Chapter 25 #3
Sophie jumped in. ‘A prize was unnecessary, you know. Most people are in it for the fun or the exercise. And you don’t need to give money away to boomer tourists as they’re all loaded.
Can you believe there was a fight over a twenty-pound bottle of olive oil in the shop the other day?
They wanted to make a salad dressing they’d seen on a cooking programme. ’
‘I can’t bear a naked lettuce,’ Nic’s friend said. While the rest of them shared opinions about the perfect dressing, Aria turned away to take a cheeky bite of the enormous sausage.
‘Are you playing hide the hot dog right now, Aria?’ Sophie said, nudging her elbow and causing mustard to blob onto her bare stomach, just above the wetsuit arms.
Aria grimaced, casting around for a serviette.
‘I can help,’ Nic said, rooting in his pocket, and checking the condiment table before coming up short.
While Sophie muttered about Cal saving money, Nic stepped in front of Aria and pushed his thumb across the splat.
Then, he lifted it to his lips, mirroring her action at the hut.
Aria stood stock-still, every nerve in her body recalibrating.
When he followed his action with a wide grin, she felt lightheaded.
If the wattage of his smile wasn’t enough to slay a girl, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, ‘That was hot.’
She felt his breath on her lobe and her cheeks burned up like the mustard he’d just consumed.
What this man did to her without trying made her wonder what he could do if he really put some effort in.
But she was confused. Hadn’t he told her a while back he hated mustard?
Why the hell was she thinking about condiments? This man was the enemy. Right?
She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed as her ex commanded everyone’s attention with his internal loudspeaker.
‘Still a disaster around food, pet?’ Walking up to her, Justin put his hand on her shoulder like she belonged to him.
Lu-Lu had clearly been lugging around a full bag as he was now dressed in running shorts and a vest, his blond hair buried under a cap.
Earlier, she had averted her eyes from his body, but in the safety of the group, Aria sneaked a peek and decided he had cartoon thighs next to Nic’s more natural physique.
Perhaps trying to explain his behaviour, Sophie explained to the group that the Lakeland king of caravans was a former boyfriend of Aria’s and a classmate of them both.
‘Middle-class white male overachiever, head boy, head of swim team, cricket, rugby, yadda yadda. We’re not talking helicopter parenting, we’re talking military chinook.
He’s in line for inheriting the whole caravan shebang.
How many sites, Justin?’ she drawled, while Aria signalled at her to stop giving him a platform.
But the over-the-top intro pushed Justin to show his true colours.
‘The Hetherington passion for business is indeed hereditary, and we are royally skilled at providing the best in luxury Lakeland holidays. I say royal, as we are hoping a certain someone might open our latest iconic park. You should all come for a tour. We are toying with the idea of self-drive cars and have some top DJs lined up for our Foam-O – the soapy disco that stops you getting FOMO.’
‘In a minute, he’ll be telling everyone his GCSE results,’ Aria murmured as he chuntered on.
‘He only got three. And one of those was in talking shite in an incredibly loud voice,’ Sophie whispered back.
‘And can I introduce the woman who will one day be the queen of the empire?’ Justin turned and clicked his fingers.
With her ring finger encased in the kind of diamond Aria hadn’t been offered, Lu-Lu glided forward like she was on rollers.
She held out a hand with French polished nails, as if waiting for them all to kneel and kiss it.
Aria braved a look at Nic who responded with a twitch of his lips.
‘So, he hooked another duck at the fair?’ Sophie whispered to Aria. ‘More of an obvious prize, yeah? I’d say she’s a giant Pokémon toy, whereas you were more a pot of bubbles or a cardboard glider. Or maybe a fish in a bag!’
Aria choked on a bite of hot dog she’d sneaked into her mouth as Justin informed them lovely Lu-Lu would be helping him run the growing empire.
‘She’ll be moving into Hetherington HQ after the wedding, designing and overseeing the new aqua pool and beauty salon before popping out our kiddiewinkles.
