Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Worrying over Glynis gave Lily a disrupted night of sleep. Without a lot of hope, she called the hospital as soon as she woke to see if she could get any information. This time the receptionist on duty was much more sympathetic. While she wouldn’t go into details, she told Lily that Glynis’s condition was stable. That was a relief, at least.
According to hospital policy, only immediate family could visit her in intensive care, but as Lily ended the call, she’d already decided to try her luck in person later. First, she needed to collect her order from the garden centre.
A delivery on her doorstep made her stop on her way out of the door.
Curiously, she picked up the cellophane-wrapped basket to read the tag. The typed writing welcomed her to the island, but gave no indication of who it was from. Peering through the wrapping at the assortment of foods, Lily suspected it was from the owner of the shop. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d left something for Lily – there’d been a note when she’d first looked around the shop, and more recently a file containing ice cream recipes.
A pang of irritation gripped Lily as she returned inside to deposit the basket in the back room. If the owner wanted to be in touch, it would be much easier if she’d be upfront about it. The anonymous messages were getting tedious.
Putting it out of her mind, she set off across the island. Bright blue skies and gentle gusts made it a pleasant trip, which lifted her mood. She even felt a tingle of excitement about finally opening the shop.
It faded as soon as she reached the garden centre and was once again faced with the realisation that she didn’t really know what she was doing.
“It’s more than I thought,” she told Gordon, who had everything ready and waiting for her.
“This is what we discussed on the phone,” he said. “But––”
Lily cut him off. “It’s great. I didn’t mean it’s too much. I just didn’t think about how I’d carry it.” It wouldn’t be heavy, but the trays of raspberries and strawberries needed to be kept flat, which would make them awkward to carry across the island.
“Are you on foot?” Gordon asked.
“Yes. I don’t have a car.”
“I can give you a lift.”
“Thanks,” Lily said. “I’ll need to figure something out in the future.” Maybe she could get a bike with a trailer.
“We can also deliver, if you’d like.”
“That would be great,” Lily said. “I’d obviously pay a delivery fee.”
Gordon waved a hand dismissively.
“Hi!” Sally said, striding outside and placing an affectionate hand between Lily’s shoulder blades. “I saw a flyer about the opening of the ice cream shop. It’s exciting.”
Lily forced a smile. “Yeah.”
“Do you have a spare poster?” Sally asked. “We could put one up here.”
“Not on me. I have extras back at the shop.”
“I’ll grab one when I drop you off,” Gordon said. “Us small businesses need to help each other out whenever we can.”
“You’ve already been very helpful,” Lily said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Have you got time for a drink before you head off?” Sally asked.
Lily’s eyes drifted inside and she thought of the green smoothie. Immediately, her stomach clenched in protest. It wasn’t the smoothie that had made her ill, though. Was it? Could you get food poisoning from a smoothie? It seemed unlikely.
“I’ve got to get going,” she said weakly. “I have a busy week of making ice cream ahead of me and I want to get started.”
Sally bunched her shoulder up as she smiled. “Another time. I’ll see you for the opening if not before. I can’t wait to try the ice cream.”
“Thanks,” Lily mumbled as Sally waltzed away again.
Gordon had just lifted the tray of raspberries when Denzel walked over, a pair of gardening gloves hanging limply out of his back pocket.
“Need a hand?” He didn’t wait for a reply before picking up the tray of strawberries and bag of lemons.
Gordon glanced over at him. “I’m just going to drive Lily home with this lot.”
“I’m heading to Hugh Town,” Denzel said, flashing Lily a smile. “I can drop you off.”
“Thanks,” Lily said, uncomfortable with the feeling of needing help. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
They loaded everything into Denzel’s truck and Lily thanked Gordon before they set off.
“I can’t believe the ice cream shop is finally going to open again,” Denzel said as they pulled away along the narrow road.
“Do you remember it from before?” Lily asked, turning in her seat and watching his features.
“Yeah. That feels like a lifetime ago. It kind of was. Most of your lifetime, anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“I heard you’d been there as a kid,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Yes.” She frowned, wondering where he’d heard that, and how much more he knew about her.
It was one of the most unnerving things about living in such a close-knit community – people often knew things about her before they met her. Though, she supposed that was also partly her own fault for making such a name for herself by stumbling into investigating crimes.
“So you came back looking for the ice cream shop?” Denzel asked, the skin around his eyes crinkling.
“Yes. I had memories of it and wanted to see if it was still there.” She turned further in her seat, pulling on the seatbelt when she met resistance. “Do you remember the woman who owned it?”
“Vaguely.”
“I have a photo of her,” Lily said, pulling it out of her bag.
Denzel nodded. “That’s her.”
“Have you seen her since the ice cream shop closed?”
