Chapter 17
17
Rick had been a little disconcerted to receive a text from Anya asking to postpone their call. He’d been less bothered when he’d been scrolling through his social media later that evening and came across a photo posted by Chloe of her, Anya, Issy and Kat glassy eyed and grinning in a group selfie. He recognised the setting as the summer house and, given the empty pizza boxes and Prosecco bottles on the coffee table, it looked like a fun evening was had by all.
He didn’t have much time to dwell on it. The local sailing club held their annual regatta on the first weekend of the school holidays, so the harbour would be a hive of activity over the next couple of weeks as people started getting their boats ready. A steady stream of customers trooped in and out of the chandlery, needing everything from varnish and paint to touch up their woodwork, to replacement ropes and even a couple of new life jackets. His dad was out and about around the harbour, shaking hands, catching up on the gossip and generally running a weather eye over the boats. When he spotted Rick helping one of the customers carry their supplies, Jago came hurrying over to take the box out of his hands.
‘Thanks, Dad.’
‘My pleasure. Now get back in there and keep that till ringing,’ he said, making both Rick and the customer laugh. ‘I’ve got a retirement that needs paying for!’
‘Yes, sir!’ Rick raised two fingers to his temple and offered a mock salute before heading back inside, where his mum had everything in hand, of course. There was a lull around half-ten, so Rick volunteered to do a coffee run. They had a kettle out the back, but they tended to keep that for emergencies only. Plus it gave Rick a chance to be seen out and about if anyone needed to talk to him. Though his Hub sessions were well frequented, he reckoned at least half of the issues he came across were things raised by people who he bumped into in the street. ‘I’m going walkabout,’ he said to his mum. ‘What do you want me to bring you back?’
Rachel pondered for a moment. ‘I quite fancy something cold.’
‘What about an iced caramel macchiato?’
She nodded. ‘Oh, that sounds lovely. Best get one for your dad while you’re at it. The amount of gabbing he’s been doing this morning, he’ll be parched.’
‘He’d call it networking.’
Rachel rolled her eyes. ‘I’d call it skiving! At least I know where you get it from.’
‘I’m simply serving the needs of the community, Mother,’ Rick said, putting on a fake pompous voice.
‘Hmm.’ Her lips twitched. ‘You’ll be popping into the hotel, no doubt.’
Rick felt an icy chill ripple down his spine. ‘What do you mean?’ Had someone got wind of him checking up on Davy ?
‘Oh, nothing, just something a little bird told me.’ She tapped the side of her nose and gave him a knowing smile.
Relief that no one was the wiser about his great-uncle’s health issues was tempered rather by the idea he and Anya were already the subject of gossip. ‘Well, you and your little bird’ – his aunt Helen, no doubt – ‘can keep your beaks out of my business.’
Rachel laughed. ‘Good luck with that!’
He’d considered it might be wiser to keep away from the hotel, but one look at Issy’s rather green-tinged expression behind the café counter made him wonder if Anya was also feeling a little worse for wear. ‘Good night was it?’ he teased as he reached the front of the small queue.
Issy shot him a glare that could’ve melted concrete. ‘Your cousin has a lot to answer for.’
‘Why, what did Chloe do?’
‘She went up to the house and fetched a third bottle of Prosecco, that’s what she did,’ Issy grumbled.
‘And forced you to drink it, no doubt.’
‘Haha! Right, what do you want anyway?’ When he ordered three iced macchiatos and a large latte, she winced. ‘Why does everyone want iced drinks today?’
The question bemused him until she switched on the blender to mix everything together. Between the ice rattling around and the whizz of the motor, it made quite a racket. He accepted the tray of drinks and left her to it, smiling to himself as he heard the person who’d been behind him ordering a chocolate frappuccino. It was going to be a long day for poor Issy.
Carrying the four drinks in a cardboard holder, Rick crossed the street and was about to pop into the chemist’s to pick up a pack of paracetamol for Anya when he bumped into Morwenna Delaney, the head teacher of the village school.
‘Oh, Rick, what good timing!’
‘Hello, Morwenna. How’s things?’
She nodded. ‘Good. Good. Already thinking about what I need to do to get ready for next term. That’s actually what I wanted to speak to you about. I’ve had a couple of people resign from the PTA ?—’
‘Surely you need actual parents on the PTA ?’ he cut in, trying not to sound too desperate. Morwenna was a lovely woman, but she could be something of a steamroller and he really couldn’t afford to get talked into taking anything else on.
She frowned at him for a moment before her eyes widened in amused comprehension. ‘Goodness, Rick, there’s no need to look quite so panicky. I wasn’t suggesting you sign up!’
He blew out a relieved breath. ‘You had me worried there for a minute.’
‘You do more than enough for our community,’ she assured him with a pat on his arm. ‘No, I was just wondering if it would be okay to put a poster up in the Hub to see if anyone is interested.’
‘Oh, of course, help yourself. If you’ve got any spares, then we’ll put one up in the window at the chandlery as well.’
‘Lovely. I haven’t got around to making them up yet, but I’ll drop a couple off with you when I’ve printed them off, okay?’
‘Whenever you like, and good luck with finding some replacements.’
Morwenna sighed. ‘I’m going to need it. The school is barely hanging on as it is. The village might be growing, but the demographic is changing so much that I can foresee a day when I don’t have enough pupils to get adequate funds to keep it going.’