We have plans to take over more of the north and west shore for our leisure facilities, if we can wrestle them from the hungry mouths of the Londoners gobbling up our town. ’
Lu-Lu blinked her big old eyelashes. ‘You wouldn’t believe how successful Ju-Ju has become since we—’
‘Luxury mobile accommodation is becoming the go-to for families across the country.’ Justin talked over her. ‘Inglemere and surrounding towns will be the number one hotspot for holidays when the nation realises cruising was fine for the noughties but rather tired now.’
‘By luxury mobile accommodation, you mean caravans?’ Nic said, smooth as anything.
‘Ooh, alpha males at dawn,’ Sophie whispered to Aria. ‘With man-bags from Louis Vuitton.’
‘Oh, they’re so much more than caravans,’ Lu-Lu said. ‘Do you remember how luxurious the beds were, Aria? Ju-Ju and I spent a lot of time last summer…’
Aria looked away, embarrassed at the memory of the bunk-bed bonking.
‘Caravans are for less affordable areas. The trend is in luxury villas,’ said Nic, and Aria shot him a glance to see if he’d cut in to rescue her. A flare of his nostrils suggested he had, but Justin pointedly ignored him.
‘I take it you are part of the Hetherington family,’ Nic’s friend said. ‘Perhaps we could have a chat later.’
Justin raised an eyebrow. ‘And you are?’
‘Giorgos Castellanos. My sons and I have interests in the land that surrounds the lake, and it could be in everyone’s interest to cooperate on bids,’ the older man replied, clapping Nic on the back.
His dad? Aria let out a breath. She could barely keep up with anything today.
‘Would that be one of the sons who was desperately trying to secure the land we bought an hour or so ago?’ Justin sneered.
‘My family is well respected here and we’ve got all sorts of irons in fires.
You might own a piece of the lake, Castle, but you are an outsider, and we don’t consider you credible competition in a community that looks after its own. ’
Venturing a glance at Nic, Aria saw him grimace. While she’d disagreed with him on so many things, she couldn’t help hoping he’d stand up for himself against this bully.
Instead, his father heaped kindling on the fire. ‘That would be my younger son, Theo. You’ll consider us credible when we buy it from you later on. Nic here will be wiping his ass with your paperwork, believe you me.’
‘I’d appreciate the heads-up on that before I’m cleaning his toilet,’ Sophie whispered to Aria, before bending down to stroke Tiger.
‘He asks you to clean his toilet?’ Aria hadn’t envisaged Sophie settling into the role of wifey, but she equally wouldn’t have expected a submissive mouse.
‘Pays me to do it! I’m his cleaner, duh.’
Still holding the end of a tepid torpedo her dog was barking to get his teeth around, Aria tried to process this information.
Nic took the reins now. ‘My father is the latest investor to fly in to tour our burgeoning site, which is on the brink of becoming one of the UK’s leading luxury holiday villages. We are offering national and international visitors the best, most comfortable Lakeland experience.’
Justin was straight in with his counterbid.
‘Unsustainable, untenable nonsense. The mass market is all about affordable luxury. Our static mobile homes are the ultimate getaway, while providing jobs for local people who run the parks,’ he said, finally turning to Aria.
‘I heard on the grapevine you were looking for employment. We have a vacancy, for a cleaner.’ His tone indicated how lowly a role he felt this would be.
‘There’s nothing wrong with a bit of domestic help,’ snarled Sophie.
‘Nothing at all,’ Nic quickly jumped in.
‘But you are probably too busy with your little eco project, Aria,’ Lu-Lu said, gesturing at the gate, where precisely no one was stopping to look at the information Aria had spent so long putting together.
‘Be quiet, Lu-Lu,’ Justin blurted out before Aria could come back on the slur.
‘Please don’t shush women. It’s disrespectful,’ Nic said.
‘People have to earn respect,’ Justin flashed back. ‘And my family has done that in the four corners of the county. But you wouldn’t recognise the weight of the Hetherington name, being from London.’
