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‘So you’ll help, won’t you?’ Becky said, ignoring him completely. ‘That’s wonderful. I know we need to talk about us too, and I want to, really. But let’s save us for later.’ She looked pointedly at the kitchen doors. Magda was hovering in the doorway, eavesdropping again. He wondered how long she’d been there. ‘When we’ve a little more privacy.’
Magda, he noticed, was still looking far too amused for her own good.
‘But Charlie,’ Becky said, reaching the doorway, a note of warning in her voice. ‘Don’t forget. I’m still a stakeholder here. And we still need to talk about your plans to increase profits.’
Suddenly it was too cold to be standing by the open fridge. Charlie slammed the door shut with a satisfying crash and turned to Magda. ‘They finished eating?’ She nodded. ‘Good. Let’s get rid of them, then shut up shop until this evening. I really need a drink.’
* * * *
Mia dropped her pen to the table and let it clatter and roll from there to the floor. ‘How did I not know things were this bad?’
Ditsy shrugged. ‘Because I didn’t tell you. It is still my shop, after all, for all that you do most of the actual work.’
‘Yeah, well, from now on I’m being more involved in the financial side too.’
Ditsy slammed the accounting book shut and rubbed a hand across her forehead. ‘I need a drink.’
‘We’re not surrendering to alcoholism just yet.’ Mia turned the book round to face her and flipped it open again. The numbers didn’t look any better the right way up. ‘There must be something else we can do. Surely we don’t have to go to Becky and Tony, cap in hand, just yet?’
Ditsy looked uncertain. ‘I’m not saying I like the idea, but…’
‘Ditsy!’ Mia tilted her chair on two legs in disgust. ‘You can’t possibly…’
‘I said I don’t like the idea.’ Ditsy spoke over Mia until she shut up. ‘I don’t. I don’t like the idea of flashing lights and late-night brawls and stag parties coming in to gamble nonstop for the weekend. I don’t like relying on the rich tourists who can afford to buy homes they hardly visit. I don’t like the fact this town has more houses standing empty in the winter than occupied. And yes, I much preferred it when we could provide batteries and flour and buckets and spades for young families staying at the B&Bs or the caravan park or the cottages that rent all year round. But things are changing in Aberarian.’
‘Well perhaps they shouldn’t.’ Mia knew she sounded sulky. She just didn’t really care.
Ditsy sighed. ‘We need to do what we can to keep the A to Z shop going. Otherwise there’s just going to be another empty shop front on High Street, and how is that going to help anyone?’
‘I suppose.’ Mia turned back to the book, figuring if she stared at it long enough, it might change the numbers round just to keep things interesting.
Ditsy slammed the cover shut on Mia’s fingers, though, which put paid to that idea. ‘Look. Becky said they’ve already got Mayor Fielding to hold a town meeting the day after tomorrow. I guess they want to be able to tell their investors the town’s on side before they shell out for the cinema.’
‘So we’ve just got to come up with a way to convince the town it’s a bad idea.’ Mia thought for a moment, then sighed. ‘Except then Becky will tell them it’s going to make them rich, and they’ll flock to her again.’
‘What about Walt Hamilton?’ Ditsy asked. ‘Could we convince him not to sell?’
Mia shrugged. ‘We could try. But Walt loves his cinema. If he’s considering selling, it’s because he has to.’ The thought of it tugged at her heart. Poor Walt. Susan had poured all her love and attention into their only son and, pushed to the side-lines, Walt had taken over the Coliseum as his own place. It hadn’t been long before restoring and running the place had become more of a vocation than a hobby.
Dan had never really understood his father’s obsession with the place. However much the rest of the town thought he was the best thing since the vicar’s wife’s lemon cake, Mia should have known right then it would never work out between them.
‘I bet bloody Susan is just thrilled,’ Ditsy grumbled. ‘She always hated Walt spending all his time there.’ Then she brightened. ‘But the rest of the town, they won’t want to lose it. Maybe we could all club together, or something…’
Mia raised an eyebrow. ‘You really think anyone in this town would give money to help someone else?’ For starters, nobody had any, any more.
The look Ditsy gave her was almost disappointed. ‘At some point, dear, you’re going to have to start having a little faith. Some trust in other people.’
‘I have faith,’ Mia said, surprised. ‘I trust people.’
Ditsy looked disbelieving. ‘Really? Who?’
