Page 59 of A Letter to the Last House Before the Sea

Lettie slipped on the mud when she stepped forward and he steadied her when she shot out an arm.

‘Careful, or you’ll have a broken leg to add to your woes. If you don’t mind me asking, why were you fired?’

‘I strongly advised a customer to go and get a life.’

It felt good to say it out loud. She hadn’t told anyone, except Kelly, exactly what she’d done in a moment of madness.

Corey burst out laughing, startling birds in the trees nearby who rose as one into the air. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘I worked on the customer care team for a company making adhesives, and this man rang in to complain, very pompously and at great length, that our product was too sticky.’

‘Oh dear.’ Corey was properly laughing now, great belly laughs that made Lettie’s heart feel glad.

‘It wouldn’t have been so bad but Iris had just died and I wasn’t sleeping and he just went on and on until I thought I might scream. So I said what I thought and put the phone down on him.’

Lettie had been mortified at the time. But Corey’s laughter took the sting out of the memory.

‘Well,’ he said, still grinning widely. ‘I think your advice was spot on.’

‘My manager didn’t think so when the bloke rang back to complain about me. I was out on my ear.’

Corey frowned. ‘Can they do that these days?’

‘I don’t know. I hadn’t been there that long so I was kind of still on probation, but I don’t care anyway because I hated the job. I want to…’

Lettie stopped, aware that she was burbling. But Corey stared at her, his dark eyes almost black under the shade of the trees.

‘What do you want?’

‘Don’t laugh but I’d like to change career direction and do something historical – work in a museum or something similar.’ She stopped and smiled. ‘And I’d like to study history too.’

Lettie had known for a while that working in a museum would be her dream job, but the urge to study history properly had only intensified recently – since she’d started immersing herself in the past of Heaven’s Cove.

Corey tilted his head to one side. ‘Why would I laugh at that?’

‘People do.’ She sighed. ‘My family do.’

‘Why?’

‘Who knows? Because they don’t think wanting to change your life is practical. Because they like me being free to help them out. Because it’s not what Starcrosses do.’ Though Daisy had done it, thought Lettie rebelliously. She’d suddenly decided to train as a life coach and no one had batted an eyelid at that. ‘Iris kept encouraging me to do my own thing and now she’s gone it seems even more important, suddenly.’ She breathed out slowly. ‘Sorry. I’m wittering on about myself when you’ve got a broken marriage to contend with.’

Corey shook his head. ‘It happened a while ago now. I was pretty cut up at the time.’

‘I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s OK. Life doesn’t always work out as you think it will.’

Pain flickered across his strong features and he suddenly took a step towards Lettie. He was so close, she could smell his citrusy aftershave.

‘You should live the life you want, Lettie. Even if it takes courage to break away from how things are right now.’

‘I’m not sure I’m brave enough. I can’t even paddle in the sea, as you well know.’

‘But you got into the water even though you were frightened. That’s what I call courage.’

A lock of dark hair flopped across Corey’s forehead and Lettie wanted so much to brush it away. She reached out her hand, but pulled it back when a tsunami of splashing punctured the moment. A Labrador out on a walk had bounded into the stream and, by the time Lettie had looked away from the dog, Corey had stepped back again.

‘Come on,’ he said gruffly, moving aside to allow the dog’s owner to overtake him on the path. ‘We’re almost there.’