AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’d know what he had to say without actually giving him the satisfaction of opening the letter yourself.” Charlie drained his wineglass, then filled it again.
“Exactly,” Mia said, wondering if this was his first bottle.
Charlie nodded. “Have you considered just opening the damn thing? He never needs to know whether you did or not.”
“But I’d know.” Mia sighed. “I’m not ruling it out. I’m just...not ready yet.”
“For the letter.” Charlie shifted again, and Mia couldn’t help but be aware of how close he was. It was a good job they were at the bar, not tucked away at their usual table by the fire, because if they were, she might think he was going to...
Charlie put a hand on Mia’s thigh. “You’re not ready to deal with what happened with your father.”
Mia gave a stiff nod and wondered if the bottle of wine had even been his second. Except wasn’t this what she wanted? Hadn’t she come here hoping he’d got Becky out of his system? Why would she want that for him, if not because she wanted him for herself?
Because she was a good friend, and she didn’t want Becky to hurt him. Because Becky was toxic for the town and for him. Because he meant a lot to Mia as a friend.
Because she didn’t want him to do this just because he was drunk.
But then Charlie sighed and leaned back in his stool, opening up an acre of air between them. Mia let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and ignored the part of her body that throbbed a little with regret.
“Joe has a theory,” Charlie said, not looking at her. “He reckons the reason you’re still single is that you can’t get over your issues with your dad.”
“I thought the reason I was still single was that no one in this town could get over their issues with my father,” Mia snapped back. Was that what Charlie thought of her too?
Charlie shrugged. “It’s Joe’s theory.”
Suddenly feeling very tired and very old, Mia reached down for her bag. “Can we talk fundraising tomorrow?” she asked. “It’s been a bit of a day.”
“It’s been a bit of a week,” Charlie said, sounding bitter, but he was looking at her again, so Mia didn’t mind.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asked, and Charlie nodded.
But he didn’t walk her to the door.
* * * *
“You don’t actually think this festival thing could be a threat, do you?” Becky leaned against the window of Kim Williams’s Treasures shop before it occurred to her how long it might have been since it was cleaned and she stood up straight again. She was not going to let Aberarian ruin a Karen Millen suit.
Tony peered through the window beside her. “It never hurts to prepare for the worst. What time do these bloody shops open, anyway?”
Becky glanced up. The clock on the church across the square said five past nine. “About five minutes ago, officially.”
Tony gave a pointed look up and down the empty Main Street, with all its closed storefronts. “And they wonder why they don’t have any business.” He sighed. “Shall we try farther along?”
“No, look, here’s Kim now.” Becky pointed up the street at a harassed-looking redhead making her way toward them. She slowed at the point where Becky reckoned she’d figured out who they were.
“Not waiting for me, I hope,” Kim said when she reached them, tugging a huge ring of keys out of her pocket and setting about opening the shop.
Tony put on his most charming smile, and Becky almost rolled her eyes. Apparently overexposure to it went a long way to negating its power. Who’d have guessed?
“Actually, we were,” Tony said. “We’ve got a little something we’d like to talk with you about.”
Treasures’s door opened, at last, and Kim led them all inside. “Let me guess–the Fish Festival.”
Becky trailed behind the other two as they made for the counter, taking the time to fully appreciate the horrors of slate and crystal Kim was selling. Who bought plastic red dragons stuck on the edge of a slate coaster? Nobody, she answered herself. That was why they were there.
“In part.” Tony leaned against the counter. “Mostly, we want to talk about you and your needs.”
Kim raised her eyebrows and glanced over at Becky as if to ask if he was serious. Becky smiled some encouragement, then returned to examining the shotglass engraved with the words of the Welsh national anthem.
“My needs,” Kim repeated. “Really.”
“Yes.” Becky didn’t need to look up to see Tony’s reassuring smile. She could hear it in his voice. “As you know, we’re proceeding with the early phases of our plan, just in case the Fish Festival doesn’t produce quite the revenue you’re all looking for.”
Kim scoffed, which did make Becky look up. “Everyone knows the festival’s going to be a flop,” she said, and Becky moved closer to the counter. This was more the sort of thing they’d wanted to hear since they got to town. “It’s been a disaster for years, and Mia Page isn’t going to be able to turn it around in a month.” Kim let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Hell, if she’s anything like her father, she’ll probably cut and run with the cash in a few weeks.”
