Best Summer Ever

Chapter 11

The next morning, Penny’s last day of the summer term and the day she needed me to take in the Sunshine Café deliveries, dawned sunny and bright with warm sun streaming through the gap in my bedroom curtains.

I kicked off the sheet I had been sleeping under, with a strong desire to make the most of the hours I had before I needed to become a helpful friend. I was also determined to push the painful memories that had been dredged up the day before further to the back of my mind.

I hadn’t appreciated Algy’s misguided deep dive into the past and considered the best way to forget what it had flagged was to focus entirely on the present. I knew he hadn’t meant any harm, but it didn’t follow that none had been done.

With it all still bubbling away, I didn’t want to talk to Mum or Dad and ducked out early, having left them a note explaining my absence before heading into Wynmouth.

‘I know you’re in there, Josh!’ I called through the cottage letterbox, feeling frustratingly thwarted in my determination to make amends. ‘Come on, open up!’

‘Actually, he isn’t,’ said a voice behind me and I yelped as I trapped the ends of my fingers in the letterbox as it snapped shut.

‘George…’

‘Hello, my dear. You’re about early, aren’t you?’

‘Lots to do,’ I said briskly. ‘Is Josh really not at home?’

‘No, he’s not,’ he confirmed, looking at me questioningly as Skipper tugged on his lead. ‘He’s in the sea, swimming like he’s competing in an Olympic final. My guess is he’s got something on his mind.’

I would have guessed that, too.

‘Thanks, George,’ I said, abandoning the cottage, ignoring the pain in my fingers and striding off down to the beach.

I soon found Josh’s towel and clothes, and sat crossed-legged on the sand, waiting for him to emerge as I more clearly formulated what it was that I was going to say.

‘Here goes,’ I breathed, when he eventually strode out of the sea like Neptune on a good day.

He halted when he saw me, a frown knitting his brows, and I ran my sweaty palms down my shorts. Clearly, the sting of my blunder in the pub hadn’t subsided.

‘Hey,’ I brightly said, when he was close enough to hear, the word catching in my throat.

‘Hey,’ he responded dully, reaching around me for his towel.

‘Did you enjoy your swim?’ I asked as I jumped up.

‘What do you want, Daisy?’ he shot back as he rubbed his hair.

‘To apologise, of course.’ I swallowed. ‘To say how sorry I am for assuming that you had told Sam that we’d spent the night together and for putting you in the same dickhead pigeonhole that I’ve recently shoved my ex in.’

It was hardly an eloquent apology, but it was the truth. I had assumed that because the last man in my life had treated me with such little respect, the next one might too, and that had been a mistake.

‘Anything else?’ Josh asked, swiping the towel over his chest and down his arms.

I had no idea if he had accepted what I had said, but he sounded less abrupt. I resolutely kept my eyes focused on his face rather than the beautiful body I would most likely no longer be wrapping mine around.

‘Not quite,’ I carried on. ‘After you left, Sam told me that you’d decided to play in the pub again as a result of having talked to me and I’m really flattered about that. If talking to me has helped you pick up something you’ve always loved, I’m honoured.’

‘I see,’ he said with a nod.

Was he softening? I hoped so.

‘Even if this is it for us now,’ I sighed, ‘I’m still pleased we had that talk.’

‘So am I,’ he agreed, a faint smile playing about his lovely lips.

‘You are?’ I asked, hope bubbling in my chest.

‘I am,’ he nodded again, then added, ‘and I don’t think this is it for us, Daisy.’

‘You don’t?’ I croaked, the hope starting to bloom.

He shook his head.

‘I feel a connection to you,’ he said huskily. ‘I can’t explain it, but I feel like I’ve known you for far longer than I have. There’s something…’

‘Me too,’ I rushed to say, inadvertently reaching for his hand, which he didn’t snatch away. ‘I feel that too.’

‘You do?’

‘Yes,’ I said, stepping closer to him. ‘Yes.’

He looked down at me. His long eyelashes were still wet and they framed his eyes even more perfectly than usual.

‘Do you forgive me?’ I dared to ask.

He took a breath and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

‘I do,’ he eventually said and I felt myself wilt, ‘but you have to promise that you’ll never, ever put me in that dickhead pigeonhole again. Do you promise?’

‘I do,’ I laughed.

