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‘I’m handling my business partner with due caution, you’ll be pleased to know,’ I tell my grandmother. ‘I’m imposing some decisions on him.’
She sits back and studies me as her thin eyebrows shoot up. I swear that she almost looks amused.
‘Well, I am glad to see that despite being the spitting image of your mother, you are nothing like her. You are intelligent and kind. I have been observing you.’
‘Thank you, Grandmother,’ I say softly. ‘We are, in fact, very different.’
‘Nano hoped you would be. But then, he was always a dreamer. But I valued his opinion very much, even if I sometimes didn’t agree with his choices.’
‘Oh? Such as, if I may?’
She shrugs. ‘The shop. He didn’t need to run a business, not with our financial and social position. But I couldn’t stop him, because it made him happy and, in his words, kept him grounded, in constant contact with his fellow villagers.’
‘That’s nice,’ I say. ‘It would have been lovely to meet him.’
‘Well, you didn’t. And now, what was his, is yours.’
As she takes a sip of her tea, she happens to look out of the window.
I follow her gaze, only to see Jago, in the flesh, strolling across the grounds to the front door as if he owned the place. This man seems to be everywhere. I understand that Starry Cove only has a population of a hundred, but he’s the bad card that keeps coming up.
‘Speak of the devil,’ she mumbles, scrunching up her little pink mouth. ‘May I give you some advice?’ Grandmother asks as the doorbell rings. ‘Don’t commit to anything yet. Say you’ll speak to your business advisor first. I know a good one.’
Nettie knocks on the door. ‘Milady, Jago Moon to see you, if you please…’
My grandmother turns to her. ‘I don’t actually please, Nettie, but we’d better get it over with. Let him in.’
‘Yes, milady.’
She leaves, only to return with her unwanted charge.
‘Good afternoon, ladies! I hope I’m not intruding.’
‘You could have called, Jago,’ Grandma says. ‘Then again, you’d still be intruding.’
Jago pauses before us and, sliding me an ironic glance, bows theatrically before her as a jester would to his queen. As he does so, he turns and winks at me.
‘I wager thirty seconds before she kicks me out this time. The last time I didn’t even make it to the grand hall.’
‘To what do we owe the ordeal of your visit?’ she prompts, although she already knows.
My God, Grandma could make a killing at poker.
‘Aww, c’mon, Mary, don’t be so contrary. After all, your old man and me were great friends.’
‘And the reason is still beyond me,’ she drawls, rolling her eyes.
‘Anyway,’ he says, taking a seat without being invited. ‘Down to brass tacks. I’m here to buy Emmie out.’ He grins, his white teeth flashing, his eyes crinkling at the corners like a man who’s smiled all his life, but I can’t see it. ‘Not that you need the money, of course…’
Grandma glances at me and I swear I can almost see pride in her eyes.
‘Whatever my granddaughter chooses to do with her assets is her own business. Rest assured, should she want to, I’ll be very happy in giving you an extremely hard time and making your life more miserable than it already is.’
His eyes, which have been darting back and forth between the two of us, now rest on mine.
‘Well, my new business partner and I have every intention of getting as much as we both can from this situation,’ he says.
