Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A va leads the way to the flat above the ice-cream parlour. We go up the stairs at the side of the old Victorian house and make our way to the top.
She opens the door to the flat and we walk through a little hallway to the living room that has been painted in a soft blue. Against one wall is a cream sofa and a set of coffee tables. Shelves line the opposite walls and below is polished wooden flooring. A giant window floods the room with light. The flat looks out onto the promenade, the beach, and the shimmery blue sea. There are two spacious double bedrooms both with sea views. The shower is encased in a cute sunflower yellow wooden beach hut and a little kitchen presides at the end of the living room. It has gleaming new white cupboards and a breakfast diner table.
A little burst of excitement rockets across my chest. ‘Ava, this would be perfect for me and Lucas.’
‘Well, Mum says it’s yours if you want it.’
I stand at the living room window. The beach today is dotted with young families playing frisbee and football. If I peer to the right, I can see the winding coastline and the tall grey cliffs. If I peer to the left, I can see the pink café at the end of the beach.
‘Oh, Ava, I love it. Tell your mum I need to talk to her about the contract and stuff.’
On the way out I catch sight of Lilly in the ice-cream parlour looking gloomy. ‘Ava, I’ll meet you back at the café. I need to see Lilly.’
‘Hey, Lilly,’ I say, as I walk into Blue Cove Bay’s ice-cream parlour. Inside the walls are painted sunshine yellow and adorned with photos of delicious iced treats. It’s one of Lucas’s favourite places. He will be over the moon to find out we will be living above it.
In the summer it is always full of tourists and holidaymakers clutching beach towels, sun hats and small children in swimming costumes. They prop their inflatables up against the counter whilst they choose their perfect ice cream. I survey the contents of the freezer, the selection of ice creams in a multitude of flavours from salted caramel to hazelnut to blueberry muffin. When I was young, I used to spend ages deciding my flavour, which would always make Frankie impatient. He knew his scoop combination hours before we entered the parlour.
‘Sunny’s gone, Alice,’ Lilly says, wiping a damp cheek. ‘There was a reason why we didn’t get together at the painting night. He was getting ready to leave Blue Cove Bay.’
I went over to where she was sat. ‘What did he say?’
‘He says he needs to go experience the world,’ she sobs. ‘He says we are young and have our lives ahead of us.’
‘Did you tell him about how you feel?’
She nods. ‘He doesn’t feel the same way about me.’
Pulling Lilly into a hug I let her cry on my shoulder.
She says, ‘I have loved him from afar for years, Alice. All through school and after we left. We worked in here together, scooping out ice cream, flirting over chocolate flakes, sharing secret jokes about our ice-cream customers and squirting each other with strawberry sauce. Now I feel like someone is scooping out my heart.’ She grabs a handful of napkins and wipes her face. ‘You got over heartbreak, Alice. What’s your advice?’
Half of me wants to laugh and tell her that I would be lying if I said I got over heartbreak, but I sense she doesn’t need to hear that. Before I can think of something sensible to say, Lilly grabs her phone. ‘I’m going to message Elliot, Sunny’s best mate. I can go out with him and–’
I see myself in her all those years ago, turning to Pete to make Noah jealous. The memory of forcing myself to fancy Pete comes rushing back to me. Hot on the heels of this one is how when he kissed me, I always imagined he was Noah. It wasn’t a great idea of mine. Maybe unconsciously I knew Pete fancied me and I played on that. My mind goes back to when Lucas had just been born. He was wrapped in a towel and in my arms. I recalled looking down at him and thinking about Noah, not Pete. Guilt wraps itself around me. Instinctively I place my hand over Lilly’s phone screen. ‘This is my advice: don’t contact Elliot.’
Lilly stares at me. ‘What? You don’t know Elliot.’
‘I don’t know Elliot, but I know about revenge. After Noah left for Ireland, I started dating his best friend. That was my revenge. At first it felt fine but over time all my anger and sadness about Noah came out. His best friend and I argued all the time. We never stopped fighting. Looking back now that was all my unresolved anger spilling out. Revenge feels like a good thing to do at the time, but you are setting you both up for pain and misery.’
Lilly shakes her head. ‘Elliot has always had a thing for me…’
I snatch her phone away. ‘You’re not listening to me, Lilly. I ended up having a child with Noah’s best friend. That was how far revenge took me. I love my little boy to bits but when he was born it was Noah I thought about and not his dad. I still feel guilty about that.’
She’s staring at me.
Tears rush to my eyes, and I blink them away. I hand her phone back to her. ‘Don’t let revenge eat you up inside. Give yourself time to heal but then focus on your life.’
‘What about Sunny?’
‘Let him go for now,’ I say, ‘if it’s meant to be he’ll come back.’
She hangs her head. ‘I can’t carry on working here as it reminds me of Sunny.’
‘Maybe you need a change?’
She runs her hands over the counter. ‘The owner of this place has another ice-cream parlour in Brighton. It needs a manager, and the owner has suggested I do it.’
‘Lilly, that’s great. Go do it. Get out of Blue Cove Bay and make some new memories.’
She shrugs. ‘I don’t know. I’ll think about it.’
The café is insanely busy for a Saturday when I return from consoling Lilly. I don’t have time to tell Noah about the flat until we are half an hour away from closing. His face lights up. ‘Alice, that’s amazing. When are you going to tell your dad?’
‘Sooner the better. He can’t say anything as he’s been leaving rental property adverts around for days. Dad’s house is small, and I think he will like his peace and quiet back.’
‘Have you thought anymore about Pete?’ Earlier I’d told Noah about what had happened last night with Pete and how he’d admitted lying to me about staying in contact with Noah.
‘I need to talk to him again.’
Noah nodded. ‘I’ve been doing some thinking about what happened. I remember getting your email the day after I’d arrived in Ireland. I tried to call Pete as breaking up was the last thing I wanted, but his dad said he was out or something.’
‘Pete must have called me the day after as I remember him confirming what you had said in your email. I got angry, shut down my email account and created a new one so you couldn’t contact me. I remember phoning Pete back to give him my new email address. A bit dramatic, I know, but I was heartbroken and sixteen.’
I scratched my head. ‘Pete came over to my house after you’d left on that Sunday as I remember as we listened to CDs in my room, and I was upset.’
Noah nibbled on his thumbnail. ‘I could be wrong but hear me out. Would Pete have been able to access your email back then?’
I thought back to when I was a teenager and the old house layout. ‘I used Dad’s computer back then. It was always turned on in his study. Dad and I both had MSN email and it was always on…’ I stare at Noah. ‘Do you think Pete sent that email pretending to be me?’
‘Look, we know from what he told you last night he was jealous of me and was prepared to lie to you about staying in contact with me.’
I clamp my hand over my forehead. ‘I gave Pete my letters to post. Oh God, I need to speak to him.’