Chapter 5
GEORGE
G rabbing a bundle of post from his van, George hurried towards The Sardine.
He was feeling out of sorts again… all shook up and weirdly nervous.
He still couldn’t quite put his finger on the reason for this strange anomaly.
Maybe it was simply the presence of one clearly unhappy soul in their little town.
Or perhaps the name Claudia had managed to stir up a bunch of old memories.
Sure, most of them had been good memories, but he had ended up with a broken heart.
Taking a deep breath and willing himself not to be daft, George pushed his way inside the little café. He was instantly wrapped in a cloud of delicious cinnamon and apple scent, and his mouth started to water on command.
‘George! I was hoping we’d see you this morning.’
Kate was wearing her customary warm smile, and George breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t look like his friend was suffering any lasting effects from that morning’s run-in with their grumpy visitor.
‘Here you go,’ he said, handing over the stack of mail. ‘Expecting something good?’
Kate laughed and shook her head. ‘Just bills. Anyway, I wasn’t talking about the post.’
‘Oh?’ said George. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘Ethel’s just dropped off a couple of massive apple pies,’ said Kate, ‘and you’re my favourite taste-tester. Can I tempt you with a slice and some cream?’
George’s stomach growled in answer, but he shook his head firmly. ‘No. Thank you, though.’
‘It doesn’t have to be cream,’ said Kate. ‘I can do custard instead? Or ice cream?’
Shaking his head for a second and a third time felt a whole lot harder than the first. George took an involuntary step backwards, as though it might help to put a little more distance between himself and temptation.
This was the only problem with Seabury—there were sweet treats on offer around every corner.
It was exactly why he’d taken up running in the first place.
Now that he’d managed to squeeze back into the smaller end of his wardrobe, he was determined to stick to his guns and keep his sweet tooth in check.
‘I’m fine. Thank you, though,’ said George, with what felt like Herculean effort. ‘I’ve got pasta salad for lunch and some fruit for pudding, so I’m all set.’
‘Wow!’ said Kate, her eyes wide. ‘What have you done with George Slatter, Cake Fiend Extraordinaire?!’
‘Oh, he’s still here,’ laughed George. ‘Just… under better control than usual!’
‘Well, I have to say I’m impressed,’ said Kate. ‘And you look great, by the way. I take it you’re still running?’
George nodded. ‘Got up at five this morning and ran to Dunscombe and back before work.’
Kate shook her head in wonder. ‘If I’d told you you’d be doing that back at the start of the year, you’d never have believed you could do it.’
‘Well, I blame you and Ethel… and Sarah when she’s in town.
Oh, and Hattie too. This place is very bad for the waistline these days!
I had to do something before I needed a whole new wardrobe to accommodate my Seabury-cake-tyre.
Anyway, enough of my waistline…’ he said, doing his best not to make eye contact with the large, gooey chocolate cake sitting on one of the stands on the counter.
‘I heard you had a bit of an unwelcome visitor this morning?’
‘I wouldn’t say unwelcome,’ said Kate. ‘No paying customer is really unwelcome. But I’ve certainly had a difficult customer this morning.’
‘Yeah, I think she’s on some kind of mission to annoy as many locals as possible,’ said George. ‘That’s if we’re talking about the same person.’
‘Posh-looking, heels, gorgeous sweater… expensive hair that could probably handle a force-nine gale?’ said Kate. ‘Oh—and a bad attitude.’
‘Sounds like the descriptions I’ve had so far!’ said George.
‘We get that sort in town sometimes,’ said Kate. ‘They find themselves here by mistake and wander off again soon enough. What’s she done to make herself so unpopular?’
‘Took a pop at Jess’s chickens, blocked the entrance to the allotments, and reduced Lionel to a quivering wreck!’ said George, counting off the offences on his fingers. ‘How about you? Lionel seemed to think you’d had a run-in with her about pumpkins?’
Kate chuckled. ‘She was desperate for a pumpkin-spiced skinny latte. I’d have gladly made one for her if I had it…
but, I mean… we’re only a small place, and that’s very specific.
I offered to make her anything else she fancied on the house.
Spiced chai latte, cinnamon tea, coffee of her choice with some vanilla syrup, but nothing was good enough! ’
‘Oh dear.’ George was struggling not to laugh.
Kate shrugged. ‘What can you do, eh?’
‘I wonder why she’s here,’ said George. ‘Did she mention anything to you? She’s booked in at the hotel, but Lionel doesn’t know how long she’s planning to stay.’
‘She wanted to know how to get to Seabury House,’ said Kate. ‘I got the feeling she’d been driving around for ages looking for it. Kept asking all sorts of questions about the Peppers, too… like what they did for a living, and if they owned the house, and what kind of reputation they had in town.’
‘That’s kind of odd, don’t you think?’ said George.
