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‘And that’s why you split up, wasn’t it?’
‘Yeah. Sort of.’ Honor stared into her cider wishing Tamara would drop it. She’d met Gino at teacher training college, and they’d become a couple instantly. When he’d found a teaching job in Italy, they decided to try a long-distance relationship. It had worked for a while, but perhaps inevitably, they’d drifted apart. She glanced again at the man Tamara had pointed out. Medium height, dark-haired, nicely dressed. He did indeed look a little like Gino. A picture of Jago sprang up in her imagination. Tall, loose-limbed with those pale green eyes that bore into you and stripped your soul bare. She deliberately emptied her mind and took a long draught of alcohol. She mustn’t go there.
‘I met a nice man the other morning,’ Jamie said, noting Honor’s shuttered expression and changing the subject slightly. ‘Walked past as I was opening up the lifeboat station. Had a dog. Lovely black and white spaniel. Walked a bit funny.’
‘What, the dog or the man? Are you trying to set Honor up with a man who can’t walk properly?’ Lucie chided.
‘Oi,’ Chris put in. ‘It shouldn’t be the butt of jokes.’
‘I’m really sorry, Chris,’ Lucie apologised. ‘Didn’t think. Me and my big mouth.’ She peered in her glass. ‘What strength is this stuff? It’s gone straight to my head.’
‘And mine,’ Tamara slurred. She ripped open another bag of crisps and shared them out. ‘Have some carbs to soak it up.’
‘His name was Jago,’ Jamie continued, ignoring them. ‘Seemed a good guy.’
‘I know Jago,’ Honor said. So much for not dwelling on him! ‘He’s a parent of one of the new children in my class. And he’s happily married to Avril.’
‘Avril?’ Lucie said. ‘There’s an Avril just joined the knitting group. Ellie sold Christmas Tree Cottage to her.’
‘You, knitting?’ Tamara marvelled.
‘Research for my book actually,’ Lucie said airily. ‘It’s really hard.’
‘What, the knitting or the research?’
‘Both! But at least I enjoy the research. The knitting on the other hand… You should see some of the group, though. You can hardly see their needles for the blur they make, they’re so fast.’
‘What are you knitting?’
‘I’mtryingto knit a scarf. Trying to start simple, I’m knitting luggins here a scarf, but I’ve only managed about five centimetres and that was with someone else casting on for me. It’ll benextChristmas before I finish at this rate.’
‘Let’s hope you have better luck with the book,’ Tamara giggled. ‘I don’t know how you fit it all in. Working at the estate agents, doing your degree.’
As well as being an aspiring novelist, Lucie also worked part time at the town’s estate agency and was doing an English Literature degree.
‘Well,’ she said gloomily. ‘I have long nights to fill when Jamie here is volunteering, or out on a shout.’
‘And, Jamie, Idefinitelydon’t know how you dothat,’ Tamara said with a shudder. ‘Especially going out at night. It must be so scary.’
‘Not as scary as for the people we rescue,’ Jamie said drily.
‘Point taken.’
‘Is Aggie involved? In the Knit and Natter group, I mean,’ Honor asked. Aggie was Lullbury Bay’s most notorious pensioner, a huge character and heavily involved in most aspects of community life. She was also a proud pagan and rumoured to be a white witch.
Lucie pointed her nearly empty pint glass at her. ‘Aggie,’ she said meaningfully, ‘has taken advantage of a cheap flight from Exeter. She’s gone to Tenerife for a Silver Swingers’ Holiday.’
Chris spluttered into his pint and Tamara slapped him on the back.
‘And that’s research for a book too. One of her books on life as a wrinkly in the twenty-first century.’
‘Ugh.’ Chris pulled a face. ‘That’s got me reaching for the mind bleach.’
‘They’re actually really good,’ Lucie protested.
‘I agree, Lu,’ Honor added. ‘Well written and practical.’
‘Poor old Austin,’ Chris said, referring to Aggie’s long-suffering husband. He finished his drink.