“So, you won’t be supporting her efforts?” Tony asked carefully.
Kim sighed. “Look, it was a nice idea, and I don’t deny we all got a bit caught up in the idea of doing it for ourselves. But it’s never going to happen. People in this town don’t trust that girl far enough, for a start.”
“Well, okay then.” Tony glanced over at Becky, who tipped her head at the door. “Thank you very much for your time.”
Outside, they walked a little way along Main Street, away from Treasures, before Tony started to talk. “Well, that was...illuminating.”
“Mmm. I hadn’t realized people were still so hung up on the George Page thing.” Becky shrugged.
“Yes. Because I rather thought you might have mentioned anything that might be so useful before.” The edge in Tony’s voice made her look up. He didn’t look pleased. In fact, he looked disappointed. Becky swallowed down the bitter taste in her mouth. Soon it wouldn’t matter what Tony thought of her, right? Once she had Charlie back. Tony was just for now. She had to remember that.
“I did mention it when we met her yesterday. You all told me to shut up.” Tony just looked at her, and she sighed. “Okay. Here’s the story. When we were fourteen, Mia’s dad was our history teacher and the curator of the local museum. Then one day he disappeared, and it came out he’d been having an affair with the school secretary and they’d run off together–so far so sordid, right?”
Tony nodded. “But hardly grounds for a long running grudge.”
“You don’t know Aberarian,” Becky muttered. “Anyway, the real thing was, the safe in the museum office was left open, and nobody knew what was supposed to be in it.”
“So it could have been empty,” Tony pointed out.
“Yes, well, by the time the story got around Aberarian, it was the great lost treasure of A to Z Jones, and the town was millions poorer for its loss.”
Tony was still staring at her. “This town is absurd.”
“And that’s why it’s going to make us rich,” Becky agreed. She took his arm, feeling cheerier about their endeavor. “Come on. More shopkeepers to sow with distrust before the morning’s over.”
Chapter 9
Mia had finally given up on sleep at six in the morning, her head still full of Charlie and the night before, so she’d dressed and gone down into the shop to stare at the post tray for an hour or two. She’d even added the original letter from her father to the pile, wondering how long it would take Ditsy to notice.
She was still perc
hed on her stool, out in front of the counter, when Ditsy arrived for work and reminded her it was her morning off.
“But I had yesterday morning off for the meeting.”
“And I promise if we have a sudden influx of customers, I’ll call you in to help. Otherwise, there’s really no point in both of us being here, and I’ve got a good crossword to do today. Did you have fun with Charlie last night?” Ditsy asked, hanging up her coat.
“Sort of,” Mia said, unsure how much of a lie it was. She jumped down from her stool. “Actually, I need to go and talk to him about...fundraising, anyway.”
“I thought that’s what you were doing last night,” Ditsy said, her tone knowing.
Mia didn’t answer, just grabbed her bag and jacket and headed down to StarFish, where Magda was hard at work on a breakfast menu.
“I think he’s up at the cottage,” she said, pen hovering over the details of a full English. She added in a few more words, and Mia looked down over her shoulder. Smoked salmon and scrambled egg bagel had been added in above the other items, in a different pen. In Charlie’s handwriting.
“Cottage?” Mia asked, confused.
Magda looked up at her with a frown. “The lighthouse keeper’s cottage? Up on the cliff?”
And then Mia remembered. The cottage he’d bought for Becky. “He still owns it, huh.”
“He’s doing it up,” Magda said with a nod. “Probably to sell.”
“Then I’ll go and find him there, I suppose.” Mia let herself have one last glance down at the menu then left.
The climb up the cliff path to the cottage was steeper than Mia remembered, and she was a little out of breath when she reached the garden gate. Pausing against the fencepost, she wondered what Becky would make of her dream cottage now, with a front door that was mostly off its hinges and no windows to speak of.
She found Charlie in what must have been the lounge once, measuring the window. “Looking good in here,” she said, and he spun around to face her. His cheeks were pink, but she couldn’t tell if he was blushing or had just caught the sun on his way up.
“Hi,” he said eventually. “Look, I’m sorry about last night. I was...”
