My Sister’s Secret

‘Where exactly did you see this?’ she asked Dan.

‘Across from the lighthouse. The co-ordinates are in the top right corner, see?’

She looked at Niall, unable to contain her excitement despite how painful the memories were. It was just where he’d suspected. He smiled at her and Charity’s stomach contracted. He rarely smiled but when it happened, it set the room on fire, the lines around his mouth deepening, his blue eyes sparkling. It suddenly felt like something was blossoming inside Charity again; something she’d stifled for so long. Had she ever stopped loving him?

She thought of Faith. If she hadn’t started loving him maybe her sister would be there now?

‘Can I have the co-ordinates?’ she asked Dan.

‘I can do one better,’ Dan said. ‘How about we go out on my boat tomorrow. You can both dive off it, see if you can find the forest for yourself?’

Charity looked at Niall. How could she possibly spend the day with him? It was out of the question. ‘I’m afraid I’ll be working at the café.’

‘The weekend then?’ Dan asked.

She shook her head. ‘Sorry.’

Niall sighed, looking down at his plate.

The door opened and Clara walked in again with a large gold tray. At first, Charity thought it was a tray of seashells of all different shapes and sizes but, as Clara drew closer, she noticed eight plump oysters in their shells were lying on a bed of seashells, a dollop of what looked like black beads on each one.

Niall’s eyes lifted to meet hers. She knew he too was thinking about their first date.

Dan lifted one of the oysters into the air and looked at Charity then Niall. ‘To real-life heroes and damsels in distress.’ Then he tipped his head back and let the oyster slither into his mouth, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. When Charity ate hers, it tasted just as the oysters had that moonlit night with Niall: of the sea, salty and earthy, the subtle taste of the caviar now making it even more delicious.

‘So how did you first meet?’ Lana asked Charity and Niall.

Charity looked down into her drink. She didn’t want to talk about the past.

‘On the beach,’ Niall said. ‘We were just kids.’

Lana leant her chin on her hands and smiled dreamily. ‘Oh, how romantic, meeting on a windswept beach!’

‘Don’t get ahead of yourself,’ Dan said, laughing.

‘No. I have a nose for these things,’ Lana said, tapping the side of her nose. ‘You can sense the chemistry oozing off these two. I’m right, aren’t I?’

Charity squirmed in her seat while Niall’s neck flushed red.

‘I am right!’ Lana said.

Dan put his hand on Lana’s. ‘Darling, I don’t think—’

‘So you’re not together now,’ Lana said, tapping her lower lip with her finger as she narrowed her eyes at them. ‘Why did you break up?’

Charity peered at the door. She should have left.

Niall opened his mouth to say something but Lana put her hand up. ‘No, wait, let me guess. You cheated on Charity!’

‘Lana, that’s enough,’ Dan said sharply.

‘No, wait,’ Lana said, looking between Charity and Niall. ‘She cheated on you.’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ Niall said quietly.

Charity felt tears sting her eyes. She took a quick sip of wine and looked away. Her last meeting with Niall had been so abrupt, a few moments on a windswept dark beach the week after Faith died, the terrible incident throbbing between them. It had been horrific enough to be told by her parents the day after she’d learnt of her sister’s death that she’d been knocked down in a hit and run. But then to discover Niall’s car was seen screeching away from the scene of her death. It was unbearable.

Hope had been livid. ‘You must never see him again,’ she’d hissed at Charity.

‘It was an accident,’ Charity had said, so confused, still in shock and trying to process the news herself.

‘He killed our sister.’

Charity hadn’t said anything. What could she say? She knew she must talk to Niall. But she hadn’t seen him since Faith had died and he wasn’t in their usual spot that night either. Each night, she waited for him, until a few nights later when she saw him waiting in the moonlight, head down, shoulders hunched.

That’s when he’d told her they couldn’t see each other again; that she had to get on with her life. She’d been devastated. People might think him a murderer but she knew he wasn’t. He was as grief-stricken as she was. He’d loved Faith too, spent many summers with her.

It was a terrible, terrible accident.

But Charity knew he was right. When she got back to the house, Hope was waiting for her.

‘You don’t have to say anything,’ Charity had quickly said, before Hope could say anything. ‘It’s over.’

Relief had flooded her sister’s face. ‘Thank God.’

How would she feel now, knowing Charity was having dinner with him?

Charity stood up. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go.’

Niall looked up at her, brow creased.

‘Oh, that’s a shame,’ Lana said, pouting.

Niall stood with her. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

‘No,’ she said, her voice firmer than she’d intended. ‘Please don’t.’

His blue eyes flickered with an unbearable sadness. She felt that same sadness well up inside her. That fateful night had changed the course of both their lives. Charity hadn’t just lost a sister and Niall a friend. They’d lost each other too. Seeing him again made her realise just how utterly sad that part of the whole tragedy was. And how painful it was to dredge it all back up again. It also made her realise how much she still cared for him.

‘Take care, Niall,’ she said softly.

His eyes seemed to grow glassy. Then he blinked, forcing a smile on to his face. ‘You too, Charity. I hope you get a job soon, yeah? Don’t let Thatcher the Milk Snatcher beat you down.’

She smiled. He seemed to understand. ‘I won’t.’ She turned to Lana. ‘You take care, too, Lana.’

Lana shot Charity a flimsy smile then turned away.

When Charity got outside, instead of walking to her little car, she headed to the edge of the cliff. It was dark now, the moon above bright enough to light up the grass in front of her and the sea below. To the right, the cliff stretched out for miles, the odd light or two beaming in the distance. To the left, lights flickered from Busby-on-Sea, one road that stretched away from it in darkness: the road Faith died on.