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“Uh… I’m not sure?” Ava said, wrong-footed not so much by the question as by the person asking it.
“Woah, American, huh?”
Ava nodded.
“Ad will be pleased.”
“Who’s Ad?”
The blue haired woman grinned. “The owner’s wife. Or the half-owner’s wife. She’s American. Ant, that’s the half-owner isn’t though. And there’s me, I’m not American either, though I am the other half-owner and I’m Mila.”
Ava more or less followed this. “I see.”
“New in town or just visiting?” asked Mila, leaning on the desk.
“New, I guess,” said Ava, really not sure what to make of this, but spotting a Tana French book she hadn’t read on the shelf in front of the cash desk. “Here until the beginning of next July. I’ll be teaching at the local school.”
“Ooo,” Mila said, sounding thrilled. “That’s exciting. You’ll have to come to our book club. And just you let me know if you want some help. My husband’s the local policeman, so we’ll both look after you. Actually…” She peered carefully at Ava. “Actually, you’ll probably meet him sooner rather than later. He usually comes up to the school at the beginning of term.”
Ava was trying to read the back of the book when something gray and sleek swept past her legs, she squealed and jumped back.
“Oh, that’s just Maigret,” Mila said airily. “Shop cat.”
“I see.”
“Not a cat person?”
“No,” Ava said firmly. “Very definitely a dog person.”
Just as she spoke, there was an odd gurgling sound from behind the counter.
“One sec,” Mila said. She ducked down and re-appeared with a small child who was grasping an Agatha Christie novel. “This’ll be Ag.”
Ava frowned. Small children were very much not her thing and it was hard to judge what gender this one was, let alone how old it was. And yet… “Is it old enough to read?” she asked.
Mila laughed. “Not yet, but she’s working on it, she’ll be there soon enough, I’d say. You looking to buy that book?”
“This and some groceries,” said Ava, watching the child suspiciously in case it exploded with bodily fluids or something else equally unexpected or unpleasant. “Oh, and if you could point me in the direction of the local school, I’d like to check it out before I start work.”
“Easy peasy,” Mila said, she grabbed a pen as Ava handed over her book. “Hold her for a sec.”
Before Ava knew what was happening she was grasping on to a wriggling bundle of something that smelled faintly of cheese. The child looked up at her and said nothing. Ava said nothing right on back. Carefully holding the girl at arm’s length she watched as Mila drew a small map and then hastily gave the woman her daughter back.
“Jesus,” said Mila. “Good you’re not teaching reception, eh?”
“Reception?” asked Ava, confused.
“Reception, like the first class of school, the one the little ones are in,” Mila explained. “Just that you don’t look like you’re that comfortable around the real smalls.”
“No,” Ava said slowly. “Not really. Not been exposed much, I suppose.”
Mila grinned. “Well come back and babysit any time you feel like it. I could do with a night down the pub. That’ll be ten pounds for the book then.”
Ava handed over the money in funny colored large bank notes, then made her escape before Mila could find another excuse for her to carry her child.
SERENA HAD ALWAYS done the grocery shopping. It was just the way things worked out. Ava handled the vacuuming and laundry, Serena did the shopping. For well over a decade Ava hadn’t set foot in a grocery store, and she couldn’t say that she missed it.
Whatever the local shop was though, it was nothing at all like how she remembered American stores. It was small, and the woman behind the counter was almost as wide as she was tall. But the place seemed stocked well enough, though Ava didn’t exactly recognize most of the products.
