A brisk walk later she arrived at Sea Vistas and Nurse Jill, who she commandeered as she stepped out of the lift, informed her she’d find Constance outside enjoying the morning sunshine. Isabel exited through the doors the nurse gestured her toward, and she followed the path that wound its way down into the garden.
The day was a stunner, she thought, spying the bench seat up ahead where Constance was sitting. Isabel smiled upon seeing she was dressed in her yellow outfit. Her snowy halo was dipped slightly as though she might be napping, although Isabel doubted it. Constance, she had already gauged over the course of their short friendship, was not a napper. There was no sound as she approached apart from that of her feet crunching on the loose gravel path and two speckle-chested song thrushes having a noisy dispute over a worm beneath the rose bushes. The expansive shrubbery on either side of the path gave up the heady scent of flowers just beginning to burst into bloom. There were far worse places to while away a morning.
‘Constance, it’s me,’ she called not wanting to frighten her by suddenly looming up in front of her. Constance turned her head slowly in acknowledgment of her approach, and Isabel picked up her pace for her last few steps. ‘Well, you’ve found the spot. It’s a glorious morning,’ she announced with all the gusto of a Butlins’ Redcoat.
Before Constance could get a word in, Isabel produced her phone. ‘This will make you smile.’ She held it aloft, shading it from the sunlight as she played the video back.
When it had finished Constance demanded she play it again but this time pulled her glasses out of her pocket before taking the mobile from Isabel. Isabel watched on amused as her eyes lit up and her mouth quivered with amusement; she patted her free hand on her lap to the beat of the music.
‘Well done. You and Rhodri make a good team. I used to sing once.’
‘Did you?’ Isabel was only half listening. She was thinking about Rhodri. They did make a good team. They understood one another, she thought her mind flitting back to the conversation they’d had last night. She would have loved to talk to Constance about it, but she’d promised it would go no further and a promise was a promise. ‘I wouldn’t have had the nerve to get up there if he wasn’t standing alongside me.’ She carried on chatting telling her about Alice, and the Acapella Group she’d been invited to join, but by the look on Constance’s face, she knew she was only half listening.
‘Are you all right Constance?’ To her alarm, as she looked at Constance in the hope she’d confide, she saw her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. She thrust her hand into her bag and hurriedly felt about for the packet of tissues she knew was in there somewhere. Her hand closed over the pack, and she pulled one free, passing it to Constance who dabbed at her eyes before speaking.
‘I’m a silly, old woman.’
‘No you’re not. You’re far from silly, and I’ve decided you’re not the type to be old.’
That raised a glimmer of a smile. Constance took Isabel’s hand in hers and held it tightly. ‘I need you take me somewhere, Isabel. I have a story I need to tell.’
Chapter 38
Isabel strode up Union Street at a clip that had her puffing. She didn’t want to be late. She’d stayed with Constance longer than she’d planned that morning. It was the second time she’d seen her upset, and it had unsettled her, and she’d not wanted to leave until she was sure she was all right. She was frustrated too by Constance’s refusal to elaborate further on the story she wanted to share with her. Although, she was guessing she would finally learn the truth behind what Ginny’s last words meant. It was very much a dangling carrot, but Constance would not be swayed further on the matter. The most she’d said was that this was something she needed to do as soon as possible.
In the end, Isabel had guided her back up the garden path and settled her in her easy chair over by the window in her room. She’d gone back downstairs and made her a cup of tea, doing her best not to spill a drop as she rode the lift back to her room. ‘I’ll sort it out, Constance, all right? We’ll get to wherever it is you want to go,’ she’d promised, before leaving.
It would have to be a Sunday because she’d ask Delwyn, who had a car first and that was the only day the shop was closed. That would mean asking Brenda for a few hours off in the afternoon which wouldn’t go over well. Otherwise, she could ask Rhodri. He and Delwyn were the only two people with transport that she knew well enough on the island to ask. She didn’t fancy all the effort involved with getting Constance on a bus, but a bus to where? A taxi perhaps then? That could be pricey given she had no idea of the destination Constance had in mind. She’d cross that bridge when she came to it. First things first, she’d see how the land lay with Delwyn.
The sign for The Natural Way came into her line of sight, and she burst through the door a few seconds later. Delwyn looked up startled from the counter where she was in the middle of ringing up a customer’s purchase. Isabel smiled a greeting at both Delwyn and the young man she was
