He stood up, his dark eyes full of answering anger, and walked out without a word.
He didn’t even slam the door behind him. Just left it open.
Abigail stared after him, the flash of anger suddenly gone and leaving her full of guilt.
Oh, God. What had she done?
She was supposed to be civil to the man and start pouring oil at the first sign of any troubled waters. But instead she’d stirred up the storm. Big time.
OK.
Tomorrow, she’d apologise. And hope that she could repair the damage in time for Ruby’s wedding.
CHAPTER THREE
EVEN THOUGH BRAD was tired after the three-hour drive, he couldn’t sleep. He just stared into the darkness, replaying Abby’s words over and over again in his head.
‘You might want to keep punishing yourself, and that’s your choice, but please make sure you don’t punish your mum and Ruby.’
Was he punishing his mother and his twin?
‘Stubborn, refusing to see any other point of view except your own. That’s what killed your dad.’
No, what had killed his dad was Brad’s selfishness.
He should’ve come home for the weekend and gone out on the boat with his dad, instead of going off with Abby for a romantic weekend away. OK, so she’d won the trip in a competition, but she could’ve taken Ruby with her instead and made it a girly weekend: and then Brad would’ve been there for Jim. He would’ve made sure that his dad had his angina medication with him on the boat. He could’ve administered it, bought time until the emergency services could get to them.
Though he was horribly aware that Abby had said pretty much the same thing. If only Jim had listened to his doctor and taken his medication with him. If only Jim had waited.
But everyone knew that James Powell was a Type A personality and the word ‘wait’ simply wasn’t in his vocabulary. Jim was a larger-than-life character, a sharp barrister who’d lived for his job and been bored stiff being stuck at home. Of course he wouldn’t have waited to go out on the boat until someone else could be with him. He would’ve argued that he was perfectly capable of crewing the boat alone. He’d hated the whole idea of having to retire early on the grounds of poor health. Being diagnosed with a heart condition that could kill him if it wasn’t kept under control had been the worst thing that could’ve happened to him. He’d needed something to fill his time, and the boat was the one thing that had stopped him going crazy.
If Brad had only come home, that weekend...
But he hadn’t.
And Jim had taken the boat out on his own. He’d had an angina attack and collapsed. The chest pain had been so bad, he hadn’t even been able to call the emergency services; he’d only been capable of hitting the last number redial on his phone.
Brad’s number.
‘Chest. Hurts. On boat. Call coastguard,’ he’d gasped.
‘I’ll do it now. Where’s your medication, Dad?’ Brad asked.
‘Home.’
Meaning that there had been nothing to help with the pain.
Abby had been in the spa, having a facial, but thankfully she’d left her mobile phone in their room. With shaking hands, Brad had put his dad on speaker on his own phone and called the emergency services from Abby’s.
‘I’m getting someone to you now, Dad.’
‘Should’ve waited.’ Jim had squeezed the pain-filled words out.
‘That doesn’t matter now, Dad. Stay with me. Stay with me. It’s going to be OK. I’ve got help coming. I know it hurts to talk, so I just want one word from you every couple of minutes so I know you’re still with me. OK?’
‘Yes.’
‘Stay with me, Dad. I love you. It’s going to be all right.’
But Jim had been in trouble way before the helicopter and the lifeboat had reached him. Miles and miles away from the coast, knowing it would take him hours to drive to Great Crowmell even if he left the hotel that very second, Brad had been unable to do anything to help. He’d heard the clatter of the phone onto the deck and guessed that his dad had dropped it.
‘Dad! Dad! Stay with me. Pick up the phone. Please pick up the phone,’ he’d pleaded.
But Jim hadn’t answered. All Brad had been able to hear was the hum of the engine and the screaming of the seagulls, until finally the phone had been picked up by one of the lifeboat crew.