Chapter 7
7
Rick handled closing time at the shop. It felt like the least he could do having left his mum to run the place for most of the morning. Not that she’d minded in the least. Rachel Penrose had greeted him with her usual smile and a kiss when he’d finally got his head together after leaving Davy with a half-dozen Steri-Strips sealing the cut on his head and a hot, strong cup of tea with extra sugar in it. He’d only agreed to leave because his uncle had threatened to renege on the whole deal, and having already told Anya he had a solution to her immediate financial situation, he couldn’t bear the idea of having to let her down.
There’d only been a couple of customers in the last hour, which had given him time to download some sample contracts – one his uncle used for the hotel and the one they used in the shop for temporary workers. He and Anya could go through them after dinner and put something together that suited everyone. Davy had emailed over a list of the hourly rates he currently paid to the various employees at the hotel. Rick had done some poking around on a couple of the big national recruitment websites as well as the jobs section on the local paper’s website and found half a dozen comparable salary ranges.
With a folder of information tucked under his arm, Rick locked up the shop and set the alarm. He pulled out his phone and called Davy as he started the short walk along the quay.
‘No, I’m not dead yet,’ his uncle snapped by way of greeting.
‘Glad to hear it. How’s your headache? Did you get that list of symptoms I texted to you?’ In between all his other searches, Rick had popped on to the NHS website to check what to look for when it came to concussion.
‘The only thing giving me a headache is you nagging at me,’ Davy grumbled.
‘Come on, Uncle D, humour me,’ Rick pleaded.
His uncle sighed. ‘I took a couple of tablets and it’s a lot better.’
‘And you read that list, right? No red flags from it?’
‘None, I promise. No sickness or dizziness, no brain fog. Do I sound compos mentis?’
‘You don’t sound any more doolally than usual,’ Rick said.
Davy snorted. ‘Cheeky young whelp. Look I know I was a pain earlier, but I was still a bit shocked from the accident. Now you know everything, I’ve got no reason to give you the runaround, have I?’
‘I guess not. Okay, well I’m going to leave you in peace.’ A familiar voice called his name and Rick glanced round to see his father. He paused to wait for him to catch up. ‘Promise to ring me if anything changes and just pop me a quick text before you go to bed.’
‘Okay.’ His uncle paused. ‘Look, son, I’m sorry I dropped such a heavy weight on you earlier… ’
‘I’m not,’ Rick assured him. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. Dad’s here, so I’ll speak to you in the morning.’
‘I’ll text you later.’
A warm hand rested in the small of his back and Rick immediately felt some of the tension he was carrying ease. Jago Penrose was a burly bear of a man and even though Rick was more than capable of taking care of himself, being around his father always made him feel better. ‘Hey, Dad.’
‘Hey, kiddo, busy day?’ Jago patted his back before adjusting the weight of the backpack slung over his shoulder. ‘Your mum said you’ve been out and about a lot.’
They began walking towards the steps that led from the quay to the top of the wall that had protected the village from the ravages of the sea for hundreds of years.
‘It was my session at the Hub this morning and then I popped in to the hotel to drop off some lunch for Davy and he’d had a bit of an accident and banged his head.’ Rick had been thinking about what he could say to his family and had decided to stick as close to the truth as possible. There was no hiding the injury Davy had sustained, and pretending he knew nothing about it would trip him up sooner or later.
‘Bloody hell, is he all right?’
It was on the tip of his tongue to say Davy was fine, but that would be a lie. He’d promised to keep his uncle’s secret for now, but he didn’t have to feel good about it. ‘It looked worse than it is; you know what scalp wounds are like for bleeding. Once I got him cleaned up, it only needed a couple of Steri-Strips and one of those gauze pads to keep it covered. That’s who I was talking to just now, checking in.’
A frown creased his father’s tanned brow. ‘Do you think I should go and see him?’
Rick shook his head. ‘He got the night manager to come in early and he’s planning a quiet evening. He’s promised to text me before he goes to bed.’
Jago smiled. ‘I should’ve known you’d have it all in hand, though how you managed to get him to cooperate like that is beyond me.’
‘I threatened to set Mum, Ma and Aunt Helen on him if he didn’t let me help.’ Which was the truth, though again not the whole story. Rick swallowed, already hating the deception. He would have to work on Davy, get him to see it would be best if everyone knew about his health.
Best for who, though?
That stopped him short. He’d known about Davy’s condition for all of half a day and it was already overwhelming; how must it have been for his uncle wrestling with it for however long he’d known about it? He had confided in Rick, and for better or worse it was his responsibility to try and do right by everyone. If things really were as dire as his uncle had suggested and this was his last summer, he would need help with putting his affairs in order. Had he even thought about a will? What would happen to the hotel? Rick started putting together a mental list of questions.
‘Everything all right?’
His father’s question shook Rick out of his introspection and he nodded. ‘Sorry, I was just thinking about Davy. I… uh, I kind of took advantage of his accident to persuade him it was time to take on a bit more help at the hotel.’
Jago paused at the base of the steps, that disapproving frown once again darkening his brow. ‘What do you mean you took advantage of him?’
