Free The Girls in the Woods by Helen Phifer Page B

know but I don’t want any old ghost playing with my daughter. I’m still not one hundred per cent sure about all this weird stuff, you know.’
    Annie began to laugh. Alice Heaton had died a very long time ago; she had helped Annie to overcome Henry Smith the first time he’d tried to kill her in the derelict mansion in Abbeywood that her brother Ben had been the caretaker of. If it hadn’t been for Alice she didn’t know if she would still be here to tell the tale of what happened at the ghost house, as Will had nicknamed it. It was so sweet how Alice and Sophie had both become such good friends and her very own guardian angels.
    ‘Yes, it’s all fine. Sophie and Alice wanted to come and see your Alice. They are the kindest, most beautiful souls I’ve ever met and if little Alice has them watching out for her she will be just fine. They make a pretty good team and they’ve helped me out more than enough times when I really needed them.’
    ‘Dear God, our lives are never just normal, are they?’
    He wasn’t expecting an answer to that question, because he knew the answer. Normal had left his life when Annie became psychic after the terrible head injury that Mike, her now-dead husband, had inflicted upon her a couple of years ago. She changed the subject. The baby was playing with the gold cross that she always wore around her neck. It had been a present from her friend Father John – who had blessed it after their encounter with that awful woman he’d helped them to bury in the churchyard – and it meant the world to her.
    ‘So what’s going on in the busy world of Bowness? I bet you’re bored without me. Not to mention skint. Do you have to pay for your coffee now I’m not with you to go inside and get it?’
    ‘Yes and no. It’s still free when Gustav is in but he’s not been well the last couple of weeks so I had to pay, three times.’
    Annie snorted.
    ‘Just imagine how much it would have cost you if you hadn’t got all those freebies. Poor Gustav. Do you know what’s up with him? I like him. I know he’s a big flirt but he’s good hearted and sweet. I’m surprised he isn’t married, he’s so good looking.’
    ‘I can tell you why he isn’t married. Isn’t it obvious?’
    She shook her head.
    ‘He isn’t married because he sleeps with anything that walks on two legs.’
    ‘I still think he’s a sweetie. We all have our faults.’
    ‘Talking about faults, where is your lord and master today. I thought he was off work?
    ‘To be honest, I’m not sure. He went back to work yesterday and got called into work earlier so I don’t know when I’ll see him again. You know what it’s like. Some job comes in and there’s never anyone on to cover. It’s getting worse. He promised me he wasn’t going to work late today and that he was easing himself back into it, but I should have known better. I wanted him to finish painting the nursery and build the cot.’
    Jake began laughing.
    ‘You won’t see him again; he probably texted Stu and told him to make a job up, if all you wanted him to do was paint and put together a ten-thousand-part cot. Well, if it was me you wouldn’t see me for the rest of the day. There’s nothing more depressing than trying to build flat-pack furniture.’
    ‘He wouldn’t do that – he likes doing stuff around the house. Doesn’t he?’
    ‘Not for me to say, princess, but there are some things a man doesn’t like doing no matter how much he loves you. Right, we need to get going. I have loads to do and can’t waste all day sitting here with you.’
    ‘Thanks, Jake. I’d hate you to waste your time on me.’
    He leant over – wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her forehead.
    ‘I don’t mean it like that. I just have so much to do. Two days off aren’t enough, especially not with Alice. I just want to make them count. I had no idea being a parent was so time-consuming, but wonderful. Not long now before you and the man discover this as well –