Chapter 17
17
Dennis was a bit later turning up at the shop the next day. As I handed him a mug of coffee, I noticed that he also looked a little less formal, this time dressed in a pair of denim blue jeans, and a sky-blue polo shirt. Still impeccable and clearly very good quality, and most probably all designer gear, but just a little less stiff. More casual. It suited him.
I looked down at my own clothes. Today, I’d chosen a vintage wrap dress in red and brown tones, which were perfect for autumn, along with a pair of knee-high brown suede boots which Mum had picked up at a charity shop in Truro.
Dennis smiled as he took the coffee from me and our hands touched briefly. Our eyes locked and I was the first to look away.
We both started speaking at the same time.
‘You look nice…’
‘I’ve been thinking…’
‘That sounds dangerous.’
‘Not really,’ I said, ‘but I have been thinking that I should have been, and should be, more grateful for the advice you’re offering me. I’d like to apologise. I suppose criticism is hard for me to take. I’ve always been the teacher and it’s hard for me to be the student, but I have had a word with myself and I am prepared to learn.’
‘Great. That’s great, Nance. I just want to help you, you know.’
‘I know and thank you.’
‘And you have so much to teach me too.’
‘You really think so?’
‘I do. I’ve never even thought about our environment before. It’s just all money, money, money with me. It’s been the one constant in my life and the one thing I can control. That might sound daft but…’
‘It doesn’t at all. I kind of know where you’re coming from.’
‘You are so talented, Nance, look at those amazing shell paintings you do. They’re incredible. And I’ve been thinking about how you can do more book-related things like that too.’
‘Now that would be fun.’
Dennis hesitated before taking a deep breath and blurting out his next words most unexpectedly.
‘You inspire me, you know, Nancy.’
‘Me? How so?’
‘You are doing something you’re totally passionate about. Running a bookshop. Living your dream. All I do is make money. And taking this time out from work is making me realise that maybe it’s not everything.’
A little light bulb went off in my head. I knew just the thing to make Dennis realise that there was more to life than work.
‘What are you doing on Sunday?’ I asked.
‘No plans. My life consists of no real plans at the moment.’
‘Does that bother you?’
‘It did at first. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I got up in the morning. I’m a get-up-at-six kind of guy and rarely lie in. But somehow, the Driftwood Bay air is getting to me and I’m having early nights and lie-ins. I’ve not done that since I was a teenager. Nan has got me walking Gladys most days. Said it’s not right for Meredith to be doing it when she’s got a perfectly able-bodied person in the house and, to be honest, it’s been lovely. On the mornings that I’ve still got up reasonably early, Gladys and I have snuck out and strolled along the beach. I have to say, it’s a much nicer way to start the day than looking out over the rooftops of loads of other buildings and seeing the cloud of smog that sits across the city.’
‘I don’t think there’s a better place on earth than Driftwood Bay first thing in the morning. When the rest of the world is still in bed asleep. At this time of the year, I sometimes wrap up and come down here while it’s still dark. It’s lovely, and life-affirming to see Mother Nature do her thing, and watching the sun come up. I always think it’s really kind of special. You have to check on the weather forecast to see if it’ll be clear but it’s a sight for sore eyes. It really is. I know when we first met it was over a sunrise, but to see it from dark to light is incredible. Meredith’s mum is normally round the corner in her little bay doing her early morning yoga. And if you’re lucky you’ll see the Driftwood Babes paddleboarding out on the water.’
‘They even do it at this time of the year?’
‘You bet! They make a special event of it on Christmas Day. It’s quite the spectacle, you know. Everyone gathers on the beach and we have hot chocolate and bacon sandwiches to start the day when those who choose to go in come out of the water.’
‘They must be mad.’
‘It’s supposed to be exhilarating.’
‘I’ll take their word for it!’
‘I go in, in the summer, but you wouldn’t catch me going in much after the middle of September.’
I laughed out loud remembering something that had just popped into my head.
‘Care to share?’
‘I was just thinking that when I was at school there was a young boy called Paul Shepherd who said he loved me. My best friend told him that if he loved me, he’d go in the sea on Christmas Day and prove it, and after that, he said he didn’t love me that much.’
Dennis laughed too, his eyes crinkling up at the corners.
‘I can’t say I blame him!’ He laughed.
‘Me neither.’