Aria jumped in. ‘He’s actually from Brighton.’
‘We used to sponsor little events like this. But we’ve stopped now as we have bigger plans,’ Justin ploughed on.
‘We’re applying for a licence to host weddings in four of our parks.
The king of caravans is about to become the lord of love.
And we’ll be having our own wedding this summer in our flagship park, overlooking magnificent Morecambe Bay. ’
‘You missed out, Aria!’ Lu-Lu giggled as Justin grabbed his new fiancée by the hand and kissed her jewelled knuckle.
Unnerved, Aria dropped the remains of her hot dog and Tiger went straight in for the floor buffet.
She let him feast, slowly retying the arms of her wetsuit around her stomach while her mind whirled.
On one side of her was Justin, a man she was once planning to marry and now despised.
On the other was Nic, a man she had hated on first sight but was now crushing on.
A man who had come to her with a proposal.
Last time a guy made her an offer to change her future, it didn’t end well.
But another look at Lu-Lu’s smug face and massive diamond helped her come to an unexpected decision.
‘Actually, yours won’t be the only wedding this summer,’ she rushed in. ‘Nic and I just got engaged.’
The group fell silent.
Aria’s cheeks burned. What had she done?
Would Nic go with it? She hadn’t spoken to him since that night he came to her in the hut.
When their eyes locked, she thought he looked the most shocked of all.
Was he regretting his impulsive action? Because two seconds into their engagement, she was already regretting hers.
‘Enemies to lovers!’ Sophie was the first to come forward, moving in for a hug. When she released Aria, she narrowed her eyes. ‘Massive news, woman! Why didn’t you tell me? I knew something was going on, you sneaky devils!’
Aria moved over to Nic, shyly taking his hand as Justin and Lu-Lu exchanged glances and muttered muted congratulations before backing off to spread the gossip. She looked up to see a quizzical smile on Nic’s face.
Next to him, his dad was looking straight down her cleavage. His blatant assessment of her body in a wetsuit clearly brought on a thirst. ‘Is there somewhere we can get a drink, Nicolas?’
Aria shot Nic an imploring look. ‘I could really do with a chat.’
But Nic’s attention had moved to a man outside the group.
‘Roger!’ he exclaimed, quickly introducing his father to his case officer.
‘I was hoping you two would meet. Roger is the man with the plan when it comes to building in the Lakes.’ Nic turned to Aria, retook her hand and squeezed it before making an apologetic face.
‘Talk later?’ he whispered as he kissed her on the cheek.
The men took a few steps to the side to continue their conversation as Belinda rushed up, urging Aria to attend the stall. ‘It’s largely being ignored in the excitement about this year’s prize. Some people are starting to leave. Can you perhaps grab them on their way out and give them a lecture?’
‘We’ve more than that to be excited about,’ grinned Sophie. ‘Aria’s wedding!’
‘Engagement first!’ Aria corrected her.
Sophie shrugged. ‘That’s generally the order it happens in.’
‘Really? That’s wonderful!’ Belinda gushed, her volume reflecting her joy. ‘I didn’t even know you had a beau.’
‘Nope, me neither,’ Sophie said dryly.
‘Who is the lucky man?’ Belinda asked. ‘Will you do it here? Or maybe in a field? With a mandolin! We have all manner of literature about wedding venues in the office.’
‘You probably won’t need it,’ Sophie exclaimed. ‘I expect Nic has a huge venue in mind with a whole room of mandolins. Which is quite fitting as she will become Mrs Castle. And if not there’s always the Hetherington HQ hacienda. You could do a double wedding with Lu-Lu and Ju-Ju!’
Aria raised her eyebrows at Sophie’s teasing as a cloud passed Belinda’s face.
‘Nic Castle? But I thought you—’ She stopped abruptly at the sound of Nic’s case officer vomiting onto his dad’s white trainers a few feet away.