The Garden of Lost Memories: A heartbreaking page turner about learning to love and remembering to live by Ruby Hummingbird

Author:Ruby Hummingbird [Hummingbird, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838881801
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

BILLY

God, I hadn’t meant to drop it. Her face… I’d just turned and legged it out of her house and down the high street, quickly peering into the window of the restaurant so Mum wouldn’t see me pass. She wasn’t there, maybe she was in the kitchen at the back. I ran faster. She’d be so mad if she knew I’d left Mrs Maple’s house, gone on a train on my own.

I didn’t want to get yelled at again.

The corner shop sold SIM cards, a flashing rectangular sign in the bottom corner of the glass telling me so. I got out the money Elsie had given me for all the gardening and slid it across the counter. This was more important than saving for other things. I thought of the form for the allotments – I’d really wanted to get to the village hall and hand it in. That idea disappeared with the memory of Elsie shouting at me. Gardening was our thing and now I wasn’t sure I wanted anything to do with her.

I pulled out the object from my back pocket. It had been Tilly’s idea. It was an old handset of hers, an iPhone, unlocked but still way more expensive than anything I’d be able to get. Slipping the SIM card inside, I clicked the back closed and waited as the screen came to life: 29 per cent battery, I had time.

I moved faster back down the road to the cafe, my heart beating fast as I saw the free Wi-Fi password on the board. Within minutes I’d downloaded the apps I needed. Tilly had typed in her number: ‘Everyone’s got one and some kids at my school have got two because their parents take them off them at night. I had this one forever ago. I’ll message you, yeah?’

I tapped out a text. A simple Hey and waited, staring at the screen, hungry for a ping, a buzz.

There was something else I needed to do. Opening Facebook, I went to my account. Liam and I had set them up even though we weren’t old enough. I was surprised to see a couple of friend requests from three kids in my class. I didn’t have much time so I accepted them and sent my new mobile number in messages to them. Becky sent me a smiley face back, which almost distracted me from what I was doing.

Typing in a name, I scrolled the tiny thumbnails until I found the one I wanted. The message was short and I hovered over the send button, feeling a short stab of worry. Mum wouldn’t like it and I trusted her. I bit my lip. But lately she’d been so full of secrets, avoiding my questions, getting cross with me for asking them. And what harm could it do?

As I’d seen with Mrs Maple, who could I really trust?

I couldn’t believe she’d known about that tin, had let me believe I’d discovered it. I needed to do something for myself. I was almost a grown-up now, almost a teenager – sort of.

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