Rick’s insides shrank and suddenly he was back to those times in his youth when there’d been a call from school because of some scrape or nonsense one of the Penrose boys had started and somehow dragged in the rest of them. ‘Nothing bad,’ he protested, holding his hands up defensively. ‘I suggested it might be time to take on an assistant at the hotel, that’s all. The summer season will soon be in full swing, and as fit and active as he is, he’s still getting on a bit.’
Jago nodded. ‘Ryan and I have been talking about it for a while, but any time we try and bring it up, Davy’s always told us that he has everything in hand and not to worry about it.’
Rick scuffed his shoe over a patch of damp moss that had formed near the base of the steps, making a mental note to speak to the maintenance team about it before the summer crowds arrived. The last thing they needed was someone slipping over. ‘I’d just seen Anya at the café and it was clear she’s pretty desperate to find a job. If Davy takes her on then it solves two problems at once.’ He glanced down again at the moss. It would be dark soon. There were lights on the quayside, but it would be easy for someone to miss it in the shadows. Crouching, he pulled his keys out of his pocket and scraped the patch away.
It only took a minute, but when he straightened up it was to find his father smiling at him. ‘You always have to be the one to fix everything, don’t you?’
Rick dropped his gaze, uncomfortable at how often he’d heard the same accusation recently. ‘I didn’t want anyone to hurt themselves.’
Jago clapped a hand on his shoulder. ‘It wasn’t a criticism, my boy, far from it. And as for getting Anya to help Davy out, it sounds like the perfect solution.’
They headed up the steps, Jago leading the way. ‘Your mum texted earlier saying she can’t be bothered to cook, so I’m going to call in the chippy. Do you want anything?’
‘No, thanks. I’m heading over to Anya’s in about an hour. She’s going to make supper while we thrash out the details of her job. Davy told me I could sort it out because it was my smart idea.’
His dad chuckled. ‘That sounds like him.’ They reached the road, both pausing and glancing both ways on autopilot before heading across towards the bright lights of Good Cod! where there was a short queue already waiting. ‘You don’t have to wait with me,’ Jago told Rick after they’d greeted everyone.
Rick pulled out his phone and checked the time. ‘I’ve got an hour before I said I’d go to Anya’s. It won’t take me long to get showered and changed.’
Jago smiled and nudged Rick’s shoulder with his own. ‘It’s nice to spend time with you, even if it’s just a few minutes. It feels like we’re ships that pass in the night at home.’
‘Yeah, sorry, I’ve been working on a funding proposal and it’s taking a lot longer than I expected.’
‘Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. You know your mum and I love having you around the place, but we know you’ve got better things to do than hang around with a couple of old farts like us.’
‘Hardly that, Dad.’ His parents were both as fit and as active within the community as he was. In fact, he swore they had a better social life than he did. Being the only one of the four brothers who still lived at home sometimes felt a bit weird to Rick. Liam was off in London doing something complicated with numbers and enjoying the high life with his girlfriend. Harry had moved out years ago, going to live with their grandparents when he was still at school because he was off the rails and in danger of dragging his twin brother, Ed, with him. He’d eventually been diagnosed with severe dyslexia, but by then he’d developed such an aversion to school it had been almost impossible to get him to go. Their parents had paid a small fortune in fines from the local authority, but nothing could shift Harry from the safety of their grandfather’s boat shed. Things hadn’t got any better after school, and for a while it had looked like Harry might end up in jail, or worse. Rick could still remember the sound of their mother crying herself to sleep.
Harry had settled down now, thank God, and being away from his direct influence had helped Ed focus on his own studies. He’d moved out to go to university and never really settled back home afterwards, so it had been little surprise when he and their cousin Matt had decided to get a place together. The only thing that had been a surprise was the fact they’d been able to find anywhere to rent.
The rise of the short-term rental market and the popularity of holiday lets meant that properties had become a premium in the village, so it had suited Rick to stay put. With the others gone, their parents had let Rick convert one of the now spare bedrooms into a study and lounge for himself. It wasn’t quite the same as having his own apartment, but he had enough space to do as he wished, and that was enough for now.
Rick waited until his father had placed his order and the pair of them wandered back outside to wait. ‘I love spending time with you guys. My proposal needs a bit more work but the submission deadline is the 16th. Why don’t I make supper for us the following Friday? I can see if the twins are free. Harry will probably be busy at the restaurant, but if we eat late he might make it for dessert or at least a drink, and unless Ed’s got a date, he’s never knowingly turned down a free meal.’
His father beamed. ‘That would be lovely. It’s been too long since we were all together.’ His smile dimmed a little and Rick knew he was thinking about Liam. Thankfully, a voice called Jago’s name from inside the chip shop, distracting him. Rick added another mental note to his seemingly never-ending list to get in touch with his elder brother and see if there was any chance of him coming home for at least a weekend over the summer. He supposed he’d have to extend the invitation to Caroline. A memory of overhearing his brother’s girlfriend mocking their mother’s accent surfaced and he grimaced. Maybe not. Why the two of them were a couple, Rick would never know. Love did funny things to a man’s brain, apparently. Then again, at least Liam was in a settled relationship rather than wasting years pining over a woman who had never wanted to be anything other his friend.