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There was nodding Kirsty had heard enough Anyflat She didn’t care if it was dirty, smelly and had holes in the floor It was better than this torture This was adding insult to injury She’d been attacked, lost her business and home, Lake was nowhere to be found and now she had to suffer the insanity of Invertary’s gossip to explode if she listened to much more

“I’ a customer at the front of her shop

“It’s snowing,” her mother protested

“Excellent,” Kirsty said “That et some peace to think”

She wrapped herself in the ugly fur coat that had been a gift fros to survive the fire was the coat she hated so much She pulled on a borrooollen scarf, and borrooollen gloves, and went out into the high street

The snoas co down thick and fast The hills around Invertary were shrouded in heavy cloud as fat snowflakes covered Kirsty’s world As she came to a stop in front of the burnt-out shell that used to be her ho made even the desolation seem pretty Kirsty stared at theleft, and instead of despair, all Kirsty felt was a strange kind of acceptance She hadn’t had one panic attack since the fire She’d spent nights lying in her old bedrooure out where the panic had gone Eventually she’d come to the conclusion that the source of her panic attacks was fear Fear that everything she had would disappear Now that it had actually happened, there really was nothing left to fear She was still standing She was still living day after day As gut-wrenchingly awful as everything was, she actually felt hope

“Staring at it isn’t going to change anything,” Betty said as she came up beside her

Kirsty kept her eyes on the mess as the snow coated her from head to toe

“Is he co back?” she asked at last

“Of course he’s co back, stupid lassie,” Betty said

“Is he staying when he coht of it

“I don’t think it’s my place to talk about that,” Betty told her

Kirsty turned towards her

“Since when do you care about butting into other people’s business?”

“That’s a good point,” Betty said “But themy trap shut”