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Magda rolled her eyes. “Well, don’t wait too long. You’ve both been stupid about this for long enough already.”
She was right, as usual. Charlie watched Magda tug Joe close for a firm kiss on the lips before getting back to work and thought, That’s what we should have. Mia and me.
Now all he had to do was make it happen.
Walking through the festival toward the cliffs, he saw Becky standing awkwardly at the entrance stall, and knew the first step to his happiness was right in front of him.
“You’re here to break up with me, aren’t you,” she said as he approached.
Charlie gave her a small, half smile. “You don’t want to stay here, you know that.” It probably wasn’t the time to mention they’d never really got back together.
Becky sighed. “I suppose I should be grateful you’re doing it in person, not just running out on me.” She looked down and straightened the hem of her skirt. “So she’s won, then.”
“I’m not exactly a prize, Bex,” he said, before adding, “Besides, I’m not even sure if she wants me, yet.” Although he had a hint, after last night.
Becky looked up and met his eyes. “She’s a fool if she doesn’t.”
“I don’t know,” Charlie said, thinking of Tony in his kitchen the night before. “You don’t, not really.”
Becky blinked. “How did you know?”
Charlie tipped his head to the side and considered her. She wasn’t a bad person, not really. Not deep down. But she got the wrong idea about things sometimes, and she ran when she got scared. Maybe all she needed was someone to set her racing on the right path for a change.
“Why don’t you go talk to Tony?” he suggested, and when she started to object, he put a finger to her lips. “It’s time to try running toward something for a change, Bex.”
Eyes wide, she nodded and Charlie stepped away. “Goodbye, Becky.”
Then, without looking back, he turned toward A to Z Jones’s tunnels and went to find Mia, herrings in hand.
Chapter 20
Mia left in search of drinks, gravitating automatically to Ditsy’s A to Z stall. After all, where else could she get anything from apples to zinc tablets?
“How’s it all going?” Mia asked, leaning against the trestle table holding the letter D cooler and choosing two cans of lemonade from the selection of drinks.
“Wonderfully well,” Ditsy reported. “The cake stalls are doing a brisk trade, as are the Hook Yourself A Mermaid boys. And the tours?”
“A rousing success, if I do say so myself,” Mia said.
Ditsy raised a can of dandelion and burdock, and Mia toasted with her own can of lemonade.
“You’ve done a marvelous job,” Ditsy said, and the smile on her face was proud.
“It wasn’t just me, though, was it? It was you and Charlie and Magda and Joe and the committee...”
“And A to Z Jones,” Ditsy concluded, and laughed. “Amazing how much the old rascal has done for the place over the years.” Looking over Mia’s shoulder, Ditsy’s pleased expression turned to a warm smile. “Another helper looking for you, I think.”
Mia turned, expecting to see Charlie, and was surprised to see her father hovering by the cake stall, A to Z hat off. He was glancing around nervously at the crowds as if he expected to be recognized–although whether as A to Z Jones or George Page, Mia wasn’t sure.
His heavy duffel bag was sinking into the sand beside him, and Mia waved a hand toward it. “You’re leaving?”
“No, no. More tours to do, after all.” George nudged the bag with his foot. “Just looking for somewhere to stash this. Getting a bit damp in the tunnels.”
“But after the tours?” Mia took hold of the bag, and the irrational thought fluttered through her mind that if she hid it, then he’d have to stay.
George shrugged. “The cottage is nearly finished. Now this festival business is almost over, I figured Charlie might want to move in and finish the decorating himself. Start making it a home.”
Swallowing hard, Mia said, “I thought he was planning to rent it out. Maybe even sell it.”
“I think his plans might have changed.” George smiled. “Especially if he can persuade you to move in with him, given time.”
Mia flushed, and wondered if her dad had been lying when he’d said he hadn’t come back through the fireplace the night before. “I don’t... We haven’t...”
George placed a hand on her arm. “Talk to him about it,” he said, then he smirked. “And while you’re at it, ask him if he fancies renting out that flat above the restaurant when he’s done with it.” Mia stared at him, and he shrugged. “I like it here. Maybe I’m finally ready to settle down. Besides, I hear Walt wants to stage a vintage cinema exhibition at the Coliseum. Figure I could give him a hand.”
“You’re staying?” Mia asked, just for clarification.
The smile George gave her was gentle. “Yes, love. This time I’m staying.”
“He’s staying,” Mia murmured to herself, watching George carry his bag over to Ditsy’s stall for safekeeping.
To her amazement, she found she even believed it.
“Mia?” The voice behind her brought her attention back to the task at hand, and she turned to see Walt Hamilton and Mayor Fielding waiting for her. “We’ve got another little job to perform,” Jayne said. “Walt thought you might want to come with us.”
Mia looked over to where Becky and Tony were standing. “I think there might be a few others who’d like to join us, too.”
* * * *
She found Tony watching the queue of people waiting for the next Smugglers tour.
“You know, I hate to say this,” he said, when she leaned against the rock face next to him, “but Mia might actually have pulled this off.”
Becky glanced up at him, trying to ignore the way her heartbeat rose at the sun’s glow on his skin. Then she looked back at the hordes of people flooding into town for the most ridiculous festival in the history of tourism and found she didn’t even care anymore. Huh.
“Have you seen Mr. Golding this morning?” she asked instead of what she really wanted t
o know. But it seemed a little abrupt even for her to start a conversation with Do you still want to marry me?
Tony nodded. “I left him after breakfast. He was off to watch some black and white film at the Coliseum.”
As if the coffin had needed a final nail. “Right. You’re not…cross?” He was too calm. This was their business plan ruined. And yes, there’d be other enterprises, and much bigger successes. There always were with Tony. But she’d never seen him take failure so sanguinely before. It made her nervous.
Stretching his arms upright, Tony pressed his spine against the cliff. “I spoke to Charlie last night,” he said, not answering her question. “Made him an offer on StarFish and the cottage.”
Becky felt her heart clench, remembering everything she’d given up. She hadn’t really expected it to be gone, if she ever decided she wanted it again. But she didn’t, she knew that now. It was time to move on. Like Charlie said. Time to run toward something for a change.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, looking out on the sea.
“Because I thought you wanted it.”
Becky looked up and found Tony’s face looking open and honest in a way she’d never seen before. “You’d do that for me?”
He laughed and dropped one arm around her shoulder. “Sweetheart, this was all for you. Didn’t you notice? What the hell would I do with a casino in bloody Aberarian? You were the one who wanted to come back. So we came.”
She blinked at him, trying to process the thought. “For me? It was all for me?”
Tony shrugged. “It was. If you wanted it. But you don’t. Do you?”
Staring out at the Fish and Film Festival, Becky knew it was true. She’d outgrown this place. She might never belong there again. But really, was that such a disaster?
“That’s…sweet,” she said. Tony loved her, she realized at last. Really, truly loved her.
And, she was willing to admit, it was just possible he was right about her being in love with him too.
“Hell, if this was the only way to make you realize what you really wanted…it was cheap at half the price.”