‘Well, you.’ Mia thought for a moment. ‘And Charlie, I suppose.’
‘Exactly!’ Shaking her head, Ditsy said, ‘You always complain the people in this town don’t trust you, that they won’t move past what your father did, or you dumping the town golden boy and breaking his heart. But the truth is, it’s you who won’t move on. You don’t trust them. You don’t want to have to rely on anyone, don’t want to let them let you down. Not even Charlie. And I understand why, Mia, really I do. But at some point…’
She trailed off and was silent for a long moment. Then she said, ‘Be honest. Which bothers you more – the fact that Becky’s here to try to change Aberarian or the possibility that she’s come back for Charlie?’
Mia shuddered. ‘They’re both pretty horrendous.’
‘Seriously, Mia.’ Ditsy gave her a stern look. ‘Which upsets you more?’
‘The first, of course.’ Mia ignored the small, squirming feeling in her stomach suggesting otherwise. ‘I mean, I think it would be a disaster if Charlie got together with her again, but it’s his life. His mistake to make.’
Ditsy looked at her for so long Mia was almost afraid she was going to reach in and pluck the truth from her head. Then, finally glancing away, she said, ‘Did I ever tell you why Henry and I called this place the A to Z shop? Why we set it up the way we did?’
Now Mia was intrigued and more than a little relieved at the change of subject. ‘No. Never.’ The A to Z shop had always been a fact of Aberarian life. Like jellyfish on the beach at low tide, and Ditsy’s floral dresses. ‘I just assumed it was after A to Z Jones.’
Before Mia could stop her, Ditsy had clambered up to stand on top of her stool and was reaching above her head to the shelf running along the length of the wall, just below the ceiling. ‘Ditsy! What are you… Let me do that…’
But by then Ditsy had climbed down again, clutching a dusty hardback book to her bony chest. ‘When we got married,’ she explained, settling onto her stool, ‘Henry’s great aunt gave us this book.’ She pushed it across the counter, enabling Mia to read the title – An A to Z of Love.
‘It was a bit of a joke, really,’ Ditsy went on, ‘or at least, we treated it as such. We used to read out entries to each other in bed at night, before we went to sleep. Even if we’d had the most awful day or if we were fighting, one of us would pick up the book, choose a letter and we’d soon be laughing again.’ Mia flicked through the pages, smiling at the decorated letters at the start of every chapter. ‘It’s not overstating things to say this book saved our marriage, more than once.
‘When we decided to open this place, Henry insisted it should be called the A to Z shop. He said the entirety of human existence and need could be fitted into an alphabet. He said people liked knowing where they stood and where things would have to be. The order of the alphabet was comforting.’
‘And he was right,’ Mia murmured. After all, the shop was still going, just, thirty years later. They had to be doing something right.
Ditsy nodded. ‘He was.’ Then, as Mia pushed the book back towards her, she shook her head, giving Mia another glimpse of her wicked smile. ‘You take it. An apology for sending you out with that horrible man. Besides, I think your need is greater.’
Chapter Four
Charlie stared at the collection of ingredients in front of him and tried to remember what he’d planned to do with them before Becky had shown up in town and turned his week upside down.
He wasn’t even sure if Mia would come back for the tasting after the lunch from hell. But on the off chance she did, he was going to have her favourite food ready for her. She deserved it after the afternoon she’d had.
Besides, tastings with Mia, late in the evening when the rest of StarFish was empty, then a midnight movie at the Coliseum, those were the best parts of his week. He wasn’t going to let Becky ruin it for him.
In fact, he wasn’t going to let Becky ruin anything for him. Despite all her talk about the casino, and business, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she had other motives for coming home to Aberarian. Which meant he had to be on his guard, just in case any of those motives involved his restaurant, or his best friend. Or himself.
‘I have a question,’ Magda said, leaning on the counter beside him, and Charlie wondered when she’d come in and how he hadn’t heard the doors.
‘Go on,’ he said, pretending to be preternaturally aware of his surroundings and not just startled.
‘Can you manage without me for the evening on Tuesday? I can get Jenny in to cover for me. She says she could use the work, to be honest.’ Magda’s friend Jenny had regularly saved Charlie from disaster when he needed an extra pair of serving hands at the last moment. If he had the money, he’d put her on salary.
