Before I can say yes, Frankie interrupts me. ‘Yes, I did, Brian, but there was a catch.’ Frankie gives me a mischievous wink. ‘I also gave the other applicant the job too. There are now going to be two managers.’
Glaring at Frankie I take a sip from my own glass of orange squash. Lucas was trying to show Dad that he was being a good boy now that the bath incident has been forgotten. The sickly strong taste makes me screw up my face. ‘Ugh, Lucas, how much water did you put in here?’
Lucas giggles. ‘I didn’t put any water in yours, Mummy.’
I can’t help but giggle at Frankie who is now doing impressions of me tasting the drink. ‘Watch it, Frankie Jones.’
Frankie starts to clap. ‘She’s talking to me again.’ He ruffles Lucas’s hair and together they give each other a high five.
Dad has taken off his glasses and is cleaning them with his apron. ‘So, what was the catch?’
‘I also gave the job to an old friend,’ explains Frankie, giving me a wink. ‘Someone who deserves a second chance.’
Dad puts down his glasses and stares at Frankie. ‘You gave the job to Pete?’
Frankie wipes his mouth with a napkin. ‘Pete’s busy with the magazine and managing his band.’ He grins at Dad. ‘Noah Coombes, remember him – Brian?’
Dad’s face turns an odd pale colour. His sea-grey eyes have darkened, and his brow has become deeply furrowed. ‘Frankie, I will never forget that name.’
‘Look at all the trouble you’ve caused.’ With my fork I point at Dad, who looks like someone has hypnotised him. He’s sat staring into space. Frankie gently nudges his arm. ‘Earth to Brian.’
Shaking my head with despair I nudge a piece of pastry with my knife.
Something snaps Dad out of his mini trance. He turns to me. ‘Don’t do this, please. That family is trouble. His father upset me terribly all those years ago and what he did was truly unforgivable. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with Noah. He won’t have changed.’
I reach out to Dad. ‘What happened between you and Dave?’
Dad bats my hand away. ‘It’s not something I want to discuss. Now, please, Alice, take my advice. Stay away from Noah.’ Something flickers across his eyes, and I am reminded of the day he caught Noah and me kissing on top of our rock. It was the summer Noah and I turned fourteen. In the May of that year Noah had joined my school and our relationship blossomed. Everyone at school had been sworn to secrecy. Noah and I were Blue Cove Bay’s answer to Romeo and Juliet.
Dad was in his bakery when a local woman, who’d never liked Dave Coombes, said she’d seen me down by the beach on a rock with Dave’s son. By the time Dad had closed the bakery and marched across the beach Noah and I were on top of our rock, kissing.
I was grounded for weeks and so was Noah. Dad was furious. His sea-grey eyes glowed with a fiery rage. He shouted about how upset he was to see me with someone who I’d been warned about, how irresponsible I was kissing someone like Noah Coombes on top of a rock, how at my age I shouldn’t be kissing boys and how he was a single father doing his best to raise his only daughter and keep her out of harm’s way.
With fourteen-year-old defiance, I had asked him why he hated Dave Coombes so much. I was sent to my room without any tea. That wasn’t the end of Noah and me. We both lied to our fathers and continued to sneak out after school and head for our rock.
When Noah broke my heart, it was Dad who picked up the pieces.
‘Brian, that was years ago,’ interjects Frankie. ‘Alice and Noah were teenagers back then. They’re both adults now.’
I stare down at my plate in bewilderment. My life has gone crazy.
It’s a good job Dad never found out about the secret wedding. Thank God for teenage secrets! Everyone involved with our wedding was sworn to secrecy. School friends who attended were carefully selected on their discretion. I still can’t believe it’s remained a secret for so long. If Dad had known all those years ago that Noah and I had organised a wedding, he would have exploded into a fiery rage.
‘Brian.’ Frankie drapes his arm over Dad’s shoulders. ‘Noah and Dave are good people. You got them all wrong.’
My heart is pounding away inside my chest and this horrible sinking feeling has taken over my gut.
Lucas jumps down from his chair. ‘Can I go play in the back garden with Bean?’
On my nod he races outside with Bean barking at his heels.
Dad pushes his plate away. ‘Noah was nothing but trouble.’
Frankie takes a deep breath. ‘Good job we never told you that Noah asked Alice to marry him at sixteen and they had a secret pretend wedding on the beach.’
Time grinds to a halt and so does my heart. It’s been years since Dad has shouted at the kitchen table. He’s normally a calm and placid man. ‘HE DID WHAT?’
My father’s booming voice brings in Lucas and Bean. I send Lucas back out after telling him Grandpa was telling a joke.