Kate nodded. ‘She mentioned something about her sister’s engagement?’
‘Oh, wait a sec!’ said George. ‘Charlie told me this morning that Rory has just got engaged.’
‘Goodness,’ said Kate. ‘Well, if this woman’s the sister of Rory’s bride-to-be, I hope he knows what he’s getting himself into!’
George sniggered. ‘Did you tell her how to find her way to Seabury House?’
‘Yeah,’ said Kate. ‘I didn’t tell her she could find Ewan and Connie at All Things Woolly, though. It didn’t seem fair to unleash that dragon on them in the shop.’
‘Fair point,’ said George. ‘I’ll nip in there in a minute and give them the heads up that there’s an uninvited guest on the warpath.’
‘Good plan,’ said Kate with a nod. ‘I mean… at least that way they’ll be ready to… erm… welcome her.’
‘For Rory’s sake, I hope they do,’ said George. ‘Or at least, I hope she’s on better behaviour than she was with Lionel!’
‘Is he okay?’ said Kate with a look of concern.
‘He’s fine,’ laughed George. ‘Just a bit surprised, I think. Hattie seemed to think the whole thing was hilarious, though.’
‘She might change her tune later,’ said Kate. ‘I might have suggested she’d like to eat at the hotel.’
‘Mean!’ chuckled George.
Kate shrugged. ‘It’s the best place for miles. I’m sure our little head chef can hold her own.’
‘I’m almost tempted to book a table so that I can watch the show,’ said George. ‘Right, now that I know you’re okay, I guess I’d better get on with my round.’
‘Sure I can’t tempt you with some cake before you go?’ said Kate.
George shook his head.
‘Not even a squishy bit of brownie?’
George put his fingers in his ears and made a loud humming noise to block her out as he backed towards the door.
‘Fresh coffee cakes are arriving later!’ she bellowed after him just as he made a break for it.
George was only three steps towards his van when he changed his mind and popped his head back around the café door.
‘Coffee cake?’
Kate grinned and nodded.
‘Save me a piece for after my round?’ he begged.
‘You’ve got it!’ chuckled Kate.
It felt a bit ridiculous to hop back into his van for the super-short drive back to the end of North Beach and All Things Woolly, but he had a whole bunch of boxes for the little shop.
They weren’t at all heavy—he guessed they were probably packed full of yarn—but they were bulky.
There was no way he’d be able to totter along the seafront with them in his arms, even if it would probably give everyone a good giggle to see him try.
It took all of thirty seconds for him to pull up in front of All Things Woolly. As he wasn’t planning on staying longer than it would take to drop off the boxes and issue a friendly warning about Seabury’s new arrival, George decided to risk the double yellows.
Peering in through the windows, he was greeted by the golden glow of the lamps and the sight of Connie lounging in one of the squashy armchairs in the knitting corner, bouncing Melody on her knee.
George grinned, his heart instantly melting at the sight of the chubby baby, who looked like she was busy blowing bubbles and giggling at her mum in turn.
Hurrying to the door, George let himself in and whispered a gentle greeting so as not to startle mother or baby.
‘No, don’t get up!’ he said quickly, as Connie started to bundle the tot into her arms. ‘You guys look super comfy. I’ve got some boxes for you. Just tell me where to stack them and I’ll bring them in.’
‘Oh George, you’re a saint,’ said Connie, doing her best to stifle a yawn.
‘You doing okay?’ he said, concern lacing his words as he noted the dark circles around Connie’s usually bright eyes, and the way she seemed to sag even further into her chair as Melody wrapped a spit-soaked fist into the neckline of her top.
‘I’m fine,’ said Connie with a tired smile. ‘This little madam just decided to channel her inner werewolf last night and howled the house down for hours. Right as rain now though, aren’t you madam??!’
‘Well, you sit tight,’ said George firmly.
‘Actually… you wouldn’t mind taking her for five seconds, would you?’
‘What?’ said George, taking an involuntary step backwards. ‘You mean… babysit her?’
‘No!’ chuckled Connie. ‘I’m just desperate for a pee, and it would really be rather pleasant to do it solo for the first time all week.’
‘Oh, right… of course,’ said George, with a longing backwards glance at his van.
‘She won’t bite, I promise. She might dribble all over your uniform, though.’
‘Sounds like you’ll make an even bigger mess if I don’t hurry up,’ said George, giving himself a little shake for being so daft and holding his arms out for the chubby little scrap. She instantly reached for him, her podgy hands making grabby motions.
‘Aw, I think I’m in love!’ he said, settling her chunky, warm weight against his chest, and jiggling her in his arms.
‘Tell me that at two in the morning when she’s at full volume, and I might take you more seriously,’ said Connie with a wink as she scurried through to the back of the shop.
