‘How is Giles?’
‘He’s well, he’s in charge of the breakfasts at the inn these days and he’s loving it.’
‘Then pass my compliments on, the eggs Florentine I had was delicious.’
‘Eggs came from Nola’s chickens.’
‘I heard that’s where the locals find their supply nowadays.’
Tracy smiled. ‘Benjamin put Giles on to a cookery school too. I mean, he could cook already, but we needed better than good to put the inn on the map.’
‘And business is going well?’
‘It is. And we’re looking at more improvements soon – we have the firm Harvey works for drawing up plans to convert the roof space into a penthouse suite.’
‘I may have to return,’ Melissa smiled, pulling her sunglasses back down. She’d had enough of squinting beneath the June sunlight.
‘I really hope you do.’
Melissa stepped forward and hugged her friend, at last feeling Tracy relax. ‘Oops, hope I didn’t squash the baguettes.’
Tracy wiped away a tear. ‘Of course not. So tell me, how’s the patient? I haven’t asked, which is terrible of me.’
Melissa guessed that seeing her had been shock enough. ‘He’s doing well.’
‘I’m heading over tomorrow. Thought I’d give him time to settle back in.’
‘He’ll enjoy that.’ Barney’s place was always open house. You never had to give advance warning, it was the way he liked it, and in turn he visited people whenever the whim took him. It had to be hard for him to be stuck at home right now. Although if he improved his attitude and started doing the recommended rehabilitation exercises it might go some way to getting him out again, along The Street, where he’d be in his element soaking up the concern and catching up on all the local gossip.
‘I thought I’d take him croissants from the bakery and some homemade jam.’
‘I looked in the window, the bakery seems to have evolved since I was last here.’
Tracy laughed and checked the door was still closed. ‘They were always so stuck in their ways, weren’t they? It was iced buns, ring doughnuts and vanilla slices from what I remember.’
‘And those cream horns.’
She pulled a face. ‘Those were revolting, never liked them. You should try their cookies; these days they’ve made a lot of improvements. Celeste and Jade travelled around Europe for a year and picked up a lot of tips. They did start to do the most amazing coffees but Etna didn’t like it.’
Etna ran the tea rooms. ‘I’ll bet she didn’t. I remember when Lottie at the little shop floated the idea of having a coffee machine for takeaway drinks. Etna was livid.’
‘She talked with Celeste and Jade and they agreed to leave the beverages out of their repertoire but helped her get a new machine installed for the fancy coffees. Etna resisted it at first but Barney persuaded her to move with the times. It was that or get left behind.’
Here beneath the sunshine, the confrontation had moved from accusatory and upsetting to a friendship that had been there all along, was neglected but still salvageable. Melissa shifted into the shady spot right out front of the bakery. ‘I’d forgotten how beautiful summer days could be here.’
‘They sure are.’ Tracy hesitated before asking, ‘Were you worried about coming back after so long?’
‘A little…OK, a lot.’
‘I wish you’d talked to me more after you left, you might’ve felt more able to visit then. I missed you. Giles is my husband and I love him dearly, but there’s nothing like a girlie night out or trip to the pub to catch up on gossip.’
‘I couldn’t agree more.’
‘So what happened, Melissa?’
She needed to talk and before she could stop herself the admission was out. ‘Harvey really let me down.’
‘Have you ever asked him why?’
