‘Here,’ she said, once she’d handed one steaming bread roll to me and another to Pigeon. ‘If I’m replacing the sandwich, it might as well be with the best food in Port Cathan.’
I was halfway through my first bite – savouring a whole new burst of flavours – when she stopped nibbling hers.
‘I’m Celine, by the way.’ She grimaced. ‘Not a traditional island name, but my ma’s mad onTitanic.’
‘I’m Emmie.’
She went completely still, the edge of the roll held up against her mouth.
After what felt like an excruciatingly long second, Celine sprang back to life as if someone had un-paused a film.
‘Oh, my goodness. You’re Pasty Girl.’
‘Um, what?’
‘Iris – Pip’s sister – said you’d followed him over here.’ She resumed nibbling. ‘I mean, at first we all thought he’d brought you home to introduce you to the family. That would have caused major drama, for obvious reasons. Crushing on someone who served you a coffee is one thing, but returning with amainlander in tow is serious business. So, big sighs of relief all round when he explained you’d invited yourself.’
‘I didn’t follow Pip,’ I mumbled. ‘Me visiting the island has nothing to do with him.’
‘Oh. Well, that’s even better, then, isn’t it?’ She dabbed at her lip with a corner of the dress still draped around her shoulders. It was a little disconcerting having this conversation with someone wearing an orange bikini. ‘It did seem a bit extreme. We were worried it might escalate into a restraining-order situation.’
I didn’t ask if it was Pip who’d told Iris that I’d invited myself here because of him. I wasn’t sure I could bear to hear the answer.
‘The thing with Pip, he’s so lovely. Always helping some needy person out. You wouldn’t be the first woman to take it the wrong way.’
‘I didn’t take it the wrong way.’
‘Of course you didn’t. I’m sorry for implying otherwise. Now I’ve met you, it’s obvious you’d never do anything so bonkers. Apart from falling asleep on the beach when the tide’s coming in. That was not a sensible move.’ She giggled, then squinted up at the sky as if searching for something. ‘Anyway, time I was going. It was fascinating to meet you, Emmie. I’ll probably see you around. Come on, Pigeon.’
Being a mainlander who can’t tell the time using the position of the sun, I dug my phone out of my bag and saw that it was probably time I started walking to the school. I’d napped for maybe an hour and a half and had managed a good few hours the night before, but it felt as though years of exhaustion had caught up with me.
I read two texts from Blessing as I started back along the seafront.
People are RAGING about no Parsley’s. Someone threatened to sue the airport for emotional distress and the food court crumbled under the pressure of more than two customers at once. Also, Gregory asked me to say you need to reply to his email, asap, and remember you can’t be closed for more than ten days without permission from the airport director.
Speaking of which – any idea yet when you’ll be back?
I paused on a bench overlooking the sea and sent her a brief reply saying that, no, I didn’t know yet, and not to worry about Gregory; I’d contact him. I then composed a draft email to Gregory telling him that I still had nine days to sign that contract, I’d do it when I was good and ready and him hassling me wasn’t helpful.
I didn’t bother to save the draft, knowing that once I’d logged into the Internet back at the B&B, I’d no longer have the guts to send it.
12
We were nearly home by the time Lily had heard all about Jack’s animal project, spelling test and how Jamie had wanted to swap lunch but he didn’t want to because Jamie had raisins instead of a brownie, so Jamie had thrown a raisin that hit Kendra in the eye, and so it went on. The second he’d left the school gates, he’d ripped his polo shirt off and stuck on the cowboy hat squashed in his bookbag.
Flora’s day was ‘Whatever,’ answered with the disdain perfected by all tweenagers. She then dropped the sneer to ask what I’d been doing.
‘I mean, apart from the hideousness of shopping with my mother. I bet she haggled over every penny, as if we’re paupers scrabbling for a crust of bread.’
‘The reason we aren’t paupers is because your mother knows how to negotiate a decent bargain,’ Lily replied. ‘You’ll be wishing you had my negotiating skills when reading time gets cut again due to more rudeness.’
‘We’re going to the farmhouse so there’ll be no reading time anyway,’ Flora scoffed, before catching her mum’s face in therear-view mirror and hastily adding, ‘Sorry for being rude about how embarrassing your haggling is.’
‘It wasn’t at all embarrassing,’ I said, twisting around in the front seat. Lily was positively easy-going compared to my mother. ‘My mum used to bring her own kitchen scales to the wholesalers because she was convinced the cheesemongers were dodgy. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she was right. But they matched up perfectly every time.’
‘Your mammy sounds weird,’ Jack said.
‘She was pretty unusual, yes. But her fierce business skills helped create the best pasty company outside Cornwall, so it was worth it.’