Rick frowned. ‘I didn’t realise things had got that bad. ’
She patted his arm again. ‘We’re not quite on the ragged edge yet, but if we don’t find a way to keep our young people around, then it’s going to be a problem. Plus so many of your generation are choosing to start your families later, so even those of you who have been able to find jobs and housing aren’t keeping my numbers topped up.’ She was smiling as she said it.
‘Ha! You sound as bad as Mum and Aunt Helen.’
Morwenna laughed. ‘Six of you between them and not a sniff of a grandchild; no wonder they’re disappointed!’
‘Well at least you’ll have one new addition to your roster this autumn with Anya’s daughter, Freya,’ he pointed out.
She shot him a puzzled look. ‘Oh, are they planning on staying? I assumed they were only here for the summer. I haven’t had any paperwork through to say Anya wants to register Freya for next term.’
‘Are you sure?’
Morwenna shrugged. ‘Unless it’s come through this morning, then absolutely.’
‘I’m popping in to see her in a minute. I’ll mention it then. I’m sure it’s just an oversight.’
‘That would be good if you could; the sooner the better so I can finalise my numbers. I’ll pencil her in anyway. You don’t happen to know the child’s surname, do you?’
‘Sure, it’s Stokes.’
‘Lovely, thanks for the heads-up.’ Morwenna stepped back from the doorway to make room for him. ‘I’ll drop those posters off with you in the next day or two.’
When he walked into the hotel reception a few minutes later, Anya looked tired but not as shabby as Issy had been. She glanced up from her screen, the wide, welcoming smile she’d plastered on faltering a little. ‘Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to visit us again so soon. ’
Hmm, not quite the warm welcome he’d anticipated. He held up the tray of coffees even though it was clearly visible. ‘I was getting a drink for me and my folks and I saw the state of Issy, so I thought you might be in need of a caffeine boost after last night.’
‘She told you about them gatecrashing me? That’s why I said not to call.’
He pulled the large latte out of the tray and placed it on the top of the desk. ‘Yeah, I figured as much when I saw the photos last night.’
‘What photos?’
‘Oh, just a couple of group selfies Chloe posted. They popped up on my feed when I was doing my usual pre-bed doomscroll.’
‘Ah, okay.’ She pulled a face. ‘How bad are they?’
‘No incriminating evidence, though they might have been taken before the third bottle of Prosecco Issy was just rueing.’
‘Ha! Well some of us were sensible and had switched to water by that point. My days of waking up hungover when there’s a hyperactive small person to be dealt with are thankfully in the past. Lesson learned, never repeated.’
He grinned. ‘I can imagine. Oh, speaking of Freya, I bumped into Morwenna just now and she mentioned that she isn’t registered with the school yet.’
He could tell he’d made a mistake as soon as the words had left his mouth from the way her expression shut down. ‘Who’s Morwenna, and why were you talking to anyone about Freya?’
Rick took an involuntary step back, his free hand raising in automatic apology. ‘Hey, I wasn’t talking behind your back or anything. Morwenna is the head teacher at the village school and we were chatting about a few things. The topic of school numbers came up, so I pointed out she’d have an addition next term but she said you haven’t registered yet. Don’t worry if you haven’t got around to it; Morwenna said she’d pencil Freya’s name in.’
Anya stiffened. ‘How does she know what name to put down?’
Rick shook his head, completely baffled. ‘She asked me if I knew it, so I told her.’
Reaching up, she rubbed her forehead. ‘Look, Rick, I know you were probably only trying to help out, but I really wish you hadn’t done that. The reason I haven’t registered Freya is because Chloe’s helping me with an application to change our surnames and the final documentation hasn’t come through yet.’
Oh damn . ‘I’m so sorry, I had no idea.’ God, he’d really put his foot in it.
She gave him a slightly tired smile. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll sort it out with the school when I do the application.’
‘Morwenna’s dropping off some posters with me in the next couple of days. If you want me to mention—’ It took only a raised eyebrow from Anya for Rick to swallow down the offer to help make things right. ‘I’ll leave you to sort it out.’
‘That’d be good, thanks.’ The hint of tension around her eyes softened as she reached for the coffee he’d brought. ‘And thanks for this, because you guessed right. I could do with a boost. I might not have overindulged, but I haven’t had a late night in a while.’
Rick smiled, relieved that he appeared to have been forgiven. ‘It looked like you had fun, though.’
She nodded. ‘It was so nice to have a bit of adult company, though I’m sorry it meant I had to cancel our chat at the last minute. Speaking of which’ – she glanced up at him through her lashes – ‘Chloe’s volunteered to babysit on Friday night if you wanted to go out and do something.’
‘That sounds great. Do you want me to book us a table somewhere? Or we could just go to the Smuggler’s Den for a drink?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure I’m ready for the local pub. Perhaps we could venture out of the village? I’m happy to drive – Ryan and Helen have put me on their insurance in case I need the car for an emergency, but I’m sure they’d let me borrow it.’
Rick shook his head. ‘I can drive.’ He hesitated, wondering if this was another one of those situations where he was trying to be too helpful. ‘Unless you want to, of course?’
Thankfully, she didn’t take offence. ‘As long as you don’t mind, I’m happy for you to drive.’
‘Great. I know a really nice little Italian over in Port Petroc. We can take the scenic route along the coast. What time shall I book for?’
Anya took a sip of her coffee and he could almost see the cogs whirring as she worked out the logistics. ‘Eight o’clock? I’ll get Chloe to come about half-six so Freya can get used to her being there and then I’ll meet you out the front of Ryan and Helen’s about seven?’
‘Whatever makes things easy for you.’