Winter Storms Read Free Page A

certainly. Anyway … ” He yawned. “How is everyone here?”
    “Fine, busy with the Winter Gala, I’ve baked some cakes for it.”
    “I remember a Summer Gala.”
    “It’s similar, just colder, we need funds to replace the lifeboat, it’s getting old and worn now. Carly’s organising it.”
    His head flicked back. “She didn’t used to be into fundraising.”
    “She does a lot of things like that now, I think it’s to keep busy. The gift shop in the harbour belongs to her too, it sells some great stuff.”
    “I can’t imagine her as a shop keeper.”
    Ali’s eyes narrowed. “Her training bursary was cancelled when she had to drop out of the sailing team. She left school with no qualifications so there wasn’t much else she could do except set up her own business. We raised some money for her after the accident, which she used to pay for stock and rent; since then, she’s done really well.”
    “Do you see much of her now?”
    “No, I drop into the shop sometimes. We’re friendly, but it’s not like it used to be. It’s a shame; I miss her, but it got too awkward.”
    Swallowing the hard lump in his throat, he closed his eyes. “I hadn’t thought about money, about how she was supporting herself.”
    “Well, she hasn’t got any family has she? Except for her waste-of-space brother, although he’s improved recently, her mother scarpered shortly after the accident, didn’t want the hassle of looking after her.”
    “Her mother was never interested, Carly used to look after Liam.” He lay back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling.
    “I’m sorry.” Ali rose and sat beside him. “I shouldn’t have talked about it, it sounds like you’ve had a hard time lately. Mum said you hadn’t qualified for the Nationals this year because your boat developed a fault during the time trials.”
    “She’s being kind, it wasn’t the boat, it was me.”
    “No one wins everything, you’ve got two gold medals, that’s enough.”
    “Not if it’s your career it isn’t, medals don’t make much money unless you sell them.”
    “You can’t sell them! You put so much work into winning them. You probably just need a break, you’ve been working too hard.”
    Daniel looked at her, it wasn’t fair to burden her with his problems, she had enough worries of her own at the moment. Besides, it was impossible to explain that he’d lost all interest in racing and his medals lay at home stuffed into a drawer. Sighing, he closed his eyes, soon he’d be joining Carly in finding alternative employment; he already had one written warning from his coach about his lack of effort.
    “What’s the matter Daniel?” Ali said. “You look so depressed.”
    He glanced down at her bump. “I’m fine, tired, it’s been a long season. Now, what names are you thinking about for that little one?”
    As she talked, he stared up at the Christmas tree lights, remembering the anger in Carly’s eyes when he spoke to her. It seemed two years hadn’t been long enough for her to forgive him, after all.
    • • •
    Carly tapped a pen on the table, wishing she’d borrowed a loud hailer from the lifeboat station. Did all committee meetings end up in arguments? They’d agreed months ago to hold a Winter Gala, why was it all such a problem now? The noise from the sailing club bar didn’t help, it was nice of them to offer her the free use of the function room for fundraising meetings, but she might have to start looking for somewhere else.
    A loud crash echoed through the door, followed by cheering — the second tray of glasses smashed tonight, she suspected. Sighing, she checked her watch, it had been a long day in the shop with people buying last-minute Christmas gifts. Would she get any presents this year? It would be depressing not to have a single thing to open, too much like her childhood.
    Perhaps she should try again to meet someone, but since Daniel, there’d been no one she wanted. And what about him? Back for Christmas,