‘You’re sure?’ He frowned. ‘I know your ex treated you badly, Daisy, but not every guy is like that. I’m not like that. I could never mess a woman around. That’s not the sort of man I am.’

‘I know. I’ve known that since Sunday night.’

The look on his face when he walked out of the pub, the pained expression that had furrowed his brow and clouded his usually bright eyes, had been confirmation of that. Josh wasn’t capable of hurting me, of that I was certain.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘That’s all right then. I might still have some stuff to sort out.’ I guessed he was alluding to his family situation, his father in particular. ‘But where relationships are concerned, I’m straight down the line.’

‘Okay.’ I nodded. ‘And so am I. However long this thing between us lasts, I won’t think badly of you again.’

‘All right,’ he said, squeezing my hand. ‘And thank you for going some way to confirming my prowess in the bedroom when you were spilling the beans to Sam.’ I had to laugh at that. ‘Though you could have been a bit more enthusiastic.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you said we’d had a great night and that you had no complaints ,’ he recited, letting go of my hand to put air quotes around the words.

He’d clearly memorised every syllable.

‘And what was wrong with that?’ I asked.

‘Well, it hardly suggests we set the bed on fire, does it? Or the sofa!’

‘Given that it’s actually Sam’s bed and sofa,’ I reminded him, ‘and it was Sam I was talking to, you should be grateful for that. He wouldn’t have been pleased to think of either going up in flames, would he?’

‘I suppose not,’ Josh laughed, flicking me with the towel, ‘but I still would have preferred a better review.’

‘Consider it something to work towards.’ I grinned, skipping off towards the beach hut. ‘Let’s see if we can get you up to five stars by the end of the summer, shall we?’

‘You’re on!’ he shouted, scooping up his clothes and chasing after me.

Even though I was willing to start working on Josh’s sexy summer ranking immediately – not that he needed it because he already was a five – I was determined that nothing was going to make me late for accepting Penny’s deliveries to the café and their subsequent unpacking.

‘I’ll come and help you, if you like,’ Josh offered, once he was dry and dressed and we’d kissed and made up. A lot.

I really wanted him to come with me, but café chores hardly felt like the sort of task anyone would willingly want to undertake while they were on their summer holiday.

‘Surely you must have something more exciting to do?’ I said.

‘Don’t you want me to come?’ Josh pouted.

‘Of course, I do. But it won’t be very exciting, watching me signing for a few boxes and then lugging them to the café and unpacking them.’

‘It will be exciting actually,’ he said, ‘because it’ll be you doing it.’

‘And the award for cheesiest line ever goes to…’

He silenced my drumroll with a kiss and I quickly retracked my statement.

‘Come on then,’ I said breathlessly when we finally drew apart, ‘let’s go.’

Had I not helped Penny on Sunday afternoon, I would have thought she’d ordered far too much stock, but having seen how depleted supplies were and how in demand the lollies and so on had been when the sun was shining down on Wynmouth beach, I didn’t question the amounts of everything that she’d ordered, even if it was a struggle to carry some of it from the end of the lane, which was as far as the vans could get, to the café kitchen. However, having Josh to help me sped up the lugging and unpacking process considerably, even if we did keep stopping to kiss while we were doing it.

‘So, how are you settling into life back at Wynbrook Manor?’ he asked, while we were waiting for the last order of the day.

It was mid-afternoon and Penny had messaged to say that I could help myself to anything I fancied for a late lunch as she was aware that I was going to be there for the long haul. I’d made the amount of food I would normally eat and split it with Josh, so still felt a little hungry. Kissing him seemed to eat up more calories than kissing Laurence. Not that I wanted to be thinking about kissing my ex or comparing his technique to the outstanding one of my current beau.

‘Um,’ I said, thinking how I could answer diplomatically and then decided I didn’t need to be tactful, not with Josh. ‘It’s harder than I thought it would be.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘Well, for a start I very nearly got the whole “while you’re staying under our roof” speech during breakfast yesterday,’ I told him.

‘Oh, crikey,’ he grimaced. ‘That’s never good.’

I had wondered if that would translate, but it obviously did.

‘What else?’ he asked.

I thought about Algy’s faux pas about the book, but didn’t want to get into that.

‘Just churned up memories, you know.’ I shrugged, playing it down. ‘Inevitable, but still uncomfortable.’

‘Um.’ He nodded, looking thoughtful. ‘As you say, inevitable when you’re revisiting old territory.’

