Page 72 of A Letter to the Last House Before the Sea

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Daisy was sitting huddled over a cup of tea when Lettie went into the kitchen the next morning.

‘Good morning. I didn’t expect to see you up so early.’

‘I’d have loved a lie-in but those big birds are so loud at the crack of freaking dawn and the light is so bright here. It’s ridiculous.’

She put her head in her hands and inhaled the steam rising from her cup.

‘Those big birds are seagulls. How’s your head?’

‘Perfectly fine, thank you. How’s yours?’

‘Fine, but I didn’t drink as much as you last night.’

‘I didn’t have much,’ mumbled Daisy, wincing when her phone rang on the table beside her. She glanced at it before rejecting the call.

‘Who was that?’

‘Jason. I’ll speak to him later.’

Lettie made herself a cup of tea and sat at the big oak table, opposite Daisy. She’d woken early too and had lain in bed thinking about the goings-on of the night before.

‘Have you seen Rosie this morning?’ she ventured.

‘Briefly. She was heading out to meet up with her boyfriend – Lucas, Leo, L-something.’

‘Liam.’

‘That’s the one. He’s a local farmer, apparently. She said to help ourselves to breakfast. There’s all sorts in the fridge and that cupboard by the Aga. She offered to cook us a full English but…’ She paused and swallowed. ‘I didn’t fancy it, to be honest. So I told her we’d sort ourselves out and she could go out. She’s very trusting, leaving us here on our own.’

‘I suppose you have to be when you’re letting strangers into your home. Plus, we don’t much look like burglars, and she has my home address if anything goes missing.’

‘Ha.’ Daisy tried to laugh but closed her eyes and swallowed again instead. Her face was almost the same shade as the dove-grey cupboards.

‘I think you might need to go and lie down again.’

‘I will in a minute.’

Lettie watched her for a moment, sipping her tea, before saying: ‘I’m glad you felt you could confide in me last night.’

‘Confide in you? What do you mean?’

‘What you said on the way from the pub back to Driftwood House.’ Daisy stared at Lettie blearily over her un-drunk tea. ‘While we were walking up the cliff path.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘You told me a bit about your life and your marriage and your feelings.’

‘Did I? That sounds very unlike me.’

‘You were a bit drunk. Are you saying you can’t remember any of it?’

‘It’s a total blank.’

Lettie eyeballed Daisy but her sister didn’t blink.

‘However you want to play it, Daisy, but I just want to say that it’s OK not to have a perfect life. Nobody does. Everyone’s life is a little bit shit.’