Abigail looked at him, realising he must have noticed her staring at the place. ‘What if your uncle comes back?’ She couldn’t imagine he’d want her nosing around his place. Abigail raised her eyebrows. Then again, it wasn’t his place – was it? She looked at Joss. ‘Yes, actually I would.’ Abigail knew she had no right to snoop around her tenant’s home but brushed that thought aside.
Abigail stepped out of the cottage and locked the door, thinking that this was her opportunityto get inside the property and find out a bit more about the other placeshe had inherited along with the crotchety old neighbour she was stuck with for the foreseeable – unless she found a way to make him leave. Abigail hadn’t thought about that. Didn’t he have a sister – Joss’s mother? He was on his own. Why didn’t he move closer to family?Unless she lived around here.
As Abigail followed him to the lighthouse, she said, ‘So, does your family live around here?’
Joss stopped suddenly and whirled around. ‘What do you mean?’
Abigail was a little surprised by his tone. It was almost confrontational, as though she was accusing him of something. That wasn’t the Joss she knew. ‘I was talking about your uncle’s sister – your mum.’
‘Oh, right. No, she lives in Kent.’ Joss turned around and carried on walking across the gravel drive.
‘Isn’t it a bit lonely, him living all on his own in the lighthouse?’
‘Oh, he’s lived like this for years and years.’
‘He never married?’
‘Uh-uh. Proper bachelor is my uncle.’
‘But you said he wasn’t himself. That’s why you’re down here looking after him. Is he … sick?’ Abigail ventured, not liking herself because a part of her wished he was unwell with something serious, which she knew was an awful thought.
‘No, he’s not sick. He’s just … stopped taking care of himself properly.’
‘Dementia?’ Abigail asked.
‘Nah, he’s not that old, only in his early seventies.’
Abigail looked at him. She was thinking of Toby’s mother, who wasn’t very old either. She imagined it was a lot more common at that age than Toby realised. She didn’t share this thought, but said, ‘He looks older.’
They’d stopped at the front door to the lighthouse. Joss turned around and looked at her.
‘Sorry, that wasn’t a very nice thing to say.’
Joss shook his head. ‘Don’t apologise. In fact, although he hasn’t said anything, I have wondered if he is unwell.He does appear to have aged recently.He’s lost weight, along with his appetite, and is forgetful.’
Abigail touched Joss’s arm. ‘I am sorry to hear that.’ She was. She could tell Joss was close to his uncle, even though she thought he didn’t deserve to have such a lovely nephew who had come all this way to help him out.
As Joss opened the door, she wondered if Joss lived in Kent, too. She was about to ask when he said, ‘I have asked my uncle to move closer to my mum in Sevenoaks, but he won’t hear of it. He’s lived here for years. He said,you’ll have to carry me out in a box.’
‘He said that?’
‘Oh, yes.’
Blast, thought Abigail. She rolled her eyes as she stepped inside the lighthouse, thinking,there goes that plan.