‘Unless a bus of seafood convention delegates breaks down on the Esplanade, I think we’ll probably be okay with Jenny.’ Charlie gave up the pretence and pushed his chopping board away from him. ‘Why? Whatcha doing?’
‘I’ve got a date with Kevin.’ Magda started cleaning up around him in a way he assumed was instinctual. Charlie only knew that, if he couldn’t find something he was still using, it was probably in the dishwasher already. ‘I’ll be here for the lunches, anyway, so it’s only the evening.’
‘That’s fine,’ Charlie said, before thinking it through. ‘Hang on, won’t Kevin need to ask me for time off too?’ He wondered where he’d been when this dating thing happened. There were only three of them in the restaurant, most days. He’d have thought he’d have noticed.
‘No.’ Magda drew the word out, as if to remind him he was rather slow. ‘Because Kevin already has Tuesday off. It’s on the rota. You said it was pointless him coming in, because there were no bookings, and you could manage the kitchen yourself for any walk-ins.’
Joe stuck his head around the door. ‘You two do realise that, if you’re both in here, there’s nobody up front?’
Charlie stepped away from the counter and let Magda in to finish wiping down the surface. ‘That’s right, Joe. But since there are now more people in this kitchen than make it into the restaurant most days, I’m not too concerned.’
‘Things going well, huh?’
Charlie shrugged. ‘Meh. So, what’s up?’
‘That’s what I wanted to ask you.’ Joe boosted himself up to sit on Charlie’s expensive, sanitised surfaces, and just smiled at Magda’s glare. ‘All day I’ve had people in – buying next to nothing, I might add – asking if I’ve heard about Mia’s dad and saying Becky’s back in town. Now, obviously, I’ve been telling them that if the she-devil was in town, my good friend Charlie would have told me immediately. Same if there was any news on Mia’s dad…’
‘Yeah, um, mate…’ Charlie trailed off with an apologetic wince.
Joe waved a hand. ‘Joking, Charles. No, I just figured if I got the gossip, I might get a few more people in, and some of them might actually buy something in appreciation.’
‘Okay, then you can confirm Becky is, indeed, in town.’
‘Unfortunately,’ Magda put in. Charlie gave her a look. ‘What, would you have preferred “for her own nefarious means”?’
Charlie was beginning to regret filling Magda in on his history with Becky over a stiff drink after their lunch guests left.
Joe looked intrigued, but Charlie moved on. ‘Mia…’ He shrugged. ‘Who knows. She got a letter from her dad this morning. Far as anyone knows, she hasn’t opened it.’
‘That’s all anyone knows?’ Joe sounded sceptical.
‘Yup.’ He glanced over at Magda. ‘On that subject, anyway. Did you hear about Magda’s date, though?’
Joe raised his eyebrows. ‘A date?’
Magda turned her glare on Charlie, but he carried on anyway. ‘With Kevin, on Tuesday night.’ Magda rolled her eyes. ‘She doesn’t seem very excited about it, mind.’
‘Kevin? Really?’ Charlie assumed Joe was trying to give the impression that Magda was dating beneath her, but somehow managed to hit the “are you crazy?” note instead.
Magda settled against the counter, hands resting on the stainless steel behind her. ‘I am going to tell you boys something about love,’ she said, in the tone Charlie had come to recognise as her “trust me on this, I’m smarter than you” voice.
‘With love,’ Magda said, her voice settling into a rhythm that made her accent all the stronger, ‘you do not settle. With love, you do not hide. With love, you must search everywhere, hunt and seek and keep your eyes open always. With love, you cannot make assumptions. You have to trust that the right person will find you, eventually, if you are willing to be found.’
‘So dating Kevin,’ Joe said, frowning. ‘That’s you not making assumptions, right?’
‘It’s me still searching,’ Magda corrected.
But Charlie wasn’t really listening. Instead, he was thinking about Becky. Maybe Magda was right. He shouldn’t make assumptions. Maybe Becky’s reasons for coming home were entirely business related. Or maybe she’d just finally decided it was time for her to come home. Either way, it didn’t have to involve him, if he didn’t want it to.
Maybe she’d even want to take over StarFish, let him head home to London.
Charlie frowned. Except the appeal of that idea was fading rapidly.
Joe didn’t look convinced by Magda’s argument. ‘Tell you what, mate. While Cupid’s young dream is off having romantic notions that night, how about you and me hit the pub after you close up?’