‘Right, lady,’ he said, slapping his thighs and going to stand up. ‘You ready for some learning? And then we can talk about my latest brainwaves.’
‘As long as you weren’t trying to avoid my earlier question about what you’re doing on Sunday.’
‘Ah, you noticed. Sorry. On Sunday you can have me for the whole day if you can think of something to entertain me.’
He grinned, there was a flicker of an eyebrow raise and he tilted his head to one side. God! I was sure he was properly flirting with me.
Trying to ignore the little thoughts that might be running through my head right then, about what we could get up to with a whole day, I brought myself back to the task in hand.
‘OK, meet me here on Sunday morning at ten and I’ll promise you a few hours of fun.’
His mouth twitched.
‘Best offer I’ve had for a while, I have to say.’
I could feel the heat rise up my neck and into my face.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘I don’t mean to tease you but you look so cute when you blush. I’d be delighted to spend a few hours with you on Sunday. Shall we get to work now then? I thought we could talk about business expenses today and then maybe you can have a treat.’
Withholding the desire to groan, I forced a smile. I knew it was important stuff that could help my future so I would grin and bear it. I would listen to his words of wisdom and I would learn from him. But he seemed to also be adjusting to my way of learning and in the same way that I probably would have done with the children I used to teach, I would reward them with something nice, after they had to do something they didn’t like as much.
True to my word, I listened intently. He was actually a very good teacher, excellent at explaining things in detail, without making me feel stupid and giving me analogies to relate to. By the time lunchtime came around, and he offered to go and grab us some soup from the bistro, I was actually looking forward to him coming back.
My afternoon treat was not only a huge slab of Victoria sponge, but that he suggested doing some workshops in the bookshop. These would probably be on a Sunday, which would mean I’d be working extra hours, but when I learned his thoughts, I realised it wouldn’t be like work at all. He suggested doing a creative writing session, a making-a-bookmark workshop and we brainstormed some ideas for others, my favourite being the Christmas bauble making. He thought that by getting people who loved book-related things involved, they’d be happy to spread the word about the shop. I absolutely loved these ideas and was super happy that we could put some dates in the diary.
The only negative part of the day was when he asked me where I felt we could advertise these things.
As a teacher, social media was something I was always quite wary of. I didn’t want the children or their parents being able to get in touch with me so my profiles were very small and protected where possible. My homework for that evening was to think about what sort of posts I could be putting up and we would discuss it tomorrow. I knew that I could get a few people locally to come to these workshops but Dennis was so right when he said we could attract a much bigger audience if we were able to spread the word online, possibly even getting a website when I had a bit more experience and had got the technical side of things sorted. All of this planning was happening around customers coming in and I was still getting used to his upselling suggestion. That afternoon, I’d noticed that while a couple of people said no to things I suggested, the majority said yes and what was normally a quiet day turned into being quite a busy and productive one.
‘Great work today, Nance. I’ve enjoyed it.’
‘Me too, Dennie. Sorry – Dennis.’
‘No, let’s go with Dennie. I like it. I think it suits the new Driftwood Bay me.’
‘Not sure it’ll suit the London Financial Dennis though, eh?’
‘I’m not sure I know who that guy is any more.’ He looked down at his feet. He was like a lost little boy. I felt a little sorry for him. He’d been having a tough time and he’d also been helping me out of the goodness of his heart. An idea popped into my mind.
‘Why don’t you come to the pub quiz with me tonight?’
His head shot up at the same time that I wondered why those words had come out of my mouth. I wasn’t usually one to invite people to my inner circle, which was rather small and only really consisted of me and my family.
‘It might be fun. When was the last time you had fun, Dennis?’
‘You’ve already promised me fun on Sunday, Nance. I don’t want to be overdosing on it.’
I laughed. ‘Maybe Dennie likes fun.’
‘Maybe he does. Go on then, yes. Dennie accepts. Quiz night it is.’
‘Great, we’ll be leaving at about ten to eight. Starts at eight.’
‘Can I bring Vi too?’
‘Absolutely. She’ll definitely liven things up.’
‘That she will. Shall we knock on the door as we pass yours?’
He was full of smiles when I nodded. And his eyes sparkled. His lovely brown eyes. I liked Dennie. I just had to keep reminding myself that he was just my friend, and somehow find a way to stop those flipping summersaults in my tummy every time he smiled that Ryan Gosling smile.