'Remember when you came to help with The Summer Hotel back in the day when I was first here? You said that that’s what people do for each other in Lovely Bay. I’m just following suit. I don’t want to get chased out of town by anybody.'
'Exactly, though I may have had a little bit of an incentive in helping you that day,’ Robby joked. ‘It’s just that you seem to have bitten off a lot more than you can chew at this stage of the game.'
'I’m fine. All is good. I like nothing better than sorting things out. Anyway, everything is done for the wedding.'
'How did it go with the dress at the cleaners?'
'Yep, good. The last bit of the puzzle is in place. They said it shouldn’t take long because it’s in good condition. It just needs a bit of a freshen up. It was packed away clean, but that was years ago, obviously, as you know.'
'Yeah, right. Okay, so we are ready to go then. Time to get the deed done.'
'Yeah, all you need to do now is to marry me unless you’ve changed your mind, that is.'
Robby chuckled. 'Absolutely not. I cannot wait.'
42
The following evening, Nina and Robby were sharing a takeaway. He’d come in from work looking exhausted, and so she’d decided to wait until she spoke to him about the Lindsay situation.
As they finished the takeaway, he got in first. He put his knife and fork down and sat forward in his seat. 'There’s something I need to tell you, Nina.'
Nina didn’t like his tone. She hadn’t heard Robby's voice like it before. 'Like what?' she said.
Robby hesitated, his hands clasped tightly together. 'Like a situation I didn’t tell you about because I never thought it would come up, to be honest. No, actually, that’s wrong. I didn’t think. I haven’t thought about it for years.'
Nina didn’t know what to do. It wasclearlygoing to be the Lindsay thing. Nancy must have said something to him. Did she say what she already knew or not? She decided first of all to pretend that she knew nothing about it, so she kept schtum.
Robby's voice was tense and tight. 'There was something that happened to me ages ago. To cut a long story short, it all started with this woman who had seen my name in the paper. Not that I knew that at that point, but she tracked me down, and wewent out a few times. I didn’t really like her from the start, so I wasn’t very enthusiastic, but she wassuperpushy, and basically, I couldn’t get rid of her. She didn’t take the hint, and it got really horrible.'
‘Like, how do you mean?’
‘She just didn’t give up and wouldn’t go away. Then she said she was desperate for money. I basically paid to get rid of her.’ Robby shook his head. ‘I still can’t actually believe I did that.’
‘You didn’t think about telling me any of this?’
‘I haven’t even thought about her for years. It was a long time ago. Then out of the blue, I saw her just before I left for this latest job and realised I had to tell you. I couldn’t believe it.’
‘Right.’
‘There are loads of things that no one knows, too.’
‘Like what?’
Robby was silent for a bit. ‘She was a doom monger or whatever it is a person like that is called.’
‘What?’
‘She likes or liked doom and trauma. She was addicted to it.’
‘Meaning?’
‘She wanted to…’ Robby paused and winced. ‘Replay the accident, you know...’
‘Oh my goodness!’ Nina swore. ‘What the actual?’
‘That’s when I gave her the money to get rid of her. She said she was in dire financial circumstances.’
‘I can’t believe it!’