‘I bet you were just practising, eh, Mel?’ cooed George, as the baby stared at him, wide-eyed. Suddenly, George felt like the luckiest, most interesting person in the world. ‘Are you going to be a musician like your uncle? Maybe an opera singer with those lungs?’
Melody babbled at him and then blew a bubble.
‘My thoughts exactly,’ he laughed, bouncing her on his arm and earning himself a gurgling laugh.
‘I think you’ve got a fan,’ said Connie, reappearing so fast George could hardly believe she’d been gone. A strange pang of disappointment hit him in the chest. He wasn’t sure he was ready to hand over this warm little bundle so soon.
‘Well, feeling’s mutual,’ he said. ‘She’s just… gorgeous.’
‘I know!’ said Connie, tickling her daughter’s cheek. ‘But I have to say that—I’m biased.’
‘Well, I’m not,’ said George, dropping a kiss onto the baby’s head before handing her back to her mum. ‘Right, I’d better get those parcels. Where do you want them?’
‘Over in the corner, please,’ said Connie, sinking back into the chair.
‘They’re for the commission Ewan’s working on at the moment.
He meant to put the house address on them, but only realised he’d made a mistake when it was too late to change it.
He’ll just have to come down and pick them up later. ’
‘They’re going up to Seabury House?’ said George.
Connie nodded.
‘I can take them up for you a bit later, if that’s any help?’ said George. ‘I’d need to finish off the rest of my round first, but they’re right at the back of the van, so it’s really no bother.’
‘You’re a hero,’ said Connie. ‘You sure you don’t mind?’
‘Not at all!’
‘Great, I’ll let Ewan know.’
‘When you do, you might want to give him a bit of a warning,’ said George, peering out at the van just to check that the coast was still clear of anyone looking to nab him for his illegal parking.
‘Warning?’ said Connie with a little frown. ‘That sounds ominous.’
‘Mmm, it might well be,’ said George, wiggling his eyebrows.
‘Spit it out,’ laughed Connie, ‘you’ve got me worried now!’
‘Well, it’s like this,’ he said, grabbing a beautiful beany hat and trying it on for size. ‘You know how Rory’s engaged?’
‘Blimey, I can never get over how fast gossip spreads in this town,’ said Connie, shaking her head. ‘We only got the call yesterday.’
‘Well, I don’t think you were the only ones to get the call,’ said George. ‘There’s a visitor in Seabury this morning. Apparently, Rory’s new fiancé’s sister is in town.’
‘You say that like it’s a bad thing,’ said Connie, doing her best to disentangle a hank of her hair from Melody’s fist.
‘Erm… it is if you’re one of the people she’s spoken to!’ said George. ‘She had Lionel literally slumped across the reception desk in the hotel. Oh, and Jess is on the warpath. Even Charlie’s not too keen on her.’
‘Oh dear,’ sighed Connie. ‘Poor thing. If I’d have known she was coming, I could have taken her for breakfast or something.’
‘Or gone into hiding,’ muttered George.
‘Don’t be daft, she can’t be all that bad.’
‘Do you know how hard it is to ruffle Lionel?’ said George.
‘Actually… no! Because I’ve literally never seen it happen.’
‘That’s kind of my point!’ said George.
‘But, why’s she here?’ said Connie, still looking rather taken aback.
‘When she was busy giving Kate a hard time, she let it slip that she was looking for Seabury House, so I’m guessing she’s here to check that her future family-in-law are up to scratch.’
‘Goodness!’ said Connie. ‘That’s all a bit… drastic.’
‘She sounds like she’s a bit of a drastic person,’ chuckled George. ‘Have you… erm… met Rory’s fiancé?’
‘Freya?’ said Connie in surprise. ‘No, but we’ve spoken to her loads online. She’s Rory’s co-pilot. Totally mad, really lovely. A bit of a tigger, I’d say. I think you’d like her.’
‘Well, her sister might be a bit… different. She’s marching around town, done up to the nines, being demanding. And that’s putting it nicely.’
‘Wait… I wonder if that’s who was pounding on the window this morning before I opened,’ said Connie.
‘Could be,’ said George. ‘What did she look like?’
‘I didn’t actually see who it was,’ said Connie. ‘I was changing this little sausage out the back. I figured if it was anything urgent, or someone wanted to buy something, they’d either wait a few minutes or just come back!’
‘Thank your lucky stars she didn’t,’ chuckled George. ‘Uh oh, I’d better go! I see a demon in high-vis coming this way.’
‘The traffic warden?’ gasped Connie.
George nodded. ‘You’ll warn the boys they might get an unwanted visitor?’
‘I’ll let them know,’ said Connie. ‘But I’ll tell them to be nice and offer her a cuppa. It sounds like the poor lamb’s having a bad day.’