The Runaway Read Free Page B

and enjoying garden birds. She unpacked her miserably few possessions and examined the double bed. It was clean and, after testing, proved to be firm and comfortable. It would do until she decided what her next step would be. That seemed to be the story of her life. Moving from place to place looking for … she didn’t know what. She just hoped that one day she would find it, that perfect place that would for ever be her home.
    Her landlady was friendly and promised a good breakfast each morning. Faith would eat out during the day and Mrs Porter agreed to provide a sandwich and a drink for supper. She seemed to have been fortunate in her choice, although she hadn’t actually made a choice. As so often in the past, she had taken the first available place and crossed her fingers for luck.
     
    Ian Day was also moving. With Tessa married and never coming back he and his mother were leaving the rented house in which they had lived for many years, and were moving to the house he had planned to share with Tessa. He hoped that once the pain of his rejection had eased he would be happy there.
    Vivienne Day watched her son and wondered if they were doing the right thing. Ghosts would be moving in with them, ghosts of disappointment and hurt. Would her son be able to forget and makethis a happy place in which to live? She closed her eyes and offered up a prayer.
    The house was almost finished. With Tessa an unenthusiastic helper, he had decorated all of the rooms himself and had fitted a smart cream-and-red kitchen. There was a small fridge in one corner and a cooker had been installed a few days earlier. Above the kitchen was a bathroom. He had worked long hours, often late into the night, to get the place ready for them to return to after their honeymoon in Cornwall. Everything he could see had been chosen to please Tessa. Living here was going to be hard, but the alternative was to sell it and let someone else move in.
    ‘Half a dream is better than none,’ he told his mother with a tight grimace that was an attempt at a smile. ‘It’s a nice house and I want us to be happy here.’
    ‘Perhaps you and Tessa might …’ Ian shook his head in reply and she said nothing more. After all, the girl was married and that had to be an end to any hope of a reconciliation.
     
    Faith settled into her new home with ease. Mrs Porter relaxed the rules as she got to know her new lodger and they sometimes went to the pictures together and on mild winter days, they went for walks, coming home to enjoy a warming cup of tea in the cosy kitchen. With Faith’s encouragement they began to tame the neglected garden, putting down food to encourage the birds.
    There was a vacancy in the local school. A temporary one again, just for a few weeks while the regular teacher was recovering from an illness. Temporary suited her. She was still unsure whether she would stay. A month later, still working at the school with a hint of a permanent position, she learned it was Mrs Porter’s birthday. Having gradually persuaded the lady to clear some of the tangle in the garden, she decided to buy a statue, a birdbath and a feeder, so they might both enjoy their feathered visitors.
    Barry out of season, with many of the seaside shops closed and wind howling along the promenade on her few forays to the sandy bay was not what her memory had retained. Yet there was something very pleasant about joining the locals out with their dogs, stopping for a chat, complaining about the weather and looking forward to spring and summer. She was beginning to feel like a resident. Perhaps this time she might stay. She made enquiries about a place where shemight buy the gifts she planned. Surely not all the shops were closed for the winter? The town had a busy life of its own, which was enhanced by summer visitors, but life went on when winter ruled and visitors stayed away.
    She was told about Matt Hewitt who specialized in garden ornaments in stone, cement and wood. She called