‘You’ve experienced that too?’

‘I have,’ he said, leaning forward in his seat and looking deep into my eyes. ‘Because, you see, the thing is, Daisy—’

A long blast on a van horn along the lane made us both jump.

‘Hold that thought,’ I said, jumping up. ‘That’ll be the last delivery. The driver was supposed to message so I could be up there waiting for it.’

‘In that case,’ said Josh, also standing, ‘let’s both get up there before they disappear.’

The last order was by far the largest and Josh and I had just finished transferring it to the café when Penny arrived.

‘I didn’t hang around once the bell had gone,’ she said, giving me a hug. ‘I couldn’t wait to get out of there.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ I said, squeezing her tightly in response.

‘Oh,’ she said, letting me go as Josh appeared around the side of the building carrying a pile of flattened cardboard boxes, ‘you’ve had help, I see.’

‘I hope that’s okay?’ I asked.

‘Of course.’ She smiled.

‘In that case,’ I said, feeling my face start to colour, ‘Penny, this is Josh. Josh, this is my very best friend, Penny.’

‘Don’t let Nick hear you say that,’ Penny laughed and when I looked at her, I could see she was flushed too. ‘I’ve seen you around of course, Josh.’

‘Likewise,’ he said, smiling, and she turned even redder. ‘It’s great to meet you at last. Daisy talks about you all the time.’

‘Don’t believe a word of it,’ she said, not really recovering. ‘Now come on. Dump that lot in the recycling bin and then you can show me what’s turned up.’

I had planned to head back to Wynbrook and surprise Algy by setting up the cat camera, but as Penny finished her stock check and Josh paddled in the incoming tide, he called me.

‘The delivery truck’s broken down and the parcel with the camera isn’t coming until tomorrow now,’ he said, sounding a bit fed up. ‘I know you’d said you wouldn’t be able to set it up straightaway, but I thought I’d let you know it hadn’t landed.’

‘What a nuisance,’ I tutted. ‘I’m in Wynmouth at the moment, but was just about to come back and do it for you.’

‘Just as well I caught you then,’ he said. ‘How about I message you when it arrives tomorrow and you can do it then, if it fits in with your plans?’

‘Sounds good to me,’ I agreed.

‘You’re sure?’

‘One hundred per cent.’

He signed off sounding marginally happier, though obviously still keen to know as soon as possible if it was the cat that was eating the food he was putting out.

‘What’s up?’ Josh asked, as he walked back up the strip of sand the tide hadn’t yet claimed.

‘Nothing,’ I told him. ‘Just a change of plan. I’ve got a free evening now.’

‘Oh, have you?’ he asked, with relish.

‘I have.’ I knew my smile was Cheshire Cat-size, but I couldn’t help it. ‘I don’t have anywhere to be between now and to- morrow.’

‘Do you not?’ Penny gasped, coming out of the café with a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. She really did have impeccable timing. ‘How fab is that?’

‘Well, I think it’s very fab.’ I smiled at Josh. ‘Why do you though, Pen?’

‘Because you can both come to the pub, of course,’ she explained happily. ‘I was planning to have an end of term celebration and having you there, Daisy, will make it perfect. It’s been too long since we got merry together. And Nick will be there too, of course, because it’s board-game night, so you won’t be outnumbered, Josh.’

We couldn’t turn her down, even though I was keen to have an early night with Josh. Another adult sleepover was going to give him the chance to work towards an extra star for his review. That would make it six, but the more the merrier as far as I was concerned.

‘Sounds perfect.’ I smiled. ‘I’d love to come. What about you, Josh?’

‘Wild horses wouldn’t keep me away,’ he said, grinning.

‘And you can stay over at mine if you like,’ Penny offered, with a straight face. ‘Oh, well, no…’ she then fumbled. ‘I mean, you’ll probably want to stay with… or you might head back to Wynbrook…’

‘I’m kind of hoping Daisy will stay with me,’ said Josh, coming to her rescue. ‘That is, if she’d like to.’

‘She would,’ I confirmed. ‘She’d like that very much.’

‘Don’t forget to let your mum and dad know then,’ Penny said to me, as she walked back into the café again. ‘I rather think I put my foot in it when I called the cottage on Sunday, didn’t I?’

‘Just a bit,’ I agreed. ‘I’ll ring them now before I get… distracted.’

