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But time had rules to abide by, the sun began to drop and Teddy fetched two coffees from the kiosk where he’d bought the ice creams.
‘I think George has a thing for your mum,’ said Sabrina. ‘Did you know?’
‘Everyone knows but my mother,’ replied Teddy.
‘You should tell her.’
‘And have George lording it over me as my step-dad?’ Teddy gave her a look of horror, but she knew he was only pretending.
‘She’s been without your dad a lot of years and she’s still a young woman.’
Teddy hadn’t thought about his mum being lonely. She had her friends and her volunteering up at the hospital, and she was always busy. But then he was always busy and that disguised his own loneliness. He felt slightly ashamed that he hadn’t thought of that parallel before and recognised the similar void in his mother’s life.
‘His jokes are great. Kids would love them. You should let him out of the back to do his table magic occasionally. You won’t get that at Ciaoissimo.’
‘He won’t have time; he’ll be too busy doing takeaway pizzas.’ Teddy smiled again and realised he’d smiled so much today that his face had begun to ache. Muscles he hadn’t overused for a long time.
‘George lost his wife when he was just a young man; no children,’ Teddy told her. ‘He likes to garden when he’s not working. We get all our herbs from him and a lot of vegetables. Mum likes to garden too.’ Now he was thinking about it, Marielle and George had quite a few things in common. They both liked the theatre, the cinema, sunny holidays, days away, museums, eating out. He’d always thought itwas funny how George behaved around his mum; he hadn’t really considered that real, serious feelings might be involved. Maybe he needed to look outside his restaurant occasionally. It was his everything and if he lost it, he’d have nothing.
Sabrina polished off her coffee then put her socks and boots on. They’d end up back in the charity shop, for sure. She was reluctant to stand up in them, expecting the discomfort to kick in straight away.
‘Here, take my arm,’ Teddy said, crooking it for her. It felt sure and strong under her hand. She was almost glad her boots were uncomfortable enough to force her pace to be slow as they walked back to the car, so she could squeeze some extra time with him out of the day.
‘Are you okay?’ Teddy asked her.
‘I’m so sorry about this,’ she replied.
‘I could give you a piggyback.’
‘I’d break your spine.’ She chuckled.
He didn’t mind that they were taking an age to get to the car. He couldn’t recall the last time before today that he hadn’t rushed or darted or strode anywhere. It was nice to stroll with someone on his arm, someone at his side.
They drove home the longer, scenic way. Teddy tried to convince himself he’d chosen the route because it would be quieter, but it wasn’t that at all. He was a teenage boy again, stringing out an enjoyable time for as long as he could. The day had not turned out as he’d expected it to; it had been much better and he had learned more about himself than he had a rival restaurant. He felt a downturn in his spirits on seeing the ‘Welcome to Shoresend’ sign.
He braked outside the door to Little Moon.
‘Sabrina, thank you for today,’ he said.
‘It’s a pleasure.’ She turned to him, smiling again, and heknew she felt it too, that the air in the car felt suddenly as thick as honey. Something had grown between them today, like a small shoot poking out of its seed but then wondering where to go next. He felt his blood gain pace inside him.
Sabrina’s hand crept slowly to the door handle, giving him the opportunity to say more before she got out. Then he opened his mouth and did say more.
‘Obviously I’ll pay you for today. You were working after all, I do recognise that.’
If he’d wanted to kill whatever was warming the air between them, he’d just done it. Stone dead.
‘Oh, thank you, that’s… great, then.’ She opened the door. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.’ She hopped out too quickly for him to say that he’d had a really lovely time with her, lean across and kiss her cheek because he had wanted to do that, to let his lips have contact with her.
She was aware that he was watching her until she was safely inside and she tried not to walk as if her boots had a vendetta against her feet. She unlocked the door, went quickly in and heard him drive off, and she was glad that he had.
Oh god, she was lucky she hadn’t made a fool of herself, read too much into the ease they’d shared. She’d picked up on something that wasn’t there, her intuition evidently not as tuned as it was in a work environment. She thought back, hoping not to find something she’d said that came across as inappropriate. But then again, said a kind voice, he wasn’t exactly champing at the bit to get home either. But thenagain, said her own voice, he was a good man and he probably thought that it was due recompense for her business analytical services to take her for an ice cream and a coffee at the seaside. There was nothing more in it than that. What else could there be?
Chapter 35
When Sabrina got in to work the next morning, Flick was already designing something on a laptop on one of the tables.
‘I presume this is your idea,’ she said to Sabrina, beckoning her over. ‘What do you think?’
