Summer at the Lake Read Online Free PDF

angry with Seb than turn into a snivelling fool. After all, it was his fault she was here. His fault entirely that she stepped into the road and . . .
    She stopped herself short, realising that another glimmer of memory had surfaced. She chased after the glimmer, but like quicksilver it slipped away and was gone.
    ‘Do you have somebody at home?’
    Oh, for heaven’s sake, Miss Marple was at it again with her questioning! ‘I think that’s my business, isn’t it?’ Floriana replied with a show of what she hoped was assertion, but which she suspected made her sound more like a stroppy teenager.
    ‘You’re right,’ Mr Strong – aka Adam – said, stepping forward and putting a hand on the old lady’s arm. ‘Come on, Mrs Silcox,’ he added, ‘I think we’ve achieved what we came to do, now it’s time to go.’
    ‘It’s Miss Silcox,’ the woman corrected him, ‘and please don’t patronise me and make out that I’m some old dear with nothing better to do than poke my nose in where it’s not wanted.’
    ‘Then let’s leave before that accusation is made, shall we?’
    Ooh , thought Floriana, Mr Strong lives up to his name!
    But then the crestfallen look on the old lady’s face had Floriana feeling sorry for her and ashamed of her own rudeness, she said, ‘Please, I appreciate your concern, really I do, it was extremely kind of you both to care so much.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Miss Silcox said with a slight lifting of her chin. ‘And to reassure you, I’m the last person on earth to interfere in anyone else’s business, but in this instance I felt it was not only my duty as a good citizen to come here, but because . . . because I should like to think somebody might do the same for me.’
    Floriana now felt utterly shamed and a quick glance at Mr Strong told her he felt the same.
    ‘How are we all getting on in here, then?’
    It was the nurse from earlier.
    ‘Fine,’ Floriana said. ‘Can I go home now, please?’
    The nurse smiled. ‘That’s what I came to tell you.’
    Forty-five minutes later Floriana was discharged and she gratefully accepted the offer of a lift home with her Good Samaritans.
    When they drew up outside 10a Church Close, she thanked them, took their contact details, which Miss Silcox insisted she have, and waved them off with cast-iron assurances that she was absolutely fine.
    She wasn’t fine, and they probably knew that, but they’d been considerate enough not to push it. In the kitchen she put the kettle on and was about to load the toaster when her mobile rang. When she looked at the screen she saw that it was her sister. Floriana was in no mood to speak to her, but she could see that Ann had rung several times already.
    ‘At last!’ Ann said. ‘Where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you all evening.’
    ‘Why, what’s wrong?’
    ‘Nothing’s wrong, I’m just trying to sort out Christmas. You said you’d tell me definitely by today whether you were coming or not.’ The reproach in Ann’s voice pummelled away in Floriana’s ear and made her head thump more painfully than ever.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said feebly, ‘I was going to call you, I really was, only I—’
    ‘Well, that’s you all over, isn’t it? You’re always going to do something but you never get around to it, do you? Honestly, I give up! So, what’s the excuse this time?’
    ‘I was knocked over by a car on my way home and—’
    ‘You shouldn’t make jokes like that,’ her sister said, exasperated. ‘The next thing you know it will really happen – it’s called tempting fate.’
    ‘I’m not joking. A car really did hit me. I’ve just got back from A&E.’
    There was a pause the other end of the line while her sister presumably regrouped her thoughts. ‘Why didn’t you ring me?’
    Typical Ann, no enquiring how Floriana was, just straight to indignation. ‘What would be the point?’ Floriana responded. ‘It’s not as if you could help, you’re too far away. And