Josh raised his eyebrows at that and bit his lip. He looked so sexy, I was tempted to bite his lip, even with Penny still in viewing range.

‘But they won’t pick up at this time, will they?’ she called out of the door. ‘They’ll still be at work.’

‘Exactly.’ I grinned, pulling out my phone. ‘I’ll just leave them a message on the landline.’

So much for previously wondering who in the world still called them.

‘I’ll see if Penny needs a hand,’ said Josh, leaving me to reel off the message.

I simply said that I was staying overnight with a friend in the village. It was enough to let Mum and Dad know I wouldn’t be back but not so detailed that they would work out I was flinging with a Wynmouth summer visitor.

‘Right then,’ said Penny, when she strode out of the café with Josh behind her. ‘Let’s lock up and reconvene in the pub at six, shall we?’

‘Excellent idea,’ I was happy to agree.

‘Well, come on then,’ Penny urged when I didn’t move. ‘You’ve got the keys, Daisy. Or at least I hope you’ve got the keys.’

‘Oh, yes,’ I said, reaching into my shorts pocket as she shook her head and rolled her eyes. ‘Of course. Here they are.’

‘So,’ said Josh as we waved Penny off to her end of the village and he unlocked the door to Crow’s Nest Cottage, ‘what are we going to do to pass the next hour or so?’

‘Um,’ I said, tapping a finger to my chin in thought, ‘well, we could start by getting you in the bath, couldn’t we? You swam in the sea this morning so you must still be all salty.’

‘That’s a very good point,’ he said, ushering me in ahead of him. ‘How would you feel about washing my back?’

It turned out that I was rather keen to wash Josh’s back and as a thank you, he returned the favour, which made us late in turning up at the pub.

‘Hurry up!’ urged Penny, when we finally arrived. ‘We want to get started.’

The place was surprisingly packed. I had thought the Tuesday evening games night popularity had been talked up, but apparently not.

‘Why’s your hair wet?’ she asked me.

I looked at Josh.

‘Oh, never mind,’ she said, blushing. ‘Sit down and draw your counters and I’ll tell Nick what you want to drink. He’s at the bar.’

‘I’ll tell Nick,’ I said, ‘you stay here. What would you like, Josh?’

‘A pint of the usual as you won’t be pouring it.’ He grinned and I gently cuffed him as I walked away.

It turned out neither Sam nor Tess were potentially going to be pouring it either.

‘What can I get you?’ asked a tall, sun-bleached blonde woman I hadn’t seen before.

Her accent was undeniably Australian and it grated a bit. Was everything in Australia so perfect, I wondered?

‘Oh…’ I mumbled, pointing at Nick who was standing further along the bar. Unlike a few of the other customers, he didn’t seem mesmerised by the goddess in front of him. ‘Um… I’m with someone. I’ll get him to add what I want to his order.’

‘Right you are,’ she beamed, looking rather intently at me before moving away. ‘Who’s next?’

‘Who’s that?’ I asked Nick, once I’d pushed my way through the throng.

‘No idea,’ he smiled, ‘but she seems to be keeping Sam’s till ringing.’

‘Doesn’t she just,’ I commented wryly, feeling rather disconcerted.

Sam hadn’t mentioned taking on more staff. From the few seconds I’d been watching her, I could see she was a thousand times more at home behind the bar than I was and I wondered if I was destined to be getting my marching orders at some point during my next shift. Just one more messed-up pint or late arrival and I could be out.

‘Have you met Marguerite?’ asked Tess, as she came along and lined up Nick’s pint and something fizzy for Penny.

‘Not officially,’ I said. ‘Could you add a pint for Josh and another of whatever Penny’s having to those drinks please, Tess?’

‘Two secs,’ she said with a nod.

‘I’ll pay for them,’ I told Nick, reaching into my shorts pocket for my purse.

‘You can pay for the next round. I’ll get these,’ he insisted.

‘And come up for the next ones too?’ I suggested with a glance towards Marguerite.

‘Nah,’ he said, shrugging. ‘She’s not my type.’

‘Looks like you’re the only one,’ I said, with a nod at everyone else. ‘What is it about Australia?’

Tess laughed at that.

‘Don’t let Marguerite hear you say that.’ She grinned, adding the extra drinks I’d asked for to Nick’s bill. ‘She’s from New Zealand.’