“Not to my recollection. You think she lives on St Mary’s, right?”
“How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “People talk.”
Lily stared out of the window at the green fields.
“It’d be strange if she was around and watching you, but keeping quiet. Why would she do that?”
“I’ve no idea.” Lily knew it sounded absurd, but her gut told her that the owner wasn’t far away. That, and the fact that she’d left Lily a note in the shop, and then the recipes. And apparently a basket of food now, too.
“I hope it works out for you with the shop,” Denzel said wistfully as the fields on either side of the road were replaced by rows of houses at the edge of Hugh Town. “It’s the perfect spot for an ice cream shop. It’ll be good to see some bustle down that end of the promenade after the place has been in such a rundown state for so long. Odd, though, isn’t it?” His voice took on a faraway quality, as though he were thinking aloud.
“What is?”
Creases lined his brow. “That the owner wouldn’t let a local re-open the shop. There was interest in the place before you came along.”
“Yeah.” Lily rolled her eyes. “Kit Treneary wanted to buy the place. He reminds me often enough.”
“You know Kit?” Denzel paused and gave a small shake of the head. “Of course you know Kit.” He looked as though he might say more, but remained silent as he parked behind a small van. “I think this is as close as I can get,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt. “I’ll help you carry it to your door.”
“Thank you,” Lily said, hopping out to unload with him.
They were walking along the promenade with their hands full when Lily spotted Kit wandering towards them, his sandy blonde hair being ruffled by the sea breeze.
“Hey!” he called out and picked up his pace to take a shopping bag that was swinging from Lily’s finger. He frowned down at it. “I thought I was being heroic, but this weighs nothing at all.”
“It’s fresh mint for my mint choc ice cream,” Lily told him. “Nothing is heavy, but some of it’s awkward to carry. Thankfully, Denzel drove me from the garden centre.”
He smiled a greeting at Denzel and they continued three abreast along the promenade.
“If you ever need a car,” Kit said. “You’re welcome to borrow ours.”
“ Ours? ” Denzel said with an amused lilt.
Kit chuckled. “Obviously, no one should mention to Seren that I referred to it as our car. It’s hers . But you’re still welcome to borrow it.”
“Thanks,” Lily said. “Gordon said he can deliver in future, so I think I should be okay.”
“How’s work?” Kit asked Denzel when they stopped in front of the shop and Lily balanced the raspberries to retrieve her key.
“Same old,” Denzel told him. “Keeps me out of mischief.”
“If you have time, could you call over and give me some advice about our garden?” Kit asked.
“Yeah.” Denzel shifted his weight. “Sorry, I told you I’d do that ages ago. It’s my busiest time of year at the moment. Life’s been hectic.”
“No worries,” Kit said. “You can also just call over for a coffee. I don’t think you’ve seen the decking since we finished it. And you won’t have seen the new bathroom upstairs.”
Lily finally got the door open and held it for Denzel and Kit.
“I’ll pop in sometime,” Denzel said vaguely.
“Any time,” Kit told him. “Just call over.”
“I’ll try.” Denzel slid the tray of strawberries onto the counter. “I’m afraid I have to dash off. I was on my way to a job.”
“Thanks for your help,” Lily said, setting the raspberries down.
At the door, he raised a hand to wave and was gone without another word.
“I think I annoyed him,” Kit said.
“Denzel?” Lily asked. “I take it you know him well?”
“Yeah. I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. He used to work with my dad sometimes.”
“Why would he be annoyed with you?”
“When Seren and I first got the house, he used to come and help me out with renovations. We needed all the help we could get, so I always took him up on any offer to help, but I may have asked too often because recently he always makes excuses.” His shoulders rose and fell as he sighed. “I don’t even care about him helping. I just enjoyed hanging out with him. He has all these stories about my dad that I’ve never heard before.” He shrugged. “I liked hearing his stories.”
“I imagine that would be nice.” For a moment, Lily’s thoughts drifted to her own parents. “I barely remember my parents, and I don’t know anyone who knew them. It’d be nice to hear stories about them.”
“Sorry,” Kit said. “I didn’t mean to bring the mood down.”
“It’s fine.” She smiled sadly. “I get it, though. I’ll bet it’s interesting to hear about your dad from someone who isn’t family. Denzel would have known a different side to your dad, I guess.”
“Yeah.” Kit nodded emphatically. “That’s exactly it.”
“He said he was busy,” Lily remarked. “I’m sure it’s just that.”
“Maybe.” Kit didn’t sound convinced. “Anyway, I was on my way to meet Seren for lunch. Do you want to join us?”
“I’d better not.” She gestured to the fruit on the countertop. “I have a lot of work to do.”
She’d make a couple of batches of ice cream, then she’d head over to the hospital and see if she could get an update on Glynis.