‘Ha. Nope.’
‘I know, you’ve decided that you want to sell the house and buy The Summer Hotel.’
Nina laughed. ‘No, nothing like that. It’s about Lindsay.’
Robby stopped halfway through putting his drink to his mouth and slowly placed his glass back on the beer mat. ‘What about her? I thought you said you hadn’t seen her. I certainly haven’t.’
Nina sighed. ‘It’s nothing bad, or at least not to us, it isn’t.’
‘Spit it out then. I’m not sure if I want to know.’
‘Well, when I was at the deli, Birdie told me she’d heard something on the grapevine about Lindsay. It’s not nice.’
‘I might have known it would be bad news,’ Robby interjected.
‘Yes, exactly what I thought, too. Apparently, she’s been cautioned.’
‘Hang on. How does Birdie know?’ Robby asked.
‘Someone she knows at one of her family’s chemists phoned her and told her. She did the same thing she did to the other people but she got caught on the camera stealing drugs and whatnot.’
‘Which explains why she’s not been around.’
‘I guess so. She’s been rumbled maybe…’
‘Is she really that stupid to do it again?’
‘A leopard never changes its spot, as they say.’ Nina said with wide eyes.
‘They do say that. Wow. So, what does that mean really?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘She’s been caught again so maybe she’s re-thinking her whole existence. As long as she’s far away from you and me, I don’t care.’ Robby noted.
‘I hope so.’
‘So, we’re rid of her by the looks of it. At least for now.’ Robby said as he slowly nodded his head and took another sip of his drink.
‘I hope so. I really do.’
46
Nina woke up in her new bed in the attic room at the top of the property overlooking the harbour. She could hear the fishing boats down on the water and church bells pealing in the far distance. She turned over and picked up her phone, smiling at the date. The day had finally arrived. The day she was getting married for the second time. Stranger things had happened at sea.
She couldn’t quite believe it. Here she was getting married to Robby when not really more than a year before, she’d been in a completely different situation altogether. To be quite honest, she couldn’t really wait for the official, legal marriage part to be over and done with. She was really looking forward to the party at The Summer Hotel. It was where the journey to her healed self had begun, and it held an exceptional little corner of her heart. The one right next to the space where Robby had made himself at home.
She pressed on the weather app and scrolled through with a sigh of relief to see a little line of bright orange suns all in a row. Just as the weather forecast had predicted, the sun was shining, and the temperature was warm. Nina couldn’t believe her lucky stars that Lovely had pulled out the stops on the weather. She’dsteeled herself for the fact that it might pour with rain, hailstone, or do all manner of things at any given time. Now the day itself had dawned, all the concerns they’d had about having to put up the marquees had come to nothing. Hoo-blooming-ray.
Pushing back the duvet, she put on her slippers and dressing gown and padded over towards the steep stairs down to the second floor. Shuffling over to the kitchen, she made herself a cup of tea and popped a croissant in the oven to warm. Ten minutes later, she was sitting by the window, looking out over the harbour, feelingverypeaceful andveryhappy.
As she finished her tea, she gazed at her dress hanging on a hook near the sofa. Without its large train, the dress really was beautiful. It was much better than anything Nina had tried on in the wedding dress shop or seen online, and now, with Faye's help, it fitted like a glove. After a few wobbles here and there about whether or not she was doing the right thing regarding the dress, now the day had come, she couldn’t wait to get it on and get herself married for the second time. Cost per wear was going up by the year.
About half an hour or so later and with her hair in a pre-determined selection of Velcro rollers, as instructed by the girl at Beauty by Bianca, Nina poured Tom Ford body oil into water gushing into the bath and got in. Half an hour after that, she was back out of the bath in a new, soft, very expensive tracksuit she’d bought especially for the morning of the wedding. Apparently, what one wore on the morning of the wedding was a thing. She’d come across a multitude of articles on it when she’d been looking for shoes. Not that she’d cared less what the articles had said, but it had made her think that she didn’t want to be turning up on the morning of her wedding in her ratty old tracksuit that had a hole in the knee.
Gathering her phone and bag and laughing to herself at the thought of walking along the street with her head full of pinkVelcro rollers, she’d just locked the door behind her when her phone buzzed as she was walking by the harbour wall.
'Hiya, how are you? Everything good this morning?' Sophie trilled down the phone. ‘Just checking in with you!’