If he got any customers. Chances were, StarFish would be closed before ten. ‘Sounds like a plan.’
‘Good,’ Joe said with a grin. ‘Then you can fill me in on the two women in your life, and whether they’ve had a cat fight over you yet. Wouldn’t want to miss that.’
‘Good night, Joe,’ Charlie said meaningfully. The last thing he needed was the whole of Aberarian taking bets on him and Becky getting back together. He knew for a fact Joe was already running a book on him and Mia. Who needed a bloody casino?
Joe jumped down from the counter and held open the doors to the restaurant. ‘Ah, the path of truth love and all that nonsense. I guess it can’t be hearts and flowers in Aberarian all the time.’
Charlie led Joe through the carefully laid wooden tables to the front desk. He really wasn’t in the mood to have this conversation again.
‘This is the point where you pretend not to know what he means,’ Magda prompted helpfully.
‘He knows,’ Joe said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the reception desk. ‘I’ll just pretend he asked.’
‘Can I just pretend you answered?’ Charlie asked.
‘No.’ Joe grinned at Magda, then turned back to Charlie and went into his usual speech. ‘Why, I mean Becky and Mia of course! Personally my vote’s on Mia. Everybody knows it’s only a matter of time. You two were made for each other!’
‘I hate you,’ Charlie said, without any real feeling. His attention had already been drawn away to the beautiful auburn-haired woman on the other side of the street.
Magda saw Becky too, because she pointed and said, ‘I know somebody who doesn’t seem to know it yet.’
Charlie ignored her, and Joe’s resulting chuckle. Because watching Becky, he could see in her walk the way she moved with him, the way she loved. But it didn’t matter any more. He looked at her, and saw his past. When he looked at Mia… he hoped he saw his future.
Maybe Magda was right after all. Maybe he had to be open to love and let it find him again.
And if his head was telling him that was stupid, well, maybe it was time for him to listen to his heart for a change. If only he could persuade Mia to take the risk.
* * * *
The Grand Hotel was just how Becky had left it two years ago – old-fashioned, shabby, and smelling of over-brewed tea. Not exactly the Savoy.
Apart from anything else, she was still lugging her own bags across the lobby.
While Tony flirted with the world’s most unhelpful receptionist, Becky inspected the rack of local attractions leaflets, noting half of them were over a hundred miles away, and the others weren’t particularly attractive. A craft community in the old mill in Felinfach, a dance club for pensioners in some inn outside Coed-y-Capel. Nothing to exactly set the pulse racing. God, this community really needs me.
She looked up, waiting for Tony to finish chatting up the girl behind the desk, wishing she didn’t care so much that he felt it necessary to smile at anything in a skirt. She knew it was just the way he was – and if she called him on it, he’d just shrug and tell her he believed the world needed more friendliness. Or that a little charm reaped big rewards. Whatever today’s excuse, Becky was pretty sure he just liked the attention.
Not that it should make any difference to her. She’d known, from that first night when he gave her that questioning smile over what was supposed to be a business dinner, that Tony wasn’t the sort of guy you looked to for the long haul. He liked the chase, liked the fun, adored a challenge. But when it came to settling down and growing up, Tony would be on the fastest train out of town.
Just like she’d been, two years ago, when it came down to it.
No. Tony was many things; fun, handsome, charming, a genius in bed and at the office… but he couldn’t be her future. And she needed to make very sure she remembered that.
Up in her single-masquerading-as-a-double room, Becky settled on the lumpy mattress and dust-ridden coverlet and watched Tony pull out his mobile phone and check his messages. She knew from past experience Tony would treat her room as his own. The man had no sense of personal boundaries.
Eventually, he hung up on his answering machine, and Becky sprawled back a little on the bed, resting on her elbows and crossing her legs, waiting for him to notice. Just because he wasn’t long term material, didn’t mean she had to give up the fringe benefits of her job just yet, right?
But instead of paying attention to her pose, he moved to the window and looked out over bloody Aberarian.
‘You know, Bex, I’ve been thinking.’ He drummed his fingers on the windowsill. ‘Places like this are very insular. Very cliquey. You have to win over the influential people.’
‘You think Ditsy was the wrong place to start?’ Becky refrained from reminding him he’d been the one to say, ‘Let’s start with your aunt. Better the devil we know.’
Tony shrugged. ‘I’m just not sure how much say she or Mia or Charlie, for that matter, have in what goes on here.’
