update. Max leapt from the boat onto the rock in one confident movement. Before she could think how to clamber from the water Max was already lifting her into his arms. She was quickly deposited into the boat and wrapped in foil like an oven-ready turkey. She’d had better days, and somehow she would have to explain to Aunt Coral that Bug was lost at sea. Max jumped back into the boat making it rock turbulently, which broke her train of thought. He gave her a look that her chilled brain struggled to interpret but she guessed it was somewhere between pity and annoyance. Daisy felt the need to explain.
She discovered that forming words with cold lips was extremely difficult. ‘Bug ran off.’
‘Bug came home without you. I was speaking to Coral when the coastguard call came through.’ Max turned away and increased the might of the boat’s engines. Daisy curled up into a tighter ball. Another point to Bug, she thought. The boat skimmed across the water hopping rhythmically over the waves making only a slight spray. The inshore coped effortlessly with the bad weather; if it hadn’t been October and she hadn’t been frozen to the core, she may almost have enjoyed it. Max squinted over his shoulder at her and she averted her eyes.
‘You okay?’ asked Jason. Daisy didn’t want to talk, she just wanted to be warm again. She nodded and pulled the foil blanket tighter around herself. ‘We’ll soon have you warm, Daisy. You’re doing really well.’
She closed her eyes and tried not to think about how foolish she’d been.
A day in bed with Aunt Coral fussing over her was mostly heartwarming but also partly frustrating. Aunt Coral couldn’t seem to get past ‘the what might have happened’, which meant she was checking on Daisy every few minutes and almost drowning her in cups of tea. Once she was checked