A Cornish Escape by Jenny Kane

Author:Jenny Kane [Kane, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2020-05-06T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

Abi’s voice was hoarse from shouting by the time Simon pulled his BMW into the first lay-by he came to and twisted around in the driver’s seat. Wrenching the mobile phone from a livid Abi’s hands, Simon stared hard at his sister-in-law as she sat as far away from him as was possible, semi-cocooned with her knees under her chin on his back seat.

‘Now then.’ Simon was evidently trying hard to keep his temper under control. ‘I am prepared to listen if you care to explain yourself.’

Abi suspected it had been a struggle for him not to add the words ‘young lady’ to the end of his sentence. He was certainly looking at her like a father regarding his teenage daughter after an unfortunate piece of body piercing or a tattoo.

‘Let me out of this bloody car!’ She rattled at the car door, pointlessly, for Simon had overridden the locks. Taking a deep breath, and as haughtily as she could manage, Abi said, ‘How dare you steal my phone! I have to call my friends to tell them I’m alright. They’ll be worried.’

Simon grunted, ‘No point, there’s never any signal in this cursed part of the world,’ before dropping her mobile out of her reach in the footwell of the passenger seat.

Trying not to feel panicked by the loss of her one source of communication beyond the car, Abi kept every word she uttered as level as possible, ‘Simon, will you please tell me what you are doing here, and how you found me at Stan’s house?’ Without giving him time to answer, she went on, ‘And if you have made Stan ill, or shaken him in anyway, I will never, ever forgive you.’

‘For goodness’ sake, Abigail! You can’t have known the old man for more than five minutes.’

‘It only takes a few minutes to know if someone is a good person or not, and Stan is my friend.’

‘And the giant in the overalls who was pawing at you? Is he a friend as well?’

Abi could feel the fight draining out of her. It had been a long day. She was already tired from polishing the floor. Then she’d had three major shocks to her system: Stan’s offer, Max’s kiss, and Simon’s arrival. Abi knew she didn’t have the energy for a pointless conversation which Simon wouldn’t give up on until he’d won. He and his late brother were very much alike in that way.

‘Max is my friend. He was giving me moral support because he is a good person, that’s all.’

‘Oh, really?’ To Abi’s relief, Simon dropped the inquisition, and restarted the engine and pulled the car back out on to the road.

‘For fuck’s sake, Simon! You just don’t get it, do you? Some people are kind because they are good people. People with no agenda, and no profit to make. Not everyone is like you, with an ulterior motive for everything they do!’ Abi’s anger evaporated into a quiet resentment as her throat stung after its unaccustomed barrage of insults and confused anger.

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