Becky sat up. No point being seductive if he wasn’t even looking. ‘I think you’re wrong about Charlie. Yes, the A to Z shop is an anachronism, but StarFish is a modern business. Just the sort of thing we want to encourage.’ She ignored the small part of her that said she just wanted an excuse to spend more time at StarFish – with Charlie – under the guise of work. Of course, StarFish was her business, wasn’t it? She could spend as much time there as she wanted…
‘I suppose it might be worth hanging onto Charlie.’ Tony turned back from the window, and Becky tried to regain her previous pose without looking too obvious. ‘He needs us – or rather his restaurant does. I got the impression your aunt would rather let the shop decline into cobwebs. But Charlie… He’s young. He’s got to be ambitious.’
Not really, Becky wanted to say, but didn’t. The limit of Charlie’s ambition was probably the restaurant. He might be willing to fight for StarFish.
Might still be willing to fight for her, she hoped. Because she planned to fight for him.
‘I want to do more here, Bex.’ Tony came to sit beside her on the bed and stared at her with hard eyes, as if she were the one trying to stop him. ‘I want more than convincing people it’s not the end of the world if they have a casino on some side street. I want the heart and the soul of this town. I want this place to become a tourist Mecca, without the bleeding hearts and the environmentalists telling me I’ve ruined their town.’ He put a hand across her knee. ‘For once, I want these people to be grateful. I want them to bloody well thank me for saving their silly little town from extinction.’
He was so compelling when he was like this. He drew her in until she believed in his vision utterly. It was kind of scary.
Tony trailed his fingers across her thigh, and Becky swallowed. ‘That’s what I want too. How do you plan to do it?’
‘We need the heart of the community. And thank God that’s not the church any more – they’re never in favour of progress.’ His touch reached the bottom of her skirt and kept moving up. ‘No, these days it’s the shops and the restaurants. The consumerist centre. They’re the people who’ll win big under our plans. People like Charlie Frost and his restaurant. You think anybody here appreciates food like that?’ Becky was finding it harder to think as Tony’s hands roamed higher. Harder to remember why she’d wanted to come back to Aberarian, except to make his dreams come true.
‘So, you do still want me to get Charlie on board?’ Becky asked. Tony nodded and placed a kiss to her neck. ‘Any instructions on how I go about that?’ She gulped as Tony’s fingers brushed her knickers. It was just as well she’d be breaking things off with him once she had Charlie back. Tony had far too much power over her like this. She wanted to make him proud, for heaven’s sake.
‘Whatever works,’ Tony mumbled against her breast, and Becky thought she had some ideas. Really, Tony had taught her so much.
* * * *
Later that evening, Mia found herself pausing outside StarFish again, wondering if Charlie was even expecting her for the tasting, after the lunch from hell. Wondering if she should be there at all.
She peered through the window, trying to make out exactly who was inside. It was gone nine-thirty, already late enough usually to be confident the few local diners who might have stopped in had finished their meals and headed home. Mia could see one couple near the door putting on their coats. She smiled; any customers at all tended to put Charlie in a better mood. Still, given it was a Saturday night, she hoped he’d had more than one table filled.
Beyond the couple, she could see Magda at the till. The kitchen doors were closed, and the remaining restaurant looked empty. In other words, no Becky, unless she was haranguing Charlie in the kitchen. Deciding to take her chances, Mia held the door open for the exiting couple and made her way inside.
Magda smiled at her from behind the bar. ‘Good,’ she said, slamming the till drawer closed. ‘He was worried you wouldn’t come after this afternoon.’
‘And miss out on the potential for breaded prawns?’ Mia shrugged off her coat, draping it over the coat rack by the door. ‘Not a chance.’
Shaking her head, Magda said, ‘I don’t know how you two can call it a tasting when Charlie just keeps making your favourite dishes. They’re not even on the menu.’
‘We have a deal,’ Mia explained. ‘For every new and suspicious dish he wants me to try, he has to make me one he knows I love.’
Magda didn’t look convinced, so Mia decided to change the subject. ‘Many people in tonight?’
‘More than had booked, which is something.’
Mia nodded. They’d all pretty much take what they could get, the way business was at the moment.
The kitchen doors opened and Charlie appeared, a plate of tempura and breaded prawns with chilli sauce and garlic mayonnaise already in his hands.