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Terri went into the kitchen behind the counter and Shay sat there dumbfounded. Theresa Briggs – blimey. The one person, apart from Glynn ‘flat nose’ Duffy, that Shay never wanted to bump into again and here she was about to have a civilised cup of coffee with her, because there probably wasn’t enough time to make a bolt for the door. She’d fancied Jonah and when it became obvious Jonah fancied Shay, her jealous resentment ramped up notches. How she must have loved it when skinny Shay got her come-uppance. Sowhy the overdue friend act now? Made no sense. Another head-fuck to add to the already too-long list of them.
Terri reappeared with two large china mugs, still smiling as she put them down.
‘Not gone then?’ she asked. ‘Can’t say I’d blame you if you had.’
‘No, I’m still here,’ replied Shay.
Terri took a seat.
‘I always hoped you’d do exactly what you’ve done, walk in here and let me say what’s been on my mind for all this time.’
‘You weren’t that bad,’ said Shay.
She really was though. And Terri agreed with her unsaid thoughts.
‘Oh I was. Total cow. A screwed-up, miserable, horrible mess and I was so jealous of you.’
‘Me?’
‘Er, yeah. You were beautiful and clever and you had Jonah Wells in the palm of your hand. You do still remember him?’
‘Yes, I remember him.’ He was someone impossible to forget.
Terri’s smile faded. ‘I felt so bad for you after what happened because it wasn’t right, everyone coming after you like that. It was nothing less than a witch hunt and you didn’t deserve it. Jonah fought every rotten word said against you.’
Shay swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt too dry to speak.
‘He and I own this place. I’m Terri Wells now. She’s a long way from Theresa Briggs.’
Terri continued to talk, something about why they took it over but Shay’s attention had stalled at her name:Terri Wells.She’d married him. He had no brother, just an elder sister and surely she couldn’t have married his dad.
‘You’ve hardly changed at all,’ said Terri. ‘I knew you straightaway.’ She chuckled and sipped at her coffee. ‘Can I get you anything to eat? On the house.’
‘No thank you. I’ve just had some cake,’ replied Shay. ‘It’s a beautiful teashop.’
‘Every time I walked past it I wished I owned it.’ Terri looked around the room as if seeing it through a fresh visitor’s eyes. ‘Who’d have thought back then that one day I would. Well, a half of it anyway. I’m the bees.’
‘Bees?’
‘I’m the bees as in “bees n cheese”. We have a bee farm. Me, eh? Theresa Briggs with a café and a bee farm – mad, isn’t it? Jonah’s the “cheese”. His creamery’s just up the road, five minutes away if you remember where Watson’s cheese factory used to be. He’s done exceptionally well for himself.’
Jonah.His name still had the ability to do strange things to her insides, churn them like butter. So he was here in Millspring and at that moment he was ‘just up the road’. She felt as if she were standing near an electrical sub-station, feeling the power of its current tripping along her nerve endings.
‘To be honest, the Wells family saved me,’ Terri continued. ‘My lot, as you know, kept the police busy. I’d have gone the same way had it not been for them.’ She went on: ‘But what happened to Denny Smith all those years ago changed a lot of things. I saw what it did to Jonah, it crucified him. And what hurt him hurt me. I had such a crush on him.’
Shay could guess the rest of the story. Terri gave him emotional support, he ended up falling for her and that wasit. What else could it be? She was glad he’d found happiness, success, love. So why did she feel a pain as sharp as if she’d just been stabbed with a hat pin, thrust through a space in her ribs?
Shay made a pointed glance at her watch. She didn’t want this trip down memory lane.
‘I’d better go, I—’
‘Oh please, just finish your coffee off,’ Terri interrupted her. ‘I’ve always wondered what I’d say to you if I saw you again. I’ve gone through every possible scenario of what might happen: you chucking a drink in my face as soon as you clocked me, me crying, me chasing you up the road to finish off what I had to say to you.’ She twisted in her seat, looked round at the counter. When she turned back, her eyes were shining and she wafted at her face as if to shoo the emotion away from it.
‘God, look at me,’ she said, snatching up a serviette. ‘I didn’t think I’d fill up like this.’
‘You don’t need to get upset for me,’ Shay shook her head slowly. ‘As I said, it’s all a long time ago.’ She sipped her coffee; the sooner it was drunk, the sooner she had the excuse to go. It was very nice, a hint of honey in it, just enough.
‘That’s my daughter,’ said Terri and thumbed behind her at Chloe. ‘She’s got all the Wells looks, which we thought would be better than my lot, thank God. And their temperament.’