‘Duly noted.’ I nodded, giving Marguerite another look. ‘And what’s she doing behind the bar? Sam hasn’t mentioned he was taking on anyone else.’

‘Oh, he isn’t,’ Tess was quick to say, no doubt noticing that I appeared rather unnerved by the pretty stranger’s competence with the pumps. ‘She’s not staff.’

She was doing a very good impression of someone on the payroll.

‘Who is she then?’ Nick asked, as he tapped his card on the reader.

‘She’s a friend of Hope’s. She’s spending the year travelling the globe and catching up with friends while she does it. A few weeks in Wynmouth were apparently added to her summer schedule months ago and before Hope was called to the Caribbean. In all the rush for Hope and Sophie to set off, Marguerite’s visit was forgotten about.’

‘I see,’ I said, wondering how on earth anyone could possibly forget about someone who looked like Marguerite. ‘So, is she staying here in the village?’

‘No,’ said Tess, ‘she’s got an Air BnB further along the coast, so she said she might as well hang around and help out here for a bit rather than reschedule her plans.’

‘Will she be helping out during my shifts too?’

‘I’m not sure.’ Tess shrugged. ‘She’s something of a free spirit from what I can make out.’

I’d heard myself described that way in the past, but Marguerite encapsulated the very essence of the expression, while in comparison, I felt like an impostor.

‘In that case,’ I said, ‘I’ll be in as usual on Thursday.’

And I would make a point of trying to be early again too.

‘Good luck at Scrabble,’ Tess said, looking over at our table. ‘Make sure you sit between Penny and Nick, won’t you?’

‘Hey,’ Nick objected, as he picked up his and Penny’s drinks and I reached for the other two.

‘You can’t deny you have a reputation for arguing over the tiles,’ Tess laughed.

‘No,’ Nick immediately relented and I rolled my eyes. ‘I don’t suppose I can.’

I wasn’t sure what to expect after that, but the evening unfolded with nary a disagreement. Though that could have been helped by the amount of Prosecco that Penny was getting through.

‘Why aren’t you keeping up?’ she asked me, when I stopped matching her after our third glass.

‘Because I have to drive tomorrow,’ I pointed out. ‘And you don’t.’

‘You do, however, have to be up early to open the café,’ Josh smilingly reminded her and that set her off again, reciting all of the new ideas she had for the menu.

She was going to be true to what Sophie always offered, but there were a few additions of her own that she had developed and was keen to try out.

‘Another?’ Nick offered, holding up his glass.

He’d just been declared the winner and had resisted the urge to gloat. Josh had almost been triumphant, but a couple of his words had been disallowed because they were US equivalents and as he was currently on UK soil, Penny and Nick had insisted those should be the ones he used instead. Personally, I wasn’t anywhere near as invested and wasn’t bothered either way. I had been surreptitiously watching Marguerite all evening. She certainly had a way with the customers and hadn’t mis-poured a single pint.

‘Not for me,’ I said, as I zoned back in to what Nick had said.

‘Nor for me either, but thanks,’ Josh added. ‘I was going to suggest we head off, Daisy.’

‘I was going to say the same,’ I quickly agreed. ‘Come on, Pen, we’ll walk you home.’

‘I don’t need anyone to walk me home,’ she laughed. She then attempted to tip the Scrabble tiles into the bag and spectacularly missed. ‘I’m fine.’

‘I’ll take her,’ offered Nick, as I gathered up the tiles from the floor.

‘Will you?’ Penny beamed, her former determination that she didn’t need a chaperone forgotten. ‘I’d like that.’

‘I’ll even get you in the door,’ Nick told her.

‘You might have to get her up the stairs,’ I added.

I hoped she wasn’t going to have a hangover on her first full day in the café. With any luck, she’d have enough adrenaline coursing through her to see off a headache and any nausea. Assuming that’s how adrenaline worked.

‘Shall I get you up the stairs?’ Josh whispered in my ear.

‘I can’t think of anything I’d like more,’ I told him. ‘Come on, let’s leave these two idiots to it.’

He didn’t need asking twice.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Marguerite,’ he said casually, as we passed the bar.

‘You won’t forget?’ She smiled at him.

‘No chance.’ He smiled back.

As I lay awake in the bed next to him a few hours later, I reckoned that not asking him what he wouldn’t forget was one of the hardest questions I’d ever not asked.