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“I wasn’t flirting with him. I was wishing the straw was a rock and it’d hit his head,” I retorted hotly.
“Who’s flirting with who?” Steph asked, setting the drinks tray on the table.
“She’s flirting with my brother,” Ash replied.
“I am not flirting with Noah,” I said. “How are you?”
“I don’t know.” Steph’s smile fell a little flat. “I do know that I want to know who Ash’s brother is that you were flirting with.”
“Noah. Also known as the one who almost arrested her two weeks ago.” Ash smirked, shuffling along to the other empty chair so Steph could sit down.
Steph did a doubletake behind her. “Wait—you mean Detective Inspector George?”
I groaned. “It’s a long story.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Steph put the cocktail jugs on the table between us and pushed a full glass towards me. “Well, as it happens, I have a long time tonight and I need a distraction, so spill it.”
“I like her. Peer pressure is always a good idea,” Ash said, happily picking up one of the cocktail jugs to pour herself a drink.
“It’s never a good idea,” I said, then took a sip of my drink. “Do we really have to do this?”
“Yes, we do. I’m not above a guilt trip,” Steph replied.
I sighed. Fine.Fine.“You know my grandpa owned the bed and breakfast?”
Steph nodded.
“It’s been in my family for a few generations now. It skipped my mum because she’s almost sixty and said she didn’t want the hassle of running it, which is how I ended up with it,” I explained. “She was born here, but she moved away when she met my dad because he was in the army. We used to spend our summers here, though. Well, I did. When I turned twelve, they’d sometimes leave me here with my grandparents when Dad had to go back to work. We settled in Bristol when he got a desk job with the army.”
“Every summer? That’s cool. We never had a place like that when I was a kid.” She paused. “I wanted that for my family, but Declan never wanted kids.” She popped her lips and smiled. “Is that how you all met?”
Ash nodded. “We kind of adopted each other when we were seven.”
“The first time I met them, Noah threw sand in my eye.” I smiled at the memory. “Like, it was literally the first thing he did. I was rock pooling by myself, and Ash came up because she wanted to see if I’d caught any crabs.”
“She had. A big one. I was so jealous.”
“So was Noah,” I said, unable to get rid of my smile, so I shook my head. “I came down to the beach to show him my crab, because, you know. Kids. Crabs were cool. When I wouldn’t give it to him, he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it right in my face.”
Steph’s lips pulled gently to one side.
“So, I punched him.”
She burst out laughing. “You punched him?”
“He threw sand at me. I thought it was perfectly fair. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure that was the moment I fell in love with the idiot boy,” I said, sipping. “I was seven and dumb, in my defense.”
“Dad was fuming,” Ash said. “I, of course, tattled on him there and then, pissed right off that he’d hurt my new friend.”
“Because when you’re seven you’re instantly friends with everyone,” Steph agreed.
“Exactly. I was also obsessed with crabs, and Lottie could find them like nobody I knew. So, I ran across the beach, screaming about what he’d done, and I swear Dad hauled him over his shoulder and carted him off, telling him he was going to apologise, even if she had socked him one in the cheek. When I went home, Noah was trying to figure out how to make a girl like him.”
Steph snorted. “Ah, young love. Did he figure it out?”
“I was a cheap date,” I said, bobbing my head yes. “He was on the doorstep of the bed and breakfast the next morning, armed with a freshly baked cookie and a fistful of daisies.”
