‘Oh no, that’s awful. Are they back safe now?’
Lily gave a terse nod. ‘Thanks to Sean Munden catching sight of them on the way to his fishing boat. Too late to stop Jackie ripping her shoulder open, though. Da will have to make the call once Hugh’s looked her over.’
‘Make the call?’
‘Whether it’s worth saving her or not.’
‘What?’
‘This is a farm, Emmie. Our livelihood. They aren’t pets.’
I sat back, having no idea what to say.
‘The gate was left open,’ she added, with a brief glance at me as she folded her arms.
My stomach nosedived.
‘You cycled home alone last night. Pip warned you to check the dodgy gate.’
‘I did. He did,’ I stammered. ‘But I checked the gate. It was shut. I rattled it to make sure… Lily, I’m so sorry… I honestly thought it was shut. Itwasshut.’
I’d been so paranoid about leaving it open. I knew, with absolute certainty, that I’d left it closed.
‘Someone else must have gone through after me,’ I said, sounding pathetic even to my own ears.
Lily closed her eyes for a brief second, then opened them again as she sat down, still refusing to meet my frantic gaze.
‘Look, it’s not entirely your fault. Pip shouldn’t have left you to it. I mean, you couldn’t have known the seriousness of not securing it properly.’
‘No. That’s not true.’ I leant forwards, desperate to convince her. ‘I might be a mainlander, but I live in the countryside. I know how important it is not to leave a gate open. Even if Pip hadn’t warned me, I’ve have made sure it was closed. But he did, so I checked it even more thoroughly. Lily, I know you don’t know me that well, and have no reason to believe me, but I promise you that I shut the gate.’
‘Maybe you checked the other gates, but forgot the Clover Field one,’ she said, a tear sliding down her face.
‘The field nearest to here. With the big tree in the corner. The other side of it has far gate, leading to the farmhouse garden. I definitely checked that one. I double-checked every one of them.’
Lily tried to shrug it off. ‘However it happened, it’s done now.’
She began collecting the breakfast things, calling to the children to check their school bags were packed.
‘There was something wrong with the milk in my bedroom,’ I blurted.
Lily looked at me, her face creased in disappointment. ‘Well, so. Shall we call it even?’
I stayed seated at the outside table while Lily and the children finished getting ready and left for school, wishing I could vanish altogether but too distraught to move. A minute or so after they’d gone, Malcolm came to find me.
‘Don’t fret yourself,’ he said, placing two large, frothy coffees on the table. ‘These things happen. And Hugh messaged to say the damage is minimal. Jackie will be fine in a few days.’
‘But I didn’t do anything,’ I said, doing my best to look him in the eye. ‘I know I shut the gate.’
‘Emmie, no one doubts that youbelieveyou shut the gate…’
‘No.’ I shook my head, firmly. ‘I checked it. The latch was down. Someone else must have used it after me.’
‘Someone ignorant enough about farms to leave it open?’
I winced at the implication I was that ignorant.
‘A tourist could have ended up on the path, walking back to the caravan park from Port Cathan.’
