Nowhere Girl by Ruth Dugdall Read Free Book Online Page A

it.”
    He was trying to lighten things now, but she was angry. When Paul saw this he said, “Oh, sweetheart. You always did take life too seriously.”
    “Exactly. I do. And I’d like just a year – my career break is only for twelve months! – when I don’t have to ask someone why they killed their baby or ate their lover or chucked their best friend off the Humber Bridge.”
    “Come on, Cate. Not all your cases were that interesting.”
    Cate was irritated now, and just a bit exhausted. “I don’t want interesting, Paul. I want normal.”
    Paul gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek and pulled away to look solemnly into her eyes that felt dangerously moist.
    “Yeah? Well I’ll give it a month before you get your sticky paws into something. I know you, Cate. You think you want to be a housewife or whatever but in your soul you’re a probation officer. You’ll find someone to fix, even in Luxembourg.”
    So, here she was.
    There had been a touch of frost on the ground when they set off from the city, yet just an hour later the sun made an appearance, proud as it should be for August in central Europe.
    “The ice saints are late this year,” said Olivier, as they drove along winding roads flanked by pines, the sun warming by degrees with every minute.
    “What’s an ice saint?” Amelia said, leaning forward between the seats in front of her so that General had to scrabble his paws to keep a purchase on the back seat, where he was laid out.
    “A saint from spring, when you can have frost and sunshine in the same day. Just like today.”
    Amelia grinned at that. “I like it. Ice saints sounds like a pop group or something. Gaynor and me are going to sing together, we could call ourselves that, and audition for
Britain’s Got Talent
.”
    Cate, who had heard her daughter sing, smiled as she looked out of the car window. The road was higher now, the forest was behind them and instead, the landscape was flat. She could see for miles, down ravines, up to churches propped on crevices. Then the road headed downwards again, towards the lake.
    Picnic blanket, hamper, Amelia’s
Maze Runner
book that she had already read twice, and Cate’s sketch pad that she had recently brought out of retirement. As General excitedly ran around, barking at a triage of geese flying past, they laid out their patch on the grassy banks of the reservoir Esch-Sur-Sûre. Cate set about slathering Amelia’s pasty white skin with suncream, despite her protests.
    “Mum! I’m not going to get a tan with factor 50.”
    “No, and you’re not going to get sunburned either.”
    Amelia rolled her eyes, impatiently waiting until the job was done and she could swim. Cate then covered her own body with the thick white sunblock, much to Olivier’s amusement. She held up the bottle, offering him some, but Olivier laughed and rejected the offer. “I think I’ll take my Vitamin D neat, thanks.”
    He stretched back on the grass and sighed in contentment, a moment that was swiftly interrupted by his phone beeping. In one elegant movement he was walking, phone to his ear, away from them and towards the shade of the trees, standing under their dappled shadow as he spoke in quick French to whomever had disturbed their Sunday outing.
    “I’m going to swim. Come too, Mum. You never get in the water.”
    “Because it’ll be freezing.”
    “But it’s boiling!” Amelia protested, grabbing Cate’s hand and leading her over the flinty beach to the water’s edge, much to General’s delight. He didn’t need any persuasion, and bounded into the water, his black fur turning sleek, seal-like, as it became drenched with the waves of water each bounding jump produced. Cate stepped in, crocs and all, and winced.
    “See?” she called. “Lake water takes a while to heat, even in August.”
    Determined, Amelia waded deeper, so the water was at her knees then her thighs. General barked, and she splashed some water at him, making him even more excited. Cate