Page 56 of Just for the Season

‘I mean, yes?’

We smile at each other – kind of soppily – if I’m honest, and then I remember that we’re platonic friends, and I say, ‘Time to go?’

I manage not to take Frankie’s hand as we walk out of the cinema and along the road to the car, because that would clearly be inappropriate given the fully platonic nature of our friendship, which it seems this evening I do need to keep reminding myself about.

All the way back to Milbury we’re busy talking about nothing, the way good friends can do, and when I stop outside the café, I don’t want to stop the nothing chat, so I say, ‘Guessing I should pop in for a few minutes to satisfy the grapevine.’

‘That would be perfect if you have time.’

I think about my big house which contains lots of admin and other jobs but is empty of people currently, and say, ‘Plenty of time,’ and then get out of the car.

‘Do you like Scrabble?’ Frankie asks as we climb the stairs.

‘Kind of ambivalent. I can’t remember the last time I played.’

‘Simon is a very keen Scrabbler. He has two boards. He brought a board up the other evening for us to play. I also hadn’t played for a long time but it’s a good game.’

‘I don’t think Mrs Bittern will be expecting us to play Scrabble now.’

‘No,’ Frankie agrees. ‘But are you up for it?’ She pauses, her key in the lock of her front door. ‘Bittern. I think that’s a kind of bird. It’s seven letters. Simon is really good at seven-letter words. I think maybe he learns them purely for Scrabble.’

‘Sneaky.’ I mock-frown. ‘How do I know that you haven’t been learning words before luring me up here to lose to you?’

‘Good question. You’ll just have to wait and see.’

Fifteen minutes later, it turns out that Frankie and I are extremely evenly matched. We’re both delighted when she places the word ‘tern’, which she manages to get quite a lot of points for, because she cross-links it with several other words plus uses a double word score twice.

‘Thank you to Mrs Bittern,’ she says.

‘And an even bigger thank you,’ I say, placing a ‘bit’ in front of her ‘tern’.

‘Did you save those letters for a long time?’ she asks.

‘Yep. You?’

‘Yes,’ she says happily.

Seriously. It really does feel as though we were meant to be friends. We do just get on very well. I mean, Scrabble? Not something I’ve ever imagined as fun. But here we are, having fun playing it.

‘Simon was right,’ I observe. ‘Genuinely good fun.’

‘Indeed.’ She tilts her head to one side, which is a thing she does when she’s had an idea and wants to think it through. ‘What about a Scrabble evening in the café? Scrabble and cake?’

‘I think you might struggle to get a lot of people in the first place,’ I say, ‘but once you’d dragged them through the door they’d really enjoy it and would come back.’

‘We could have some kind of speed version,’ she muses. ‘Or one where everyone in the room has the same letters and you put the best score down each time.’

‘Or a theme?’ I suggest. ‘Like cakes?’

‘What, you have to put cake-related words down every time?’

I nod. Then we look at each other and I shake my head. ‘That wouldn’t work.’

We continue to muse while we complete our game, and I really cannot remember when I’ve had such a pleasant evening with anyone. Other than Ruby and Sam, obviously. Other than last time I saw Frankie. It’s almost better each time, though, as we get to know each other more and more, get more comfortable in each other’s company.

‘I’ve just remembered,’ I say suddenly. ‘Ruby asked me to ask you. No pressure whatsoever. As in, please just say no. Or maybe it’s Simon’s decision in which case please tell him that he is more than welcome to just say no. Or I can ask him myself if you’d prefer not to. But basically she’s been investigating and has shown me all the links to the relevant government websites, and from the age of fourteen you can work up to twelve hours a week outside school hours, and she wonders whether there might be a job going for her in the café.’

‘I think there might well be,’ Frankie says. ‘We do need someone on a Saturday and we have discussed it, but Simon doesn’t like most people, and we can’t have anyone he doesn’t like. Obviously I’m sure he would like Ruby, but there might be some reason like insurance or something that might mean he can’t hire her. I’ll definitely mention it to him, though.’